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Racism refers to a belief system that humans can be separated into various groups based on physical attributes and that these groupings determine cultural or individual achievement. This can lead to prejudice against individuals based on a perceived or ascribed "race". This racist outlook in assuming that the human species can be meaningfully divided into races, often breeds ignorance, fear and hostility towards people. Racism often includes the belief that people of different races differ in aptitudes and characteristics. Some individuals who use this concept of racial categories, believe that different races can be placed on a ranked, hierarchical, scale. The term race plus the suffix ism added refers to a "meme" that the human species can be divided into various groups based on physical characteristics such as skin color and hair color, as well as cultural differences and beliefs. By definition one who practices racism is known as a racist.

Racism can more narrowly refer to a system of oppression, such as institutional racism that is based on ideas that one race is superior to other races. Organizations and institutions that practice racism discriminate against and marginalize a class of people who share a common racial designation. The term "racism" is usually applied to the dominant group in a society, because it is that group which has the means to oppress others, but readily applies to any individual or group(s), regardless of social status or dominance.

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, there have been few in developed nations who describe themselves as racist, which has become a pejorative term, so that identification of a group or person as racist is nearly always controversial. Racism is regarded by all but racists as an unacceptable affront to basic human dignity and a violation of human rights. A number of international treaties have sought to end racism. The United Nations uses a definition of racist discrimination laid out in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and adopted in 1966:

...any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. [1].

The European Union has a wide definition on factors that can but must not be reasons for discrimination: "Article 21 of the charter prohibits discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation and also discrimination on the grounds of nationality." Fighting all forms of discrimination

From "racial theory" to "racism"

The word and the concept of "race"

Before considering racism, it is an important methodological point to distinguish historically when the concepts of "race" and "racism" became known as such. Historians disagree largely when "race" emerged as a concept, ranging from those who believe aspects of it have always existed among humans, to those who place it as a concept separate from general distrust of "difference" or of "the Other" (in which case it emerged either in the Age of Exploration or even as late as the 19th century). In any event, the division of people into discrete groups, usually based on external anatomical features or assumed geographic origin, and theories about how many "races" there were, and theories of how to "rank" these races against each other, existed long before they acquired any sort of distinct stigma against them. If the word "race" is relatively old, it has had various meanings over the ages.

The term "racism", on the other hand, while the phenomenon itself was an ancient one, appeared in the 1930s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It was considered distinct from the "theories of race," which had existed for at least a hundred years before that. Pierre-André Taguieff (1987) shows that "racism" and "racist" appeared in the French Larousse Dictionary in 1932, with "racist" being defined as "the name given to the German national-socialists, designating, rather than the sole Nazi Party (NSDAP), the whole of the völkisch movement. The word "racist" is also occasionally used in Edouard Drumont's antisemitic La Libre Parole or by Maurice Barrès concerning the "French race".

Arthur Gobineau's An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-1855) was one of the milestone in the new racist discourse, along with Vacher de Lapouge's "anthroposociology" and Herder, who applied race to nationalist theory to develop militant ethnic nationalism. They posited the historical existence of national races such as German and French, branching from basal races supposed to have existed for millennia, such as the Aryan race, and believed political boundaries should mirror these supposed racial ones. Human zoos were an important mean of bolstering "popular racism", while being at the same time an object of anthropology and anthropometry; they were sometimes called "ethnographic exhibitions". Starting in the 1870s, they were common until World War II, and the concept has even survived until the twenty-first century.

Racism in the 20th Century

In the 20th century, however, there began a growth of thought that theories of racial "superiority" and "inferiority", much of the discourse relating to racial theory of this sort came out of the United States in the years after the American Civil War, while European thinkers began to think of people in terms of linguistic "nations" more than they did "races."

Japan challenges racism at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Japanese delegation to the Paris peace conference put forward the race equality proposal. The first draft was presented to the League of Nations Commission on February 13 as an amendment to Article 21:

The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League of Nations, the High Contracting Parties agree to accord as soon as possible to all alien nationals of states, members of the League, equal and just treatment in every respect making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality.

It was set aside largely because Billy Hughes and Joseph Cook vigorously opposed it as it undermined the White Australia Policy

Italian Fascism and Nazi Germany

A turning point in racial thinking came with the rise of Adolf Hitler's Nazism, which built much of its political agenda upon the rhetoric of anti-Semitism and overt statements of racial superiority and inferiority, one of his favorite sayings being "Politics is applied biology". Thinkers such as Foucault and then Agamben would criticize the twentieth century emergence of biopolitics, starting with concentration camps, transforming citizens in bare life (or Homo Sacer). Concerted opposition to Nazi ideas did not begin until the outbreak of World War II, although some anti-fascist organizations were created during the 1930s. A large part of Allied propaganda focused on labeling and condemning Nazi Germany as a racist state. In the U.S., the Double V Campaign challenged segregation during World War II. The "double V" stood for "Victory abroad and victory at home." By the end of the war, the association of racism with Nazism and genocide cemented among progressives the meme that racism was something generally to be opposed. After the war, returning black servicemen, empowered and embolded by their military service, injected a new militancy and resolve in the African-American struggle for equal rights. Their efforts provided added impetus to the American Civil Rights Movement. With the fall of Rhodesia, of apartheid in South Africa, official government policies of nation-states based on explicitly racist and discriminatory laws generally came to an end. Racism has come to be considered something entirely to be opposed by almost all mainstream voices, though there is often disagreement over what constitutes racism. It is worth remembering this, when looking at current concepts of racism. Opposition to miscegenation between black men and white women is central to tenets of racism, especially in the United States. During the late-19th century, a number of thinkers emphasized that these views were morally and ethically unjust, but this was a significantly minority opinion. Even those who opposed institutions such as slavery often did so not on the basis of equality of races, but on overall equality in treatment of "mankind".

Other genocides

Origins of racism

One view of the origins of racism emphasizes stereotypes, which psychologists generally believe are influenced by cultural factors. People generally respond to others differently based on what they know, which may include superficial characteristics often associated with race. A "white" person walking after dark in a primarily "black" neighborhood in an American city might be anxious for a combination of reasons. A police officer who spends most of his day in that same city encountering criminality or hostility among people of a certain ethnic background might be expected to react negatively to a member of that same ethnic group whom he meets off-duty. A law-abiding African-American man is less likely than a law-abiding European-American man to view that same police officer as an ally and protector, and more as a threat to his or her personal safety and well-being. In both sets of cases, theories of conditioning may apply.

