It feels like every second day we awake to yet another European country making an attempt to teleport to 1939, you know, a time when bigotry was the in-thing. Spain, a country that last saw far-right fanaticism during the civil war has sadly taken a turn for the worst. In Sunday's general election, the political party Vox (mission statement: hatred towards feminism, multiculturalism and migration) gained 10.3% of the vote, good for 24 seats. This led to them becoming the first far-right party since 1975 to enter parliament. On the flip-side there was a shining light to balance the hatred, Luc André Diouf (fluent in six languages) became the first person of Senegalese decent to be elected. The Socialists held on to win their third election in four years, although not enough to govern outright as per European tradition. Current Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez will most probably end up cobbling together another coalition.
In 2019 there are way too many European nations giving voice to ideals that should have been cleansed from European souls at the end of WWII. Just one seat in parliament for a party promoting hared is one too many. This is an epidemic infecting even the more open-minded parts of Europe, from Sweden's decent into darkness (see 9/1/18 post) recent elections that saw True Finns (aka diversity is a disease) coming second in Finland and EKRE (nationalist Estonian party) being part of the ruling coalition. Spain is the recent inductee into this sad club, long known as being the most immigrant friendly of the southern Europeans is now trying to undo its reputation.
The irony of this situation is that whenever Islam is mention these European bigots are the first to denounce the backward views that they believe Islam impresses on their followers, yet they themselves advertise their xenophobic credentials to appease voters. Yo all my European readers, next time you enter a voting booth make sure you vote against hypocrisy, do you really want to vote for parties that spew hatred towards the LGBT community, then in the next breath they harp on about Islam being not allowing freedom of expression.
Spain has always been a diverse nation, 17 relatively autonomous regions all united by a Kingdom. My apologies to Catalonia and Basque Country, I understand the monarchy is an utter disgrace and the nation should be broken up to represent the distinct regions. It's because of this that Spaniards as a whole have been more open to difference than many other Europeans, let's hope Spain gets back to be known as a bastion for openness to go with their other claim to fame (no, not great weather and olive oil), life expectancy for both sexes among the highest in the world.
Europeans are making a mess of being an inclusive society, in other words, they're making Americans look good. To my fellow earthlings of the European variety: stop losing sleep over U.S. politics and start opening your minds to your continent taking a deep dive into medieval times, and I'm not referring to architecture.
In 2019 there are way too many European nations giving voice to ideals that should have been cleansed from European souls at the end of WWII. Just one seat in parliament for a party promoting hared is one too many. This is an epidemic infecting even the more open-minded parts of Europe, from Sweden's decent into darkness (see 9/1/18 post) recent elections that saw True Finns (aka diversity is a disease) coming second in Finland and EKRE (nationalist Estonian party) being part of the ruling coalition. Spain is the recent inductee into this sad club, long known as being the most immigrant friendly of the southern Europeans is now trying to undo its reputation.
The irony of this situation is that whenever Islam is mention these European bigots are the first to denounce the backward views that they believe Islam impresses on their followers, yet they themselves advertise their xenophobic credentials to appease voters. Yo all my European readers, next time you enter a voting booth make sure you vote against hypocrisy, do you really want to vote for parties that spew hatred towards the LGBT community, then in the next breath they harp on about Islam being not allowing freedom of expression.
Spain has always been a diverse nation, 17 relatively autonomous regions all united by a Kingdom. My apologies to Catalonia and Basque Country, I understand the monarchy is an utter disgrace and the nation should be broken up to represent the distinct regions. It's because of this that Spaniards as a whole have been more open to difference than many other Europeans, let's hope Spain gets back to be known as a bastion for openness to go with their other claim to fame (no, not great weather and olive oil), life expectancy for both sexes among the highest in the world.
Europeans are making a mess of being an inclusive society, in other words, they're making Americans look good. To my fellow earthlings of the European variety: stop losing sleep over U.S. politics and start opening your minds to your continent taking a deep dive into medieval times, and I'm not referring to architecture.
