What are the Europeans Thinking?

Perhaps if I was back in the States at school, I wouldn't be paying much attention to the whole European Union/Lisbon Treaty situation at hand. I'd probably shrug it off and worry about it when it came time to write an exam in one of my International Relations classes. 

But being in London, England, every time I open a paper, whether it be the Times or The Guardian, I am constantly being reminded of the eery presence of a United States of Europe.

So Vaclav Klaus is weary of the Lisbon Treaty and has been holding out on signing it, even though the Czech courts today stated that they would be go along with ratifying it. But has anyone stopped to wonder, why is Klaus a euro-skeptic? Why is Britain for the most part, a Euro-skeptic nation? Why have Denmark and Norway ( we don't even need to mention Switzerland) opted out of certain aspects of the E.U all together? 

Something doesn't add up - that nonsense that we are sold about the E.U being a foundation to integrate Europe to stop future wars and create peace does not hold up. A Social Charter filled with hot air promises and undemocratically elected MEPs and Commissioners should warn people, particularly Europeans, that the E.U is not going to be a glorious utopia that is assumed.

Yes, I am a Euro-Skeptic and proud of it. Is it wrong that I value nation-state's sovereignties and worry about what would happen when ONE president rules over a state consisting of 27 vastly different countries with plural cultures? 

My main question is - why has there been a sudden rush to ratify this Lisbon Treaty? What exactly is Europe rushing towards? Since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, nation-states in Europe have had their own leaders. Why now is there a sort of time bomb where we must rush towards a European president and a European foreign policy? It all seems a bit suspicious. Many Europeans, as evidenced in Eurobarometer polls, are also very skeptical of this bizarre supranational entity. 

If David Cameron had a referendum in the U.K, he would see that the British people for the most part do not want anything to do with the E.U. Some go so far as to say they should pull out of it all together. I believe that Britain is so far gone and integrated into the whole scheme that is not even possible for that any longer, but they do need to loosen ties. An E.U as a state means the centuries old Parliament and other British institutions will become obsolete. 

Instead of looking to London for issues of concern in Yorkshire or Aberdeen, you'll be looking to Brussels for guidance by some bureaucratic minister who might not even have an association with the British Isles. 

I'm no Conservative and definitely, for obvious reasons, not a part of any fascist parties or principles, but their Euro-Skeptic arguments hold up to a certain extent. One Polish fascist party leader warned of the E.U turning into a neo-totalitarian state. Can anyone say '1984'? George Orwell got it right almost 60 years ago and he did not even know it.

Before we know it, the monarch and the sterling pound will be extinct and Brits and Europeans alike will be afraid of "double think" and have to pledge allegiance to some sort of fabricated Oceania. Meanwhile, I'll be sitting back in liberated North America shaking my head saying, " I told you so."

V.K.L

Black In Italy: The New Struggle

 I’d never been to Italy but I’d heard stories of how marvelous and beautiful the country was. The Italians, I’d been told, were very hospitable. And so they seemed until I detected rude glances when walking into stores and was met with not so receptive customer service from time to time while on a week long sojourn in the country.

My experiences left me wondering, if I was here as a tourist and at times felt objectified, what was life like for the several hundred thousand Blacks who are forced to call here “home” and don’t have the option to leave?

I had noticed them, dejected men sitting on sidewalks, attempting to sell fake designer handbags and useless toys for a living or women on street corners at night, in heavy makeup. What was their story and why were they so invisible?

Waiting for a bus to Treviso Airport in Venice, I was kindly nudged by a lone Nigerian man standing at the bus stop with me. He was eager to talk to me. What started out as me recapping my Italian vacation turned into a conversation about his day to day struggle as a Black man in Treviso, which he claimed was one of the most racist communities in the country. Being a Black man in Italy, he summarized for me, meant being stared at as if one was an animal at the zoo and being denied proper service.

This man, named Maxwell, had left Nigeria two years ago and came to Italy with a bachelors’ degree in finance and dreams of a better life.  But his life had turned out to be more sour than sweet.

“I hate it here,” he said. “I want to leave to go to England or America, that is my ultimate dream.”

Maxwell had dragged himself to Treviso via Torino, Vicenza and Firenze in search of work dealing with fabric making. He lives in a cramped apartment with several other migrant roommates because his wages are so low and no one, he said, wants to rent to Blacks.  He said he could never get settled in Italy and did not wish to, especially if young children were in the picture.

“What’s there for them?” he asked me. “There’s nothing here for these little black children.”

Another Nigerian man I had met, Simon Nino-Brown, voiced the same opinion. Unlike Maxwell, however, he had young children.

“I want to get them out of Italy to go to London,” he said.

Simon’s situation was different from Maxwell’s in many respects. Simon, who had studied at university in Italy, majored in sociology when he first arrived at the age of 20. After his visa ran out, and not wanting to return to a country he claimed “mismanaged its resources”, he stayed on in Italy.

