Racism: Encyclopedia II - Racism - Racism by country

Racism - Racism by country

Further information: Genocides

In 19th century Europe and America, some scientists developed various theories about biological differences among races, and these theories were in turn used to legitimize racist beliefs and practices. As did Michel Foucault show in Society Must Be Defended (1978-79), the old notion of "race" was biologized by racist scholars and eugenicists, paving the way to 20th century "state racism" (See above). This work has since been rejected by the scientific community as flawed and even as pseudoscience.

Today there are some scientists who claim that "race", in the general sense in which the term is used, is a social construct: the way in which individuals are classified into racial groups varies from person to person, and from place to place, and from time to time. These scientists say that superficial characteristics which are associated with racial groupings are poor predictors of genetic variability. There can be more genetic variation within a racial grouping than between two racial groupings. They also point to the lack of well-defined boundaries to racial classifications; for example characteristics such as skin colour and facial appearance can be shown to vary as a continuum from place to place. Other scientists counter that "sex" and "species" are likewise seen by some as socially constructed. After all, humans and chimpanzees (or males and females) are far more genetically alike than different. According to this view, categories need not be absolute in order to have scientific utility.

Racism - Australia

Related articles: White Australia policy, Terra nullius, Lambing Flat riots, Sydney gang rapes, 2000, 2002, 2005 Cronulla race riots.

Racism - Austria

Austria has sometimes been criticised of trying to sweep its Nazi past under the carpet, typifed by the widely pronounced myth that Austria was a victim of Nazi aggression rather than a willing participant. This has its origins as an Allied propaganda tactic. This complacency was severly tested in the 1986 presidential race when it emerged that Kurt Waldheim (a former UN secretary general) had concealed (or forgotten) certain facts about his war-time military service with the Wehrmacht. The revelations caused much controversy in Austria as well as in the outside world. Nevertheless Waldheim was elected President. Controversy again erupted in 2000 when Jörg Haider's conservative Freedom Party entered into coalition with the centre-right People's Party having gained 27% of the vote.

However much progress has been made with settling the disputes and compensation for Jews and others whose property and assets were seized during the Nazi era, with a deal completed in 2001. Elections in 2002 saw a significant drop in support for the Freedom Party, with the party subsequently splitting into opposing factions. Jörg Haider now leads the "Alliance for the Future of Austria".

Racism - Brazil

See Race in Brazil.

Racism - Canada

While Canada often depicts its society as being a very progressive, tolerant, diverse, and multicultural nation, Canada also has its own history of racism. Although the historical records are not very clear at the very beginnings of the country's history, one can argue that the first instance of racism in Canada occurred during the first trip of Jacques Cartier in 1534, when he brought two Iroquois more or less against their will back to France, which greatly amused the French royal court. Later, although still not very clearly recognised in the mainstream culture (where it is more seen as territorial wars), much racism occurred between the French and the First Nations people, between First Nations tribes themselves (fuelled by alliances of certain tribes with the French, and others with the English), between the English and the First Nations, and between the English and the French. Although the country's history was influenced greatly by these wars, the relationships between all those ethnicities has changed a lot since the beginning of European settlement in Canada.

Moreover, there are notable records of slavery in Canada in the 1700s. More than half of all Canadian slaves were aboriginal, and the United Empire Loyalists brought their slaves with them after leaving what became the United States. In 1793, Upper Canada governor John Graves Simcoe passed a bill making it illegal to bring a person into the colony for the purposes of enslavement, and slavery was fully outlawed in 1834. Most of the emancipated slaves of African descent were then sent to settle Freetown in Sierra Leone and those that remained primarily ended up in segregated communities such as Africville outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Today there are four remaining slave cemeteries in Canada: in St.-Armand, Quebec, Shelburne, Nova Scotia and Princeville and Dresden in Ontario.)

Starting in 1858, Chinese "coolies" were brought to Canada to work in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway. However, they were denied by law the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, and in the 1880s, "head taxes" were implemented to curtail immigration from China. In 1907, a riot in Vancouver targeted Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses. In 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Exclusion Act, prohibiting further Chinese immigration except under "special circumstances". The Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947, the same year in which Chinese Canadians were finally given the right to vote.