Debates over the origins of racism often suffer from a lack of clarity over the term. Many use the term "racism" to refer to more general phenomena, such as xenophobia and ethnocentrism. Others conflate recent forms of racism with earlier forms of ethnic and national conflict. In most cases, ethno-national conflict seems to owe to conflict over land and strategic resources. In some cases ethnicity and nationalism were harnessed to rally combatants in wars between great religious empires (for example, the Muslim Turks and the Catholic Austro-Hungarians). As Benedict Anderson has suggested in Imagined Communities, ethnic identity and ethno-nationalism became a source of conflict within such empires with the rise of print-capitalism.

Notions of race and racism, however, often have played central roles in such conflicts. Historically, when an adversary is identified as "other" based on notions of race or ethnicity (particularly when "other" is construed to mean "inferior"), the means employed by the self-presumed "superior" party to appropriate territory, human chattel, or material wealth often have been more ruthless, more brutal, and less constrained by moral or ethical considerations. Indeed, based on such racist presumptions, the political or moral decision to enter into armed conflict can be made less weighty when one's potential adversaries are "other than," because their lives are perceived as having lesser importance, lesser value. One example of the brutalizing and dehumanizing effects of racism was the attempt to deliberately infect Native Americans with smallpox during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, itself a war intended to ethnically cleanse the "other" (Anglo-Americans) from Native American land. According to historian Daniel Richter, Pontiac's Rebellion saw the emergence on both sides of the conflict of "the novel idea that all Native people were 'Indians,' that all Euro-Americans were 'Whites,' and that all on one side must unite to destroy the other." (Richter, Facing East from Indian Country, p. 208)

In the western world, racism evolved, twinned with the doctrine of white supremacy, and helped fuel the European exploration, conquest, and colonization of much of the rest of the world -- especially after Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. Basil Davidson insists in his documentary, Africa: Different but Equal, that racism, in fact, only just recently surfaced—as late as the 1800’s, due to the need for a justification of slavery in the Americas. The idea of slavery as an "equal-opportunity employer" was denounced with the introduction of Christian theory in the West. Maintaining that Africans were "subhuman" was the only loophole in the then accepted law that "men are created equal" that would allow for the sustenance of the Triangular Trade. New peoples in the Americas, possible slaves, were encountered, fought, and ultimately subdued, but then due to western diseases, their population decreased innumerably. Through both influences, theories about "race" developed, and these helped many to justify the differences in position and treatment of people whom they categorized as belonging to different races (see Eric Wolf's Europe and the People Without History). Some people like Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda even argued that the Native Americans were natural slaves. In Asia, the Chinese and Japanese Empires were both strong colonial powers, with the Chinese making colonies and vassal states of much of east Asia throughout history, and the Japanese doing the same in the 19th-20th centuries. In both cases, the Asian imperial powers believed they were ethnically and racially superior to their vassals, and entitled to be their masters.

Expressions

Racism may be expressed individually and consciously, through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or socially and unconsciously, through institutions that promote inequalities among "races", as in institutional racism. Although some speakers attempt to express a semantic distinction by using the word racism rather than racialism (or vice versa), many treat the terms as synonymous (see below). The concept of "Hate speech" has been created in order to prosecute discriminative discourse, which may be penalized in various countries (US, European countries such as France...).

Individual racism, structural racism and ideological racism

Racism may be divided in three major subcategories: individual racism, structural racism, and ideological racism. Examples of individual racism include an employer not hiring a person, failing to promote or giving harsher duties or imposing harsher working conditions, or firing, someone, in whole or in part due to his race.

Researchers at the University of Chicago (Marianne Bertrand) and Harvard University (Sendhil Mullainathan) found in a 2003 study that there was widespread discrimination in the workplace against job applicants whose names were merely perceived as "sounding black." These applicants were 50% less likely than candidates perceived as having "white-sounding names" to receive callbacks for interviews, no matter their level of previous experience. Results were stronger for higher quality resumes. The researchers view these results as strong evidence of unconscious biases rooted in the country's long history of discrimination. This is an example of structural racism, because it shows a widespread established belief system. Another example is apartheid in South Africa, and the system of Jim Crow laws in the United States of America. Another source is lending inequities of banks, and so-called redlining.

"Reverse racism", minority vs. majority

Racism is usually directed against a minority population, but may also be directed against a majority population. Examples include racial apartheid in South Africa, wherein whites (a minority) discriminated against blacks (a majority), in Latin America, where predominantly African-descended peoples are often marginalized; this form of racism also occurred during the former colonial rule of such countries as Vietnam (by France) and India (by the United Kingdom).

"Reverse racism" is a controversial concept. It is a perceived, reactionary, race-based hostility or antipathy of an oppressed and/or relatively powerless minority toward an oppressive and/or powerful majority group. In the United States, it is often used to refer to programs which attempt to correct the effects of previous instances of racism, such as affirmative action, but are perceived to simply be racism of a different form to a different group. The standard example is that if a policy is made to give African-Americans more jobs, based on their racial status, then the policy is effectively discriminating against whites who apply for the same jobs. In Finland, Swedes are getting many privileges like free university studies for almost all even if they actually are the richest and healthiest ethnic group. This is called "positive" discrimination and it is the official policy of Finland. The concept of reverse racism, much less its application in any given situation, is highly contested.

Racial discrimination as an official government policy

Racial discrimination is and has been official government policy in many countries. In the 1970s, Uganda expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians. Until 2003, Malaysia enforced discriminatory policies limiting access to university education for ethnic Chinese and Indian students who are citizens by birth of Malaysia, and many other policies explicitly favoring bumiputras (Malays) remain in force.

In the Russian Empire, official segregation of the Russian Jews in the Pale of Settlement was compounded by oppressive legislature against them. Waves of anti-Semitic pogroms, in many cases state-sponsored, were launched in the 1881-1884, 1902-1906 and 1914-1921. See History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Jews fleeing the Holocaust were prevented from immigrating to the Land of Israel, then the British Mandate of Palestine and other locations. Following the creation of Israel, much state land was placed in the hands of the Jewish agency and became unavailable to private purchasers. Most of this land ultimately was used for the development of towns which had a Jewish majority. During this period Jews were expelled or fled Muslim countries. In 2003 the State of Israel passed a law preventing Palestinians married to Israelis from gaining Israeli citizenship [2]. In the summer of 2005 the State of Israel expelled all Jewish residents from Gaza, thus creating the first region in Palestine free of Jews. Plans for further expulsions from areas in the West Bank are in the works.

