Curiously enough, many important and dramatic events this week have something to do with the American-Israeli alliance.
Jerusalem hosted its largest-ever political gathering during the World Holocaust Forum before the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday (1, 2, 3). It is important to remember what kind of horrors the all-engulfing hatred led to during the 1930s and later on. I haven’t visited Auschwitz, but I visited former Dachau concentration camp near Munich in November 2008 and that somber memory will stay with me the rest of my life.
We see again the rise of right-wing populism and extremism. Antisemitism has increased in many countries. However, just like during the 1930s, also many other ethnic, religious and other groups are targeted.
The OSCE ODIHR hate crimes data gives some idea of the nature and amount of hate crimes in various countries. Here are just some examples of the hate crimes statistics from year 2018 (4):
On the left hand side of the table you can see in brackets the total amount of hate crimes recorded by police in each country.
The hate crimes statistics don’t necessarily give the whole picture of the situation. For example, a large survey conducted by Citizens UK, a British umbrella organisation of faith and community groups, suggested that the huge amount of hate crimes in 2018 was just a tip of the iceberg (5). Famous political scientist Cas Mudde pointed out in 2018 that even though victims have reported hate crimes in USA, many law enforcement agencies haven’t necessarily classified them as hate crimes. Almost one in five law enforcement agencies didn’t submit any hate crime reports during years 2009-2014. The National Crime Victimization survey suggested that there may have been as many as 250 000 annual hate crimes in USA during years 2004-2015. (6, 7)
References:
1) “Jerusalem hosts largest-ever political gathering for Holocaust forum” The Guardian 22.1.2020
2) “World leaders gather for Holocaust commemoration, 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz” NBC News 23.1.2020
3) UNESCO – International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/holocaustremembranceday
4) OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Data 2018
5) “Hate crimes double in five years in England and Wales” The Guardian 15.10.2019
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/15/hate-crimes-double-england-wales
6) “Hate crimes are as American as apple pie” The Guardian 27.12.2018
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/27/hate-crimes-america-cas-mudde
7) “Hate Crime Victimization, 2004-2015” Bureau of Justice Statistics June 2017
IDIS Observer 