Restrictions still existed on immigration from Asia. In 1967, these restrictions were repealed and Asian immigrants were given the same rights as any other group. In 1999, Adrienne Clarkson, the child of Chinese immigrants who moved to Canada in 1942 under the "special circumstances" clause, became Governor General of Canada. Japanese Canadians were also subject to anti-Asian racism, particularly during World War II when many Canadians of Japanese heritage — even those who were born in Canada — were forcibly moved to internment camps. The government of Canada officially made restitution for the treatment of Japanese Canadians in 1988.

Notable organizations in Canadian history have included the Parti national social chrétien, and the Heritage Front. Other notable individuals in this context include Adrien Arcand, Ernst Zündel, Doug Christie, Wolfgang Droege and Don Andrews.

Recently, Canada has been perceived as practicing systemic, institutionalized racism by allowing employers to require Canadian-based job experience in a potential employee. This puts landed immigrants at a clear disadvantage, and can often result in highly educated people working for much lower pay than their Canadian educated counterparts, or even struggling with a minimum wage job. This unequal footing has left many new immigrants feeling disillusioned with the entire immigration process, and segregated from Canadian culture as a whole. Both as an expression of protest, and as a means of warning potential immigrants still overseas, online groups have formed to share information and stories of victimization. [2], [3] Such experiences have led to ongoing jokes that "Toronto has the world's highest qualified taxi drivers".

However, racism in Canada has not only been connected to immigration. French Canadians, including Acadians, Québécois and Franco-ontarians, and aboriginals have purportedly also been subject to discriminatory treatment in Canada. While having French recognised as an official language was seen as a step towards multiculturalism for Francophones, there has been nothing similar that can be described as culturally validating for Aboriginal Canadians. In fact, Canada's treatment of Aboriginal-Canadians is still governed by a document frequently described as racist, the Indian Act.

Racism - Finland

Sami people were traditionally feared for being wizards and Russians for being criminals, but the fear was more cultural. In 19th century, the ruling Swedish-speaking minority considered Finnish-speaking people to be a separate race and inferior to the Germanic race. The discrimination since transformed into mainly linguistic, but there is still inferiority complex within the Finnish-speaking majority.

Finns have generally been curious about different-looking people. Immigrants of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese origin have been welcomed since cultures of these immigrant groups have been sound with the mainstream culture.

In the beginning of 1990s, a large Somali immigrant population came to the country. Somali immigrants had problems with high criminality and unemployment rates, notably street violence and rapes raising attention. This created racist views and discrimination towards Somalis, extending to all Somali-looking Afro-Finnish immigrants. The discrimination has since occurred, especially outside Helsinki. Problems are currently under hot debate.

Racism - France

The French have a long history of ethnic and racial conflicts. Anti-Semitism, a common trend in European history is also highlighted in French history by events such as the Dreyfus Affair at the turn of the 19th century, and France's treatment of its Jewish population during the Vichy regime. Likewise, the treatment of North Africans and other former colonials during the colonial era, the atrocities committed in Algeria during the War of Independence (1954-1962) and also the Paris massacre of 1961 are also signs of intolerance. The fact that Algerians formed the bulk of late-twentieth century immigration has raised delicate issues, which are exacerbated by the degradation of the general social situation. In the 1970s Jean Raspail wrote The Camp of the Saints which some felt implied African immigrants should be drowned or shot to prevent them from entering France.

In 1998 the Council of Europe's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made a report stating concern about racist activities in France and accused the French authorities of not doing enough to combat this. The report and other groups have expressed concern about organizations like Front National (France). In a recent Pew Survey, 47% of the French deem immigration from Eastern Europe to be a bad thing. A small minority shows signs of Anti-Semitism. Roughly 11% had an unfavorable view of Jews [4] and 8% felt that US policy was most influenced by the Jews [5]. In the colonial age some French also displayed negative sentiments toward black Africans.