In Sweden, killing a Forest Finn was officially rewarded. Speaking Finnish at school was punished even in 1950s. Aland island (Finland) applies even today policy that officially [in Finnish Television by a top leader of Aland] was characterized as "kind discrimination" [against Finns].

In the United States, racial profiling of minorities by law enforcement officials is a controversial subject. Law enforcement looks for people who "fit the profile" to commit a crime according to experience and statistics. Some people consider this to be a form of racism. Some claim that profiling young Arab male fliers at airports will only lead to increased recruitment of older, non-Arab, and female terrorists, as well as Arab males who might be mistaken for white males. Some also state that this is unnecessary, as it brings the mistrust of many people. Many critics of racial profiling claim that it is an unconstitutional practice because it amounts to questioning individuals on the basis of what crimes they might commit or could possibly commit, instead of what crimes they have actually committed.

Cultural racism

The idea of cultural racism was first presented by Frantz Fanon in 1967 and 1968 who saw the emphasis on cultural differenes as a replacement of the racement based on the ideas of different races.[3]

Racism by country

In nineteenth century Europe and America, some scientists developed various theories about biological differences among races, and these theories were in turn used to legitimize racist beliefs and practices. As did Michel Foucault show in Society Must Be Defended (1978-79), the old notion of "race" was biologized by racist scholars and eugenicists, paving the way to twentieth century "state racism" (See above). This work has since been rejected by the scientific community as flawed and even as pseudoscience.

Today there are some scientists, mostly anthropologists who claim that "race", in the general sense in which the term is used, is a social construct: the way in which individuals are classified into racial groups varies from person to person, and from place to place, and from time to time. These scientists say that superficial characteristics which are associated with racial groupings are poor predictors of genetic variability. There can be more genetic variation within a racial grouping than between two racial groupings. They also point to the lack of well-defined boundaries to racial classifications; for example characteristics such as skin colour and facial appearance can be shown to vary as a continuum from place to place. Other scientists counter that "sex" and "species" are likewise seen by some as socially constructed. After all, humans and chimpanzees (or males and females) are far more genetically alike than different. According to this view, categories need not be absolute in order to have scientific utility. Other scientists, mostly biologists, who claim that race, sex and species are biologically significant concepts, and that despite their opposition to racism, deplore the misuse of scientifically significant language for political purposes.

Australia

See Racism in Australia.

Austria

Austria has sometimes been criticised of trying to sweep its Nazi past under the carpet, typified by the widely pronounced myth that Austria was a victim of Nazi aggression rather than a willing participant. This has its origins as an Allied propaganda tactic. This complacency was severely tested in the 1986 presidential race when it emerged that Kurt Waldheim (a former UN secretary general) had concealed (or forgotten) certain facts about his war-time military service with the Wehrmacht. The revelations caused much controversy in Austria as well as in the outside world. Nevertheless Waldheim was elected President. Controversy again erupted in 2000 when Jörg Haider's conservative Freedom Party entered into coalition with the centre-right People's Party having gained 27% of the vote.

However much progress has been made with settling the disputes and compensation for Jews and others whose property and assets were seized during the Nazi era, with a deal completed in 2001. Elections in 2002 saw a significant drop in support for the Freedom Party, with the party subsequently splitting into opposing factions. Jörg Haider now leads the "Alliance for the Future of Austria".

Brazil

See Race in Brazil.

Bulgaria

Racism in Bulgaria has been geared towards the gypsies who are perceived to be of different racial and ethnic background. However, not all Bulgarians are racist towards gypsies, and it really depends on the individual's upbringing, education, area where they lived, and other factors. Bulgarian nationalists are also wary of the country's large Turkish minority because of their perceived ambitions for greater power in Bulgaria and potential separatism in areas where Turks predominantly live. The forced assimilation campaign of the late 80s and early 90s directed against ethnic Turks resulted in the permanent emigration of some 300,000 Bulgarian Turks to Turkey. During this period, Turks were forced to change their names to Slavic Bulgarian ones and Turkish culture was heavily suppressed. Muslim Bulgarians (ethnic Bulgarians practicing Islam) were also targeted as Islam was seen as a "foreign "Turkish element" that stood against Bulgarian interests. The National Union Attack or Ataka, a party widely considered fanatically xenophobic, surprisingly won 10% of the popular vote at the recent 2005 elections.

Canada

Canadian History

While Canada often depicts its society as being a very progressive, tolerant, diverse, and multicultural nation, Canada also has its own history of racism. Although the historical records are not very clear at the very beginnings of the country's history, one can argue that the first instance of racism in Canada occurred during the first trip of Jacques Cartier in 1534, when he brought two Iroquois more or less against their will back to France, which greatly amused the French royal court. Later, although still not very clearly recognised in the mainstream culture (where it is more seen as territorial wars), much racism occurred between the French and the First Nations people, between First Nations tribes themselves (fuelled by alliances of certain tribes with the French, and others with the English), between the English and the First Nations, and between the English and the French. Although the country's history was influenced greatly by these wars, the relationships between all those ethnicities has changed a lot since the beginning of European settlement in Canada.

Moreover, there are notable records of slavery in Canada in the 1700s. More than half of all Canadian slaves were aboriginal, and the United Empire Loyalists brought their slaves with them after leaving what became the United States. In 1793, Upper Canada governor John Graves Simcoe passed a bill making it illegal to bring a person into the colony for the purposes of enslavement, and slavery was fully outlawed in 1834. Most of the emancipated slaves of African descent were then sent to settle Freetown in Sierra Leone and those that remained primarily ended up in segregated communities such as Africville outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Today there are four remaining slave cemeteries in Canada: in St.-Armand, Quebec, Shelburne, Nova Scotia and Princeville and Dresden in Ontario.)

Starting in 1858, Chinese "coolies" were brought to Canada to work in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway. However, they were denied by law the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, and in the 1880s, "head taxes" were implemented to curtail immigration from China. In 1907, a riot in Vancouver targeted Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses. In 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Exclusion Act, prohibiting further Chinese immigration except under "special circumstances". The Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947, the same year in which Chinese Canadians were finally given the right to vote.

