"We must not allow the manifestations of racism, which has not changed, to be swept under the carpet. We must be vigilant to the changing faces of racism and deal with it whether or not it is popular to do so. We must desmystify all the laws, declarations and charters etc., from fancy words (...) We must confront the government for programmes that will rid our country of racism, otherwise, it will go underground...".
Racism has been a concern of the ecumenical movement for at least 70 years. However there has been an special focus on the issue of racism since 1968, thirty years ago, when the IVth Assembly of the WCC set its face against the scourge of racism and thus gave impetus to the creation of the Programme to Combat Racism. Since then the WCC has played a significant role within the international anti-apartheid movement and extended solidarity and its resources to thousands of Indigenous and racially oppressed communities and organizations, and those who work in support of them, in almost every part of the world. This has been one of the major ministries of the WCC. But racism continues to be a gross scandal to the Christian faith.
The common calling of the WCC member churches includes a commitment to refuse "to turn away from the judgement that every form of racism, also in their own life, is contrary to the word and will of God". (CUV).The 1995 Central Committee noted that "institutional racism and the ideology of racism, in their most pernicious forms, continue unabated in contemporary societies and still affect churches dramatically while ongoing social, political and economic trends are producing new expressions of racism".
With its three decades of experience and insights the WCC is now challenged, not only to continue and strengthen its commitment, but to bring new energy and analytical skills to the many emerging manifestations of racism. It was in answer to these challenges that this paper has been prepared. Input was sought from each region of the world and a number of small international consultations were held.
It is important to note that, in spite of the relevance of issues of ethnicity and ethnocentrism the oppression of ethnic minorities, most significantly in Europe and Africa, ethnic issues are not directly addressed in this dossier. They must continue to be important for the WCC member churches and further studies are needed. For instance a study on Ethnic Identity, National Identity and the Unity of the Church, is being undertaken by Faith and Order and Justice, Peace and Creation team. However the focus of this present dossier is racism and its impact on the lives of African-descent, Blacks, Dalits and Indigenous Peoples.
At the core of the struggle against racism there are some essential elements which relate to the very basic anthropological and theological understanding of humanity.
The ecumenical movement, the WCC and its member churches, have produced many and unambiguous statements which condemn racism. These are based on the belief that human beings are created in the Image of God (Gen. 1.26) and that all human beings are created equal. But as the new millennium approaches that belief is in danger of foundering. It seems there has been a loss of restlessness, the costly engagement, and the creative energy of indignation which comes from knowing that racism hinders the Image of God.
Therefore, racism is a sin, not only because it separates us from God and from our fellow human beings; or because it is a blatant denial of the Christian Faith and thus incompatible with the Gospel; or because it is a flagrant violation of human rights. Its sinfulness is not only because it is contrary to Galatians 3. 28, in that racism assumes human beings are created unequal before God, or even yet because racism is a denial of basic justice and human dignity. Racism is primarily a sin because it destroys the very source of humanity - the Image of God in humankind. Thus, it repudiates the Creator God; it repudiates the Creation and its goodness. We are truly human only when the divine flame of God's Image shines within us to dissipate evil, as individuals, churches and societies.
At the time of the VIIIth assembly's call to "Turn to God, Rejoice in Hope", the cry of those who are oppressed by racism is to (re)turn to true humanity. Their demand is that the divine flame of God's Image should be expressed through what is and what is yet to be. Their call is that we should turn away from the sin of racism and repent. We are confronted with the need to experience conversion, to turn and change direction, not as an intellectual exercise but as a heartfelt realization that the mission of the churches cannot go on as usual. We must acknowledge that the actions of individuals, churches and societies have to be transformed by the powerful flame of God's Image in humanity and the transforming power of God' grace in Jesus Christ. The eradication of racism is the restoration of the Image of God in humanity, when Life is lived abundantly in accordance with God's will.
To turn to God is the challenge and opportunity of recovering and reclaiming humanness. It is to re-establish communion with God and with one another. It is a commitment to pursue ‘Our Ecumenical Vision'.
