Statement 30 June 2020: Solidarity is Going Beyond Borders
Solidarity is Going Beyond Borders
“I can’t breathe”. This desperate shout of George Floyd while he was dying, an asphyxiated victim of police brutality, has generated massive protests in a large part of the world and has brought attention to the racism suffered by many people, a racism that lives on.
It is nothing new:
People persecuted only for the color of their skin. Violations of human rights experienced by seasonal Moroccan female workers and other migrants who work in the harvest of strawberries and other red berries in Huelva. Seasonal workers who can rent neither housing nor hotel rooms in Lerida because of being of a certain origin. Sexual violence. Difficulties in accessing the legal system, public health and their sexual and reproductive rights. Racist riots. Foreign Internment Centers without measures for protection during the COVID 19 pandemic. Persecutions on our southern border. Aporophobia. Xenophobia.
Speeches by the media and public representatives that discriminate and legitimize violence. Incitement to hatred of political parties… unfortunately, no longer news. All are part of daily life and we live with it.
We frequently hear “I’m not racist” but…
One sees an enemy in the other, one who is different, who is not one of ours. It reflects back to us the image of what we are in the face of what we are not. This phraseology “facing the other”, easily degenerates into “against the other” which turns from one who is different into one who is the enemy. Hatred towards the adversary is generated to the point of not recognizing his/her rights. It is the threat of the other that comes to take from me what I have. It divides the world into two parts: the good ones (ourselves) and the bad ones (the others) and establishes racial supremacy.
Women in Black against wars say Enough of Racism and we want:
* To respect the differences of human diversity in our nearby surroundings and not tolerate xenophobic attitudes. To neutralize fear of what is different.
* To call attention to racism, discrimination and the growing intolerance towards refugees in our land.
* To oppose prejudices and discriminatory stereotypes directed mainly towards the foreigners already situated in the country.
* To invent new forms of living together harmoniously, thus favoring interchanges and mutual enrichment.
* To demilitarize and decontaminate this society through a change in the prevailing cultural mentality. The Other is not the enemy. The Other is not inferior. The Other is just different from us.
* To cease using language that looks down on and humiliates those who re different.
Women in Black:
♀ Affirm the need to develop policies and actions against racism and xenophobia, integrating a perspective of gender.
♀ Reject policies of hate and discrimination and the systematic racism of exclusion and rejection.
♀ Commit to maintain active solidarity with those who currently suffer from the above and consider them an integral part of our societies.
♀ Promote networks of women beyond frontiers, ethnicities or ideologies, using nonviolent practices in our mobilizations.
It is nothing new:
People persecuted only for the color of their skin. Violations of human rights experienced by seasonal Moroccan female workers and other migrants who work in the harvest of strawberries and other red berries in Huelva. Seasonal workers who can rent neither housing nor hotel rooms in Lerida because of being of a certain origin. Sexual violence. Difficulties in accessing the legal system, public health and their sexual and reproductive rights. Racist riots. Foreign Internment Centers without measures for protection during the COVID 19 pandemic. Persecutions on our southern border. Aporophobia. Xenophobia.
Speeches by the media and public representatives that discriminate and legitimize violence. Incitement to hatred of political parties… unfortunately, no longer news. All are part of daily life and we live with it.
We frequently hear “I’m not racist” but…
One sees an enemy in the other, one who is different, who is not one of ours. It reflects back to us the image of what we are in the face of what we are not. This phraseology “facing the other”, easily degenerates into “against the other” which turns from one who is different into one who is the enemy. Hatred towards the adversary is generated to the point of not recognizing his/her rights. It is the threat of the other that comes to take from me what I have. It divides the world into two parts: the good ones (ourselves) and the bad ones (the others) and establishes racial supremacy.
Women in Black against wars say Enough of Racism and we want:
* To respect the differences of human diversity in our nearby surroundings and not tolerate xenophobic attitudes. To neutralize fear of what is different.
* To call attention to racism, discrimination and the growing intolerance towards refugees in our land.
* To oppose prejudices and discriminatory stereotypes directed mainly towards the foreigners already situated in the country.
* To invent new forms of living together harmoniously, thus favoring interchanges and mutual enrichment.
* To demilitarize and decontaminate this society through a change in the prevailing cultural mentality. The Other is not the enemy. The Other is not inferior. The Other is just different from us.
* To cease using language that looks down on and humiliates those who re different.
Women in Black:
♀ Affirm the need to develop policies and actions against racism and xenophobia, integrating a perspective of gender.
♀ Reject policies of hate and discrimination and the systematic racism of exclusion and rejection.
♀ Commit to maintain active solidarity with those who currently suffer from the above and consider them an integral part of our societies.
♀ Promote networks of women beyond frontiers, ethnicities or ideologies, using nonviolent practices in our mobilizations.
“Wars and racism begin in our minds.”
“Not in our name.”
“Solidarity is going beyond borders.”
“Not in our name.”
“Solidarity is going beyond borders.”
It is not enough to be against racism; we must analyze the factors that maintain it in order to avoid them.
Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain
Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain
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