Restrictions still existed on immigration from Asia. In 1967, these restrictions were repealed and Asian immigrants were given the same rights as any other group. In 1999, Adrienne Clarkson, the child of Chinese immigrants who moved to Canada in 1942 under the "special circumstances" clause, became Governor General of Canada. Japanese Canadians were also subject to anti-Asian racism, particularly during World War II when many Canadians of Japanese heritage — even those who were born in Canada — were forcibly moved to internment camps. The government of Canada officially made restitution for the treatment of Japanese Canadians in 1988.

Notable organizations in Canadian history have included the Parti national social chrétien, and the Heritage Front. Other notable individuals in this context include Adrien Arcand, Ernst Zündel, Doug Christie, Wolfgang Droege and Don Andrews.

More recently in Canada

However, racism in Canada has not only been connected to immigration. French Canadians, including Acadians, Québécois and Franco-Ontarians, aboriginals and Western Canadians have purportedly also been subject to discriminatory treatment in Canada. While having French recognised as an official language was seen as a step towards multiculturalism for Francophones, there has been nothing similar that can be described as culturally validating for Aboriginal Canadians. In fact, Canada's treatment of Aboriginal-Canadians is still governed by a document frequently described as racist, the Indian Act.

Finland

Sami people were traditionally feared for being wizards and Russians for being criminals, but the fear was more cultural. In the nineteenth century, the ruling Swedish-speaking minority considered Finnish-speaking people to be a separate race and inferior to the Germanic race. The discrimination since transformed into mainly linguistic.

In practice Finland applies intentionally so called "positive and kind" discrimination against other than Swedish-speakers. Official Finland also believes that such policy helps in avoiding conflicts between the majority and minorities. However, other groups like Russians, Estonians or Somalis do not have any support even if their ability in Finnish language is obviously much weaker.

There is debate, if linguistic discrimination is at all racistic. The European Commission racism directive 2000/43 states that discrimination based on any ethnic properties, not only color etc., and in particular on language, is racism, hence not acceptable. The impact of linguistic racism may be important factor for well-being: Swedish-speakers have round 3 years longer life-expactancy than Finns, ceteris paribus. There is still an inferiority complex within the modern Fennomans.

Finns have generally been curious about different-looking people. Immigrants of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese origin have been welcomed since cultures of these immigrant groups have been found with the mainstream culture.

In the beginning of 1990s, a large Somali immigrant population came to the country. Somali immigrants had problems with high criminality and unemployment rates, notably street violence and rapes raising attention. This created racist views and discrimination towards Somalis, extending to all Somali-looking Afro-Finnish immigrants. The discrimination has since occurred, especially outside Helsinki. Problems are currently under hot debate, although socialist Finnish government denies them.

France

The French have a long history of ethnic and racial conflicts. Anti-Semitism, a common trend in European history is also highlighted in French history by events such as the Dreyfus Affair at the turn of the nineteenth century, and France's treatment of its Jewish population during the Vichy regime. Likewise, the treatment of North Africans and other former colonials during the colonial era, the atrocities committed in Algeria during the War of Independence (1954-1962) and also the Paris massacre of 1961 are also signs of intolerance. The fact that Algerians formed the bulk of late-twentieth century immigration has raised delicate issues, which are exacerbated by the degradation of the general social situation. In the 1970s Jean Raspail wrote The Camp of the Saints which some felt implied African immigrants should be drowned or shot to prevent them from entering France.

In 1998 the Council of Europe's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made a report stating concern about racist activities in France and accused the French authorities of not doing enough to combat this. The report and other groups have expressed concern about organizations like Front National (France). In a recent Pew Survey, 47% of the French deem immigration from Eastern Europe to be a bad thing. A small minority shows signs of Anti-Semitism. Roughly 11% had an unfavorable view of Jews [4] and 8% felt that US policy was most influenced by the Jews [5]. In the colonial age some French also displayed negative sentiments toward black Africans.

Nevertheless these judgments should be balanced by the following: Canadians had roughly the same percentage linking US policy to Jews as France did. Furthermore, France had been ruled by Jewish leaders during the twentieth century (most notably Leon Blum and Pierre Mendes-France, who were both highly popular). Indeed, France has a long history of support for universalism dating back to the Enlightenment : the unenforced constitution of 1794 gave the right to vote to all "foreigners" (independently of any racial consideration) living in France for more than one year. The French also generally have a greater interest in African culture and aid to the region.

In late October of 2005, violent riots erupted in north-east Paris, and later other cities around France, after two youths of North African origin were accidentally electrocuted after supposedly fleeing police.

Germany

The history of Germany has included many acts and policies of racism. If one includes pre-19th century acts of anti-Semitism as racism, the history stretches back to at least the eleventh century, when Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor expelled Jews from Mainz in 1012. Other acts of anti-Semitism included numerous bloody attacks on Jews living in the area in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, most notably the massacres of Jews in the 1340s after they were blamed for spreading the Black Death.

In the nineteenth century, Germany became one of the major centers of nationalist thought, with the Völkisch movement, and also a major area for development of racial belief. See above. Anti-semitic campaigns in this period took on a definitely "racial" valence, as definitely distinct from a purely religious one.

The period after World War I led to an increased use of anti-Semitism and other racism in political discourse, for example among General Ludendorff's followers, which was capped by the ascent of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party in 1933. Nazi ideology believed that Jews were controlling the German press and were not nationalistic, and were subverting the German government with Bolshevism.

In the post-World War II era, German reconciliation with its anti-Semitic past has been a protracted experience.

Recent concerns about racism have centered around immigrants (Ausländer), who encounter prejudice when seeking jobs and apartments, or can even experience direct violent attacks by some right-wing groups. This pattern is similar to what is happening in some other European countries.

The immigrants came in two waves, the first in the 1950s, the so called Gastarbeiter (Guest Workers) and their families. These people came from countries such as Turkey and Yugoslavia in West Germany, and Vietnam and Angola in East Germany. The Gastarbeiter were expected to remain on limited contracts, and then leave. Many did not.

Starting from the 1980s, the second wave were the Asylbewerber (Asylum Seekers) from countries such as Sri Lanka and Lebanon. This second group were considered by some locals to not be genuine cases, but so called Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge (Economic Migrants).

