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RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA



/* posted 31 Mar 6:00am 1997 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* ------------------" Racism and Xenophobia "-------------------- */

RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA (PP-58, The State of the World Refugees, 1993)
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        "There are only 90,000 of them here but they are a disgusting and
        painful abscess on the body of our nation. An ethnic group without
        any culture, moral or religious ideals, a nomad mob only robbing
        and stealing. Dirty, full of lice, they occupy the streets and
        railway stations. Let them pack their dirty tatters and leave
        forever !"
        From a wall poster in Central Europe

In some countries, incidents of criminal violence committed against
asylum-seekers have risen by as much as 400 percent in the early 1990s.
They cannot be treated as a marginal phenomenon. In too many countries it
is no longer considered unacceptable for political leaders to publicly
flaunt racist or xenophobic sentiments.

Racial persecution is a major cause of refugee flight. The number of
refugees around the world can be seen as a barometer of human intolerance.
Ironically, these very refugee flows are today being cited as a cause of
the new xenophobic trend. Racism, and the violence that goes with it, all
too often haunt refugees even after they have found asylum.

Equally disturbing, public hostility towards what is seen as an endless
tide of immigrants has convinced policy makers in many industralized
nations that their constituencies have reached saturation point. This has
led many countries to adopt more restrictive approaches to asylum, sparking
fears that the centuries-old tradition may be crumbling at a time when it
is needed most.

Germany has confronted its xenophobia problem more openly than most other
nations. It recorded 4,587 attacks against foreigners in 1992, compared to
2,462 such incidents in 1991. The 1992 figure included 548 incidents or
arson directed at accommodation centres for foreigners and asylum-seekers.
Seventeen people died in racially motivated attacks. Anger at the sheer
number of asylum-seekers - Germany found nearly 440,000 on its doorstep in
1992 - led to increased support for far-right fringe parties. An economy in
recession and massive unemployment fuelled resentment over the generous
benefits the state accords to those seeking sanctuary, the majority of whom
are found, after lengthy legal proceedings to have no claim to refugee
status. The animosity displayed by the extreme right reached such a high
pitch that Japanese companies in Berlin began giving employees tips on how
to dress and behave to ensure they would not be mistaken for Asian
refugees. On the positive side, in an encouraging and heart-felt public
expression of revulsion at the wave of xenophobia, hundreds of thousands of
Germans have taken part in a series of massive demonstrations across the
country.

Germany is most often cited in treatise on xenophobia because of its
high-profile public debate on the issue and its meticulous record keeping.
But the problem of xenophobia is widespread throughout Europe and elsewhere.
The Nordic countries, once considered bastions of tolerance, have not been
spared xenophobic acts violence. Nor have Belgium or Switzerland. In
France, a 1992 government survey found that 40 per cent of French people
admitted they held racist sentiments, while 21.2 per cent characterized
themselves "very racist". And in Japan, thousands of posters appeared in
Tokyo in early 1993 urging fellow Japanese to "Get rid of the delinquent
foreigners who are destroying our nation's culture, tradition and safety."

The wall poster quoted above could have been found almost anywhere. The
"ethnic group" it attacks could be one of a hundred. Distributed by the
rising tide of racism and xenophobia, some governments had human rights
organizations have joined hands with the media to counter-attack. There
have been strong manifestations public disgust in response to the racial
attacks in German and the Nordic countries. Several other nations have
mounted public awareness campaigns aimed at confronting mounting
xenophobia head on.

A total of 76 organizations, including UNHCR, have participated in a
Spanish campaign organized around the theme "Democracy is Equality". With
financing from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the campaign used TV spots,
full-page advertisements in national news-papers and subway posters to
combat the ignorance that breeds racism. The campaign - which generated
extensive public debate - with both controversial and courageous in that it
used racist epithets to fight deep prejudices against refugees, immigrants,
gypsies and all people of a different race.

Media initiatives in other countries have included a message broadcast
between commercials by a Netherlands TV station, which stated "If you too
think that foreigners must leave the country, then we prefer to do without
you as viewers of RTL4". Alsoin the Netherlands, RAdio 3, a rock-music
radio station, launched a concerted campaign against racism and other forms
of discrimination in early 1993.

Elsewhere in the world, politicians and local media are often failing to
combat - and in some cases actively fueling - rabble-rousing attempts to
blame the ills of society on foreigners or minority groups. While it would
be simplistic to claim that information campaigns like those cited above
can, by themselves, cure such deeply ingrained problems as racism and
xenophobia, they can certainly be useful in encouraging greater tolerance
and positive humanitarian attitudes towards people in need.

For the sake of society at large, including refugees and asylum-seekers, it
is important that certain obvious messages - which are sometimes forgotten
by the general public and politicians alike, particularly in the context of
the immigration debate - are broadcast loud and clear. Foreigners do not
cause economic decline. They do not invite racism. On the contrary, they
are the principal victims.
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