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Racism is a historical and social construct, firmly grounded in the
processes of dehumanizing and stigmatizing the ‘Other’. With widening
socioeconomic inequalities and growing disillusionment with public
institutions, nationalist populism and extreme supremacist ideologies have
become a vessel for political power.
In turn, racist rhetoric has been the cornerstone of post-truth political
campaigns that have conveniently built a discourse around hate and
fearmongering against a common enemy. Populist and extreme supremacist messages
have been propagated from the highest level of political offices, none other
than the presidential podium.
By claiming victimhood and igniting a sense of imminent,
existential threat against perceived otherness, politicians have been able to
galvanize voters and institutionalize exclusionary measures, such as blanket
bans against refugees and non-nationals.
Such political projects have further translated into racist and
xenophobic violence, hate crimes and hate speech. According to the latest
official U.S. hate crime statistics, 59.6 per cent of 7,106
single-bias hate crime incidents reported in 2017 was motivated by a race,
ethnicity and ancestry bias, surpassing the second most prevalent cause,
religious bias, by almost 40 per cent.
To address this trend, this year’s observance of the International
Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March centers
on the theme, ‘Mitigating and Countering Rising Nationalist Populism and
Extreme Supremacist Ideologies’.
“A populist attack on democratic institutions is compounded by a
fixation on defining who the ‘real’ people are, and demonizing the ‘other’:
whose who are somehow less deserving of rights and a voice,” remarked the UN
High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in her statement to the 40th
Session of the Human Rights Council. “The bedrock of nationalist populism is
its demonization of migrants and minorities, and it thrives on a sense of
crisis, besiegement and threat.”
The Report
of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances submitted to the
73rd Session of the UN General Assembly calls for governments to
identify, monitor and criminalize racist expressions and organizations as well
as to combat direct and indirect forms of racial discrimination at all levels
of the government.
Normalizing extreme views of intolerance and legitimizing discrimination, violence and denial of basic rights of those relegated as permanent others or illegitimate second-rate citizens can crystalize discrimination and have a long-lasting impact. Racist and ethno-national rhetoric should not be used to depoliticize issues for which those in power need to be held accountable.
Source: UNSDN