India

In general tensions in India are more religious than racial in nature, but there have been some reports of ethnic tension between Tamil people and the Hindi majority.

In pre-Independence India, the term 'wog' and 'darky' were commonly uttered by the British against the natives (as encountered in A Passage To India)--furthermore, segregation on trains with the sign Europeans and Anglo-Indians Only and No Dogs or Indians Allowed outside buildings was common.

Indonesia

See Jakarta Riots of May 1998.

Ireland

Traditionally there has been very little immigration by non-whites to the Republic of Ireland due to historic poverty, though in recent times growing prosperity in the country (see: Celtic Tiger) has attracted increasing numbers of immigrants, mainly from Africa, China, and Eastern Europe. Also the absence of any colonialist baggage has meant that foreign people are not drawn to Ireland by "mother country" factors that have affected other European countries. Descendants of Irish people who emigrated in the past have also started moving to the country. Most immigrants have settled in Dublin and the other cities. Though these developments have been accepted or tolerated by most, there has been a rise in racist attitudes among some sections of society. Much of this racism takes the form of verbal and other abuses. However, in 2002, a Chinese man Zhao liu Tao (29) was murdered in Dublin in what was described as the Republic of Ireland's first racially motivated murder.[6] Later that year Leong Ly Min, another Chinese man who had lived in Dublin since 1979, was beaten to death by a gang who had been racially abusing him. [7]

Several issues relating to immigration have gained publicity in recent years. After 1997 and prior to 2005 any baby born in the Republic was entitled to Irish citizenship due to stipulations in the Good Friday agreement. This led to many pregnant women (overwhelmingly from Nigeria) from Africa, having discarded their identification documentation to travel directly to Ireland expressly to give birth and thus allow their child to gain Irish citizenship. This became known as citizenship tourism. Following the noted abuses of the loophole in the Irish Constitution a referendum on the issue was held. The referendum was duly carried and the loophole was closed.

In 2005 Nigerian student Olukunle Elukanlo was deported after his asylum application was rejected. Following an outcry by various left-wing activist groups at the decision he was allowed to return to complete his middle school exams. The issue highlighted the growing numbers of failed asylum seekers been deported, an issue which is highly controversial to some (despite that fact that very few failed applicants are actually deported). This has been highlighted in recent television and radio programmes focused on exposing the extreme high cost to the Irish taxpayer of processing false asylum claims in addition to the cost of returning bogus asylum-seekers to their country of origin.

Many Irish people are very proud of being in the European Union, but increasingly large numbers resent migrants from outside the Union coming to Ireland expressly for the purpose of claiming asylum, without having applied for asylum in other countries along their route as is required by international law. There are several "anti-racism" groups active in the Republic, as well as those seeking tighter immigration laws such as the Immigration Control Platform.

Italy

See Northern League (Italy)

Japan

See Ethnic issues in Japan

Netherlands

In the early twenty first century, Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn and film maker Theo Van Gogh (film director) both aired highly controversial views on immigration, particularly North African immigration. Adding further controversy were their subsequent murders.

New Zealand

Although New Zealand did not have an official policy along the lines of the White Australia Policy, it did impose a poll tax on Chinese immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The poll tax was effectively lifted in the 1930s following the invasion of China by Japan, and was finally repealed in 1944. An official apology to the Chinese community of New Zealand was afforded by Prime Minister Helen Clark in 2004.

After World War II, immigration policy remained largely pro-British Isles until the mid-1980s, although war refugees, non-Anglo-Celtic migrants, and foreign students studying under the Colombo Plan were allowed into the country in varying numbers. In the 1960s and 70s, large numbers of British immigrants and their proliferation in the trade union movement gave rise to popular anglophobia in the media and on the streets. In the 1975 election campaign, opposition leader Robert Muldoon ran a scare campaign directed against Pacific Islands migrant workers, which was followed by a series of dawn raids on suspected overstayers. In response, a Pacific Islands group known as the Polynesian Panthers came to prominence. Indigenous land issues came to a head in the late 1970s with Maori protesters occupying the Raglan Golf Course and Bastion Point, with land claims on both being settled by the following decade.

In 1986, country-of-origin rules were abolished, leading to major inflows of immigration for the first time in years, in particular large groups of skilled and business migrants. However, anti-immigration rhetoric directed mainly towards Asians from the populist Maori politician Winston Peters has since forced immigration rules to be tightened. A 2003 study by the Human Rights Commission showed 70% of New Zealanders think that Asians face significant discrimination. Many non-Polynesian ethnic minorities perceive official policy to be indifferent towards them in the context of the Maori-Pakeha bi-culturalism issue.

Northern Ireland

Racism in the United Kingdom is particularly acute in Northern Ireland, which has prompted The Guardian newspaper to label it the "race hate capital of Europe"[8]. Despite having the smallest numbers of non-whites in the UK it has the highest levels of racist violence in the country (racially motivated attacks are at 16.4% per 1000 of the minority population, whilst in England and Wales the figure is 12.6%).

Traditionally there has been segregration, hatred and violence between Northern Ireland's two main communities: the Unionists/Loyalists, mostly Protestant, who want to remain within the UK and Nationalists/Republicans, mostly Catholic, who want a united Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland the government of the province was controlled by and for Protestants, with a policy of systematic discrimination against Catholics, who formed roughly 1/3 of the population. Tensions eventually erupted in 'the Troubles' in 1968, which saw a renewed campaign of IRA activity and corresponding Loyalist paramilitary violence, the presence of British soldiers and extreme sectarianism fostered by frequent riots and violence.

More recently non-white people, especially Chinese, have started to live in Northern Ireland, primarily in the capital Belfast. The population of Northern Ireland is 99% white. Discrimination takes many forms such as the spraying of racist graffiti, intimidation, assaults, general harassment, protection racketing, vandalism and house burning. Attempts to build a mosque in Portadown were met by much opposition — the plan was eventually dropped.

Scotland

It has been reported that racial minorities are underrepresented in the police force [9]. Philomena de Lima noted that Scots sometimes feel there is "no problem here" because ethnic minorities are regarded as small in number, "invisible", and "silent." However, she found that in most schools, at least 4% of students were minorities. In the urban areas tensions between Whites and Pakistanis occasionally flare up. In the past football (soccer in US English) has at times divided on racial lines with "Asian teams" versus "Scottish teams" causing conflict. There is however a more sinister and deep seated racism towards foreigners in Scotland, especially those from Pakistan. Several items regarding this type of racism in Scotland are reported here. [10].

