Ima Freeman

As many of the European citizens here know, and I guess others as well to varying degrees, the main European nations had an influx of Eastern and African people over the last decades. Off course, there are always certain migration flows happening, but I’m referring specifically to the ones stemming from culturally islamic regions, like Turkey, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Afgahnistan,…. Over the last decade especially, there is an undeniable shift in the cultural background of the populous. You can see this starkly in children and adolescents, in the composition of school classes. Culture is changing, beginning at the young people. It is seen at how the clothe, how they speak, how their worldview is composed. I see black dressed youngsters walking around saying islamic phrases and stuff like “I fuck your mother”, etc Now to my personal situation. Recently I felt good and had a walk around my neighborhood. I wanted to project love onto my surroundings, seeing the beauty, appreciating the world. It went kinda well until I came up to a group of boys (12-16 years old I guess). They clearly had migration background, and my appreciation recoiled. I could not love them. As time goes by, I encountered so many instances (in my surroundings and beyond) of young migrant and migrant background men doing violence, sexual harassment, vandalism, showing islamistic worldview, not appreciating this culture that took them up and in which they grow up. I’m sure people here in the forum encountered their share of experiences with “new Europeans” At this point I can’t help but notice how the progress of Europe is slowly declining, immigrants are pulling societies down the spiral into more blue and red. Off course, these are humans, with basically the same fundamental fears and aspirations as other humans. I don’t want to deny that. But as I said, damage has been done and decline will be a product. Many are unwilling of integrating, they remain in parallel societies and this has the potential of turning European nations into authoritarian fascist states and making self-actualizing and development far more difficult. On a final note, yes, I’m aware of colonization, US-European wars in the middle East, European economic control of third world countries, Europe's problem with their own demographics, the global state of the world, the imaginarity of borders, liberal stage orange and lovey dovey, naive stage green. I have a problem of hating this new culture emerging in Europe. Maybe some of you want to share their personal perspective or maybe give me some advice on how I can handle my own personal problem.

Look, we can have the debate about this issue for ever basically In the end, this anti-imperialist ideology will bring you only so far There are some groups that have a lot of power, but that does not eliminate weaker group's responsibility for how they treat each other You gotta see that everyone plays their part and has their own responsibility In playing the victim card too much, you actually take the power from the weak

Well, time for you to become more awake then

Better to be honest and work on yourself than to kid around all the time

And you seem to be the forum troll

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@Schahin On your geopolitical views, I agree to much you say, but I think it is still a too simplicistic, ideologic position. Yes, the EU bought energy resources from Russia, but they buy technology from the US and commotities from China as well. That's global trade. It's the capitalistic rat race. Nobody wants to give up their chance to have competitive edge. And if you want energy, that means buying the cheapest energy on the market. That does not mean the EU is directly funding and supporting Russia's aggressive military expansion. And do not forget how the war started, through the Arab spring. Protesters went to the street, the government squashed them and it came to a civil war. Syria was mainly destroyed by Syrians themselves (Syrian Army, Free Syrian Army, Jihadists, ISIS). You make it seem like an western invasion, when it was not.

@Schahin Thank you for sharing. Sounds like you went through a lot of pain, not being accepted as a fellow citizen by your surroundings.

Hey @Schahin , I'm interested in seeing the other side as well. Which region did your parents come from? What was your experience growing up, how was the atmosphere from the standpoint of someone with migration background? And where did you experience overt racism? I would also be interested in your view, how the culture changed in the last decade.

Difference is, you have to deal with your own criminals, but you can limit criminals being imported. Never did I say that all migrants are violent, but a disproportionate number of them turn out to do crimes and violent behaviour. I laid out my prejudice in my original post and I want to change generalizing migrants, that's what is important to me. I met some Syrians, Kurds, Africans, etc. who I vibed well with and who in my eyes are well developed. Maybe it is the classic conflict between rich and poor, less so between cultures, that I'm feeling.

The geopolitical games the US and Soviet Union/Russia played in the Middle East caused a lot of damage for sure. It's really complicated if you think about it. They countered themselves to ensure the balance of power. Sadly for the Middle East, they are in the middle of it all and had weak political systems due to colonization, that is just truth. While Iraq was invaded by the US and some European militaries (France opposed that btw), Syria for example was mainly a battle between internal actors (with some influence by outside countries). So, it is not so easy as to always criticize the Europeans. These societies have to find their own way, as Europeans did themselves. The Middle Easterners are responsible for how they act as well. Don't always play the victim card. Back to the original theme: Geopolitical turmoil does not justify migrants behaving poorly in Europe. It is a systemic problem, yes. But individuals are responsible for their actions and should be held accountable.