Nevertheless these judgments should be balanced by the following: Canadians had roughly the same percentage linking US policy to Jews as France did. Furthermore, France had been ruled by Jewish leaders during the twentieth century (most notably Leon Blum and Pierre Mendes-France, who were both highly popular). Indeed, France has a long history of support for universalism dating back to the Enlightenment : the unenforced constitution of 1794 gave the right to vote to all "foreigners" (independently of any racial consideration) living in France for more than one year. The French also generally have a greater interest in African culture and aid to the region.

In late October of 2005, violent riots erupted in north-east Paris, and later other cities around France, after two youths of North African origin were accidentally electrocuted after supposedly fleeing police.

Racism - Germany

Main articles: Christian antisemitism and Anti-Judaism

The history of Germany has included many acts and policies of racism. If one includes pre-19th century acts of anti-Semitism as racism, the history stretches back to at least the 11th century, when Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor expelled Jews from Mainz in 1012. Other acts of anti-Semitism included numerous bloody attacks on Jews living in the area in the 13th and 14th centuries, most notably the massacres of Jews in the 1340s after they were blamed for spreading the Black Death.

Further information: Nazism

In the 19th century, Germany became one of the major centers of nationalist thought, with the Völkisch movement, and also a major area for development of racial theories, many of them virulently racist See above. Anti-semitic campaigns in this period took on a definitely "racial" valence, as definitely distinct from a purely religious one.

The period after World War I led to an increased use of anti-Semitism and other racism in political discourse, for example among General Ludendorff's followers, which was capped by the ascent of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party in 1933. Nazi racial policy and the Nazi Nuremberg Laws represented some of the most explicit racist policies in Europe in the 20th century, and culminated in the Holocaust, a systematic murdering of millions of Jews, Gypsies, disabled people and others "undesirables".

In the post-World War II era, German reconciliation with its anti-Semitic past has been a protracted experience.

Recent concerns about racism have centered around immigrants (Ausländer), who encounter prejudice when seeking jobs and apartments, or can even experience direct violent attacks by some right-wing groups. This pattern is similar to what is happening in some other European countries.

The immigrants came in two waves, the first in the 1950s, the so called Gastarbeiter (Guest Workers) and their families. These people came from countries such as Turkey and Yugoslavia in West Germany, and Vietnam and Angola in East Germany. The Gastarbeiter were expected to remain on limited contracts, and then leave. Many did not.

Starting from the 1980s, the second wave were the Asylbewerber (Asylum Seekers) from countries such as Sri Lanka and Lebanon. This second group were considered by some locals to not be genuine cases, but so called Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge (Economic Migrants).

Racism - India

Elements of Sangh Parivar and Vishva Hindu Parishad have been accused of inciting ethnic tension. In general tensions in India are more religious than racial in nature, but there have been some reports of ethnic tension between Tamil people and the Hindi majority. Others state some in India accept the Aryan Invasion Theory.

Of some relevance is Asit Krishna Mukherji who was a Bengali Brahmin who openly supported Hitler and married an Esoteric Hitlerist.

See also Ethnic conflict in India.

Racism - Indonesia

See Jakarta Riots of May 1998.

Racism - Ireland

Traditionally there has been very little immigration by non-whites to the Republic of Ireland due to historic poverty, though in recent times growing prosperity in the country (see: Celtic Tiger) has attracted increasing numbers of immigrants, mainly from Africa, China, and Eastern Europe. Also the absence of any colonialist baggage has meant that foreign people are not drawn to Ireland by "mother country" factors that have affected other European countries. Descendants of Irish people who emigrated in the past have also started moving to the country. Most immigrants have settled in Dublin and the other cities. Though these developments have been accepted or tolerated by most, there has been a rise in racist attitudes among some sections of society. Much of this racism takes the form of verbal and other abuses. However, in 2002, a Chinese man Zhao liu Tao (29) was murdered in Dublin in what was described as the Republic of Ireland's first racially motivated murder.[6] Later that year Leong Ly Min, another Chinese man who had lived in Dublin since 1979, was beaten to death by a gang who had been racially abusing him. [7]

Several issues relating to immigration have gained publicity in recent years. After 1997 and prior to 2005 any baby born in the Republic was entitled to Irish citizenship due to stipulations in the Good Friday agreement. This led to many pregnant women (overwhelmingly from Nigeria) from Africa, having discarded their identification documentation to travel directly to Ireland expressly to give birth and thus allow their child to gain Irish citizenship. This became known as citizenship tourism. Following the noted abuses of the loophole in the Irish Constitution a referendum on the issue was held. The referendum was duly carried and the loophole was closed.

