- A Dutch DJ prompted a national outcry playing a song mocking the Chinese, while in Italy a well-known musician stepped in to save a man from an attack
- Senior officials have called on people across the continent to fight ‘stigma and discrimination’
The Covid-19 outbreak has prompted a string of complaints about racist behaviour targeting members of the Chinese diaspora across Europe, prompting calls to do more to tackle "stigma and discrimination".
A radio DJ broadcast on February 6 sparked national outrage in the Netherlands for the playing a satirical song entitled Voorkommen is beter dan Chinezen, or "Prevention is Better than Chinese", playing on the similar sounding words for "Chinese" and "cure" (genezen, pronounced with a guttural "ch").
The song also had lines that said if people do not eat Chinese food, they will have nothing to worry about.
More than 50,000 people signed a petition denouncing the song as racist, forcing the DJ Lex Gaarthuis to issue an apology to the country's Chinese community. Parliament also passed a motion condemning "offensive and unacceptable" insults to people of Chinese descent.
Naked racism aimed at the Chinese spreads further than the coronavirus
Meanwhile in Italy, well-known musician Francesco Facchinetti intervened to try to stop two young men attacking an older Asian man in Brianza, a small town north of Milan.
"We must apologise to the Chinese community for how we are behaving. How disgusting," he wrote on Facebook.
"I got in the way to try to explain to the two guys that the gentleman was not guilty of spreading the coronavirus. It sounds absurd but I had to make this explanation."
In a video of the incident an onlooker was heard shouting "he's Filipino, not Chinese", while Facchinetti slapped the assailants, who were throwing rocks.
Italy is one of the hardest-hit European countries, with more than 600 confirmed cases, and 13 deaths, by far the highest number in Europe.
European Union and World Health Organisation officials visiting Rome told Europeans to be wary of racism.
"We must also be vigilant when it comes to misinformation and disinformation, as well as xenophobic statements, and putting into question the works of public authorities," said EU Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.
WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge, at the same press conference, urged the public to "avoid stigma and discrimination".
"We know that social discrimination does not work (in response to epidemics)" Kluge said.
Life in the US: coronavirus is only a trigger for the racism that lies just beneath the surface
Frans-Paul van der Putten, senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, said that "some of the underlying problems, in particular the stereotyping of Chinese people, have been around for a long time. What is new is offensive behaviour towards people of Chinese descent in reference to a threatening pandemic."
Ding Chun, director of the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University, said the incidents would affect the perception of Europe among Chinese people.
"Asian people will be afraid of doing travel or business there, which would very sad. Since we are in a globalised world, it would hurt both sides," he said.
Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020.
Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