The BBC, in 2002, has reported on poll conducted by System Three which "suggested that one in four Scots admitted to being strongly or slightly racist" and that "almost 50% said they did not believe it was racist to use terms such as 'Chinky' or 'Paki' in relation to food or shops.

However, there are indications that the Scottish authorities and people are well aware of the problem and are trying to tackle it. Among the Scottish under 15 years old there is the positive sign that, "younger white pupils rarely drew on racist discourses." [11]

Spain

At the end of the Reconquista, Spanish Inquisition imposed pureza de sangre ("racial purity") against Jews and Muslims. Discovery of the New World also led to the famous Valladolid Controversy, in which Bartolomé de Las Casas opposed Sepúlveda's denegation of the existence of "Indian souls". See Eduardo Galeano's The Veins of South America .

Soviet Union, Russia and other post-Soviet states

.

The subject of racism in Russia is at present controversial and heated. However a Pew Survey showed that of those who believed some religions are more violent than others 10% of Russians named Judaism[12] as the most violent. This was the highest percentage outside the Muslim world. Further a previous poll showed that 25% of Russians had an unfavorable view of Jews.[13] Racism towards Central Asians is said to be even more widespread.

Turkey

The Istanbul Pogrom directed against Turkey's Greek minority resulted in the deaths of 16 Greeks and 1 Armenian. The supporters of MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) (also known as Grey Wolves) advocate the supremacy of Turkish race and promote hatred against Armenians, Greeks and "separatist" Kurds in Turkey. Smaller right-wing groups like "National Socialist Turkish Movement" [14] and followers of Turkish racist Nihal Atsiz [15] also promote hate speech and violence against Kurds, Africans, and Jews. None of these activities are prosecuted by Turkish authorities. Recently, in the course of Turkey's accession to the EU, fringe nationalist groups (often with racist tones) are reported to gain considerable support among Turkish youth.

United Kingdom

There were race riots across the United Kingdom in 1919: South Shields, Glasgow, London's East End, Liverpool, Cardiff, Barry, and Newport. There were further riots by immigrant and minority populations in East London during the 1930s, Notting Hill in the 1950s, and Brixton, and Blackbird Leys, Oxford in the 1980s. More recently in 2001, there have been riots in Bradford and Oldham. These riots have followed cases of perceived racism - either the public displays of racist sentiment (including crimes against members of ethnic minorities which were subsequently ignored by the authorities), or, as in the Brixton riots, racial profiling and alleged harassment by the police force.

Racism in one form or another was widespread in Britain before the twentieth century, and during the 1900s particularly towards Jewish groups and immigrants from Eastern Europe. The British establishment even considered the Irish a separate and degenerate race until well into the 19th Century. Since World War I, public expressions of white supremacism have been limited to far-right political parties such as the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and the British National Front in the 1970s, whilst most mainstream politicians have publicly condemned all forms of racism. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that racism remains widespread, and some politicians and public figures have been accused of excusing or pandering to racist attitudes in the media, particularly with regard to immigration. There have been growing concerns in recent years about institutional racism in public and private bodies, and the tacit support this gives to crimes resulting from racism, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Gavin Hopely and Ross Parker.

The Race Relations Act 1965 outlawed public discrimination, and established the Race Relations Board. Further Acts in 1968 and 1976 outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and social services, and replaced the Race Relations Board with Commission for Racial Equality. The Human Rights Act 1999 made organizations in Britain, including public authorities, subject to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Race Relations Act 2000 extends existing legislation for the public sector to the police force, and requires public authorities to promote equality.

There have been tensions over immigration since at least the early 1900s. These were originally engendered by hostility towards Jews and immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. Britain first began restricting immigration in 1905 and has also had very strong limits on immigration since the early 1960s. Legislation was particularly targeted at members of the Commonwealth of Nations, who had previously been able to migrate to the UK under the British Nationality Act 1948. Virtually all legal immigration, except for those claiming refugee status, ended with the Immigration Act 1971; however, free movement for citizens of the European Union was later established by the Immigration Act 1988. Legislation in 1993, 1996 and 1999 gradually decreased the rights and benefits given to those claiming refugee statues ("asylum seekers"). A further government Act in 2002 gave Britain the most restrictive immigration laws of any country in the European Union. 582,000 people came to live in the UK from elsewhere in the world in 2004 according to the office of National Statistics.

Some commentators believe that a huge amount of racism, from within all communities, has been undocumented within the UK, adducing the many British cities whose populations have a clear racial divide. While these commentators believe that race relations have improved immensely over the last thirty years, they still believe that racial segregation remains an important but largely unaddressed problem, although research [16] has shown that ethnic segregation has reduced within England and Wales between the 1991 Census and 2001 Census.

United States of America

Many historians have argued that racism has been an integral part of the United States of America since it was first colonized by Europeans. In general, the question of race and the practices of racism have been major issues in American politics and daily life since before the country became independent in the late eighteenth century, and continue to have a major role in political and social life today. Racism exists among members of every ethnic group and demographic. Specifically among those of African American, Caucasian, Jewish, Native American and Latin Heritages. All of these ethnic groups have racists within, and likewise all of these ethnic groups have members within that have been a victim of rascism.

Slavery

In colonial America, before colonial slavery became completely based on racial lines, thousands of African slaves served European, alongside other Europeans serving a term of indentured servitude. In some cases for African slaves, a term of service meant freedom and a land grant afterward, but these were rarely awarded, and few Africans became landowners this way. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt against the Governor of Virginia and the system of exploitation he represented: exploitation of poorer colonists by the increasingly wealthy landowners. However, Bacon died, probably of dysentery, and the revolt lost steam.

