Are Eastern European countries racist?

[malachi]

Racism is more common in the majority of Europe than the UK.

Ive seen in in Barcelona where our mixed race mate was straight up denied entry to a bar but the rest of us were allowed and he even got chased through the street by someone there.

We also met some Swiss girls who openly in public repeatedly called my white but very suntanned friend ''n****' and his name like it was completely normal

That's crazy! I am a black British male and have been to Barcelona before. The last time was in August and never experience any problems because of my skin colour.

Ive been to many countries over the world and haven't experience any racism to my acknowledgement. My ex is from Serbia, met her when I visited Hungary one weekend. Went to Belgrade plenty of times to visit and also went to her best friends wedding. Which was some random village in Serbia, miles away from Belgrade. I was the only black person there and it was obvious some had never met a black person before. Still, they were so welcoming and I never had any problems there. Learned a valuable lesson from that wedding. Kids only see friends, they don't see colour.

Went to Poland in May, which is known for racism in the black community. Again no problems there.......not with the women anyway

As for those Swiss girls, I have been living in Switzerland for a few months now. Chatted to plenty of Swiss girls while here and never heard that term before

 

[4K8KW10]

The USSR which simply went on to send them to the Gulags instead, hell they sent the Warsaw revolutionaries to their death after trying to get rid of the Nazi's hoping the USSR would actually help them.

I think Eastern Europe is messed up for obvious reasons, it's an area of extremes without much in the way of moderation and unfortunately easily manipulated by their corrupt leaders, it's no surprise their youth escaped as soon as they could to better countries when they joined the EU (Which is a double-edged sword obviously, but you cant really blame them for finding a better life).

That was more than 70 years ago and now it's a thing of the past.

The UK, France and Germany right now have their pronounced traits too, for example Germany is extremely nationalistic/racist towards Eastern Europeans and many of them actually do return to their home countries. Because the West is poor from the inside and besides higher wages, cannot offer anything better. You don't have pretty Nature, as well. Which is really important - mountains, rivers, seas, good weather. etc.

 

[Eurofighter]

I would agree to sn extent.

 

[Nasher]

I know loads of people of people from Eastern Europe. I'd say yes but not in the way those football fans were and its mostly the rural areas. They generally aren't hostile or shout racist stuff openly like that though.

It's more that they still hold on to old beliefs and there is miss-trust. There are hardly any Afican or Asian people there so they dont really interact or have any exposure to them.

As a westerner you are fine in most places. They know you have money and everyone likes money.

 

[RobDogDog]

I went on a stag do in Prague where the group was pretty much half black and half white. We were all fine but there was a sketchy moment where this group of about 10 big guys walked pass wearing some kind of ethnic cleansing shirts.

 

[esmozz]

I lived in an eastern european country for 10 years, I still have very close ties with the place.

No more or less racist than the U.K.

The difference being that we tend to cry 'racist' over the most trival things.

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.

This really, I daresay many in the U.K. would see the above as racist - its not.

 

[Sankari]

You have to remember that a lot of East European nations still have a mindset that is quite medieval by Western standards. If it wasn't for the civilising influence of the EU, most of them would have wiped each other out in a series of genocidal wars by now.

 

[SPG]

Yes, they are pretty much like the UK was in the 60s & 70s with it slowly becoming less and less till the point we have now. Oh and yes it still exists in the UK on both sides of the fence.

So give it another 30 years or so it will be better.

 

[malachi]

You have to remember that a lot of East European nations still have a mindset that is quite medieval by Western standards. If it wasn't for the civilising influence of the EU, most of them would have wiped each other out in a series of genocidal wars by now.

And that's why I let it be. Some people will never change but as times move on they will die out and multiculturalism and diversity will be more accepted in the next generation.

Will take a few more years to clean up.

 

[Freddie1980]

It exists everywhere it's not limited to 'eastern Europe' had we been playing Spain we would have likely had the same problem.

The only difference between English football and eastern European football is thanks to the Premier League and Sky Football greed has made English football of a more middle class sport and has resulted in the bone headed moron brigade not being able to afford to go to football games any longer.

 

[esmozz]

You have to remember that a lot of East European nations still have a mindset that is quite medieval by Western standards. If it wasn't for the civilising influence of the EU, most of them would have wiped each other out in a series of genocidal wars by now.

Wut?

Cue a load of posts from people who met an eastern european once and had a bad experience, I suppose.

Ah yes, the civilising influence of the E.U. - Founding members, Germany - who of course could never ever ever be accused of genocide, France - So humanitarian in their North African colonies, Spain - I believe they're still digging bodies out of unmarked graves with tens of thousands more to go. I could go on (and on and on)

 

[McBain]

Yep.

 

[Em3bbs]

Racism is more common in the majority of Europe than the UK.

Ive seen in in Barcelona where our mixed race mate was straight up denied entry to a bar but the rest of us were allowed and he even got chased through the street by someone there.

We also met some Swiss girls who openly in public repeatedly called my white but very suntanned friend ''n****' and his name like it was completely normal

I lived and worked in Munich in the late 90s until the mid 2000s, and there weren't many black people there back then at all. At the large company I was contracting for there was another guy from London, black, and he would frequently be the target of racist abuse when we went out to pubs/clubs, to the extent that he went back to the UK after a few months.

 

[Shocky-FM]

Simple answer, yes because of less non-white people living there.

