My inbox is inundated with messages telling me to use my vote in the European elections because if I don’t “others will decide for you”. My head agrees with the messages from EU politicians that I should do my bit for democracy. But for the first time, my heart isn’t in it.
As a European who is also brown and Muslim – and who has long wanted the EU “project” to work – I am terrified at the extent of power and influence wielded, inside and outside government, by politicians who are unashamedly racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic and whose vision of Europe – whatever they may say in public – is also inherently hostile to women, Jews and gay people. And I am worried that it is going to get even worse.
This is a sad and sobering moment for all progressive Europeans. For Europe’s Muslims and racial and ethnic minorities, it is a time of deep personal anxiety. Many feel betrayed and abandoned, not just by EU politicians and policymakers – they never cared much for us anyway – but by large parts of the media and EU “experts” who failed to see the dangers of a far-right Europe, played down the threat, or deliberately looked the other way. Even more painfully, many of our white friends and colleagues still cannot – or will not – understand that for us, all this is up close and personal, with a real impact on our mental health and daily lives.
Yet if they paid attention, they would see proof that racism is “pervasive and relentless” across Europe. Islamophobia is on the rise, as is antisemitism, both forms of racism exacerbated by the Israel-Gaza war. With the far right expected to hold even more power in the future and as the EU’s anti-racism action plan runs out of steam, such bigotry is going to get worse.
The fact that racism, discrimination and xenophobia are corroding European democracy from within, creating societal divisions and political polarisation, is rarely discussed in “Brussels so white”. Neither is the inconvenient truth that Europe’s centre-right and liberal politicians have openly or tacitly embraced the extremists’ political agenda and xenophobic view of the world.
It is a toxic view reflected in the EU’s new migration and asylum pact and Rwanda-style plans for sending refugees and migrants to third countries drawn up by the European People’s party, the political group that is home to Ursula von der Leyen, who is seeking a second five-year term as president of the European Commission.
Many EU governments have been clamping down on freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly of those who oppose the Israeli offensive in Gaza, prompting a warning from Amnesty International. The European Commission recently invited Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz – whose statements on Palestinians have been invoked at the international court of justice (ICJ) as proof of the Israeli government’s genocidal intent – as a virtual guest at a meeting attended by the commission’s vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, who is in charge of “protecting our European way of life”. Now we also have to worry about a “civilisational battle”. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, suggests that unlike other cultures, Europe has a “certain relationship with freedom, justice and knowledge”.
Any remaining doubts about Europe’s trajectory into once-forbidden far-right territory – or hopes that the drift could be magically derailed – should have been laid to rest by the formation of the new Dutch coalition by Geert Wilders. The “firebrand” populist may or may not act on his threat to close down all mosques and ban the Qur’an and the hijab. But he remains determinedly anti-Muslim in word and act.
I find hope in promises to construct a “cordon sanitaire” around newly elected far-right MEPs. But only on the left has there been clear reference to tackling systemic racism. What about also committing to making EU institutions more racially diverse and inclusive, and decolonising inward-looking and Eurocentric trade, aid and foreign policies? By ignoring such questions, many of these parliamentarians perpetuate the damaging disconnect between the predominantly white EU institutions and the reality of a vibrant, diverse and multicultural Europe.
Representation does not guarantee racial justice and we must be wary of diversity washing. Some of Europe’s most hardline anti-immigration politicians are not white. Wilders has Indonesian ancestry on his mother’s side, while his coalition partner, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, leader of the People’s party for Freedom and Democracy, was a former child refugee from Turkey. Yet it is still striking that Black and brown members represent only about 3% of the current European parliament, reflecting political parties’ reluctance to put people of colour on their lists for the European elections. This erodes the legitimacy of EU institutions and in turn creates a vicious circle.
The Dutch politician Mohammed Chahim, who is one of the few MEPs of colour, tells me that given the lack of representation and non-white role models in Brussels, many young, well-educated and adventurous Europeans of colour either set up their own businesses, go to London or New York, or opt for “more impactful” – and relatively more inclusive – national politics.
Dealing with the EU is a special challenge for European Muslims. The Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (Femyso), which brings together young people from across Europe, has not yet had a bilateral meeting with the European Commission’s new coordinator for combating anti-Muslim hatred, despite repeated requests. Femyso’s meeting with the EU commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, in 2021 was criticised by the French government over unfounded allegations of Femyso’s links with the Muslim Brotherhood, a charge the organisation strongly denies. Dealing with the so much conscious and unconscious bias requires “emotional resilience”, a young Muslim familiar with the Brussels bubble tells me.
Still, many have not given up. Many Black and brown friends as well as members of Femyso and Diaspora Vote say they are enthusiastic about voting in the elections because they see it as their duty and responsibility to be part of the discussion. Things could be even worse otherwise. Their argument is much more powerful and convincing than EU policymakers and politicians’ bland platitudes about the importance of showing up at the polling station.
Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs
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