The central cause of concern to landowners was the unity of Bacon's populist movement. It raised the question to the landowners of how to divide the population politically in ways that would keep the poorer colonists divided enough to rule. To the Governor, the most threatening, and unexpected, aspect of Bacon's rebellion was its multi-racial aspect. So from that time on, the wealthy landowners determined that only Africans would be used as slaves — and European colonists were promised whatever benefits would have gone to Africans had they continued to be indentured servants. The fuel of the racism was due to the fear of sex among Africans and Europeans. This relationship was specifically afraid of African, Native American, Asian, and Latin men with European women. The thousands of lynchings were testimony to this. This legacy is still seen in the antimiscegenation laws which were repealed only within the past few years. This change began the infamously long period of the American slave society, in which slaves were primarily used for agricultural labor, notably in the production of cotton and tobacco. African slavery in the Northeast was less common, usually confined to involuntary domestic servitude. The social rift along color lines soon became engrained in every aspect of colonial American culture.

Post-slavery racism

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, freed all slaves in the Southern states that had made up the Confederacy except slaveholding border states which had not seceded from the Union, and those states already under Union control. Slavery ended in the whole country with the 13th Amendment which was declared ratified on December 18, 1865. Despite this, discrimination continued in the United States with the existence of Jim Crow laws, educational disparities, widespread criminal acts perpetrated by local and vigilante groups, and vigorous action by trade unions and their allies to enact Minimum wages, which had the effect of pricing the typically unskilled and untrained black and immigrant laborers out of the labor market.

In the 1950's and 1960's a mass based movement of predominantly African-Americans capitalizing on the gains made by the New Deal engaged in a series of local movements, national lobbying and legal attacks on segregation and discrimination. These groups included the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a variety of local groups and labor unions. This movement culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" — Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. (28 August, 1963).

While attention to race relations in the United States has been focused largely on that between European-Americans and African-Americans, the changing racial makeup of the American population at the beginning of the twenty first century has caused many voices to call for the inclusion of other races in the equation. It is estimated that by 2050, European-Americans in America will comprise less than 50% of the total population (Latinos, for example will acount for 25% of the US population). Thinking about race relations in the United States is therefore broadening to include Latin-Americans (the fastest growing ethnic group) and Asian-Americans. At this writing, at least 4 states, California, Texas, Hawaii, and New Mexico (and the District of Columbia) are deemed "majority minority" states, where whites are not the majority of the population.

South Africa

See History of South Africa in the apartheid era.

Sri Lanka

There has been a good deal of tension over the decades between the Sinhala and Tamil. For more in depth information see Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation or Confederatio Helvetica is a nation composed of four subcultural groups: German-speaking (63.7%), French-speaking (20.4%), Italian-speaking (6.5%) and Romansch-speaking (0.5%) (Source: Federal Population Census 2000). With this diversity and its history of neutrality, Switzerland has been seen as a safe refuge for those genuinely fleeing from persecution, and this is backed up by statistics. Switzerland has seen an increase in refugees in recent years, (particularly from Africa), who have claimed asylum directly in Switzerland. In 1992, the federal refugee office registered some 7,000 black Africans requesting asylum. In the first nine months of 2002 the number was 17,000.

The vast majority of asylum seekers are believed by many Swiss politicians to be economic immigrants rather than genuine asylum seekers. Furthermore, the SVP or Swiss People's Party has significantly increased its share of the vote in recent years on a perceived "anti-immigrant" platform. It is best known for opposing Swiss membership in international organisations such as the EU and United Nations and for its campaigning against perceived flaws in the immigration, asylum and penal laws.

Swiss "Confederation Commission Against Racism" which is part of the Swiss "Federal Department of Home Affairs"[17]published a 2004 report, Black People in Switzerland: A Life between Integration and Discrimination [18] (published in German, French, and Italian only). According to this report, discrimination based on skin colour in Switzerland is not exceptional, and affects immigrants decades after their immigration. Up to the release of this report, many people assumed Switzerland to be free of racism.

Rhodesia

Until majority rule in 1980, the minority white government of Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then called) practised institutionalised racism similar in a few respects to the apartheid system in South Africa. White Rhodesians "lived in the best houses, owned most of the best land, enjoyed a high standard of living and controlled the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the means of coercion." (Godwin, P. & Hancock, I., 1993. Rhodesians never Die, Baobab Books, Harare, Zimbabwe.)

The laws enforcing racial segregation, however, were not always welcomed by the local white community. They were viewed as not only being racist, but expensive and unnecessary. This was highlighted in an incident, called "The Battle of the Toilets" in 1960, involving a new theatre that would be open to all races.

Twenty years after Independence, whites in Zimbabwe remained a market dominant minority through their continued ownership of the vast majority of arable land, the most valuable resource in a country like Zimbabwe where agriculture is the leading industry. In 2000, the government, arguing that the country's landownership patters were the result of longtime failure to address the legacies of colonialism and racism in Zimbabwean society, began a controversial land reform process directed at confiscating the land of the white resident farmers and redistributing it to the poor black majority. Mugabe, however, had come under heavy criticism and accusations of having apportioned land to supporters, doing so in a disorganized and anarchical manner. This was coupled with renewed criticisms (originally directed decades ago) that a comprehensive land reform has been long overdue. (Astrow, A., 1983, Zimbabwe: A revolution that lost its way?, Zed Books, London)

Some examples of specific types of alleged racism

see Categories of Racism

Related concepts

Affirmative action is the practice of favoring or benefiting members of a racial minority in areas such as college admissions and workplace advancement, in an attempt to counter-balance what are perceived as systemic biases towards the racial majority. Though presented as an effort to ensure equal opportunity, the practice is condemned to be racially discriminatory by others.
Historical economic or social disparity is alleged to be a form of discrimination which is caused by past racism, affecting the present generation through deficits in the formal education and other kinds of preparation in the parents' generation, and, through primarily unconscious racist attitudes and actions on members of the general population. (E.g. A member of Race Y, Mary, has her opportunities adversely affected (directly and/or indirectly) by the mistreatment of her ancestors of race Y.)
Institutional racism or structural racial discrimination -- racial discrimination by governments, corporations, or other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many individuals. See Affirmative Action.
Cultural racial discrimination occurs when the assumption of inferiority of one or more races is built into the culturally maintained image of itself held by members of one culture. (e.g. Members of group X are taught to believe that they are members of a superior race, and, consequently, members of other races are inferior.)
Same-race racism can occur where members of one race associate behaviors or appearances of other members of their race as being in relation to another race which is regarded negatively. For example, there have been issues with darker-skinned African-Americans disliking lighter-skinned African-Americans because of their lighter shade of skin, which may be associated with White parentage at some point in their genealogy (but may also not). A form of cultural racism (see above) can also be related to this, where members of a racial group are chastized by members of their own group for co-opting a culture which is perceived to be associated with another race (for example, there exists a stigma in many African-American communities against "acting White").
Racial discrimination is differences in treatment of people on the basis of characteristics which may be classified as racial, including skin color, cultural heritage, and religion. (e.g. Mary refuses to hire John because he is of race Y.) This is a concept not unanimously agreed upon. While this usually refers to discrimination against minority racial groups in Western societies, it can also (arguably) refer to the opposite situation, and in that case is often called reverse discrimination when it is due to affirmative action or other attempts to remedy past or current discrimination against minority racial groups. Many do not consider this racism, but simply a form of discrimination.
Racialism is a term often found within white separatist literature, inferring an emphasis in racial origin in social matters. Racism infers an assumption of racial superiority and a harmful intent, whereas separatists sometimes prefer the term racialism, indicating a strong interest in matters of race without a necessary inference of superiority or a desire to be harmful to others. Rather their focus is on racial segregation and white pride.
Racial prejudice is pre-formed personal opinions about individuals on the basis of their race. (E.g. John thinks that Mary will have bad attribute X solely because Mary is a member of race Y.)