The remaining years of this century are a time of transition. One of its characteristics is the shift from very visible and clear-cut white racism, seen throughout the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, to a time in which racism is alive and well but, in many places, is disguised or even assumed to be non-existent. For this reason, racism, whether overt or covert, needs to be continuously analyzed and combatted.
A distinction has to be made between ‘individual' and ‘institutional' racism. The former refers to personal prejudice and behavior. The latter refers to procedures and regulations that may not even be racist in their intent but which are discriminatory in their impact or outcome and which reinforce racial inequality. A problem with the distinction of ‘individual' versus ‘institutional' is that it places the individual outside the contexts in which regulations and procedures are made, whereas structures need to be understood as the outcome of individual human activity.
From a macro point of view racial discrimination can be described as a set of economic, political, social, and ideological relations. From a micro point of view, the reproduction of racism is a systemic process based in everyday life. It is integrated in the routine practices of daily life, a familiar ground which is taken for granted and therefore hardly ever questioned. As a result, racism becomes part of common thinking, habit or daily custom to the extent where it is tolerated as if it were a ‘normal' feature of the dominant culture. Simultaneous and cumulative expressions of everyday racism occur in a range of relations and situations: from neighborhoods to the labour markets, from parliament to the media, and from state bureaucracy to the academy. In other words, racism is not only about particular incidents. As a systemic process it is profoundly integrated in the social body of society. Because racism is systemic it does not necessarily operate overtly or explicitly. Depending on the historical and political context it can be blatant and overt, or subtle and covert. In many parts of the world certain forms of racism are maintained by a tightly controlled global infrastructure of economic, ideological and military interests.
All this indicates the need for a new phase in the ecumenical struggle against racism to develop a coordinated strategy to address global political and economic dynamics which support racism in various parts of the world.
In May 1994 a group of WCC-related people met at Bossey to discuss the future of the WCC Special Fund to Combat Racism, and in June of that same year the Unit III Working Group on Racism, Indigenous Peoples and Ethnicity met in Lusaka. Both groups concluded that racism today increasingly manifests a global dimension. That is, not only can racism be identified in societies in many parts of the world, but also within international relationships. Previous WCC statements have alluded to the dynamics by which globalization results in a greater consolidation of capital in the North and ownership of even more of the world's land and natural resources by an elite few. Both groups concluded that a special focus should be placed on these new expressions of racism.
Therefore an essential part of the struggle against racism today must be an examination of the fundamental relationships of power and dominance that operate on a world scale. Some have questioned this on the grounds that, while at a global level there are indeed unjust relationships of economic, military and other kinds of dominance such as patriarchy, these have only an incidental connection with race, ethnicity or caste. The facts are, however, that the greatest concentrations of economic political and military power are mainly found in the white-led and industrialized countries of the North, and that those who suffer most as a result of their activities are the Black peoples of the South or those who reside in the North.
The main outlines of these unjust economic structures and process are well outlined in the WCC study document Christian Faith and the World Economy Today (1992):
The WCC-CCA round table on "Race and Oppression in Asia: Hope for our Peoples" (1996) affirmed that Indigenous Peoples, ethnic minority communities, agricultural sectors, and migrant labour are the sectors which bear the heaviest brunt of globalization and free market economic policies. In many Asian countries development models are depriving Indigenous Peoples and rural sectors of their land and resources. There is intense exploitation of labour, especially of women and migrants labor, while the perpetuation of the dominant cultures, usually promoted as the "national cultures" exclude and destroy other cultures. The division between the rich and the poor, between those who control resources and those who do not, between the dominant race and dominated races, has sharpened and become even more pronounced. The participants of the round table therefore concluded that globalization, in its present form, is an expression of racism.
