GEOG 3430: Contemporary Europe (Chaney): Nationalists, Separatists, & Xenophobia

"...disturbing study of borders and immigration in a contemporary Europe increasingly preoccupied with its own fortification. The film suggests that the walls being built to keep out the other may be blocking us from our own freedom."

Like many European countries affected by an influx of Syrian migrants and refugees, immigration policy has become central to Sweden’s election. And after more than a half-century of soft, center-left policies there, analysts predict that voters on Sunday will elect anti-immigration candidates to the country’s highest governing body.

This film picks up where our 2016 documentary "Exodus" left off, telling the intimate, firsthand stories of refugees and migrants caught in Europe's tightened borders, and facing the rise of nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Amid the ongoing migration crisis, the film follows the personal journeys of those who seek safety and a better life in the West as countries become less welcoming.

So far this year, almost 2,400 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean. Italy is working to crack down on smugglers who send migrants on a deadly journey to Europe, and put stricter rules around rescue ships. But a group of right-wing, anti-immigrant activists is trying to take the crisis into their own hands by forcing migrants to turn back.

When Italians went to the polls in March, the two biggest winners -- the populist Five Star Movement and the right-wing League -- earned better than 50 percent of the vote. Discussion about how the election reshapes Italy’s political landscape.

Surveys the changing political landscape in Europe.

Discusses persecution of minority religions in some European countries.

Speculates that the influx of refugees into Europe is creating a new revival of Christian identity -- "Reactive Christianity"

Survey of beliefs and opinions

Demographic study results: projections, surveys & public opinions.

Published by Community Security Trust (CST) - Britain

Go inside Europe's fight against Islamist terrorism. Top security officials describe their struggle to contain the unprecedented threat revealed by attacks in France and Belgium.

Immigrants and minorities in post-Brexit Britain are living in fear, reporting an uptick in xenophobic attacks that some are blaming on the immigrant scapegoating of the Leave Movement.