Otherness as a Commodity: Rethinking Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe from the time of 'Global Socialism'.

This article examines contemporary Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe by tracing their roots to far-right traditions and state-run eugenic policies during Communist rule in Bulgaria and Poland. It highlights how Communist authorities exploited rhetoric of internationalism and unity to reorder ethnic majorities, scapegoat minorities as Turkish nationalists or Zionists amid Mediterranean geopolitical crises, and instrumentalize racial discourse as ideological currency during decolonization, leading to a post-Communist persistence of exclusionary national identities. The study details specific policies such as Bulgaria's forced assimilation of Muslims and Poland's anti-Jewish purges, situating these within broader global and regional dynamics. It concludes that understanding present-day racism in the region requires acknowledging the historical continuity of racialized exclusion embedded in Communist and post-Communist state practices.