Racism and sexism: Impact on Women
For instance, racism and sexism are manifested in sex tourism, in the trafficking of women and in mail-order brides and population control policies. International tourism has increased remarkably over the years and nowadays there is a growing number of white western men (Germans, Scandinavians, Americans, Australian especially) are traveling to tourist resorts areas and sex zones in Thailand, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries. Yayori Matsui of Japan, in an analysis of the situation in Asia, contends that sex tourism is an inter-play of gender, class and race and ethnic background. "It cannot be denied that those sex tourists from Western countries have certain stereotyped image of Asian women as sexual objects with Oriental charm and as very cheap commodities to use as much as they like." The growing scale of international sex trafficking of Asian, African-descent Latin American and Caribbean women and children to Europe has the same root cause. They are considered both as sex objects and cheap commodities to be easily bought and sold. Sex tours and sex trafficking are both serious violation of human rights of women and children and are manifestations of racism.
Female migration as mail-order brides is another case. Many Filipino, Thai and other Southeast and South Asian women marry western men through international marriage agencies. Quite often these women suffer violence by their husbands and in-laws. Racial or ethnic discrimination is seen as factors underlying these incidents. In Japan, data from 1996 indicates that such marriages are 1 in 30. No matter how determined they were to overcome the hardships, the women are severely tested by their lack of language, their isolation, the gaps between expectations and what transpires, the differences of living customs and child rearing, and the deep-rooted attitudes to women. These stresses lead to serious personal and divorce problems.
Mukami McCrum, in her analysis of the situation of Black women in Europe, affirms that the prevailing attitudes and assumptions about Black women's sexuality prompts advertisements in mail order bride magazines which paint them as sex objects. This undermines self-esteem and encourages abuse of Black women to such an extend that rape of Black woman is not viewed as serious as that of a White woman. She continues that:
Brazilian women of African-descent denounce:
Racism and casteism: Impact on Dalits and Tribals
In order to explain the existence of Dalits, the Manusmriti advances the concept of mixed castes, in which two groups of Dalits were considered the most degraded i.e. Chandala (offspring of a Sudra male from a Brahmin woman) and Spaka (offspring of a Chandala male and Pukkasa female).
The four features of caste also have significant bearing on gender. Firstly, the caste defines the social division of labour, thus lending status to one kind of work and withholding it from other kinds of work. Secondly, it determines sexual interconnections through marriage alliance. Thirdly it structures groups in hierarchical relations thus labeling some castes as high and others as low. Finally, the concepts of pollution and purity provide prescriptions and prohibitions about social interaction. All these features have negative implications for gender equality and justice. The increased constraint on women is an essential part of a rise in caste hierarchy.
What is the specific identity and role of a Dalit woman in India today? She is the slave of slaves or "down-trodden among the down-trodden, born into a condition of servitude and bondage. She is shackled by a vast structure of laws, customs, duties - the Hindu caste system. Her only task was to "obey and serve without envy" said the ancient Hindus law-giver, Manu. The Brahmanical world inflicts on her the idea of her own inferiority and the inevitability of her position. Therefore, she is the "natural" victim of the brutality of upper caste landlords, employers, moneylenders, local bureaucracy, including the police in her daily life or even during the course of struggles."
The ideologies of religion and scriptures as interpreted through the ages, the values and structures created by them, and their legitimization of dominant power, are all crucial factors in patriarchy and stratification. A marked feature of Hindu society is its legal sanction for an extreme oppression of social stratification in which women and the lower castes have been subjected to humiliating conditions of existence, not only determining their status, but extending to their sexuality and reproductive function. For Dalit women, the added stigma of untouchability is placed on them, making them even more vulnerable victims of all kinds of discrimination and atrocities.
Racism and its Impact on Indigenous Peoples
Yet the lives and spiritualities of Indigenous Peoples are faced with continuing and emerging threats:
An expression of day to day racism can be seen in the poverty of Indigenous Peoples. The fact that Indigenous Peoples have been extremely oppressed, dispossessed and that their rights to sovereignty and self-determination have been violated since colonial times till the present day, is a reality that cannot be denied. That is one of the factors which has given strength to insurgency in many parts of Latin America - of which Chiapas is the most recent example. The increased activity of the guerrilla movement, and the anti-guerrilla strategies taken by governments such as in Guatemala, have clearly devastated many Indigenous regions from 1978 to 1982, destroying human lives as well as the fauna and the flora. In the Quiche area of Guatemala it will never be possible to re-build three hundred Indigenous villages destroyed in the conflict.
