A/53/269 – Belgium: the Flemish Vlaams Blok won 12.3 per cent of the votes and has 11 representatives in the Federal Parliament, 15 in the Flemish Parliament, five in the Senate and two in the Brussels regional parliament; – France: the Front National won about 15 per cent of the votes in various elections and some regions (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Alsace) and its influence is growing steadily; – Germany: in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, the Deutsche Volksunion won 13.2 per cent of the votes and 16 seats in the regional elections; – Italy: the National Alliance won 15.7 per cent of the votes and has 53 members of Parliament; – Norway: the Progress Party has become the second largest political party, with 22 per cent of the vote and 41 members of Parliament; – United States: the number of hate groups has increased by 20 per cent since 1996. 18. These parties are exploiting an economic and social climate characterized by fear and despair engendered by the combined effects of globalization, identity crises and social exclusion. They have also made changes designed to make them look like radical right wing democratic parties, softening their image while enabling them to conceal an unchanged preference for racism and xenophobia. Thus, for purely electoral motives, classic right wing parties are increasingly embracing the slogans of extreme right wing parties. Some young people are also receptive to xenophobic slogans.1 19. This growing increase in the power of extreme right wing parties is a cause for concern. International public opinion and non-governmental and international organizations, which seem to pay attention only to open conflicts or violent manifestations of fascism or xenophobia, should be alerted. B. Discrimination against immigrants and migrant workers 20. In addition to the Americas, Asia and Europe, where various problems relating to immigration have been dealt with at length in previous reports, the Special Rapporteur would like to focus on the situation in Africa in this report. 21. The problem of migrant workers also exists in Africa, and some countries have organized charters for the large-scale deportation of undocumented aliens or have detained such aliens in holding camps prior to their repatriation. 22. This aspect of the question will be fully dealt with in the general report to the Commission on Human Rights and in the report on the mission to South Africa. C. Anti-Semitism 23. It has recently been noted that while violent manifestations of anti-Semitism have declined, the phenomenon continues to develop on the Internet. It must be noted that the resurgence of the extreme right in Europe has so intensified the spread of classic ideas on anti-Semitism that there is a marked increase in violent anti-Semitic acts, such as the vandalization on 15 July 1998 of a Jewish cemetery in the town of Orange in France. In Latvia, the synagogue of Riga was blown up on 2 April 1998. 6