Immigrants and Fear of Terrorism and Fewer Job Opportunities
Hafizullah Saeedi
11/20/2017
The recent huge flow of refugees in Europe, and in the meanwhile the attacks in Paris, Brussels and London have caused some socio-political problems for the Europe which have led to political conflicts between the member states of the European Union. United Kingdom exited the European Union of which one of the particular reasons were the issue of immigrant conflict whether to be allowed to live in European Union member states or no, they should be sent back to their home lands. However, relevant to those terrorist attacks in Europe, in accordance with the European nations they believe that the huge influx of refugees has increased the likelihood of terrorism in their countries. In this paper, I would analyze the reasons why the refugees are being hated, blamed as the causes of terrorism and decreasing the job opportunities in the labor market.
Talking about the actual usefulness and harmfulness of the refugees particularly that of Muslims in the civilized society of Europe, there are states which agree with the fact that refugees are really taking their jobs and have caused the attacks. Countries like, Sweden and Germany are the only countries where at least half say refugees make their nation stronger because of their work and talents. For instance, within those who are immigrating to Europe, not all of them are absolutely useless and with no skill. The problem with them entering another state is the security issue. Other than that, they could have had their own businesses and jobs back in their homeland. According to the few European societies, the refugees can rather promote the economy and the create jobs as far as the more population a state has the more jobs and production are demanded from the labor market. However, Hungarians, Poles, Greeks, Italians and French identify the Fear of Muslims and that they occupy their jobs as their greatest concern. The majority of the people in these countries are against the Muslims basically due to both facts, that they are causing terrorism and that they take their jobs.
Majority of the refugees and immigrant to Europe are coming from a Muslim background from countries such as Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan. This given, with the involvement of some of those Muslims already living in those European countries in extremist activities and attacks. Most of the European states, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Greece, more than six-in-ten say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Muslims in their country.[1] One of the major causes of this fact is the issue of cultural integration. For some Europeans, negative attitudes toward Muslims are tied to a belief that Muslims do not wish to participate in the broader society, they do not tend and do not try to get adapted with the new culture in the second country. For instance, some Shia Muslim Afghans who have already lived in some European countries for fair enough period of time, still have not left their tradition superstitious and traditional acts and thoughts, such as getting out of home on particular days of the home and biting on their heads with small knives for the sake of happiness of grandson of Prophet Mohammad. Now, this given, in every country polled, the dominant view is that Muslims want to be distinct from the rest of society rather than adopt the nation’s customs and way of life. Six-in-ten or more hold this view in Greece, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Germany. [2] However, researches such as that in the graph below show that Muslims do change and can get adapted with the new culture, but it takes them long. This has led to the percentage saying that Muslims want to remain distinct has actually declined since 2005 in four out of five countries where trend data are available. The biggest drop has been in Germany, where the share of the public expressing this view has declined from 88% to 61%.
In conclusion, the huge influx of immigration and refugees in Europe has created major problems such as Fear of Muslims and immigrants as the terrorists and losing jobs in most of the European states. One of the negative impacts of the immigration problems has been the exit of EU’s state member from the EU since some of them have had tolerant and flexible policies towards the immigrants and Muslims such as, Sweden and Germany too to some extent. However, states such as Italy, Poland and Hungary believe that Muslim Immigrants cannot integrate in new cultures, and they try to be distinct and keep their own values and follow certain disciplines as they have done in their homelands.
References,
- Richard Wike, Bruce Stokes, and Katie Simmons, Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs, 2016. http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/07/11/europeans-fear-wave-of-refugees-will-mean-more-terrorism-fewer-jobs/
- https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/immigration-and-terrorism-are-europeans-biggest-fears/
- http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/22/the-immigration-crisis-is-tearing-europe-apart/
- https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/02/20/commentary/world-commentary/europes-fear-muslims-runs-deep/#.WhMI51WWbIV
[1] Richard Wike, Bruce Stokes, and Katie Simmons, Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs, 2016.
[2] Richard Wike, Bruce Stokes, and Katie Simmons, Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs, 2016.
