racism - xenophobia - intolerance

RACISM, XENOPHOBIA & INTOLERANCE

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."

Probably everyone in this world has experienced racism. Racism comes from fear and ignorance of other cultures.

But by sharing our heritage and beliefs, we can open the lines of communication. Because in the end, we're all the same -- we're just human beings.

by William Hazlitt

Racism continues to be

a sad component of our society.

Although it is denied, minimised, and ignored, it frequently shatters and destroys lives. unknown author

We must come to the point were we realise the concept of race is a false one. There is only one race, the human race!

by Dan Aykroyd

INTRODUCTION

One of the main reasons for differences between human beings are the geographical barriers, which kept the groups apart for a long time. Each group evolved its own characteristics. The races differ in their skin colour, their blood and other physical characteristics. Including all sub-divisions there are about 40 racial groupings, or "ethnic groups" as they are strictly called.

IMPORTANT WORDS

When a person dislikes another person just because he belongs to a different race, we call this attitude "racialism" or "racism".

"Prejudice" means judging before you have the facts.

If people of a particular group, race and/or religion are treated differently from another group or race , this is "discrimination".

One of the clearest kinds of prejudice is "stereotyping". This is when all people in a particular group are thought to have the same characteristics.(For example: "All blacks are lacy.")

DIFFERENT SKIN COLOUR

The most common form of racialism today is the dislike of people with dark-coloured skins. The great majority of people with dark brown skins are of the Negroid race. To distinguish them from light brown people they are now usually called blacks.

The reason why African people are discriminated more than the Chinese, Indians or Arabs is easy to explain: Europeans knew, that Chinese Indians or Arabs had civilisations stretching back many centuries. They knew nothing about the African history. So Europeans believed that the African people had "just come out of the jungle".

A FACT

Biologists' growing understanding of genetics in the last 50 years has put race - and skin color - in a whole new perspective. Beginning in the 1940s, scientists began to realize that the racial map of human beings did not match what they were learning of human genes. Early on, it was seen that there was no gene that was unique to a race, and so there was no "black" or "white" gene.

But the problem remains: even if race has become meaningless to scientists, it is very real to practically everyone else. "Society's belief in the existence of races creates what social scientists call a social reality," says California State University sociology professor Yehudi Webster. The reactions of the public to the O.J. Simpson verdict - harshly split between the Black and the White - are a reminder of that social reality, if any is needed.

"Biological race is dead; social race is alive and thriving."

SLAVERY

This believe in the inferiority of Negroid people seemed to be confirmed by the slave trade. Black people were captured in Africa, transported in ships across the Atlantic Ocean and sold to plantation-owners as slaves. By the early 19th century millions of black slaves were working on cotton, sugar and fruit plantations in Brazil, on the islands of the West Indies and in the United States.

FREEING THE AMERICAN SLAVES

In the middle of the 19th century there was a civil war in the United States. It was caused because of the slavery. The north with President Abraham Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery. That was a problem for the south, which needed lots and lots of slaves for the plantations. But the north won and the slaves were freed.

But the slaves were discriminated against.

IN THE SOUTH

_ Negroes were prevented from using the same buses, toilets, restaurants, schools and universities as white people
_ they were prevented from voting
_ white gangs called Ku Klux Klan even murdered black people and were not brought to trial

MARTIN LUTHER KING

In the middle of the 20th century in America any black people were finding it difficult to "turn the other cheek". Compared with the white people, they lived in very poor conditions and were not able to obtain good jobs. Violent riots broke out in some of the cities with large black populations. Martin Luther King was a black leader who only used non-violent methods. Like Ghandi, he believed in the power of peaceful protest. He didn't want to fight against the discrimination with violence, he did it with the help of demonstrations. Martin Luther King died because of an assassination.

KU KLUX KLAN

A secret political organisation in the U.S.A, founded by the whites in the Southern states during the civil war (1861-65), and aimed at the negroes. They developed as a terror- organisation, which was forbidden in 1871. A new Klan started in 1915 against Negroes and Jews, but it wasted away after 1928. After the second worldwar, the Klan was in action again, but was only playing a part in the local districts. The Klan's traditional symbols are torches and fiery crosses, and the members are, during their rituals dressed in cowls and hoods.

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"Remember it is not illegal to be White, but they are trying to make it illegal to be PROUD OF BEING WHITE!" (quotation KKK)

MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY IN THE UK

Many Irish, Jews, Chinese and Poles, for example, have settled in Britain over the past century. Many people came from the former colonies. It was never made very clear whether or not the people of these former colonies were British citizens and so they had the right to live and settle in Britain.

WHERE HAVE THEY SETTLED?

These "immigrants" tended to settle where there was work and cheap housing. So people of the same race tended to live close to each other. Coloured people therefore concentrated in a small number of cities: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Bradford in particular.

Some families have been in Britain for so long now that it is misleading to call them "immigrants".

RACISM IN THE UK

The United Kingdom, despite having one of Europe's most highly-advanced institutional frameworks for combating racism and discrimination, does not have significantly lower recorded incidents of racial discrimination than other European states.

APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA WHAT IS APARTHEID?

Ever since white people settled in the country they have been in charge. But since the middle of the 20th century a very particular set of arrangements have been introduced to try to keep the Whites and Blacks separated. This system is called "apartheid" and it was executed in South Africa.

THERE ARE TWO FORMS:

"grand apartheid"

The eventual aim is, theoretically, for the Blacks to be confined to certain parts of South Africa while the Whites have the rest. Certain areas of the country have been allotted to the Blacks. These lands are called "Homelands". Gradually the government is giving them socalled independence, though in fact no real chance of being properly independent.

"petty apartheid"

From the middle of the 20th century many laws were passed to keep the black and white races separated even when they were working in the same places. Inter-marriage was forbidden. For example, Blacks and Whites had to use separate buses, toilets and beaches. Blacks had to carry passes. A few years ago some of these laws had been replaced.

AUSTRIA POPULATION IN AUSTRIA 1998

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RACISM IN AUSTRIA

Austria has in recent years seen a high level of immigration over a short space of time, as well as an influx of refugees from the former Yugoslavia. Despite efforts made on a national level to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance, Austria still faces problems in these areas, including incidents of extreme violence against non-citizens.

VOCABULARY

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