The rise of hostile populism and white supremacy politics in the US and Europe is no coincidence. But a reminder of how little historical psychoanalysis we have done to overcome our bigotry, racism, and hostility towards people who are different from us.
While some may disregard these facts as something minor or untrue, they will lead us to that same dark place in our histories drenched in the blood of genocide, exclusion, exploitation, and neoslavery.
Europeans brought slavery to the United States and the New World, thus relegating them into a moral crisis that would never set them free but forced them to whitewash and try to forget their history.
The backlash of racism and the fear of the so-called replacement theory are knee-jerk reactions to the fear we did to black and brown people will be done to us. That is why we are seeing so much racism and nationalist pushback instead of creating an equal society for all.
Like the US, Europe is stuck in its racism illness problem. The only way to cure such a disease is a reckoning and earnest historical amends.
Voices echoing the Europe’s hostile past are still heard today.
Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán lashed out on Saturday against mixing white and non-white races. “We [Hungarians] are not a mixed race … and we do not want to become a mixed race,” he added, stating that countries where European and non-Europeans mingle were “no longer nations.
Due to the war in Ukraine and our hatred of the Russians, matters will worsen before they improve.
After the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, many believe that the next parliamentary election in Italy will pave the way for a far-right government. If this happens, expect further tightening of immigration laws and a visible crack in the EU’s front against Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has given Europe a chance and tools to deal with its racist legacy but an opportunity to subvert human rights and other civil liberties in the name of nationalist preservation.