Racism is always going to be a problem regardless of what country you're in, it's correct to call people out for it but it's never going to disappear.

 

[pastymuncher]

Some are but not all. My wife works at a well known shortbread factory in the village which now has 77% of it's workforce which are foreigners (95% in the Elgin factory). Most are Polish but there are Bulgarians, Portuguese, Spanish and others. The Polish and Bulgarians are the worst with racism and bullying towards the locals yet whenever anything is complained about it's the locals that are accused of being racist because the managers are afraid of accusing the foreigners of it. What makes things worse is that they get promoted to supervisors and managers over the locals, some who have been there for decades and the bullying and racism really kicks off leaving our locals with no way to complain as they just turn things around and blame the locals. The place is toxic and locals are being forced out due to this behaviour which is even worse at the Elgin factory. The owners don't listen and will not even acknowledge that there is even a problem. My wife is trying very hard to stay put until retirement as the pension package is very good plus there is little other work around here but there has been days when she has come home in tears. When she comes through the door I never know whether I am going to get angry wifey, upset wifey or my normal wifey. Sadly these days it seems to be more often than not either of the first two.

 

[englishpremier]

I've been to nearly all eastern and southern European countries. Not really found any racism. Had/have many friends and girlfriends from ex-communist states, again no problem.

You are more likely to find racism in Germany (yes I've been to Chemnitz) and Italy (Bari for sure) than in eastern Europe.

The eastern Europeans attention is more on the Roma, they don't really care about black/mixed race people, since there just aren't many of them over there.

 

[MartinPrince]

I lived in an eastern european country for 10 years, I still have very close ties with the place.

No more or less racist than the U.K.

The difference being that we tend to cry 'racist' over the most trival things.



This really, I daresay many in the U.K. would see the above as racist - its not.

Out of interest exactly where were you?

My 13 year experience in Eastern Europe has been quite different to yours but then I'm black and I'm not sure you are.

For me there is a distinct difference between the Balkans and the Baltics. The Balkans, like Bulgaria, Serbia (and other former Yugoslavian countries) are way more racist than the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The most racist people I found in Latvia etc were actually not the native people but the Russians that have been there since the end of World War 2. They came and liberated the countries but then liked the look of it and made it part of the U.S.S.R and sent in droves of their people.

I will tell you how bad it is in the Balkans.
I once had a Serbian girlfriend, she was studying for a PhD and her parents were lecturers so she was quite intelligent. She used to wake up in the night crying from nightmares that her parents found out she was with a black guy.
Eventually she did tell them and I started speaking with them and they treated me well (and I wondered what all the fuss was about) but then she wanted to take me to Belgrade. They were terrified that something would happen to me (and her) if I ever came to Serbia and begged her (crying) to break up with me.

I have to refute that notion that there is no difference between the U.K and the Balkans when it comes to racism. There is a MASSIVE difference.

I have quite a few more first hand experiences that tell me your experience is really not the way it is.

 

[MartinPrince]

Some are but not all. My wife works at a well known shortbread factory in the village which now has 77% of it's workforce which are foreigners (95% in the Elgin factory). Most are Polish but there are Bulgarians, Portuguese, Spanish and others. The Polish and Bulgarians are the worst with racism and bullying towards the locals yet whenever anything is complained about it's the locals that are accused of being racist because the managers are afraid of accusing the foreigners of it. What makes things worse is that they get promoted to supervisors and managers over the locals, some who have been there for decades and the bullying and racism really kicks off leaving our locals with no way to complain as they just turn things around and blame the locals. The place is toxic and locals are being forced out due to this behaviour which is even worse at the Elgin factory. The owners don't listen and will not even acknowledge that there is even a problem. My wife is trying very hard to stay put until retirement as the pension package is very good plus there is little other work around here but there has been days when she has come home in tears. When she comes through the door I never know whether I am going to get angry wifey, upset wifey or my normal wifey. Sadly these days it seems to be more often than not either of the first two.

Yes, you are quite correct. What I have found is that those Slavic countries tend to be way more racist than non Slavic ones. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are not Slavic countries but they do have a minority Slavic population 'occupying' them.

 

[MartinPrince]

I've been to nearly all eastern and southern European countries. Not really found any racism. Had/have many friends and girlfriends from ex-communist states, again no problem.

You are more likely to find racism in Germany (yes I've been to Chemnitz) and Italy (Bari for sure) than in eastern Europe.

The eastern Europeans attention is more on the Roma, they don't really care about black/mixed race people, since there just aren't many of them over there.

I understand why you would think that but once again, I suspect you're white because if you were a black person it would be very different. Your point is quite correct about it not being seen because there are not many black/mixed race people there. That does not mean it is not there, it just doesn't have a chance to manifest itself so that you or your friends can see it.

Why do you think that any time England plays one of those Balkan countries there is always racist abuse? Because now they have an object on which to manifest their innate racism in the form of black players in the England team.

 

[malachi]

I will tell you how bad it is in the Balkans.
I once had a Serbian girlfriend, she was studying for a PhD and her parents were lecturers so she was quite intelligent. She used to wake up in the night crying from nightmares that her parents found out she was with a black guy.
Eventually she did tell them and I started speaking with them and they treated me well (and I wondered what all the fuss was about) but then she wanted to take me to Belgrade. They were terrified that something would happen to me (and her) if I ever came to Serbia and begged her (crying) to break up with me.

Yikes! How long ago was this?