As millions around the world I was glued to the TV watching the World Cup final when Zin????dine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi. My instant reaction was “what could Materazzi possibly have said to prompt such a reaction?” I didn’t judge Zidane, contrary to the statements of commentators who just couldn’t help themselves in condemning in impressively quick fashion the French virtuoso, to me it was evident that he was taunted by the Italian. The positive thing about this incident is that it took place before the eyes of the world, in a tournament whose motto was “A Time to Make Friends.” Surely a good way of making friends is by uttering racist slurs against other players a la Materazzi.

Racism is alive and well in Europe, a continent where the posturing majority lack the spine to openly accept that racism runs through their veins. One sees it in sports, politics, the media and almost every other aspect of society. Any casual conversation amongst citizens of one European nation about another would, almost certainly, contain racist connotations. However when the topic touches countries that aren’t European then the colonialistic and utterly racist nature of Europeans shines through. If listening to any European refer to America, for instance, is bad enough, references to Africans, South Americans and Austral-Asians are extremely nasty and flow out of people’s mouths with comforting naturality.

I used to argue that I had never felt racism towards me personally. That was until I decided to venture into the realm of politics, for almost no self-respected European, in whatever side of the political divide, is prepared to accept that its deeply held views about a certain topic alien to it are wrong, much less when the person pointing out the flawed understanding comes from a third world country. A brilliant example of this hypothesis is the brigade of European self appointed ‘experts’ opining on the politics of non-European nations. The racism of this lot is so extreme that they actually pretend to know better than the citizens of the country they are opining about what’s in their best interest.

If Italians living in the north of Italy refer contemptibly to their southern countrymen as Africans, a phenomena mirrored with different pejorative adjectives in every other European country or among residents of affluent cities with respect to inhabitants of less developed cities within a country, how can it be alleged that racism is not a problem in Europe?

Another interesting aspect of the Zidane affair is this: why are we not hearing the same flurry of criticism about Materazzi? Why is the aggressed condemned instead of the aggressor? Could it be because the agressor is of African descent? Could it be due to the deep rooted belief that abusing someone’s dignity is somewhat more civilised than reacting to it?

Racism is a two way road though for what goes around comes around. Some members of ethnic minorities in Europe are convinced that pay back time has arrived. In extreme cases it has morphed into outright terrorism, as seen in London and Madrid or into widespread vandalism and violence as in Paris.

As an alien in Europe I believe that until Europeans do not face and deal with their inner demons behaviour considered by them as extreme, whether headbutts or bombs, will continue to flourish and when such lamentable events happen the blame should rest squarely on the agressor not on the agressed.