We Are All Born Free
Faces of racism
Josef Szwarc
Synopsis:
The book seeks to illuminate the nature of racism by describing both the ideas of advocates and the deeds of perpetrators. The topics are arranged alphabetically with an entry for each letter from A to Z. Within each of the topics, the examples are intended to illustrate that racism is universal and that in various forms it has apeared throughout history.The topics and the illustrations are also intended to reflect that racism is pervasive, affecting how people behave in their personal relationships and in their public roles as emplouers, jurors, police officers and politicians. The books mentions a small number of people who have confronted racism at grave personal risk, but itis not only life and death situatuations that demand such strength. It takes courage to tell a relative, a friend or work colleague that their conduct is wrong. It takes courage to examine one's own attitudes and actions.
| ISBN | 1 873328 55 9 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Amnesty International UK |
| Date | 24 Aug 2001 |
| Format | 230 x 150 mm, 128 pages, illustrated |
| Price | £9.99 |
'This brilliant book introduces young adults and those who don't know to the ABC of racism. A must.' (Pride magazine, October 2001)
Contents:
1. Introduction - scope of the book; racism defined.
2. A-Z: Apartheid - racial segregation in South Africa and elsewhere. Blood - biological theories of race and racial characteristics. Caste - discrimination on the basis of birth. Driving while black - stereotyping and ‘institutional racism’. Ethnic cleansing - an old and global phenomenon. Faith - religion as a source of legitimating and opposing racism. Genocide - the most extreme form of racism. Hate speech - expressing and inciting racism; measures to restrict racist speech. Imperialism - racist justifications for conquest and control; efforts by colonized indigenous people to regain power. J’accuse - journalists and other defenders of victims of racism. KKK - major racist groups from the 19th century to present day and measures to combat them. Linguicide - suppression of indigenous languages. Miscegenation - legal and social sanctions to prohibit interracial marriage. Nuns of Drapchi - profile of people who have opposed racism. On the origins of the species - Charles Darwin’s influence. Porrajmos - racial prejudice, including genocide against Roma. Queers - racists and homophobia. Rape - sexual violence as a weapon of interracial conflict. Slavery - racism has justified and been reinforced by slavery. Truth - myths and lies have sustained and inflamed racial conflict. Underground railroad – escape from oppressors; today’s vilification of ‘traffickers’. ‘Volk’ - nationalism and racism; the debate between ‘assimilation’ and ‘multiculturalism’. White Man’s Burden - even benevolent imperialism was inherently racist. Xenophobia - reasons for fear and hatred of the ‘foreigner’; controversies over asylum seekers and immigrants. Yellow Peril - European/white antagonism to Chinese and other Asian migrants and states. ZOG – ‘Zionist Occupation Government’ - long-standing anti-semitic belief in Jewish power and conspiracy to control the world.
3. Bibliography - further reading and electronic resources.
Write a review of this book
Reviewer: New Internationalist, December 2001
Written with a young audience in mind and in a straightforward A-Z format, this Amnesty International primer on racism is a fresh and forceful mix of effective quotes, anecdotes and lively and striking illustrations. From Apartheid to ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government), via Hate Speech and Xenophobia, the book sets out to debunk the pernicious myths that are endlessly swapped in the sewers of racist thought.
Josef Szwarc neatly sidesteps the main pitfall of the schematic design. He chooses far-from-obvious alphabetical chapter headings - Underground Railroad, Faith, On the Origin of Species, - and then crams each entry with argument and debate from an eclectic and diverse range of sources. In effect, each chapter becomes a mini-essay that can move from Mussolini to indigenous land rights or Abraham Lincoln's separatist notions to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo.
While the quotes from the likes of the fascist grouplet Blood and Honour or the neo-Nazi bomber David Copeland are as nauseating as you'd expect, Szwarc has chosen well and judiciously and, far from giving such creatures free publicity, the overall effect is that they are condemned by the manifest nonsense of their own warped logic.
Faces of Racism is the first in an Amnesty International introductory series on key human rights issues. If the subsequent volumes are as clear and as punchy as this one, then it will certainly be a series that deserves to be on every student's bookshelf and in every school library.
Reviewer: Global Dimension website (www.globaldimension.org.uk)
This book looks at the history of racism throughout world history, addressing one of the most controversial subjects in modern times. The book includes 26 short chapters, from A to Z, explaining how racist thought has evolved, and what has been achieved in the fight against racism.
The book is well researched and draws on experiences from many different countries, including South Africa, America, India, Bosnia and Britain. The book as been published by Amnesty International, and so has a particular focus on human rights. The book would be excellent reference material for post 16 study.
