European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Racist virus infects much of Europe by Mort Rosenblum associated press at the Hole in the Wall four i cafe in a Raguinan France visitors asked a Young algerian named Momo about racism. Quot look anywhere Quot he said nervously and scurried to the Kitchen. Beyond anti foreigner violence in Germany immigrants across Europe see growing racism based on social and economic fears so virulent that Many victims refuse to talk about it. People have been mailed Little wooden coffins the extreme right s warning to uppity outsiders in this Small Provencal City and elsewhere in France. Beyond an affirmative nod Momo was taking no chances. Quot racism is one of Europe s most serious problems and it is worsening Quot said president Mario Soares of Portugal interviewed in France at a seminar on nazi crimes against jews and gypsies leaders worry that extreme right Wing political movements Are recruiting disaffected youths exploiting hard times at Home and a rising tide of desperate people who clamor at National Borders. The worst outbreaks by far Are in the depressed port of Rostock and other German cities where skinhead assaults evoke memories of hatred that turned to genocide. But in Placid places like a Raguinan off the freeway Between Marseille and Nice sizable minorities feel the effect. Despite occasional beatings pressure is mostly psychological. Handsome old stonework is scrawled with slogans like Quot arabs out Quot and Quot be pen  Jean Marie be Penis hard right National front polls up to 30 percent in local elections. Quot it happens daily in a thousand ways a said Gerard Kieff a Young banker who works with the Volunteer group sos racism. Quot people Don t speak out for fear of  when assured of anonymity speaking to strangers who have been introduced North africans Tell of harassment insults and occasional violence. Otherwise facial expressions Tell the Story. At an Arab grocery under a medieval Church Tower a reporter asked about racism. Quot no problem Quot the proprietor said glancing repeatedly at the front door until the subject of the conversation changed. In much of Southern France North africans live alongside frenchmen forced to leave Algeria in the 1960s. Sometimes the two blend Well. Often there is bitterness. Quot you can Sec Why this is a Bridgehead of racism Quot Kieff said a but the phenomenon happens everywhere. People Are afraid for their jobs their future and they need someone else to  in major capitals the mood is Plain. After an israeli jumbo Jet fell on immigrant housing in Amsterdam killing 43 people a Banner went up in another neighbourhood Quot Why did t it crash Here Quot even in Sweden viewed As an Island of tolerance bombs have been Sot off outside refugee centers to frighten the residents. The violence is impossible to quantify. By some counts 8,000 racial attacks a year Are reported in Britain. But the limes of India quoting one expert said there were 70,000 in London alone. More than 10 million a non europeans Quot live in Western Europe and illegal immigrants Are pouring in according to Cengiz Aktar a turkish economist who studies migration in Geneva. They include asians arabs africans turks yugoslavs gypsies and refugees from the former soviet bloc. Some seek political Asylum he said but 85 percent Are just looking for better lives. Quot with environmental disasters demographic pressures and All you can be sure that Legal and illegal immigration will be a main topic of the next 30 years Quot said Aktar an expert with an intergovernmental Agency on Asylum refugee and migration policies. Quot they Wilt not wait to die at  six times As Many people sought european Asylum in 1991 As in 1983, figures indicate. The projected total for 1992 is 800,000, nearly twice the 1990 level. Along with former yugoslavs the most numerous there Are major flows from Romania Turkey sri Lanka Iran Somalia Iraq Zaire Nigeria Albania Bulgaria Lebanon and China among others. Most european countries already have Large minorities the remnants of past colonial empires or abandoned programs to import cheap labor. Social scientists say racism has shouldered below the surface in Europe for centuries but the combination of polished propaganda and modern communications threatens to fan it into flames Quot it will get worse it will get violent and it will get organized Quot said Barry Goodfield a san Francisco psychotherapist who trains european colleagues in the Netherlands. Quot people need a Scapegoat for everything that is going wrong Quot he said Quot and racists can give them one. The risk is that whole societies can be swallowed in fear and  major right Wing groups such As the National front and Germany s Republican party deny racist tendencies seeking a wide based following and a Mantle of respectability. But militants within Large parties often keep in close touch with Small Radical groups including Neo nazi movements in Germany according to analysts who follow them. Elie Wiesel a Nobel peace laureate and writer who survived the Auschwitz death Camp recalled in an interview that the holocaust began slowly with scattered incidents allowed to go unpunished. Quot nothing is More urgent today than to give Force to memory which is in danger everywhere Quot he said. New anti semitism is serious he said but is part of a broader xenophobia. Quot something is wrong with these societies Quot he said. Quot it s a matter of education. Apparently we have not taught our children that a human being is not an  in a variation of the general theme the French far right paints an image of Muslim Muezzin wailing Calls to prayer Over bucolic villages. Arabs they say will take jobs wallets and daughters. Be pen once said he did not want frenchmen to be Tike Quot red indians Quot annihilated by sheer numbers. Quot the National front is working every Day with the same cell tactics that were used by the communists a Kieff the banker Volunteer said in a Raguinan. Quot they Are organized and no one crosses  if sos racism puts up a poster anywhere he said someone rings a Central number and within 10 minutes a Crew comes to rip it Down. Many europeans argue that the depth of tolerance in their societies will counter racist trends and the anti racists will prevail. Quot we will live together like it or not Quot said Jean Guy Marenco. A a Raguinan contractor who sees no tension among his mixed Crews. Quot we Are All equal and condemned to love one another Quot they Are not educated not civilized like us by Mort Rosenblum associated press Meoyun a Backwater on the old Road to Toulon is a postcard portrait of storybook France. Few of its 500 inhabitants Are Quot non europeans Quot and Many want it that Way. In every election since 1984, Meoyun has voted Between 24 percent and 32 percent Lor the anti immigrant National front. Cultural life revolves around the cafe do la place where Tough kids in Black leather and close cropped hair mingle with re nosed pensioners wearing some of the last berets in France. Quot we re peasants and we done to like change Quot explained the woman who runs the place a smiling Granny who gave her name Only As Odette. At the mention of Quot Les  her smile vanished. Arabs in local usage Lefers to people from Algeria Morocco and Tunisia former French colonies across the Mediterranean. Quot they Are not educated not civilized like us Quot she said a snarl forming. Quot you done to know what to expect from them. I m already old but god knows what my children will have to  the scene is repeated with different villains and victims from Spain to Sweden from Britain to Bavaria. As everywhere else Meoyun has its local reasons. A hard freeze in 1957 killed centuries old Olive Trees and Farmers switched to grapes. Win making is not thriving and jobs Are scarce. France like its european Community partners has a generous network of social services from health care to a Dole for the jobless. It is stretched thin and people Are worried. Anti racist groups note that most immigrants work hard paying their fair share of taxes. Many Are French citizens and some Are children of soldiers who helped drive Back the germans in world War it. Quot we Don t need them Here Quot Odette concluded veering off into social and religious reasons to bolster the economic argument. Quot they Are better off where they  Page 16 a the stars and stripes monday december 28, 1992