In 2005 Nigerian student Olukunle Elukanlo was deported after his asylum application was rejected. Following an outcry by various left-wing activist groups at the decision he was allowed to return to complete his middle school exams. The issue highlighted the growing numbers of failed asylum seekers been deported, an issue which is highly controversial to some (despite that fact that very few failed applicants are actually deported). This has been highlighted in recent television and radio programmes focused on exposing the extreme high cost to the Irish taxpayer of processing false asylum claims in addition to the cost of returning bogus asylum-seekers to their country of origin.

Many Irish people are very proud of being in the European Union, but increasingly large numbers resent migrants from outside the Union coming to Ireland expressly for the purpose of claiming asylum, without having applied for asylum in other countries along their route as is required by international law. There are several "anti-racism" groups active in the Republic, as well as those seeking tighter immigration laws such as the Immigration Control Platform.

Racism - Italy

See Northern League (Italy)

Racism - Japan

See Ethnic issues in Japan

Racism - Netherlands

In the early 21st century, Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn and film maker Theo Van Gogh (film director) both aired highly controversial views on immigration, particularly Muslim immigration. Adding further controversy were their subsequent murders.

Racism - New Zealand

Although New Zealand did not have an official policy along the lines of the White Australia Policy, it did engage in the land wars with the aboriginal Maori during the mid-19th Century, and imposed a poll tax on Chinese immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The poll tax was effectively lifted in the 1930s following the invasion of China by Japan, and was finally repealed in 1944. In one notable incident in Wellington in 1905, Joe Kum Yung, an elderly Chinese man, was shot dead in a racially motivated murder. His killer, Lionel Terry, received wide public support at his trial, although he was later declared criminally insane.

After World War II, immigration policy remained largely Anglocentric until the mid-1980s, although war refugees and non-Anglo-Celtic migrants, and foreign students studying under the Colombo Plan were allowed in the country in limited numbers. In the 1975 election campaign, opposition leader Robert Muldoon ran a scare campaign directed against Pacific Islands migrant workers, which was followed by a series of dawn raids on suspected overstayers. In response, a Pacific Islands group known as the Polynesian Panthers came to prominence. Indigenous land issues came to a head in the late 1970s with Maori protesters occupying the Raglan Golf Course and Bastion Point, with land claims on both being settled by the following decade.

In 1986, country-of-origin rules were abolished, leading to major inflows of immigration for the first time in years, in particular large groups of skilled and business migrants. However, anti-immigration rhetoric directed mainly towards Asians from the populist Maori politician Winston Peters has since forced immigration rules to be tightened. A 2003 study by the Human Rights Commission showed 70% of New Zealanders think that Asians face significant discrimination. Many non-Polynesian ethnic minorities perceive official policy to be indifferent towards them in the context of the Maori-Pakeha bi-culturalism issue.

Racism - Northern Ireland

Racism in the United Kingdom is particularly acute in Northern Ireland, which has prompted The Guardian newspaper to label it the "race hate capital of Europe"[8]. Despite having the smallest numbers of non-whites in the UK it has the highest levels of racist violence in the country (racially motivated attacks are at 16.4% per 1000 of the minority population, whilst in England and Wales the figure is 12.6%).

Traditionally there has been segregration, hatred and violence between Northern Ireland's two main communities: the Unionists/Loyalists, mostly Protestant, who want to remain within the UK and Nationalists/Republicans, mostly Catholic, who want a united Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland the government of the province was controlled by and for Protestants, with a policy of systematic discrimination against Catholics, who formed roughly 1/3 of the population. Tensions eventually erupted in 'the Troubles' in 1968, which saw a renewed campaign of IRA activity and corresponding Loyalist paramilitary violence, the presence of British soldiers and extreme sectarianism fostered by frequent riots and violence.