Exploitation and dispossession of Indigenous Peoples is also fundamental in concerns about intellectual property. The increasing use of patenting has meant that Indigenous Peoples' knowledge of the Earth's biodiversity - plants, animals, minerals and the interaction of all in creation (environment)- cultural manifestations such as literature, designs, arts and medicine developed and passed on from one generation to the next, is passing into the hands of multi-national corporations and governments as their private property. These processes are taking place over against the recognition of Indigenous Peoples collective rights to their own intellectual property.
In Europe, development in recent years has been positive for some Indigenous Peoples, particularly for Inuits in Greenland and Sámi in Norway, Sweden and Finland. They have achieved various levels of self-determination. The Sámi Parliament is the official Indigenous voice to the nation's state legislative, budgetary and executive authorities. Historically, however, and common to all the different groups throughout Europe, is that they have not had a chance to have complete control upon their own development in regard to language, culture, natural resources and way of life.
There is also discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in Asia. For example, the Ainu people in Japan, together with the Indigenous people of Okinawa, have been a target of the historic aggression of Japanese nationalism. The Ainu have been deprived of rights to their own culture, land and to continue their lives as hunters and fishers in the forests, rivers and ocean as those areas were reserved to Japanese business and industry. They continue to be dislocated by the construction of Nibutani Dam. Some religious denominations have also profited by taking Ainu land for their own use.
The relationship between Indigenous Peoples all over the world and churches remains a difficult one in many important aspects. In many circumstances the views and understanding of the churches, in relation to Indigenous theological thinking and their Cosmo vision, is locked in prejudices and value judgements, based on ethnocentric pride or sense of superiority. However it is true to say that some churches have welcomed Indigenous theology with respect, opening the space for exchange and dialogue.
Racism, Employment/Unemployment and Migration/Immigration
Racism has played a central role in these changes particularly in its inter-relation with immigration concerns. Empirical studies carried out by the International Labour Office demonstrate the prevalence of racial discrimination against immigrants with respect to employment and training opportunities. In European countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, immigrants face difficulties in job mobility and promotion. The racial dynamic also manifests itself on a global scale, as well as within nations where different racial groups exist.
While all the economic transformations affecting the South cannot be reduced to race, it is notable that those suffering most because of global economic changes, live in the South. Although people in the North are also affected by de-industrialization and other effects of globalization, even there the marginalization of African-descent, Black and ethnic minority people is disproportionate.
The economic activities of Japanese corporations as they search for lower labour costs in other South East Asian countries, has resulted in many Japanese workers loosing their jobs. It has been particularly damaging for resident-Koreans employed in medium, small and very small businesses and sub-contracting factories. Foreign workers in Japan are increasingly required on "kiken/kitsui/kitanai" jobs, what means "dangerous/drudging/dirty" jobs. That is also a reality for many other countries in the world.
Wealthier countries use many practices to manage and control population movements including classifying people according to their perceived eligibility to enter, or remain in, a particular territory. Forcible repatriation of refugees to so-called "safe third countries", is now standard practice, together with deportation of the so called "illegal" immigrants. These forms of state control are seen by many as a legitimate response to the de-stabilizing effects of large scale migration, yet they are discriminatory on race grounds because four out of five refugees and asylum applicants come from, and are obliged to remain in, third world countries.
International migration has reached an unprecedented scale as millions of people are forced to leave their home countries to migrate overseas for their survival. Mr Maurice Glélé-Ahanhanzo, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, states that:
Migration in different regions of the world also affects young people in general and Indigenous young people in particular, who leave their place of origin, sometimes their country of origin, in search of employment and face the dilemma of reacting to a different culture and value system. In extreme cases, this has meant risking the loss of their own cultural identity.
