LONDON -- The fear here is that the whole of Europe has succumbed to the virus of racism and that new political parties based on some variant of racism will swell in popular support, win elections, run institutions of state -- including the European Union -- and destroy the civilization that has been precariously constructed since 1945.
Either that, or the threat of this power will condemn the prevailing liberal institutions of Europe to so placate the parties that social democracy will be scuppered.
This fear is strongest in northwest Europe containing the countries with the strongest history of colonial rule -- Britain, Holland, France, Belgium -- as well as of capitalist growth and of a liberal state. They have the highest number of black and Asian immigrants, attracted both by the prospect of work and safety as well as by the historical connection.