It is said that in the wake of Sept. 11, Western public opinion has become more xenophobic, in particular more anti-Muslim and more anti-Arab. Conversely, it is also said that Muslims and Arabs have become more anti-Western.
There are undoubtedly people in certain Muslim countries who for a variety of reasons — mainly, but not wholly, because of US support for Israel — are anti-American and anti-Western. But there is no evidence to show that their number has grown since Sept. 11. Just because they now shout much louder or are given greater media exposure should not be taken to indicate that there are more of them than before or that they are more representative of public opinion.
In the case of the West, however, there are verifiable indications of a hardening of attitudes. There have now been two general elections since Sept. 11 in countries that most people would define as the West: in Australia and in Denmark. Both saw a swing to the right and in both, immigration was a major issue — indeed, the major issue. In Australia it was the boat people — mainly refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq. In Denmark, refugees were also an issue, with the victorious center-right Liberals promising to tighten controls on immigration.
The question this raises in the Arab and Muslim minds is whether these snapshots of public opinion in Australia and Denmark say something about public opinion as a whole in the West. If there were elections in the UK and in France, for example, would there be a similar shift to the right? Or do they simply reflect attitudes in the two countries concerned?
Both have a strong “nationalist” bent. The Danes, who despite giving more aid per capita than any other nation in the world to developing countries, are greatly attached to their national identity; it is no coincidence that they voted against replacing the krone with the euro. Yet, less than 5 percent of Denmark’s 5.3 million population are foreigners; the figure is lower than in many European countries.
The Australians almost take pride in their bullishness toward anyone not from down under — a strange attitude for a country made up largely of descendants of immigrants where the indigenous people are still regarded by many as second-class citizens. The question is whether there is more chauvinism and bigotry since Sept. 11 than before. Perhaps not. Nearly two years ago, John Howard, Australia’s now re-elected prime minister, dropped plans for a formal reconciliation between the native Aborigines and white Australians; he was banging the drum about immigration well before Sept 11.
Just as there has been greater focus on anti-Western views in countries like Pakistan, it may be that right-wing views in Denmark and Australia are no greater than they were before Sept. 11, rather that there has been greater focus on them and it has brought right-wing voters out in larger numbers. It is a more palatable explanation than that racism is growing. But if it is growing, then the role played by global recession, rather than sheer bigotry, ought to be addressed. Malaysia has, for example, just deported 2,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants, on top of the tens of thousands of others already deported this year — and for sound economic reasons. If a Western country were to do the same, the screams of condemnation would be deafening.
