On Race and Terror

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/international/1376/ahmadinejad_aside,_anti-racism_conference_was_deeply_flawed

Interestingly enough, I totally agree with the title of the above article. The racism conference WAS deeply flawed, although not for quite the right reasons.

The Swiss insistence in not tying racism to a particular geography was interesting. So, of course, no comments on the Israeli-Palestinian problem. No censure of the massive rise of the far right and far right extremism in Russia.

But when it comes to terrorism, of course terrorism has a unique geography. Of course, terrorists come from Saudi Arabia. When Hamas fires a few piddling rockets over the Green Line (otherwise known as the Armistice Line), why that's Palestinian terrorism. It is unique to Palestine. It has a name, and a geography.

Yet God forbid that when Israel participates in the genocide of 1,500 Palestinians, that this should not be considered racism. This indictment, the indictment of terrorism, only cuts one way, when in fact, racism, and racist ideologies arguably kill far more people than terrorists and terrorism across the globe. But hey, that's okay.

You know, all throughout history those groups have been telling people to put up and shut up when questions of race and oppression arise. For generations, really. So let's look at what has happened in the wake of the Palestinian silence around Gaza:

"The fishermen continue to be killed, wounded or arrested. Their boats continue to be targeted or impounded. The noose of the siege grows tighter."

That's from today. It hasn't stopped. Who knows if it ever will? Perhaps people will endure this in perpetuity, except that now we have said to them that they must endure silently.

As for racist violence in Russia, towards Africans, Asians, and Indians? Well, the international community has decided that its not a concern. (NOTE: There are only 6 million migrants in a country of 142 million people. This is hardly being swamped in newcomers; its less than three percent of the population. Yet they bear the brunt of societal tension and frustration, even to the point of being wantonly killed in the streets, with hundreds of race related murders annually. Certainly a country like Canada has a similar, in fact, an even higher proportion of immigrants, and this is not happening here.)

However, its not a big deal, clearly.

But terrorism is.