More recently non-white people, especially Chinese, have started to live in Northern Ireland, primarily in the capital Belfast. The population of Northern Ireland is 99% white. Discrimination takes many forms such as the spraying of racist graffiti, intimidation, assaults, general harassment, protection racketing, vandalism and house burning. Attempts to build a mosque in Belfast was met by much opposition — the plan was eventually dropped.

Racism - Scotland

It has been reported that racial minorities are underrepresented in the police force [9]. Philomena de Lima noted that Scots sometimes feel there is "no problem here" because ethnic minorities are regarded as small in number, "invisible", and "silent." However, she found that in most schools, at least 4% of students were minorities. In the urban areas tensions between Whites and Pakistanis occasionally flare up. In the past football (soccer in US English) has at times divided on racial lines with "Asian teams" versus "Scottish teams" causing conflict. Several items regarding racism in Scotland are reported here [10].

However, it is encouraging to see that the Scottish authorities and people are well aware of the problem and are trying to tackle it. Among the Scottish under 15 years old there is the positive sign that, "younger white pupils rarely drew on racist discourses." [11]

Racism - Spain

Further information: Pureza de sangre, Bartolomé de Las Casas, and Eduardo Galeano

At the end of the Reconquista, Spanish Inquisition imposed pureza de sangre ("racial purity") against Jews and Muslims. Discovery of the New World also led to the famous Valladolid Controversy, in which Bartolomé de Las Casas opposed Sepúlveda's denegation of the existence of "Indian souls". See Eduardo Galeano's The Veins of South America .

Racism - Soviet Union U.S.S.R. Russia etc

Further information: Racism in Russia, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union

.

The subject of racism in Russia is at present controversial and heated. However a Pew Survey showed that of those who believed some religions are more violent than others 10% of Russians named Judaism[12] as the most violent. This was the highest percentage outside the Muslim world. Further a previous poll showed that 25% of Russians had an unfavorable view of Jews.[13] Racism towards Central Asians is said to be even more widespread.

Racism - Turkey

Further information: Armenian Genocide, Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, Pan-Turkism and Greco-Turkish relations

The number of fascists and racists in Turkey are extremely high. The supporters of MHP (Nationalist Movement Party of Turkey) wants a country without Kurds, Armenians and Greeks. It is normally to hear that almost everyone in Turkey hates the Greeks, especially after the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and many also hates the Kurds because they want to split Turkey and get their own country. The supporters of the MHP does also attack riots under demonstrations. In the 1980's before the Coup d'etat in Turkey it were several clashes between the Turkish Fascists and Communists. Many people (mostly Communists.) were sent to jail.

The Mafia of Turkey is also supporters of the MHP. Around in the Turkic countries, like Turkmenistan, Turkistan etc. we can find small groups who support the Turan. The supporters of this clan, wants to make a whole Turkic nation in the heart of Asia where they mostly live. We can also mention the Armenian Genocide and the war on the Kurds and PKK.

Racism - United Kingdom

There were race riots across the United Kingdom in 1919: South Shields, Glasgow, London's East End, Liverpool, Cardiff, Barry, and Newport. There were further riots by immigrant and minority populations in East London during the 1930s, Notting Hill in the 1950s, and Brixton, and Blackbird Leys, Oxford in the 1980s. More recently in 2001, there have been riots in Bradford and Oldham. These riots have followed cases of perceived racism - either the public displays of racist sentiment (including crimes against members of ethnic minorities which were subsequently ignored by the authorities), or, as in the Brixton riots, racial profiling and alleged harassment by the police force.

Racism in one form or another was widespread in Britain before the twentieth century, and during the 1900s particularly towards Jewish groups and immigrants from Eastern Europe. The British establishment even considered the Irish a separate and degenerate race until well into the 19th Century. Since World War I, public expressions of white supremacism have been limited to far-right political parties such as the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and the British National Front in the 1970s, whilst most mainstream politicians have publicly condemned all forms of racism. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that racism remains widespread, and some politicians and public figures have been accused of excusing or pandering to racist attitudes in the media, particularly with regard to immigration. There have been growing concerns in recent years about institutional racism in public and private bodies, and the tacit support this gives to crimes resulting from racism, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Gavin Hopely and Ross Parker.