Some examples of organizations often accused of racism

Note: The use of the word "often" means that one or more valid sources is required. Being self-described as racist counts as a source.

Aryan Nations - a group of militant white supremacists [19]
Black Hebrew Israelites - A group of Black Israelites that deems Jews to be evil.SPLC
Bobo Ashanti-An offshoot of the Rastafari movement that considers whites to be inherently evil. Guardian
British National Party - a far-right political party in the UK.Britain's "The Telegraph"
Christian Identity - A radical offshoot of British Israelism that deems "Aryans" to be the chosen people and that the Jewish community is "false Jews" born of "barbarians" or Satan.Cesnur,SPLC, etc.
The Creativity Movement - formerly known as "The World Church of the Creator", a religion founded by Ben Klassen which bills itself as "A White Racial Religion" and advocates "Racial Holy War" CNN and self-described.
David Duke
Front National - a political party in France whose leader proposed deporting 3 million non-Europeans from France in his 1995 presidential election bid. The Economist
Imperium europa - A far-right party in the small nation of Malta that gained some attention for its leader being sued for inciting racial hatred. Times of Malta See Norman Lowell
Jewish Defense League & Kahane Chai- Kahanist fringe organizations accused of violence against Arabs and others. Kahanism is the ideology named after Meir Kahane. (Israeli Supreme Court, see their article)
Ku Klux Klan - a group of American white supremacists, founded after the American Civil War. Spartacus, ADL, etc.
Nation of Islam - Founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad and led by Louis Farrakhan who advocates anti-white and anti-semitic positions.
The Nation of Gods and Earths - A more radical offshoot of the Nation Of Islam whose methods aren't fully sanctioned by the original group.
National Alliance - White separatist group founded by William Pierce, a former member of George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party.(ADL and self-described)
National Socialist Japanese Workers and Welfare Party - Japanese variant of Nazism. (self described)
Neo-Nazism(self described)
New Black Panther Party - an anti-white, anti-Catholic, anti-semitic organization not sanctioned by the living members of the original Black Panther Party(SPLC)
New Zealand National Front - a group in New Zealand which describes itself as "nationalist" but which has been called "neo-nazi".Stuff.co.nz
Patriotic Youth League - Australian group linked to Neo-Nazism, Sydney Morning Herald
Paleoconservatism - political ideology, identified as being racist.
Posse Comitatus (U.S. movement) - Many adhere to Anti-Semitic and related ideals.SPLC
Racist Skinheads - self described
Stormfront.org -White Nationalist discussion forum used by KKK members. Accused of racism.
White Australia Movement - a whites-only immigration movement in Australia. Now largely extinct.
Mexica Movement -- organization that believes indigenous Americans have sovereignty over all of the Americas and are the true owners of both American continents
MEChA -- organization that believes indigenous Mexicans should reclaim the United States southwest for the creation of an indigenous nation

Related terminology

The terms racialism and racialist is sometimes used by those who think it is a different concept in which negativity or hatred is not prescribed. People who call themselves "racialists" tend to be separatists (white nationalists or sometimes black nationalists) and sometimes see a difference between themselves and racial supremacists.

Many people who study racism, such as Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie Shanks-Meile, contend that terms such as white separatism and white nationalism are euphemisms that have been adopted by neo-Nazi and racist groups in order to make their views seem less extreme. What relationship, if any, black nationalism has to black supremacism is less understood, although it has been suggested that both these are an equal manifestation of the same mentality.

References

Elazar Barkan, The retreat of scientific racism: changing concepts of race in Britain and the United States between the world wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Bruce Dain, A hideous monster of the mind: American race theory in the early republic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002). (18th century US racial theory)
Vincent F. Rocchio, Reel Racism. Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture, Westview Press 2000
Ann Laura Stoler, "Racial histories and their regimes of truth," Political Power and Social Theory, 11 (1997): 183-206. (historiography of race and racism)

External links

From Nova Online: George W. Gill argues here for the biological concept of "race" and, in a matching article, C. Loring Brace argues against the existence of "race" as a biological entity.
From California Newsreel: Race: The Power of an Illusion, an in-depth website (companion to a California Newsreel film), presenting the argument that while race is a biological fiction, racism permeates the structure of society.

And from American Renaissance, a "pro-white" publication, Race Denial: The Power of a Delusion, a detailed critique seeking to refute the film.

@@ Line 149: / Line 149: @@
 Starting from the 1980s, the second wave were the ''Asylbewerber'' (Asylum Seekers) from countries such as [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Lebanon]]. This second group were considered by some locals to not be genuine cases, but so called ''Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge'' (Economic Migrants).
-=== Greece ===
-Xrisi Aygi, also [[Hrisi Avgi]], (Greek Χρυσή Αυγή, "Golden Dawn") was a Greek neo-Nazi party (or rather movement despite contest in Greek national and regional elections), with an anti-Semitic, islamophobic and anti-Immigrant philosophy. In December 1, 2005 according to the leader of the party, Nikos Michaloliakos, the organization has ceased to exist, due to clashes with anti-fascists. Its members, though, have been instructed to continue activity in the Patriotiki Symmachia organisation.