The killing of George Floyd, an African American, by a white police officer in the United States led to a wave of anti-racist demonstrations across the United States and the world.
Europe was no exception, as thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin, Paris and London, condemning police violence and racial injustice.
In light of the global outrage caused by the killing, many European governments and their senior officials denounced institutional racism and abuse of power, expressing their support for anti-racist protests taking place around the world.
With the exception of the far-right "Fox" party in Spain and the anti-Islam "Freedom" party in the Netherlands, which described anti-racist protesters as terrorists, the response of the majority of European parties was against all forms of racism.
It is encouraging that the main European parties condemn the murder and show their solidarity with the protests, but most European countries are not very different from the United States when it comes to the issues that led to the death of the American citizen.
For a long time, racially motivated crimes have escalated in many European Union member states, in other words, racism in the United States reflects what is going on in Europe.
According to the annual report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, which was published in February 2020, there is a recurring problem related to discrimination against Muslims, Jews, and white-skinned people within the 47 member states of the Council.
This committee stresses the growing influence of extreme nationalist and xenophobic policies in Europe, which lead to a sharp increase in intolerance and intolerance.
This racism left by the extreme right against religious and ethnic minorities, especially Muslims in Europe, is increasing in the mainstream of the European spectrums.
In the most recent terrorist act in February, 11 people - most of them of Turkish origin - were killed in the western German city of Hanau by a right-wing extremist.
The massacre in Hanau is only the latest in a long series of terrorist attacks by far-right extremists in Europe.
Islamophobia escalates
The far-right parties consider Europe a continent of white Christians with a common history and one cultural values, and Muslims - according to those parties - pose a cultural threat to the pan-European identity of all of Europe.
Islamophobia has become a useful tool for far-right parties to use for electoral purposes, and this has created a political environment that has allowed the extreme right not only to persist in the hatred of Islam, but also to turn it into the mainstream political and social trend in many Western societies.
However, even with these threats that the extreme right ideology poses to social cohesion and European values that protect ethnic and religious minorities, many politicians and major media have turned a blind eye to this problem as a marginal issue confined to the far right.
On the contrary, hatred for Islam is certainly no longer confined to the margins, but rather has become a persistent form of hostility manifested within the power structures, as well as in other social spaces.
In the United Kingdom - for example - the likelihood of a person being stopped and searched is 150 times greater under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act - legislation that allows people to be stopped at airports without a reasonable doubt - if he is of Pakistani origin more than if he was white.
it is time
However, white supremacy and their sense of it still prevail in many western societies, so the struggle against racism and all kinds is far from over.
Just as white supremacy and racism against African Americans is a threat in the United States, right-wing extremism exists and poses a threat to Europe.
Observers believe that the tragic Floyd incident should sound an alarm to all European governments to address their challenges.
According to observers, different ethnic groups - whether they are people of different colors or religious minorities - face discrimination on a daily basis. Therefore, Governments should not turn a blind eye to the issue of racism and intolerance.
Although much discussion is taking place on race and right-wing extremism, it is still far from resolving the issue.
Today, the whole world is united in the pursuit of justice in the Floyd case. However, justice can only be achieved by eliminating the scourge of racism around the world.