The Race Relations Act 1965 outlawed public discrimination, and established the Race Relations Board. Further Acts in 1968 and 1976 outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and social services, and replaced the Race Relations Board with Commission for Racial Equality. The Human Rights Act 1999 made organizations in Britain, including public authorities, subject to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Race Relations Act 2000 extends existing legislation for the public sector to the police force, and requires public authorities to promote equality.

There have been tensions over immigration since at least the early 1900s. These were originally engendered by hostility towards Jews and immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. Britain first began restricting immigration in 1905 and has also had very strong limits on immigration since the early 1960s. Legislation was particularly targeted at members of the Commonwealth of Nations, who had previously been able to migrate to the UK under the British Nationality Act 1948. Virtually all legal immigration, except for those claiming refugee status, ended with the Immigration Act 1971; however, free movement for citizens of the European Union was later established by the Immigration Act 1988. Legislation in 1993, 1996 and 1999 gradually decreased the rights and benefits given to those claiming refugee statues ("asylum seekers"). A further government Act in 2002 gave Britain the most restrictive immigration laws of any country in the European Union. 582,000 people came to live in the UK from elsewhere in the world in 2004 according to the office of National Statistics.

Some commentators believe that a huge amount of racism, from within all communities, has been undocumented within the UK, adducing the many British cities whose populations have a clear racial divide. While these commentators believe that race relations have improved immensely over the last thirty years, they still believe that racial segregation remains an important but largely unaddressed problem, although research [14] has shown that ethnic segregation has reduced within England and Wales between the 1991 Census and 2001 Census.

Racism - United States of America

Many historians have argued that racism has been an integral part of the United States of America since it was first colonized by Europeans. In general, the question of race and the practices of racism have been major issues in American politics and daily life since the country became independent in the late eighteen century, and continue to have a major role in political and social life today. The number of groups who have been targeted for systematic discrimination, violence, or exploitation on the basis of their purported racial makeup have included Native Americans (against whom long campaigns for land were waged), African-Americans (who were, until 1865, subject to chattel slavery), and various categories of immigrants. At different times, specific groups targeted by both public and private forms of discrimination have included Irish, Jewish, Italian, Eastern-European, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican immigrants.

In colonial America, before colonial slavery became completely based on racial lines, thousands of African slaves served whites, alongside other whites serving a term of indentured servitude. In some cases for African slaves, a term of service meant freedom and a land grant afterward, but these were rarely awarded, and few black Africans became landowners this way. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt against the Governor of Virginia and the system of exploitation he represented: exploitation of poorer colonists by the increasingly wealthy landowners. However, Bacon died, probably of dysentery, and the revolt lost steam.

The central cause of concern to landowners was the unity of Bacon's populist movement. It raised the question to the landowners of how to divide the population politically in ways that would keep the poorer colonists divided enough to rule. To the Governor, the most threatening, and unexpected, aspect of Bacon's rebellion was its multi-racial aspect. So from that time on, the wealthy landowners determined that only Africans would be used as slaves — and white colonists were promised whatever benefits would have gone to Africans had they continued to be indentured servants. The fuel of the racism was due to the fear of sex among whites and blacks. This relationship was specifically afraid of black, Native American, Asian, and Hispanic men with White women. The thousands of lynchings were testimony to this. This legacy is still seen in the antimiscegenation laws which were repealed only within the past few years. This change began the infamously long period of the American slave society, in which slaves were primarily used for agricultural labor, notably in the production of cotton and tobacco. Black slavery in the Northeast was less common, usually confined to involuntary domestic servitude. The social rift along color lines soon became engrained in every aspect of colonial American culture.

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, freed all slaves in the United States except slaveholding border states which had not seceded from the Union, and those states already under Union control. Slavery ended in the whole country with the 13th Amendment which was declared ratified on December 18, 1865. Despite this, racism continued in the United States with the existence of Jim Crow laws, educational disparities, widespread criminal acts perpetrated by local and vigilante groups, and vigorous action by trade unions and their allies to enact Minimum wages, which had the effect of pricing the typically unskilled and untrained black and immigrant laborers out of the labor market.

