The European House will be saved by tolerance
Yesterday a two-day forum on combating racism and other forms of intolerance began in Stockholm. 400 participants from 50 countries are discussing a problem that in the coming century could explode European society from the inside. The demographic changes taking place in the Old World force us to jointly look for ways to form a new, multinational and multicultural face of Europe.

Forums in Stockholm are held annually as part of the Swedish government's Living History project. Last year's, also held at the end of January, was dedicated to the Holocaust.
The current forum takes on a special meaning, since on January 1, Sweden took over the presidency of the European Union for six months. And therefore, it is no coincidence that one of the most acute and potentially dangerous problems that threaten to blow up old Europe from within was chosen as the main topic of discussion - the problem of racism and other forms of national and religious intolerance.
Recent decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the demographic makeup of Europe. A decrease in the birth rate and an increase in average life expectancy led to a sharp aging of the Old World. The working population is unable to feed the growing army of pensioners. In fact, the only way out is immigration from third world countries.
But this is a double-edged sword. The increasing immigration of people of color is causing an increase in xenophobic sentiments. And, what causes the greatest concern, among young people.
Yesterday's forum in Stockholm began with the screening of a short documentary about the neo-Nazi movement in Sweden. Young men wearing black masks with swastikas marched on the screen. Racism poses a particular danger in the age of rapid development of information technology, when information can be distributed throughout the world via the Internet in a matter of seconds. According to human rights activists, in Sweden alone, a country famous for its traditional tolerance, there are about 70 racist and neo-Nazi websites. For comparison: five years ago there were only eight.
As Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson noted at the opening of the forum, “there is no room for doubt - it’s time to act. And act together.” The Russian delegation headed by the Minister of Federation Affairs and National Policy Alexander Blokhin also takes part in the forum.
BORIS Kommersant-Volkhonsky

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 15 dated January 30, 2001, page 9

Authors:

Boris Volkhonsky