Introduction

chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Discriminatory Violence as a Global Phenomenon

Prominent international bodies frequently report on discriminatory violence, based on such grounds as colour, association with a national minority, religion or sexual orientation, in various countries.1 This type of wrongful conduct is also popularly referred to as ‘hate crime’, meaning ‘violence directed toward groups of people who generally are not valued by the majority society, who suffer discrimination in other arenas, and who do not have full access to insti- tutions meant to remedy social, political and economic injustice’.2 In recent years, several events linked to discriminatory violence occurred that have had consequences reaching far beyond the territory of a single nation or continent. The global economic and humanitarian crisis caused an influx of migrants and refugees crossing into Europe. Violent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, as well as poverty in some other countries, incited individuals to travel to safer and more prosperous environments.3 Although these con- temporary migration patterns increased the diversity in European host countries, they simultaneously aroused hostility within some individuals toward

1 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ecri), Annual Report on ecri’s Activities Covering the Period from 1 January to 31 December 2012 (Council of Europe 2013) 7–9; European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (fra), Racism, Discrimination, Intolerance and Extremism: Learning from Experiences in Greece and Hungary (Publications Office of the European Union 2013); fra, Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia – With Special Attention to the Rights of Victims of Crime (Publications Office of the European Union 2013); Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Discrimination and Violence Against Individuals Based on Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Human Rights Council 2015); fra, Current Migration Situation in the eu: Hate Crime (Publications Office of the European Union 2016); fra, Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey. Main results (Publications Office of the European Union 2017). 2 Leslie Wolfe and Lois Copeland, ‘Violence Against Women as Bias-motivated Hate Crime: Defining the Issues in the usa’ in Miranda Davies (ed), Women and Violence (Zed Books 1994) 200, 201. 3 ‘Migrant Crisis: Migration to Europe Explained in Seven Charts’ bbc News (4 March 2016) accessed 30 January 2018.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | DOI 10.1163/9789004359857_ 002 2 CHAPTER 1 the ‘foreigner’ or the ‘other’.4 Hostility was – and still is – further intensified by far right Eurosceptic parties, including the French Front National, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Danish People’s Party and the Greek Golden Dawn. Frequently, they identify the ‘other’ as an individual who does not share the same values, ideas and principles as the indigenous population.5 Some of the extremists connected to those parties, most notably members and support- ers of the Golden Dawn, display their hostility by inflicting violence on individuals associated with a certain national or religious minority.6 In addition, the communications technology enhanced the proliferation of hate at the global level. The Internet offers platforms where right-wing extremists that are poles apart can propagate their ideologies, enter into dialogue and exchange ideas. Perry and Scrivens observe that white supremacists use the Internet as a site for expressing ‘white pride worldwide’ and for ‘the active construction of collective white identity’.7 On the Web, the white supremacists identify the ‘other’ as their common enemy and a threat to the ‘white’ morality, security, unity and stability.8 According to Perry and Scrivens these ‘otherwise diverse nationalists pledge a more profound allegiance to the mythic white nation, wherein nationality comes to be defined not by state, geography, or citizenship, but by race’.9 Such cross-border nationalism has the potential of inciting violence against certain groups.10 Several international bodies already took the first steps to recognise, mea- sure and address the phenomenon of discriminatory violence.11 Schweppe and

4 Barbara Perry, ‘Counting – and Countering – Hate Crime in Europe’ (2010) 18 Eur J Crime Crim L & Crim Just 349. 5 Daphne Halikiopoulou and Sofia Vasilopoulou, ‘Support for the Far Right in the 2014 European Parliament Elections: A Comparative Perspective’ (2014) 85 pq 285. 6 Lena Karamanidou, ‘Violence Against Migrants in Greece: Beyond the Golden Dawn’ (2016) 39 Ethnic and Racial Studies 2002. 7 Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens, ‘White Pride Worldwide: Constructing Global Identities Online’ in Jennifer Schweppe and Mark Austin Walters (eds), The Globalization of Hate. Internationalizing Hate Crime? (oup 2016) 65. 8 ibid 70. 9 ibid 73. 10 Arnold provides a concrete example in this regard. He mentions a special Russian forum on an international skinhead ‘Stormfront’ website and refers to the availability of evi- dence which demonstrates that such ‘transnational racism motivates systematic violent racism in Russia’ (Richard Arnold, ‘Systematic Racist Violence in Russia Between “Hate Crime” and “Ethnic Conflict” ’ (2015) 19 Theoretical Criminology 239, 249). 11 Nathan Hall and others, ‘Introduction’ in Nathan Hall and others (eds), The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime (Routledge 2015) 1, 1–3.