By Ramon Antipan, CUPW

March 21 is the date selected by the United Nations Assembly as, "the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination". It is ironic that the UN chose this date, because on this particular day, in the year 1960, a massacre perpetrated by the Apartheid Regime of the white minority, took place in Sharpeville, South Africa, killing 69 black people. Over the next thirty years, injustices such as the one mentioned, continued to occur in one of Africa’s most developed nations. In 1994 however, the racist apartheid regime of South Africa was overthrown by the people, and a new government under President Nelson Mandela, was democratically elected.

It is important to reflect today upon the Sharpeville Massacre because that event epitomized the destruction of racism at its worst. It is unbelievable that humans can go to such extremes in order to preserve domination over others, solely based on the color of their skin

Therefore March 21 shouldn’t be just another day marked in the calendar by the United Nations, but indeed a day of reflection and most importantly, a day of actions. A day of reflection to remind us how much is still left to be done in order to eliminate all sorts of discrimination and particularly the kind which discriminates based on the color of your skin. And a day of action that leads us in finding ways to not only combat racism but to ensure that this odious ideology is eradicated from our work places, communities, unions and societies.

We live in a very competitive world in which people live highly stressful lives. However that cannot be an excuse to not be able to stop and reflect on what is going on and how far we have come on the elimination of racism. Look around you, in your workplace, your community and society at large and ask yourself: Does Racism still exist? If the answer is yes, what are you doing to stop it? But also think and reflect a bit deeper: Why does racism exist? And why does racism exist in today’s so called, democratic societies?

To answer those questions we suggest that racism is an ideology that is used not only to create division among people but also used as a tool to exploit people. Racism has its origin in economics. Some racists might argue that racism has always existed. But just a quick look at history will tell us that before the arrival of the colonizers, led by the lost Christopher Columbus, racism in the Americas and Africa did not exist. But as soon as the economic need of labour force appeared, exploitation was created and thus racism was invented in the Americas. First, by subjugating the indigenous population to slave labour and then invading Africa to bring in more slaves to the Americas. So, slavery was established, and racism based on the colonizers’ "values", was used to create the worst form of discrimination and exploitation. This is how the economic system of capitalism was developed and expanded itself to a system based on domination in various fronts including the institution of racism and then the division of labour at an international scale.

When March 21 comes we will not only remember but we will also challenge ourselves in making a commitment to fight and put an end to all sorts of discrimination in our societies. It is not enough to state zero tolerance for racism. More important is, how through actions and education we will commit ourselves to fight all sort of discriminations whether is because of your sex, your sexual orientation, your physical and mental abilities or the color of your skin.

Racism and all other forms of discrimination are still entrenched in the system and that is what we call systemic discrimination and is reflected in the different aspects of the system such as hiring practices, promotion practices, the way justice is rendered, police’s practices, immigration rules and policies, the education system and the values taught, but also in our unions’ structures, policies and ways and means of participation, whether we practice inclusiveness and openness. The way we as unions implement the recommendations of the CLC Task Force: "Beyond recommendations".

Finally another problem we need to recognize is that racism is a tool that is being used to exploit workers in poor countries. The huge corporations, which thrive in the global economy, are again enslaving our brothers and sisters in Asia, Africa and the Americas, making them work in brutal conditions and for extremely low pay.

All these aspects of racism which occur today, prove that there is still a long way to go in order to eliminate discrimination in our world. It is the responsibility of all of us as human beings to ensure that all of these injustices mentioned, do not continue. In other words: "The Struggle Continues".