Europe’s Next Immigration Crisis
The last decade has been a dangerous period for many of Western Europe’s new arrivals in Germany, England and France. We’ve heard about the fire bombings of immigrant hostels, racially motivated attacks in small German towns, immigrant riots on the streets of Britain and so on. Anti-immigrant feelings have also manifested themselves in semi-official expression with the election, or near election, of right-wing demagogues like Jörg Haider in Austria, Jean-Marie Le Pen in France or Pym Fortuyn in the Netherlands. In each case, a combination of three factors helps stoke anti-immigrant feelings: first, the total number of immigrants; second, the pace at which they come; and third, a sense of economic insecurity in the local population. Not surprisingly, the regions with the highest percentage of foreign-born residents are the most developed, namely North America (13 percent) and Europe (7.7 percent) – as people move where there is economic opportunity. And the gap between rich and poor countries is growing ever wider. According to the United Nations, in 1913 the richest countries on earth were 10 times wealthier than the poorest. In 2000, the difference was 71 times.
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