Environmental Racism
There is a well documented pattern in the United States of African Americans, and other communities of colour, along with economically depressed communities, being disproportionately abused by the creation of toxic waste sites. In March 1998, a dozen leaders of the historic African American and "mainline" denominations, under the auspices of the Black Church Environmental Justice Programme, visited two Louisiana communities:
Industrialists argue against this concept of environmental racism, claiming the reasons for putting their waste in minority areas are economic not racial. They deny it is intentional saying that the impact upon African-descent, Black, Indigenous and ethnic minority peoples is by chance. But the fact of the matter is that the pattern is common enough to indicate systemic racism.
Militarism is associated with notions of power and domination and as an ideology has been an integral part of colonization. It created rigid physical and mental boundaries of Whiteness and drew clear lines of distinction between the White colonisers - Dutch, British, French, Portuguese, Spanish and the Indigenous Peoples they conquered and dispossessed. This drawing of lines of distinction and racial boundaries, supported by military action, served to underline the sanctity of the White supremacists.
Conflicts were common in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The advent of colonialism in these regions, with the help of the military, raised the level of violence and consequent casualties, turning colonialism into a race war between the white colonisers and other races. In the Americas, after the initial period of commerce, the white settlers annihilated the Indigenous Peoples of the "New World" through military means. They then established clear racial boundaries between themselves and the slaves imported from Africa. These boundaries were maintained through military means and institutionalized racism.
In the post-Cold War period, the Gulf War provides a glaring example of racial genocide through military power. US president George Bush's characterization of Saddam Hussein as the new "Hitler of the Middle East" before the US destruction of Iraq resulting in deaths of two hundred thousands soldiers and civilians (according to a study of Greenpeace) was followed by the stranglehold of Iraq's economy through sanctions.
The ability of former colonial powers, and present day major powers, to move fluidly between their racial and militaristic constructs is a significant reinforcement of contemporary racism. Churches, confronting the scourge of racism, have to take militarism into account.
In reflecting what is at stake for a theology of struggle against global racism today, there is a challenge to the churches, the WCC and the ecumenical movement as a whole. It must be a search for a theological perspective which acts to motivate a new orientation, capable of generating a new impetus. It must seek new interpretation of what God is saying to the churches in the journey to live out the affirmation that racism is contrary to the word and will of God. It must be a theological reflection which enables the churches to undergo self-examination about racism, both of their internal, institutional structures and practices, as well as their witness in the world at large; a theological reflection which uses the hermeneutical key of suspicion to sharpen the analysis of reality, clearly seeing beyond the disguised and covert forms of racism.
The biblical and theological foundations, can be no more than an abstract system of affirmations if they are not embodied, integrated, in the life of individual Christians, churches' institutions and mission. For biblical affirmations to become a concrete basis for the struggle against world racism, what is needed are credible men and women, credible institutions and credible actions for ecclesial and societal transformation.
Credible persons. That means men and women whose lives are such that they can be counted upon in the process of transformation; men and women whose lives are a witness of the Gospel of the ideas that they defend, whose action is determined by what they believe. Such spiritually credible persons represent a theological pillar to (re)turn to true humanity. Thus, the call for a turn to God is also a call to individuals to turn away actually and deliberately from the sin of racism.
Credible Churches and Institutions: these are communal and racially inclusive structures; a space where persons meet, setting themselves objectives and determining the means of acting together, in the light of their common calling. It is to the extent that the beliefs have an organized space in which to be implemented, not an occasional or accidental one, that they can have an impact on the global orientation of life in society, on the world order. But their institutional embodiment must be credible, trustworthy. The Christian community cannot say a convincing word to society unless it takes steps to eliminate the practices of racism from itself.
Credible Action. Sometimes churches have become institutions of enunciation, believing that once something was denounced their duty was accomplished. Many statements against racism have been made by ecumenical gatherings and hundreds more have been made by many different churches. Yet in spite of all these statements and the substantial agreement among churches which they represent, racism remains as deeply entrenched as ever. There are times when churches must recognize they are dealing with the seeds of racism which may have been planted two or three generations previously.
