Structural violence to suppress or eliminate ethnic minorities engenders serious conflicts in society. In modern European history, unlike in America, “immigrants” have often been seen as “invaders” or “illegitimate objects” (G. Noiriel). Nevertheless, each member state of the European Union adheres to the principles of a liberal, open, and multicultural society, as in the European Community after World War II. As citizens become more cosmopolitan and receptive to different cultures, a “welcome culture” toward immigrants and refugees should develop. However, in some countries, up to half of the citizens do not feel that they benefit from the EU economy or its free movement system, a perspective that is most pronounced among manual workers, self-employed workers, farmers, the unemployed, etc. For them, an open Europe is perceived as a threat that encourages the free movement of workers as well as capital and goods, thereby resulting in the uncontrollable flux of immigration. By exploiting their anxiety and fear, right populist parties progressed remarkably in Europe in 2010. Concentrating on repeated Islamist terrorist attacks in France and on the arrival of large numbers of refugees from Syria and North Africa (2015-2016), these parties constructed an antimigrant narrative claiming that the offenders had been raised and fostered in the milieu of immigrant communities. Furthermore, they asserted that the acceptance of refugees would directly or indirectly threaten the lives of nationals, thus constructing a so-called “refugee problem.” Such is the case in Hungary, where the majority of nationals expressed opposition to admitting refugees in line with views set out by a political leader. However, overall, citizens in Western countries lean toward accepting settled immigrants as fellow citizens rather than excluding and marginalizing them.
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