In the 1950's and 1960's a mass based movement of predominantly African Americans capitalizing on the gains made by the New Deal engaged in a series of local movements, national lobbying and legal attacks on segregation and discrimination. These groups included the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a variety of local groups and labor unions. This movement culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act.

While the relationship between races in the United States has largely been limited to that between whites and blacks, the changing racial makeup of the American population at the beginning of the 21st century has caused many voices to call for the inclusion of other races in the equation. It is estimated that by 2050, whites in America will comprise less than 50% of the total population (Hispanics, for example will acount for 25% of the US population). The relationship between races in the US is therefore being redefined to include Hispanics and Asian Americans, the fastest growing ethnic groups. At this writing, at least 4 states, California, Texas, Hawaii, and New Mexico (and the District of Columbia) are deemed "majority minority" states, where whites are not the majority of the population.

Racism in the Republican party

Racism - South Africa

See History of South Africa in the apartheid era.

Racism - Sri Lanka

There has been a good deal of tension over the decades between the Sinhala and Tamil. For more in depth information see Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Racism - Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation or Confederatio Helvetica is a nation composed of four subcultural groups: German-speaking (63.7%), French-speaking (20.4%), Italian-speaking (6.5%) and Romansch-speaking (0.5%) (Source: Federal Population Census 2000). With this diversity and its history of neutrality, Switzerland has been seen as a safe refuge for those genuinely fleeing from persecution, and this is backed up by statistics. Switzerland has seen an increase in refugees in recent years, (particularly from Africa), who have claimed asylum directly in Switzerland. In 1992, the federal refugee office registered some 7,000 black Africans requesting asylum. In the first nine months of 2002 the number was 17,000.

The vast majority of asylum seekers are believed by many Swiss politicians to be economic immigrants rather than genuine asylum seekers. Furthermore, the SVP or Swiss People's Party has significantly increased its share of the vote in recent years on a perceived "anti-immigrant" platform. It is best known for opposing Swiss membership in international organisations such as the EU and United Nations and for its campaigning against perceived flaws in the immigration, asylum and penal laws.

Swiss "Confederation Commission Against Racism" which is part of the Swiss "Federal Department of Home Affairs"[15]published a 2004 report, Black People in Switzerland: A Life between Integration and Discrimination [16] (published in German, French, and Italian only). According to this report, discrimination based on skin colour in Switzerland is not exceptional, and affects immigrants decades after their immigration. Up to the release of this report, many people assumed Switzerland to be free of racism.

Racism - Rhodesia

Until majority rule in 1980, the minority white government of Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then called) practised institutionalised racism similar in a few respects to the apartheid system in South Africa. White Rhodesians "lived in the best houses, owned most of the best land, enjoyed a high standard of living and controlled the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the means of coercion." (Godwin, P. & Hancock, I., 1993. Rhodesians never Die, Baobab Books, Harare, Zimbabwe.)

The laws enforcing racial segregation, however, were not always welcomed by the local white community. They were viewed as not only being racist, but expensive and unnecessary. This was highlighted in an incident, called "The Battle of the Toilets" in 1960, involving a new theatre that would be open to all races.

Twenty years after Independance, whites in Zimbabwe remained a market dominant minority through their continued ownership of the vast majority of arable land, the most valuable resource in a country like Zimbabwe where agriculture is the leading industry. In 2000, the government, arguing that the country's landownership patters were the result of longtime failure to address the legacies of colonialism and racism in Zimbabwean society, began a controversial land reform process directed at ejecting the white resident farmers and redistributing the land to the poor black majority. Mugabe, however, had come under heavy criticism and accusations of having apportioned land to supporters, doing so in a disorganized and anarchical manner. This was coupled with renewed criticisms (originally directed decades ago) that a comprehensive land reform has been long overdue. (Astrow, A., 1983, Zimbabwe: A revolution that lost its way?, Zed Books, London)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Racism by country", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki