Redefining racism

Racism is not just about black versus white.It includes discrimination in any form and is also about marginalised communities fighting for their rights, says MARI MARCEL THEKAEKARA after attending the Asia-Pacific Regional meet of the UN World Council Against Racism.

RACISM brings images of black versus white. Right? Wrong. At the UN World Council against Racism (WCAR), the main issue is discrimination in any form. Asian human rights groups in particular, point out that the standard definition of racism is outdated and anachronistic. It is a colonial definition stemming from the UN's Euro-centric proclivity. Race as defined in the white Western world does not apply to the rest of the non-white world in general or to Asia in particular. The UN Conference's stated aims are to fight racism, racial discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Marginalised or discriminated against communities all over Asia are presenting their cases at the Durban meeting in August 2001.

I was invited to the recently held Asia-Pacific Regional meeting at Kathmandu. During the last few months, I have become familiar with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and their position that the caste issue had to be taken to the UN.

The Asia-Pacific groups have joined forces to back the Dalit groups, having realised that the Dalit issue is one affecting communities in countries as widespread as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Fiji, Nepal. It exists wherever the Indian diaspora is present, in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Europe and as far as the West Indies, East Africa, and Mauritius. Since it is a social construct, it remains deeply embedded in the practices of these groups wherever they have migrated or settled.

The number of dalits who suffer active discrimination in India is 160 million and in the Indian diaspora around 240 million. This figure becomes startlingly large if you juxtapose it cleverly besides the entire U.S. population which is 250 million. It hits you even harder when you realise suddenly that it is larger than the population of Europe.

Making common cause with the dalits of Asia are the Burakumin people of Japan, the Ozu of Nigeria, the Roma of Europe and other marginalised groups who claim discrimination based on descent and occupation. The Indian dalit delegation points out that the unkindest cut of all is that Prime Minister Vajpayee recently pledged support to the representatives of the Roma of Europe even while his Minister Jaswant Singh swore to fight tooth and nail the dalit attempt to internationalise casteism at the WCAR.

Watching each Asian group present its case was an eye opener, propelling me out of the Indian context into the world of international human rights. The range of issues was amazing. They included forms of discrimination ranging from women and child trafficking in Nepal, Thailand and Burma to Tibetans fighting Chinese hegemony.

Burmese indigenous groups presented horrendous accounts of the torture and military repression they faced together with their problems as refugees in reluctant host countries.

Equally chilling are the stories of indigenous people from Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia and other Asian states where forcible sterilisation of native peoples form part of a Hitler-like strategy to wipe these tribes off the face of the earth.

From distant New Zealand or Aotearoa were two Maori participants who talked of the culture, rights and struggles of the Maori people.

From nearby Nepal, women's groups sent out a howl of protest. 1,50,000 Nepali girls and women are in Indian brothels. Eighty per cent of them are dalits. Do something to help them!

Then there were domestic workers, women from the Philipines, SriLanka, and Thailand who were routinely cheated of their wages, lured to work with false promises and frequently raped, beaten, and sexually abused by employers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Arab countries.

Indian domestic workers were not represented though our women face similar problems in the Gulf. The plea is for the UN to pressurise these countries into making laws which would protect immigrant labour. Often the women have no recourse to justice because their word has no value in the host country and a complaint could mean deportation. So they are doubly discriminated against.

From Pakistan, the issues being brought to the UN are those of religious harassment and persecution of minority groups. Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and Ahmadis have banded together to demand a joint electorate, to end the separate electorate which renders them ineffective politically and isolates them from participating in mainstream politics. They also demand an end to fundamentalist, militant groups which promote hatred against minorities.

The UN process is a tortuous one. The NGOs fighting to place these issues on the agenda have only consultative status. They can shout themselves hoarse at Durban, but only governments have votes and a final say in the Conference. However, by bringing these hidden issues out in the open, pressure is brought to bear on oppressive governments and human rights issues begin to find a place for the first time. It is because of such prolonged, often seemingly pointless battles, that issues like the environment, pollution, gender, women's rights, child labour have begun to be taken seriously, after decades of struggle and protests by activists.

What the Asia-Pacific group is trying to do is to fight collectively for a better world. Presenting caste as an Asian issue and problem, brings in a whole new dimension. It is ironic that governments which glorify globalisation from the rooftops when trade and markets are discussed, now balk at the new wave of grassroots globalisation which brings the whole world to shout together for Narmada and dalits. Perhaps there's still hope for humankind.

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