The Fuhrer's Tomato Soup

As the financial crisis in the U.S. and Europe continues to worsen with no end in sight, the jingoism, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments are steadily on the rise. A study recently conducted (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1015/Why-13-percent-of-Germans-would-welcome-a-Fuehrer) revealed that 13% of Germans “would welcome a Fuhrer to run the country with a firm hand”. Additionally, around 60% of respondents said they would limit the way Islam was allowed to be practiced in the country. Furthermore, the respondents felt that measures needed to be taken to restrict immigration into Europe.
These viewpoints aren’t something coming from the extreme right or from some fringe group. The mainstream has seen this seeping in of overt racism and if it hasn’t become the norm of public discourse it’s coming very close to becoming so. Politicians on the left and right utilize the xenophobic feelings in their platforms and often times gain votes as a result; in fact the ones who don’t point a finger of accusation at immigrants and/or Muslims end up the losers in elections often times.
Meanwhile in the United States we see the same tactics happening. While politicians in Europe attack immigrants coming from North Africa, Turkey and Eastern Europe, their American counterparts are focusing on Mexicans at the border and Latinos from Central and South America. With an election looming, unemployment rising and jobs slashing away at benefits, constituents are listening to the only source that gives them hope; politicians running for office. Promises are made to increase jobs and pay, decrease taxes and unemployment. Undocumented immigrants are blamed for the country’s woes and the voters believing it fall into line with what they are told and the racism and xenophobia grows here similar to how it grew in Europe. As people suffer more they look for answers and those who give the answers are consistently rooting themselves around jingoism and thinly veiled hatred.
Economy is one side of the coin in this increasingly volatile environment. The other side is the fight to supposedly preserve rights and ways of life. This is where the anti-Islamic sentiments kick in strongly. Since 2001, Islam has been blamed and accused of taking away the “liberties” of societies, of making people subservient, of making people less intelligent and being incompatible with ideals of “freedom”. Post September 2001, things went downhill but as the economy hit the dumps and avalanched further and continues to avalanche, opportunists have used the pervasive air of uncertainty and fear to bring Islam further into a villainous light. After the controversy of the Islamic center being built in New York, the same group of people who used this for their personal gain jumped to another topic that, according to them, shows that Islam is trying to subvert people and turn them into slaves. The topic? Campbell’s soup. Yes, soup. In Canada, Campbell’s has started to label their vegetarian soups as halal. The certification of this comes from ISNA (Islamic Society of North America). Not willing to miss an opportunity to further their cause, Geller and her backroom masters decided to boycott the company and to publicize company “bowing down” to Islamic “radicalism” (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/activists-simmer-campbells-soup-capaign-target-muslims/story?id=11918568&page=2). According to them ISNA is some kind of front for “terrorists” and “radicals” and by associating with them, Campbell’s is condoning such concepts. It’s worthy to note that the boycott put against them has not had much of an effect on their sales.
With conditions growing out of control, demagogues are propping themselves into power by playing on people’s lack of information and feelings of losing control of the world around them. Immigrants and Muslims are fair game as has been demonstrated time and time again in recent years. Will this change? Not likely. The ones to blame for the economic woes of Western Europe and the United States are undoubtedly those who were engaged in the stock markets, those who fixed laws to benefit the few, in short those who were in power and were working at upholding the status quo. They won’t blame themselves though because they want their money, they want their bonuses, they want to remain in their positions of power. So, to allay the tension and anger that’s brewing in society, they’ve targeted groups in society that are a sore for the powers that be. Bring the Fuhrer back, there are too many immigrants and Muslims in the country. They’re changing our way of life, they’re even taking over our tomato soup!