In Europe mostly neoliberal and social democratic parties are responsible for the incompetency of handling miass migration and subsequent integration. There ways of thinking worked well in the past, but in today's world, where you have a huge influx of migrants from lesser developed societies, it shows it's inadequacies. Consider which kind of migrants enter Europe and which Canada. Europe was swarmed by poor, desperate people, risking their lives by crossing oceans and walking 1000s of miles. In Canada, I guess, more wealthy, developed migrants enter by plane.

Europeans did enormous damage to other societies, no doubt about that. Is this an example of racism you want to give me? That is really a shame in my eyes. I guess this is due to feelings of guilt and weapon sales revenues. European countries depend a lot on migrants for doing hard, dirty, low pay and, assistent work. The economy would re-adapt without them of course, as it adapted to them in the first place. There would be shortages, but no collapse. I don't see a problem with honest, diligent and morally developed migrants being part of society. That's not my point. Read my post again. Do you want to live in such a shameful country?

Yes, some immigrant groups cause crimes disproportionately. In Germany it is 5 times the quota of native Germans. You can read it in the official reports the German police releases anually. Especially people of the Maghreb states (Algeria, Libya, Morocco und Tunesia) have one of the highest rates. And heavy crimes are rising. In the example of Germany in 2014 there where 456 cases of sexual coercions and rape from immigrant suspects. In 2025 this number rose to 1370. The numbers for bodily harm through assault are 26.694 in 2015 to 55.366 in 2026. Think of all the terror attacks that happend. Terrorists running around with AK47s mowing down innocent people, running through crowds with cars, stabbing people in broad daylight. You have to be willfully ignorant to not notice that. Anecdotes of my life: In my hometown, which has like 7k inhabitants, two Syrians deliberately set fire to the barbershop they ran in a multistory building. The building set ablaze and a family of eight living above had to break through a wall to escape it alive. My dad was in a pub once when a islamic terrorist did a shooting spree in the same neighborhood killing several people. He heard the gunshots outside while it happened.

Mhm, I agree mostly. My personal attitude is mostly stage green, which dislikes violence and macho behavior. And I see this mostly in certain groups of people. I'm not a nationalist at all. I don't give a damn about flags, the nation and customs. But cultural progress is something I don't want to see degrading. I feel like Europe already is over-capacity and shouldn't take many more migrants. There should be efforts to assimilate already naturalized migrants and hardly hand out any new passports, as well as sending people with expired asylums back, if their country is stable. On the political part: How to regulate, if you see that certain groups of immigrants cause disproportionate damage to a society? What to do with criminal asylum seekers from failed state countries?

There's truth to that. And I see that my judgement is superficial. I don't have the same reaction if I see, or better hear, Ukrainian immigrants. They are morally further developed. Sadly, I have seen quite some trouble with people coming from the south (gangs, violence, vandalism, littering, rape, unwillingness to integrate) You gotta admit that there a huge problems with that.

Any more practical ideas on how not to turn into this kinda guy...

Nations are definitely more than governed areas. But modern countries are moving away from it towards non-ethnic states, which btw the USA was founded as, if I remember correctly. Maybe an analogy: Imagine working in a company, where parts of your office speak other languages, they flock together and make secret arrangements, some steal from the coffee kitchen, inventory, etc, and the company policy is that it is ok, as long as enough money is being made this year. Honestly, I think that governments in Europe welcome immigrants, because they need them to make up for the low birth rates, for demographic decline. You need people to work the minimum wage, dirty and blue collar jobs. Maybe that is the neoliberal rational for opening up to mass-immigration, to keep the economy floating.

How so?

Compared to Jews in 1930s Germany, the migrants and migrant background population is on a way bigger scale and actually has an substantial influence on the cultural development. It is not just a red herring. Immigration and late stage capitalism are both serious issues on their own.

This is hard to do if millions of people, often without legal identity, migrate into another continent. And that's exactly what European right wing parties do, in central Europe at least. The practical question law makers are faced right now is how to move rejected or criminal asylum seekers back into their origin countries.

Definitely, noticing what connects us is very important in harmonizing my view. But that sentence is just too ironic...

Not sure about that. Second generations definitely don't want to move anywhere. They way conflicts and climate change is developing, who knows how many new waves of migrants are coming.

@Ascent X Good, very valuable points. Thanks for laying them out.

Isn't that a little lobsided approach? I see how cultivating oneself and with that one's presence is what triggers attraction. That's the antitote to neediness. But you gotta know how to communicate interest as well (connection). First because of being active instead of just a passive flower who attracts bees, but secondly because not everyone looks like an adonis or has his presence game on point. Wouldn't be a balance of activity and passivity the wisest approach.