CONVOCATION 30 March 2008: CONFRONTING THE INCREASE IN RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

The last Sunday of the month in the Plaza Mayor (next to the horse statue) at 12:00 noon
Women in Black
invite you to a vigil in black and in silence.
30 MARCH

CONFRONTING THE INCREASE IN RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

The European commission against racism and xenophobia indicates that both of these attitudes exist in Spain and that, in public discussion, arguments are used which in a general way create a negative aura surrounding immigration.

WOMEN IN BLACK AGAINST WAR – MADRID invite you to a personal reflection on the attitudes and prejudices regarding immigration in order to be able to live within human diversity, respecting differences, inventing new ways of living together in harmony; learning to rise above the negative aspects that are part of all cultures, thus favoring inter-action and mutual enrichment.

Let us expel war from history and from our lives

C/ San Cosme y San Damián, Nº 24, 2º
28012 – Madrid

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Confronting the increase in racism and xenophobia

"…as a woman, I have no country.
As a woman, my country is the whole world."
Virginia Woolf

The increase in immigration is a consequence of economic globalization and wars (in the case of armed conflicts, 80% of displaced persons are women and children).

Racism and xenophobia continue to grow in Spain and are reinforced by prejudices and discriminatory stereotypes directed mainly towards the foreign population settled in the country, while we, at the same time, forget that we are one of the original emigrant countries.

In this context, women suffer triple discrimination – on account of their gender, being emigrants and being poor. This complex manifestation of violence results in obvious consequences for the female emigrant who, in many cases, has become the sole supporter for the family.

The European commission against racism and xenophobia indicates that both of these attitudes exist in Spain and that, in public discussion, arguments are used which in a general way create a negative aura surrounding immigration.

Women in Black express the need to develop policies and actions against racism and xenophobia, including a gender perspective.

We invite personal reflection on attitudes and prejudices regarding immigration in order to be able to live within human diversity, respecting differences, inventing new ways of living together in harmony; learning to rise above the negative aspects that are part of all cultures, thus favoring inter-action and mutual enrichment.

Madrid, 30 March 2008

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA