Racism in Europe on the EARS dashboard

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Racism in Europe on the EARS dashboard

Racism in Europe is still widespread. Visit the EARS dashboard to see how this theme relates to religion and other interesting topics.

The EARS dashboard

On the EARS dashboard, users can explore a variety of trends relating to religion and society in Europe. In the past year, our team of analysts issued over 2,000 summaries of major news items in the European media. The dashboard gives an overview of the frequency of themes, their relation to other topics, and their link to contemporary global developments.

Racism in Europe on the EARS dashboard

A recurring theme in both European societies and on the EARS dashboard is racism. As the timeline below shows, this theme regularly appears in news summaries issued by our team of analysts.

In the Venn diagram below, we see the five topics that most frequently coincided with the topic of racism in the past three months: tension, antisemitism, Islamophobia, ethnicity, and education.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia

Because EARS focuses on religion, trends relating to racism on the dashboard are often linked to antisemitism and Islamophobia. Antisemitism and Islamophobia can be understood as forms of racism that are associated with religion. Jews and Muslims experience violence and discrimination on account of both their religious background and their ethnicity.^[1]^{^[2]} The timeline below shows how frequently antisemitism and Islamophobia appeared on the dashboard in the past year.

Recent articles published by EARS discuss alarming trends surrounding antisemitism and Islamophobia. First of all, it is becoming increasingly clear that antisemitism in Europe is on the rise. For example, ideas of Holocaust denial and distortion are becoming more and more popular. Islamophobia is also a common point of discussion in the European media. Rasmus Paludan, a Danish-Swedish anti-Islam politician, has been causing tensions between Sweden and Turkey. On January 21st, he burned a Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. He performed this symbolic action to protest a lack of freedom of speech in Islam.

A similar incident occurred in the Netherlands, when anti-Islam activist Edwin Wagensveld destroyed a Quran in front of the building of the House of Representatives. The Turkish foreign ministry condemned the attack and spoke of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and discrimination.^[3] These examples illustrate that racism is a source of great tension.

Racism and education

According to a recent study, racism is also prevalent in Dutch secondary schools. It shows that in the past ten years, antisemitic expressions in the classroom have increased. Apart from this, the study shows that students regularly make remarks with anti-Islam connotations.^[4] To counter antisemitism in the classroom, the municipality of Amsterdam has set up a special support point for teachers. This offers them guidance and education materials on the subject of antisemitism.^[5] During a speech in the European Parliament, Israel’s President Yitzhak Herzog also emphasised the importance of education in countering antisemitism.^[6]

Education can be a powerful tool against racism. It can stimulate individuals to challenge stereotypes and biases. Apart from this, education can help people understand the historical roots of racism and discrimination. Seeing that antisemitism and Islamophobia are still widespread in Europe, European societies would benefit from more education on different forms of racism.

Learn more on the EARS dashboard

The EARS dashboard allows you to gain insights into many topics, including racism. It is a free tool that allows you to make connections like those described above, and to find out about relationships between interesting subjects across Europe. Please visit the dashboard to learn more.

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Want to learn more about similar topics? Explore the EARS Dashboard