As another European (German), I tend to think that white privilege does exist but it's very very strongly intertangled with ethnicity-based, culture-based and nationality-based prejudice. If you look at how a Pole, an African American, a Turkish person or a German adopted from Korea are treated in Germany, it's going to be massively different for all of them depending on situation and how the interplay between the various elements works out. And then there are things like the incredible prejudice and discrimination towards the Roma and other travelling people and the dreadful treatment they tend to be subjected to - and skin-colour wise they're pretty much white.
Which is to say, I think ethnicity, nationality and culture often gets treated as more important than skin colour over here, and it can be frustrating when it seems as though someone coming from an outside pov wants to dismiss the first three entirely.
[Note: As a white ethnically/nationally/culturally western German woman I'm pretty privileged wrt all of these - I live in the UK and worry about people reacting badly because I'm German, but so far I haven't had any problems - so that should probably be taken into consideration.]
I should add that I have a tough time differentiating between white ethnic groups, *but* I suspect that's mainly because I'm autistic and may have a mild degree of face-blindness on top too. But even with that, ethnicity = big deal.
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As another European (German), I tend to think that white privilege does exist but it's very very strongly intertangled with ethnicity-based, culture-based and nationality-based prejudice. If you look at how a Pole, an African American, a Turkish person or a German adopted from Korea are treated in Germany, it's going to be massively different for all of them depending on situation and how the interplay between the various elements works out. And then there are things like the incredible prejudice and discrimination towards the Roma and other travelling people and the dreadful treatment they tend to be subjected to - and skin-colour wise they're pretty much white.
Which is to say, I think ethnicity, nationality and culture often gets treated as more important than skin colour over here, and it can be frustrating when it seems as though someone coming from an outside pov wants to dismiss the first three entirely.
[Note: As a white ethnically/nationally/culturally western German woman I'm pretty privileged wrt all of these - I live in the UK and worry about people reacting badly because I'm German, but so far I haven't had any problems - so that should probably be taken into consideration.]
I should add that I have a tough time differentiating between white ethnic groups, *but* I suspect that's mainly because I'm autistic and may have a mild degree of face-blindness on top too. But even with that, ethnicity = big deal.