Prejudice and Persecution

As a parent your representation and legal rights are outlined briefly in the parent rights section. This section is focused in particular on discrimination.

In Luxembourg (as in much of the developed world), the only contact that many people have with the broad community of their neighbours, not selected by them, is at the school gate.This can be something of a disappointment.The priority in any discussion should be to remember that most people, most of the time, are trying to be compassionate or at least to fulfil their responsibilities as they see them.Unfortunately, some people see it as their responsibility to victimise and terrorise others: ‘Kuckt iech se un! Déi Freaken’ is a quote from a serving member of Luxembourg’s legislative body, made on social media with the intention (and effect) of provoking hatred of some individuals based on their odd appearance.The party of the particular far-right politician, for convenience we will call then ‘fascists’ although they might dispute that label, has approximately 5% following in Luxembourg nationally, rising to 10% in the rural north.Fascism is foremost a failure of humanity, which sometimes becomes a political movement: the typical pattern is that a lonely person of low self esteem seeks to develop self confidence by locating or creating an enemy and engaging with that enemy ideally as part of a collective.A lone fascist has no reason to exist, one forming part of a group may find emotional validation for themselves as a protector of the collective from imaginary threats.

The existence of explicitly fascist politicians in Luxembourg does not mean that the freedom, democracy, truth, and human rights are entirely absent: the country remains relatively quite a “good democracy” by global measures. Many political parties will at least claim to oppose the fascist agenda, including ‘Volt’, ‘Déi Lénk’, ‘Déi Greng’, and LSAP. Individual politicians from these parties frequently participate in commemorations of the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg and speak out against extremism and xenophobia. To judge the sincerity and intelligence of these politicians may be challenging for a member of the electorate, however their stated values are for the most part sound.

A fascist gains self esteem and a sense of belonging by persecuting some person or group, ideally defenseless, that they are able to convince themselves represents a threat to the collective, or a point of weakness or impurity if included in that collective.Therefore people with this attitude (even if not politically active) will seek to organise attacks within the school community against children with real or imagined special educational needs, or any prominent or uncommon characteristic.Because the fascist’s driving force is emotional and not intellectual, they will convince themselves 100% that they are being good parents and citizens, responding to a real threat with their campaign of hate, and cannot be reasoned with.It is an error to extend any sympathy to such people See Karl Popper’s book ‘the open society’ or to engage with them in dialogue as they will destroy for others whatever consideration is extended to them.

If you have problems with prejudice towards your child, document everything and take the guilty party to court. Although these offenses are not often prosecuted in Luxembourg, and indeed seem to be acceptable when committed by members of parliament, they are explicitly and seriously against the law, see in particular the penal code article 454.

Typical Behaviours

In the school context

In the school context, prejudice usually comes from an anxiety that a person has about themselves or their child, or about the future of the entire group that they identify themselves with. Common complaints that are passed upwards to school direction include:

My child is failing in school because you give all your attention to (immigrants, blacks, redheads, whatever….).

My child is unsafe because you cannot control the (immigrants, blacks, redheads, transgender, whatever….).

Initially one can feel sympathy for such people, as they present themselves as concerned about their children. A close examination usually reveals the self-deception which is at the centre of fascist reasoning: the parent seeking to blame their child’s poor academic performance on immigrants will soon reveal themself to be intellectually very far behind that child themselves; the parent concerned that their child is losing fights will quickly be discovered to have a child who is highly violent, or maybe one that they violently abuse themselves. The rather ugly tendency to view primary school children as sexual threats comes directly from the psyche of the accuser in almost every case.

On social media and in parents groups

Most school classes have a whatsapp group for parents to compare notes and try to learn what is happening in the school. Some teachers actively encourage this and use the group to distribute official information, others ignore it. The anonymity and immediacy of social media can have the effect of emboldening people to behave in ways that they might hold back from in more formal settings. As a parent you should follow the class whatsapp group but think very carefully before commenting: mob behaviour, the circulation of malicious gossip, and hate speech are rife in these forums. Many parents taking part in this do not realise that they are committing a crime, others enjoy the drama so much that they cannot resist. The relevant law here if you become a victim is Articles 443-445 of the penal code as well as article 454.

Fascists will often use what are called “dog whistles” (a reference, appropriately, to a whistle which only animals can hear) to attempt to make discriminatory or defamatory comments in a way that they can later deny. This might include:

• Posting “doctors and engineers” under a report of a crime in which the perpetrator was not identified, or was identified and found to be of immigrant descent. The intention here is to insinuate that the highly skilled immigrants to Luxembourg are probably responsible for all criminality, this has become a catchphrase.

Open-ended or vague incitements to collective violence are also often made:

• “This country used to be OK; we need to bring back … “

• “We need to do something”

And exaggerations of threat:

• “What is next, a gun or a knife will be brought into school?”

• “Our children cannot even use the toilet without a child of the other gender coming in…”

The actionability of these statements depends on whether you can argue in court that they were clearly intended as defamatory or discriminatory. If the answer is “no” then a possibly valuable strategy may be to make a GDPR request to discover what private communications were made in more precise terms: the parent trying to stir up collective anger on the parents group is very likely also to have approached the school.

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Above text is specifically not legal advice and is provided with no assurances.

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