Human Rights

21 March International Day against Racism

• Print
• Email

21 March International Day against Racism and Racial Discrimination

At the outset of the New Millennium, the consequences of putting an end to the institutionalized apartheid in South Africa, had turned out to irony: racism has not disappeared from the world but has dispersed across our planet and manifests itself in diverse, subtle an even dangerous forms and continues to be felt within the political, economic and social life of many categories of peoples in the world.

The turbulent wakening that marked the end of cold war has led many to rush to different destinations, to power, self-interests, riches, natural resources, along with vengeance or hate which fueled civil wars and other sorts of conflicts.

The event which took place in Sharpeville, South Africa, was a clear example of how far racism can cause outburst of atrocities vis-à-vis peoples of different colors of skin.

The remnants of the apartheid still haunt in various manifestations in several countries exposing the failure of the international community to take effective measures against this scourge. The process of globalisation and the ambiguities surrounding the action to combat terrorism in the present juncture have exarcerbated the situation in fighting racism and all its attributes.

In the name of racist ideology, the Israel zionist, racist regime, with the backing and blessing of the United States, relentlessly perpetrate massacres of Palestinian population, killing women and children, demolishing buildings, imposing economic strangulation, carrying out collective punishment, causing a lot of devastation.

The case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of those which are occurring at different stages of manifestations in a number of countries in the world. But if the places of occurence are different, the methods related to racism remain shamefully the same: violences, tortures, restriction, exclusion, killings, abuses and denial of fundamental rights and freedom.

The fight against terrorism led by the so-called international coalition to combat this scourge has been accompanied by country-targeted racist obsession in a global scale. Thus,
- branding peoples and countries as rogues or evils because of their stand, is a manifestation of racist phenomenon;
- targeting systematically Islamic and Arab countries in the context of fight against terrorism is an act of racism;

Anti-semitic, xenophobic, fascist and neo-nazi attitudes have even occured in developped countries. Asian, African and Latin American communities are not spared from exclusion, intolerance and insults.

The gap between the haves and the haves-not, the riches and the poors, the developped and the underdevelopped countries as consequence of globalisation remains a propicious ground for racist acts. Poverty, illiteracy, famine and deseases are often associated with racist manifestations..

The Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation calls upon civil societies and organisations, the public opinion all over the world to remind the great significance of the 21 MARCH in the struggle to eliminate all forms of racism and racial discrimination. It also calls for the strenghtening of international solidarity with all peoples suffering under racist regimes and practices that contradict principles of human rights, justice and progress.