The Economist - USA (2020-08-08)

38 Europe TheEconomistAugust 8th 2020

2 fers fromsystemicbut notinstitutional

racism.Nooneknewwhathemeant.

Thereismoretoinstitutionalracism

thanpolicing.InmostEuropeancountries

somegroupswithimmigrantbackgrounds

doworseinschoolthanwhitenatives.Ex-

amsrelyingheavilyonlanguageproficien-

cyoftensplitstudentsintouniversity-or

vocational-trackeducationbytheageof12.

Residentialsegregationoccurspartlybe-

causeimmigrantsaresteeredintopublic

housingandpartlybecauseofdiscrimina-

tion.Inonestudy95%ofcallerswithna-

tiveGermanaccentsgotappointmentsto

viewhousesina wealthyneighbourhood

of Bremen,whereasonly24%of callers

withTurkishaccentsdid.

Thenthereisemploymentdiscrimina-

tion.A Dutchstudyin 2018 thatresponded

tojoblistingswithimaginaryrésumés,va-

ryingonlytheirethnicity,foundthatficti-

tiousapplicantswithnon-Westernimmi-

grant backgrounds got 30% fewer

invitations to interviews than native

whites.Depressingly, a similarstudyin

1977 gotaboutthesameresult.Inthesame

vein,in 2019 theDutchtaxauthoritywas

found to have withheld child benefits

wrongfullyfromsome11,000parents,most

with non-Western immigrant back-

grounds,overbaselesssuspicionsoffraud.

Manywerefinanciallyruinedandthegov-

ernmentwillpay them€500m($590m),

buttheauthoritywasexoneratedofracism

becauseit hadselectedthemonthebasisof

dualnationality.

Thosewhothinktermslikeinstitution-

alracismfitAmericabutnotEuropemake

somegoodpoints.Ofthe1.5mconvictsin

American prisons in 2018, a thirdwere

black,nearlytrebletheblackshareofthe

population. It is uncertain how skewed

FrenchandGermanlawenforcementare

(sinceethnicdataarescarce),butoverall

theyshootandjailpeopleatlessthana

fifthAmerica’srate,sothedamageisless

grave.EveninsegregatedEuropeancities

likeParis,nogroupapproachesthedegree

ofsegregationofblacksinAmericancities.

Europe’sgenerouswelfarestatesalsohelp

tosmoothoutracialdisparities.Moresub-

tly,“BlackLivesMatter”takesona different

flavourincountrieswhereAfricanandCa-

ribbeanminorities(oftenformercolonial

subjects)arepartof afluidhierarchyof

groupsofcolour.Whereastheincomegap

betweenblack andwhiteAmericanshas

grown since 2000, all Dutch minority

groupsarecatchingup,if slowly.

Noneofthaterasestherealityofdis-

criminationinEurope.Indeed,MsGargard

says,tobelittlethenewvocabularyofrac-

ismasanill-fittingAmericanimportisto

dodgeresponsibility:“It’sbeendifficultto

talkaboutracisminEuropeancountries

becauseweliketopretendwearetolerant,

andthatracismissomethingthathappens

intheUnitedStates.” 7

T

urkey’spresident,RecepTayyipEr-

dogan,hasalreadyneuteredthetradi-

tionalmedia,putting criticaljournalists

out of work or behind bars and using

friendlytycoonstotakeoverthecountry’s

topnewspapersandnewschannels.Now

hehastakenaimattheinternet.

Hislatest assault came onJuly 29th

whenparliamentadopteda lawdesigned

toforcesocial-mediagiantstocomplywith

Turkish requests to remove content.

Henceforth, companies such as Twitter

andFacebook willhaveto appointlocal

representativesto processsuchrequests

within 48 hours.Thosewhodonotcomply

willfacebansonadvertising,finesofupto

$6m,andeventuallybandwidthcutsofup

to90%,whichwouldmakethemunusable.

Thegovernmentsaysthelawwillpro-

tectsocial-mediausersfromabuseanddis-

information.Criticssayitwillbecomea

powerfulcensorshiptool.Turkeyalready

blocksatleast400,000websites,saysa re-

portbytheFreedomofExpressionAssocia-

tion,a rightsgroup,andchurnsoutmore

Twitter and Reddit content-removal re-

queststhananyothercountry.Armedwith

thenewrulesanda pliantcourtsystem,the

governmentwillleanevenharderonsuch

companiestotakedownpoliticallyincon-

venientmaterial,includingoldposts,says

Yaman Akdeniz, a lawyer.“Articles will

vanishfrom archives,”hewarns.“Theywill

tryto deletethepast.”

Othersareworriedaboutprovisionsre-

quiringuserdatatobestoredlocally.“The

lawsaysthegovernmentcanaccessthese

dataonlywhentheyconcerna crimeora

national-securityissueorsimilarreasons,”

saysAhmetSabanci,a techwriter,“butin

Turkeythesekindsoflawsarebenteasily.”

Withmostofthemainstreampressin

TurkeynowinthehandsofMrErdogan’s

alliesorbusinessmenwhodependonhis

governmentforlargecontracts,socialme-

diahavebeena sanctuaryfordissent.Po-

licearenowburstingintothatsanctuary.

Overthepastthreeyears,hundredsofpeo-

plehavebeendetainedforcriticisingTurk-

ishmilitaryoffensivesagainstKurdishin-

surgents in Syria. Dozens have been

investigatedonchargesofattemptingto

“destabilise the economy” with their

tweets.Wheretargetedbansdonotsuffice,

thegovernmentusesblanketones.Wiki-

pediawasbannedbetween 2017 andthis

January.“I’malotmorenervous,”saysa

popularTwittercommentator,preferring

nottobenamed.“Ifeellikethefroginthe

panwhenthewaterisstartingtoboil.”

Forthethin-skinnedMrErdogan,the

motivationseemstobeatleastpartlyper-

sonal. Tens of thousands of cases have

beenopenedagainstpeopleaccusedof“in-

sulting”Turkey’sleader,mostlyonsocial

media.(Theseinclude auser whocom-

paredMrErdogantoGollum,a power-wor-

shippingimp.)Atleast11 weredetainedon

July1stforpostingcrudecommentsabout

thepresident’sdaughter andhisson-in-

law,Turkey’s financeminister, afterthe

birthoftheirnewchild.“Thisiswhywe

shouldbringthistoourparliament,”a furi-

ousMrErdogansaid,“toremovetheseso-

cial-medianetworkscompletely,tocontrol

them.”Heseemstomeanit. 7

ISTANBUL

PresidentRecepTayyipErdogangoes

aftersocialmedia

Tu r ke y

Sultanof

censorship

Just two years after its famous bridge suddenly collapsed, killing 43 people, the Italian

city of Genoa inaugurated a sleek new replacement in the presence of the country’s

president and prime minister, as well as an air-force flypast. The feat of engineering was

impressive. But many of the victims’ relatives stayed away, objecting that the tragedy

had been turned into a carnival.

Genoa bridge reopens