Are Eastern European countries racist?

Bassmansam · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:10

Following on from the England game last night(along with previous incidents in nearby countries)and the racist abuse aimed at black players i started to wonder why this happens in eastern europe.

I would guess its mainly down to the fact there are very few black people in these countries so they are seen as a bit of a novelty by the citizens of these countries. Or is it something totally different?

StriderX · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:13

Football culture.

Em3bbs · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:14

StriderX straight in with the trolling effort there.

MissChief · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:15

Many of them still are yes. But the football culture is often seen as bringing out the worst of the worst. Not to mention copious amounts of beer in and around the grounds.

Dis86 · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:17

MissChief said:
Many of them still are yes. But the football culture is often seen as bringing out the worst of the worst. Not to mention copious amounts of beer in and around the grounds.

Beer doesn't create monsters. Just brings out the ones that are hiding.

StriderX · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:21

Em3bbs said:
StriderX straight in with the trolling effort there.

I'm being dead serious, it's a major factor along with the religious fundamentalism and corruption in general in their politics. Still damaged from years of fascism and communism, populists promising to keep the state pure and emboldening the homophobic/racist sector because it's the easiest vote there is.

Thecaferacer · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:23

Bulgaria is Southern Europe (it borders Turkey)

But yes, my experience of Eastern Europeans, or those from ex-communist states, are that they are happy to be openly racist.

darkgen · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:24

Don't expend energy on it. Racism exists everywhere where preference exists (extreme or otherwise; through fear or ignorance).

Destination · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:30

darkgen said:
Don't expend energy on it. Racism exists everywhere where preference exists (extreme or otherwise; through fear or ignorance).

Sounds about right.
'Send them home ' etc etc

darkgen · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:33

Destination said:
Sounds about right.
'Send them home ' etc etc

wow; if you gleaned that from that. Wow.

Destination · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:39

darkgen said:
wow; if you gleaned that from that. Wow.

No, I mean, in any culture there can exist an undertone of racism.
Here it is commonly referred to as the 'send them home' lot.
The folks who are embittered and through what i can only gleam is ignorance it manifests itself as racism.
There is an entire subset of Brexit voters who fall into this bracket.
Yet it exists worldwide, there is racism in many countries i have travelled to and seen, it exists and persists and shows itself in many different manners.

I wasn't having a go at you. I found your comment inciteful.

darkgen · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:39

Gracious me. Thank goodness! I was about to throw ¿ at you.

Bassmansam · 15 Oct 2019 at 18:52

Really irritates me when people write posts like “ its 2019 why does x thing still exist”. Because we are human and we are tribal and that will not change because of a year increment.

VincentHanna · 15 Oct 2019 at 19:08

I had my Stag Do in Sofia. There was a black guy and British asian guy in our group and we [they] didn't experience any overt racism for the 3 days we were there.

There was a more innocuous thing where we did a wine tasting session in a shop and had some cheese with it. One of the cheeses was Paneer, and the shop owner suggested that the Asian guys parents would likely have made it. That was just naiveity, not really racism.

From the footage they looked like actual football hooligans who were part of some white supremacist group.

[FnG]magnolia · 15 Oct 2019 at 19:36

Destination said:
I found your comment inciteful.

This is a spicy take of the highest order

e: content!

Q: How many racists are there in Eastern Europe?

A : None, they're all in Chris Wilson's pub (which is imaginary).

Flaevius · 15 Oct 2019 at 19:49

For what it's worth, I've travelled with a friend twice around Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia without an ounce of issue. She's as black and Jamaican as you can get and doesn't exactly slot into a crowd anyway due to her stature. The only place we really had any negative impression was in the Pindus mountains in Greece, a place by the name of Metsovo. Nothing was said, but we received quite a few sideways glances walking around the village, and it was slightly uncomfortable.

Re: the Bulgaria game, these aren't necessarily football fans. Sure, football has more of a culture than you see in other sports, but these 'holes don't attend for the game. They are professional hooligans/racists that are given a platform by a high-profile football game to vomit their bile onto the rest of the good folk of their country. Lack of ability/willingness/initiative to combat these issues at authority level.

Rids · 15 Oct 2019 at 19:50

We've had our own racism issues at football grounds in this country, its not like its a problem limited to Eastern Europe.

Pawnless Endgame · 15 Oct 2019 at 19:54

When I saw the headlines about the England/Bulgaria qualifier, I was adamant that it was the English who were being racist again. So surprised I was that it was the other way round. We are usually the racist ones!

glenimp617 · 15 Oct 2019 at 20:02

Bassmansam said:
Really irritates me when people write posts like “ its 2019 why does x thing still exist”. Because we are human and we are tribal and that will not change because of a year increment.

You would have thought people would have changed by now though surely.

I mean, really.

It is 2019 FFS and people are still banging on about it.

What on earth does someone's skin colour have to do with anything.

Lopéz · 15 Oct 2019 at 20:08

Broadly speaking, in my experience yes they are.