Racism in the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Israel
🌏INTERNATIONAL
🇬🇧Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups
Vaccine hesitancy among Black people and people of color is not a problem in the US alone. White racism is a global problem.
“In a UK survey in December 2020, vaccine hesitancy was highest among black (odds ratio 12.96, 95% confidence interval 7.34 to 22.89), Bangladeshi, and Pakistani (both 2.31, 1.55 to 3.44) populations compared with people from a white ethnic background.”
Oprah interviewed Harry and Meghan. Several questions and answers revolved around race. Harry was unwilling to talk about the family/firm’s racist preoccupation with Archie’s skin color.
🇿🇦Global white supremacy cult: How the South African radical Right bolsters US extremism
Did you know about the White South African origins of the QAnon?
“The recent rise in information-sharing between US and South African far-right groups expose some of the new channels through which transnational white supremacist anxieties and imaginaries are actively reinforcing their ideological connections and more importantly, how they continue to mutually reinforce and invigorate one another.”
🇩🇪German police charged over Nazi chats, possessing explosives
“Prosecutors in Germany have accused two brothers who worked as police officers in the central state of Hesse of spreading racist views on instant messaging apps, German news agency dpa reported Thursday.”
🇨🇦Cape Breton Indigenous MP says Bill C-22 aims to root out systemic racism
It’s disturbing to see some of the same policies in the US doing the same things around the word.
“The existing policies around sentencing and, in particular, minimum mandatory penalties, disproportionately affect Indigenous Canadians who suffer higher rates of addiction and mental health issues than the general population. In 2020, 30 per cent of federally incarcerated inmates were Indigenous adults, despite making up only five per cent of the country’s population. The portion of those incarcerated under mandatory minimum penalties has grown from 14 per cent in 2006-2007 to 26 per cent in 2016-2017.”
“Sales of anti-racism, social justice books jumped by 955% from May to June, says BookNet Canada”
If you thought the rise in sales of anti-racism books last summer was limited to the United States, you are wrong. According to Black bookstore owners in Canada, the spike in sales happened there too. Despite the spike in the United States, 57% of whites still voted for Trump, who is a white terrorist. Let’s hope the whites of Canada do a better job of taking action to stop white racism than American whites. Even then, it wouldn’t be good enough.
🇪🇺🇳🇱 “Automated racism: How tech can entrench bias”
Politico.eu has a disturbing report about blacklists and surveillance tactics in the Netherlands which targeted and accused people of benefits fraud based on nationality and ethnicity. According to the piece, “10,000 families were forced to repay tens of thousands of euros, which led to financial hardship, unemployment, bankruptcies, divorces and people losing their homes. One parent committed suicide.” Technologies can exacerbate structural white racism. The opinion piece in Politico calls on the European Union to do something with its anti-racism plan and “racial equality” directive.
🇲🇽Environmental Racism in Mexico
Jayson Maurice Porter has an interesting piece in the Washington Post about the history of the Afro-Mexican experience and also environmental racism.
“Similar to the United States, Mexico is also at a moment of reckoning when it comes to the issue of environmental racism. For decades, the Afro-Mexican population has been devastated by environmental injustice. Black and Afro-Indigenous communities on the Costa Chica, east of Acapulco, Guerrero, in particular, have faced displacement and land degradation caused by generations of tourism, deforestation and agrochemical runoff.”
🇵🇸ICC opens investigation into war crimes in Palestinian territories
“The international criminal court has launched an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, including the period covered by the 2014 Gaza war, potentially placing hundreds of Israelis – including soldiers and senior political figures – at risk of prosecution.”
This will be an investigation of war crimes committed by both sides. Based on the report in The Guardian, The Palestinian Authority welcomes the investigation, but officials from Israel and Biden’s administration do not. I wonder why?
🇦🇺Councillors in Australia receive racist letters with death threats
Anti-Chinese racism and anti-Asian racism is on the rise in Australia. Two councillors received racist letters and death threats. One councillor, Kun Huang, points to a number of factors in the rise including Trump’s racist rhetoric. This is another reason Trump must be held accountable.
“Huang puts the rise in anti-Chinese racism down to ‘a combination of things’. ‘Obviously the pandemic, you have Trump in America. And also the [media] reports about Chinese Australians. They have also helped create this kind of suspicion towards the Asian community.’”
Australia has a Race Discrimination Commissioner, and China has called on Australia to “own up” to the problem and become “better citizens.”
See also:What it’s like to be Asian in Australia since COVID came knocking
🇳🇿“Racism in New Zealand runs deep”
Dr Satra Browne is an Emergency Medicine Specialist who moved from the United States to New Zealand. She says, “I hoped to leave behind the cultural baggage of racism that I’d carried most of my life where it belonged – in the States.” But Dr. Browne found New Zealand to be anti-Black too. In her opinion piece, she recounts her experience with anti-Black racism in New Zealand.