Without anyone to turn to or any employment, he was homeless for almost two years. He said his family did not believe that his situation was so bad. Without proper documentation, he was unable to find work. Then, miraculously, Simon was able to receive documents after having been in the country for three years. Once he became a resident, he started to do odd, menial jobs.

Ten years later, even with the successes of owning his own property in Treviso and starting a family, Simon believes that there is more to life than what is in Italy.

“It’s so myopic”, he said. “I feel like I am wasting away here. I am overqualified to be a truck driver.”

He believes that the oppression Blacks face in Italy is as a result of ignorance.

“It’s the ones who are not educated that make racial slurs and stare at you. Those who are educated are more willing to have a conversation with you,” he said.

Simon, who I had met at Treviso Airport, was on his way to Liverpool in the United Kingdom to visit his cousin. He, like Maxwell, held the United Kingdom in high esteem and desired to move there. They both cited their proficient English skills and the anti-discrimination laws in effect in the U.K as major factors for them to relocate. In Italy, Simon said, Blacks had no support.

“We protest, but we have no voice. We are treated like second class citizens,” he said.

According to a report done by NPR earlier this year, Italy is home to between four to five million immigrants, a large majority of that coming from Africa. Moroccans, Libyans and Tunisians make up a significant proportion but are labeled “Arab.” Sub-Saharan African immigrants are the “Blacks” and of the ones I spoke to, most said they only migrated to Italy because of its easy immigration process. Many of them share the same sentiments as Simon and Maxwell.

“Even the ones who have been here for twenty to thirty years and have attempted to assimilate, still feel some intimidation,” Simon said.

For both him and Maxwell, the United Kingdom, the U.S and Canada seem like the lands of milk and honey. When I tried to explain to them that life wasn’t as glamorous for Blacks in these countries as they believed, they both scoffed at me.

“In Italy,” Maxwell said. “It’s not about living. It’s about surviving.”

Simon’s younger brother is desperate to leave Nigeria and wishes to join him in Italy. As a protective older brother who doesn’t want his little brother to suffer the way he did, he objects.

“I keep telling him no, but as they say, he thinks the grass is greener on the other side,” he said.

Simon and Maxwell are just two of over a million Blacks in a country where they feel that they cannot call “home.” And maybe they are right. Even outside of my hostel in Rome, there was racist graffiti sprayed on the walls. It will take awhile before these Blacks can gain footing in Italy, but signs of progress being made with the election of Italy’s first Black Member of Parliament, Cameroon-born Jean-Leonard Touardi in 2008.

Perhaps things will be better for second-generation Italian Blacks, like Simon’s children. Only time will tell. 

V.K.L

My First Post...the Day the BNP Came to Town

So this is my first blog post, after having been in London for almost two months now. What was meant to be just a fun "study abroad" semester has turned into a life changing, eye opening experience for me. The UK is not what it seems to the outsider whose never been - especially those who come from it's Commonwealth countries. 

Growing up, I had always been aware of the National Front in France, seeing reports on the party's leader, Jean Marie LePen, back at home on CBC was my first glimpse at the racial undercurrents that exist in France. However, it wasn't until I watched "This is England"(2006) the Brit film about a boy who falls into a group of skinheads that I became aware of a similar force in the UK.

It seems to me that the last two weeks, the British media has gone through a slight "BNP witch hunt". All week in various newspapers, there were reports on a list of BNP members and where they are concentrated throughout the country. I was thoroughly shocked to see that it did have such a large following, especially in various areas in the North of England.

It's not hard to understand what drives the white working-class to seek comfort in these party memberships. Their "Englishness" is probably one of the only things they probably feel that they have left. Immigration has changed the face of England, for better, in my opinion, but to many, the country was better off lily-white. Immigrants apparently "take all of their jobs" and push them to the marginal of a society that they believe is inherently theirs. 

Tonight, as British National Party leader Nick Griffin appeared on the BBC Question Time Tonight, I was completely taken aback by his arrogance. He obviously could speak as he wished because he does have a huge following.  He did not even try to convey the "PR version" of himself as Baroness Sayeeda Warsi pointed out. He was very direct, going so far as to back up his views on Winston Churchill being a likely BNP member, had he still been alive. 

I commend the BBC for exposing the extreme-right wing's views. It is, as the organisation said earlier, their duty to be "impartial."

I also commend the men and women of all races and ages that protested the BNP leader's presence on the television programme. All week long it had been anticipated. As I was coming home on the Tube, I noticed some teenagers, possibly around 16 years old, of all ethnic groups, wearing t-shirts and signs that condemned the BNP. It was a very uplifting moment, seeing these youth start out so young to voice what they believe in. 

I'll return next week with a second post after my break in Italy.

V.K.L

Check out a few minutes of Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC Question Time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8321566.stm