"XENOPHOBIA, DISCRIMINATION AND AGGRESSIVE NATIONALISM IN EUROPE" (January 2014 – June 2015)
This present article aims to analyse the most prominent manifestations of hatred in countries of the so-called “Greater Europe”, i.e. the Council of Europe member-states and countries located within European geographical borders. The primary objective is to identify factors that influence the demand for radicalism and those that contribute to the reduction of radical sentiments in society.
The first stage involved 10 European countries: the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Ukraine andFrance. Analysis was conducted in the following areas: legislation affecting minorities (changes and compliance during the monitored period); law enforcement practices; discriminatory practices affecting minorities; statements and actions of public officials affecting minorities; the position of immigrants and the societal attitude towards these individuals, foreign nationals, different ethnic groups; religious and ethnic hate speech; the activity of neo-Nazi and radical nationalist groups and parties, their influence in government and in civil society; various degrees of hate crime; the public glorification of German National-Socialism and Nazi collaborationists, the desecration of war cemeteries, memorials, Holocaust denial; the misuse of anti-extremist legislation and the persecution of human rights activists.
This present material draws upon several sources: legislative acts, internal documentation of government institutions in the public domain (such as statistical reports on hate crime), documentation from the office of the human rights ombudsman, materials of international human rights organisations, sociological surveys conducted in countries during the observed period and media reports.
