Racismo e intolerancia

Africa: Racist attacks – Will African students shun India?

Noticias

África/Abril de 2017/Fuente: University World News

Resumen: Después de lo que se considera ampliamente como ataques racistas contra estudiantes nigerianos en la India en marzo, existe la preocupación de que la violencia podría contribuir a hacer del país un destino menos atractivo para los estudiantes africanos que buscan una educación superior fuera del continente. Según la Asociación de Estudiantes Africanos de la India, cerca de 25.000 africanos estudian en universidades indias, dibujadas por lo que el político indio Shashi Thoor cree que son altos estándares, tarifas bajas y el uso del inglés. Nigeria envía los números más altos, seguido por Sudán y Kenia. Al menos cinco estudiantes nigerianos fueron atacados a finales de marzo en Greater Noida, una ciudad satélite de la capital Delhi. Se retiró un informe posterior de asalto contra un nacional de Kenia. Mientras que los ataques del mes pasado parecen los peores incidentes hasta ahora violentos dirigidos a los africanos han estado creciendo desde 2009, muchos de ellos aislados y en menor escala.

Following what are widely regarded as racist attacks on Nigerian students in India in March, there are concerns that the violence could contribute to making the country a less attractive destination for African students seeking higher education outside the continent.

According to the Association of African Students in India, about 25,000 Africans study in Indian universities, drawn by what Indian politician Shashi Thoor believes are high standards, low fees and the use of English. Nigeria sends the highest numbers, followed by Sudan and Kenya.

At least five Nigerian students were attacked in late March in Greater Noida, a satellite town of the capital Delhi. A subsequent report of assault on a Kenyan national was withdrawn.

While last month’s attacks seem the worst so far violent incidents targeted at Africans have been growing since 2009, many of them isolated and on a smaller scale.

The rise of China

While such attacks are not confined to India – and have in the past been reported in Russian cities, for example – the rise of China and its strong desire to assert its influence on Africa could complicate matters for India, a traditional ally of Africa – at least in terms of education and trade.

Furthermore, observers argue that countries in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Russia itself, are increasingly emerging as study destinations for Africans, thanks to relative affordability, as well as scholarships offered by respective governments.

Last month, the government of the Slovak Republic offered Kenya six scholarships for various programmes in the Eastern Europe country, while the Russian government, though its state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, offered 60 places to students from all over Africa to study nuclear and related sciences.

Back in Africa, the impact of the attacks is the subject of debate.

“The recent attacks gave India widespread negative publicity but they were confined to just one part of the country in a very vast country,” said Patrick Mbataru, a lecturer at Kenyatta University’s School of Agribusiness in Nairobi.

Historical ties

The attacks in his opinion should not justify labelling India a racist country or even make the country unattractive to Africans, considering that Africans have been seeking higher education there for decades.

“We have seen racism and even attacks in Eastern Europe and Russia, so it would not be fair to say racism against Africans is only found in India. However, it is important to note that China also has its eyes on Africa and would like to edge out India as a destination of choice,” he said.

Inroads made by China in Africa, including the introduction of Chinese language teaching and the establishment of Confucius institutes, in addition to widespread economic ties, are pointers that the Asian giant is set to compete with India in the higher education sector, he said.

Mbataru said while India had edge due to traditional ties and the fact that English as medium of instruction in universities favoured the country, the problem of language could be solved through a one-year “crash course” in the Chinese language.

In an article published by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, Ajay Dubey, a professor at the Centre for African Studies in India’s premier Jawaharlal Nehru University, was quoted as saying: “These attacks will affect bilateral ties adversely. It will damage recent Indian initiatives to promote people-to-people contact under India-Africa forum summit initiatives.”

India’s advantages

However, Shashi Thoor, former United Nations Under-Secretary and Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs in India’s lower house of parliament Lok Sabha, said his country will continue drawing African students and believes India still has many advantages over China.

“I can understand why many African students would consider other options. Language, however, remains a powerful disincentive when it comes to studying in China”, he told University World News.

He said India has been “warmly” receiving Africans for decades and the fact that the violence was localised meant it was not enough to tarnish the country’s image.

“The problems we are all reading about relate essentially to the Delhi area. African students have received a warm and hospitable welcome in many other parts of India, particularly Southern India,” said the parliamentarian.

“There is a case for diversifying away from the crowded and stressed life of the national capital”, he said in reference to the densely populated nature of the city and attendant challenges.

Solidarity

A strong sense of sympathy and solidarity with Africans and African causes remained strong among most educated Indians, said Thoor, and this had endeared Africans to the country.

Thoor urged students not to be discouraged from seeking education in India, noting that Africans had been coming to India for higher learning for 60 years.

“Every society, sadly, has its share of thugs and racists we should not assume everyone in India is like the goons who misbehaved with Africans recently,” Thoor said.

In his view, factors likely to discourage Africans from seeking to study in India include growing opportunities in Africa and the fact that education in India was becoming more expensive, or a drop in the overall number of available scholarships.

At the 2015 Indo-African summit attended by representatives of 54 African countries, India committed to offer 50,000 scholarships to Africans over a period of five years beginning in 2016, as well as pledging US$10 billion in “concessional credits” over the same period, and a US$600 million grant.

Fuente: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2017042107142845

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Fox invisibiliza a las mujeres negras en el acto de una película sobre discriminación racial

Monica Zas Marcos

Por: Monica Zas Marcos

Si hoy el hombre es capaz de ponerse en órbita es gracias, en parte, a tres mujeres afroamericanas. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson y Dorothy Vaughan fueron borradas de la memoria de la NASA y de los prodigios espaciales de Estados Unidos. Ahora, la película Figuras ocultas ha querido rendir homenaje al trío de matemáticas que cambiaron la historia en los años 60 mientras soportaban la segregación y el machismo en su ambiente de trabajo.

El filme de Theldore Melfi, distribuido por Fox, se presentó en Madrid el pasado 14 de diciembre con un coloquio llamado «El papel de la mujer en la historia». La productora se había puesto en contacto con una serie de personas para participar en un evento acorde con el mensaje de la película. Sin embargo, una semana después saltaron las alarmas en las redes sociales coincidiendo con la publicación del resumen del coloquio.

Solo había una persona negra entre todos los invitados por Fox España al acto de la Cineteca. La empresaria valenciana Bisila Bokoko, de ascendencia ecuatoguineana, aparecía en el vídeo junto a periodistas, actrices y presidentas de asociaciones como Paloma López Borrero, Rossy de Palma o la vicepresidenta de CIMA, Juana Macías.

«Podría haber sido  la oportunidad para que las mujeres negras que vivimos en España expliquemos cuán identificadas nos sentimos con las mujeres de la película. El resultado del clipping te sorprenderá», alertaba Desirée Bela-Lobedde, activista y creadora de la influyente web NegraFlor. La blogera calificó de white washing (tendencia en el cine de otorgar a los blancos papeles de negros) la decisión de Fox España. «Al final parece que cualquiera sabe más que una mujer negra sobre lo que es ser una mujer negra invisibilizada», añadía.

Según Bela, la agencia externa contratada por Fox para organizar el evento tuvo la intención en un primer momento de contar con activistas afro en Madrid. «Me pidieron nombres, les pasé una amplia lista y, el mismo día 14, me dijeron que solo iban a contar con dos periodistas negros. Fox dio prioridad al famoseo», cuenta Desirée. La activista critica que la productora se decantara en nuestro país por el discurso feminista y dejase de lado el racial, que tiene incluso más relevancia en Figuras ocultas.

«Me parece un insulto. Desvincularon a toda la población afro y solo hablaban mujeres blancas sobre la importancia de la mujer. No, perdona, la importancia de la mujer negra«, defiende Bela. La première en Estados Unidos estuvo liderada por las actrices y Margot Lee Shetterly, autora del libro Figuras ocultas: El sueño americano y la historia nunca contada sobre las matemáticas negras que ayudaron a ganar la carrera espacial.  «No hay color. Mencioné en Twitter a Fox USA para que fueran conscientes de lo que habían hecho en Madrid», explica Desiree.

Fox: «No era un evento racial»

Por su parte, desde Fox España aseguran que, efectivamente, el evento « no se enfocó para nada hacia un punto de vista racial».  «Lo que queríamos para este pase eran representantes femeninas de diferentes empresas, asociaciones e instituciones, independientemente de su raza», afirma Nieves Peñuelas, encargada del departamento de publicidad. «Seguro que en ocasiones hay gente súper interesante que se queda fuera por temas de espacios y/o tiempos, o simplemente por no tener el contacto en ese momento», añade en nombre de la productora. 

Como dicen en Afroféminas, ya que la película  Figuras ocultas versa sobre la representatividad, destaca que se obvie ese aspecto en su mismo preestreno. «Es descorazonador sentir de nuevo que reivindicamos sin respuestas ni efectos. No saben lo que es ser una figura oculta, nosotras sí», concluye Desirée Bela. El último ejemplo de que el mecanismo del cine, tenga las buenas intenciones que tenga, sigue suspendiendo en diversidad.

Las «calculadoras» negras de la NASA

En los años 40, a comienzos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la NASA se saltó las leyes segregacionistas de Jim Crow para contratar a mujeres negras en el departamento de «calculadoras», como ellos las llamaban. Estaban faltos de personal y tuvieron que hacer excepciones. Estas mentes brillantes llegaban de universidades solo para afroamericanos como el Hampton Institute, la Virginia State University y la Wilberforce University.

Trabajaban para la agencia espacial pero no con la agencia espacial. Utilizaban oficinas, comedores y baños separados por raza (que estaban en peores condiciones y más alejados que los de sus compañeros blancos) y debían ser más eficientes. No disponían de nada más que un lápiz y una libreta para calcular las ecuaciones que lanzarían a los primeros astronautas y pondrían a Estados Unidos por delante de Rusia en la carrera espacial.

Entre todas ellas, destacaron tres mujeres por su constancia y su brillante talento para las matemáticas: Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan y Katherine Johnson. Esta última fue la única que logró colarse en las reuniones de los ingenieros y fue de vital importancia cuando Kennedy se propuso enviar al hombre a la Luna. Ya antes, Johnson había resuelto la ecuación aeronaútica imposible para que Alan Shepard no saliera ardiendo en una nave.

Sus otras dos compañeras también se ganaron un hueco en la agencia espacial que fue sutilmente borrado de sus anales. Jackson se enfrentó a un tribunal para cursar sus estudios de Ingeniería en la universidad Hampton (solo para blancos) y ganó. Después, cuando había alcanzado el mayor rango para una mujer negra en la NASA, se dedicó a la enseñanza. Por su parte, Vaughan aprendió de forma autodidacta a utilizar el primer ordenador de la NASA y compartió sus conocimientos con el resto de «calculadoras» negras.

Las dos últimas han recibido este homenaje a título póstumo, pero aún queda Katherine Johnson, que a sus 98 años se encarga de refrescar la mala memoria de la humanidad.

Fuente: http://www.eldiario.es/cultura/fenomenos/mujeres-discriminadas-presentacion-Figuras-Madrid_0_595640635.html

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Francia: Racist graffiti, swastikas found on Anne Frank school

Noticias

Francia/Diciembre de 2016/Fuente: RT

RESUMEN: Swastikas y mensajes racistas atacando a judíos y romaníes fueron descubiertos en la escuela maternal de Ana Frank en un suburbio oriental de París, Montreuil. Funcionarios franceses dicen que el movimiento es «despreciable» y prometen «severos castigos» para los perpetradores. Los símbolos nazis y las estrellas de David, acompañados de eslóganes de «Juden verboten» (judíos prohibidos) y «Sales juifs et roms», fueron encontrados pintados en la puerta principal y el buzón de la escuela de Anne Frank en Montreuil, un barrio de la región de Seine-Saint-Denis de París. Otro graffiti pidió el exterminio de judíos. La guardería, a la que asisten más de 100 niños entre tres y seis años, lleva el nombre de Ana Frank, una judía que escribió un famoso diario de la Segunda Guerra Mundial antes de ser asesinada en un campo de concentración nazi durante el Holocausto. El acto de vandalismo probablemente se llevó a cabo durante la víspera de Navidad, pero los autores todavía no han sido identificados, escribe Leparisien. La ex directora Juliette Timsit llegó a la escena y tomó fotos, que fueron ampliamente distribuidas en las redes sociales.

Swastikas and racist messages attacking Jewish and Romani people were discovered at the Anne Frank nursery school in an eastern suburb of Paris, Montreuil. French officials say the move is «despicable» and vow “severe punishment” for the perpetrators.

The Nazi symbols and stars of David, accompanied by slogans of “Juden verboten” (Jews forbidden) and “Sales juifs et Roms” (Filthy Jewish and Romani people), were found painted on the front gate and mailbox of the Anne Frank school in Montreuil, a neighborhood in the Seine-Saint-Denis region of Paris. Other graffiti called for the extermination of Jews.

The nursery, which is attended by over 100 children between three and six years old, is named after Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who wrote a famous World War II diary before being killed in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.

The act of vandalism was probably carried out over Christmas Eve, but the perpetrators have not yet been identified, Leparisien writes. Former headteacher Juliette Timsit arrived on the scene and took photos, which were widely circulated on social media.

“I woke up to see this on my beautiful little quiet school in my beautiful quiet neighborhood,” she wrote on Facebook. “It makes me cry.”

The hateful act has been vigorously condemned by the authorities. “The inscriptions on Montreuil’s Anne Frank School are despicable. These actions will not remain unpunished,” French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem posted on Twitter.

Patrice Bessac, the mayor of Montreuil, also tweeted to “strongly condemn the racist and anti-Semitic inscriptions” found on the nursery.

And in an interview with AFP, deputy mayor Gaylord de Chequer said: “Such comments should not exist in Montreuil, which is a quiet and peaceful town.” A criminal investigation has been launched, and municipal workers came early on Monday to paint over the graffiti.

France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, with up to 600,000 people, The Times of Israel writes. Yet, the outlet notes that according to the latest figures by the Israeli authorities, some 8,000 moved back to Israel in 2015 alone due to anti-Semitism.

According to a report by Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, France had the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, ahead of Britain, Germany and the US.

Some of these incidents are thought likely connected to tensions with France’s Muslim population, such as during the January 2015 Paris attacks when an Islamiс jihadist gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, stormed into a kosher supermarket in Paris and killed four people.

However, the incident also revealed another side of the coin, as a Muslim employee of the shop, Lassana Bathily, helped over a dozen people flee to safety from the attacker.

Fuente: https://www.rt.com/news/371885-france-anne-frank-school-swastikas/

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Where the Democrats Go From Here

Bernie Sanders

By: Bernie Sanders

Millions of Americans registered a protest vote on Tuesday, expressing their fierce opposition to an economic and political system that puts wealthy and corporate interests over their own. I strongly supported Hillary Clinton, campaigned hard on her behalf, and believed she was the right choice on Election Day. But Donald J. Trump won the White House because his campaign rhetoric successfully tapped into a very real and justified anger, an anger that many traditional Democrats feel.

I am saddened, but not surprised, by the outcome. It is no shock to me that millions of people who voted for Mr. Trump did so because they are sick and tired of the economic, political and media status quo.

Working families watch as politicians get campaign financial support from billionaires and corporate interests — and then ignore the needs of ordinary Americans. Over the last 30 years, too many Americans were sold out by their corporate bosses. They work longer hours for lower wages as they see decent paying jobs go to China, Mexico or some other low-wage country. They are tired of having chief executives make 300 times what they do, while 52 percent of all new income goes to the top 1 percent. Many of their once beautiful rural towns have depopulated, their downtown stores are shuttered, and their kids are leaving home because there are no jobs — all while corporations suck the wealth out of their communities and stuff them into offshore accounts.

Working Americans can’t afford decent, quality child care for their children. They can’t send their kids to college, and they have nothing in the bank as they head into retirement. In many parts of the country they can’t find affordable housing, and they find the cost of health insurance much too high. Too many families exist in despair as drugs, alcohol and suicide cut life short for a growing number of people.

President-elect Trump is right: The American people want change. But what kind of change will he be offering them? Will he have the courage to stand up to the most powerful people in this country who are responsible for the economic pain that so many working families feel, or will he turn the anger of the majority against minorities, immigrants, the poor and the helpless?

Will he have the courage to stand up to Wall Street, work to break up the “too big to fail” financial institutions and demand that big banks invest in small businesses and create jobs in rural America and inner cities? Or, will he appoint another Wall Street banker to run the Treasury Department and continue business as usual? Will he, as he promised during the campaign, really take on the pharmaceutical industry and lower the price of prescription drugs?

I am deeply distressed to hear stories of Americans being intimidated and harassed in the wake of Mr. Trump’s victory, and I hear the cries of families who are living in fear of being torn apart. We have come too far as a country in combating discrimination. We are not going back. Rest assured, there is no compromise on racism, bigotry, xenophobia and sexism. We will fight it in all its forms, whenever and wherever it re-emerges.

I will keep an open mind to see what ideas Mr. Trump offers and when and how we can work together. Having lost the nationwide popular vote, however, he would do well to heed the views of progressives. If the president-elect is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families, I’m going to present some very real opportunities for him to earn my support.

Let’s rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of well-paying jobs. Let’s raise the minimum wage to a living wage, help students afford to go to college, provide paid family and medical leave and expand Social Security. Let’s reform an economic system that enables billionaires like Mr. Trump not to pay a nickel in federal income taxes. And most important, let’s end the ability of wealthy campaign contributors to buy elections.

In the coming days, I will also provide a series of reforms to reinvigorate the Democratic Party. I believe strongly that the party must break loose from its corporate establishment ties and, once again, become a grass-roots party of working people, the elderly and the poor. We must open the doors of the party to welcome in the idealism and energy of young people and all Americans who are fighting for economic, social, racial and environmental justice. We must have the courage to take on the greed and power of Wall Street, the drug companies, the insurance companies and the fossil fuel industry.

When my presidential campaign came to an end, I pledged to my supporters that the political revolution would continue. And now, more than ever, that must happen. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. When we stand together and don’t let demagogues divide us up by race, gender or national origin, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. We must go forward, not backward.

Taken from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/opinion/bernie-sanders-where-the-democrats-go-from-here.html?_r=0

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