The concrete orientation of the Christian faith within the ecumenical movement today needs the energy which will come from this chain of credibility - credible actions, implemented by credible persons within credible institutions. In other words, the foundations of the struggle against global racism will not only have a biblical-theological basis, but also Christians, churches and institutions which can be relied upon.
The question today is whether such foundations actually exist; whether this is not one of the major challenges of this time for the credibility of Christians and churches. Stating that the eradication of racism is part and parcel of turning to God, is to understand that the Christian formation of men and women, and the conversion of churches to that message, are the prerequisite for success in the struggle. It has to do with the ability of Christians and churches to propose, both locally and at the world level, alternatives for life in community and for creative fellowship which can inhibit the culture of violence and of death which have produced the current trends of racism.
The continuing struggle against racism requires that the churches recognize, and attempt to overcome, racism wherever it exists in their midst, making concrete efforts to combat racism as a central part of their lives rather than something which is marginal, or located only in special programmes or committees. It means that awareness raising and anti-racism training be promoted at all levels, particularly at local and national levels; that the continued work against racism take in special account the inter-links between racism, sexism, classism and casteism in order to understand and sharply act in the struggle for justice for African-descent, Black, Indigenous, Dalit and Ethnic Minority women. Church women's organizations need to enable women to work in solidarity with other women across racial and ethnic lines.As part of the ecumenical vocation against racism churches need to respect and promote Indigenous Peoples rights to self-determination, land rights, spiritualities, culture, languages and intellectual property rights. Finally, the inter-links between economics and racism should receive special attention, connecting them with globalization and issues of employment/unemployment, immigration/migration, environmental racism as well militarism.
Racism as a Sin revisited
Towards an Understanding of Racism Today
"The role of the "mega-economic" alliances of the industrialized nations which are deeply protective of their interests and dictate the terms of trade with the poorer countries; the role of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank which tend to serve the interests of the already wealthier and are often destructive of welfare in the third world, particularly through "structural adjustment programmes" imposed in such countries as conditions of aid, without regard to their effects on local communities; and appalling debt crisis which has entrapped many third-world countries in hopeless economic servitude to financial institutions in the north."
The designers and beneficiaries of these economic systems are mainly white. Those who suffer by receiving few benefits are mainly the racially and ethnically diverse. Global racism and the unjust economic structures of the world are integral to each other. Yet the racist dimension to the economic order is rarely acknowledged.
Racism in Everyday Life
The struggle for change of the dominant patriarchal systems and ideologies, assumes even greater complexity when sexism and gender equity are considered in their interconnections with racism. It is imperative that this be addressed for a sharper understanding of the reality for women of African-descent, Indigenous, ethnic minority women. The analysis has to include a class perspective because women suffer greater oppression than their males counter-parts, as they also suffer and fight against sexist attitudes and structures. Directly related to these matters, is the increasing feminization of poverty as a clear manifestation of the world's economic injustice.
"(...)the Single European Act of 1992 banded all black people together with criminals, terrorists, drug traffickers, and all of them are suspected of being illegal. Women coming to Europe on their own or living here as single parents are seen as economic migrants who work at the low and sinister end of the labour market such as prostitution. They are often condemned and despised by the system and by some black people who see them as low status women with poor morals and who are a danger to society".
Racism, and its legacy in post-apartheid South Africa, maintains its characteristics of injustice and, in many respects, women and children bear the brunt of it. The task of de-institutionalizing racism in that country is enormous and relates to all aspects of life. But among the many challenges, the reality of rural women and children are of particular importance. While all Black women have been discriminated against, those in the rural areas have suffered most. The rural areas are populated by female-headed households because husbands, brothers and sons leave these areas as soon as they are old enough to search for jobs in urban areas. These areas are arid, with no facilities or infrastructure and normally far from towns or cities. The women and children in these areas are by far the poorest."One study by the Human Research Science Council showed that African rural women's share of the poverty burden is 63.9% as compared to their white counterparts who have a share of 1.8%. In urban areas, African women have a share of 50.8% as compared to 3.1% which is the share of the white urban women. The same study shows that African children in rural areas have 75.4% of the total share of poverty for all African children, whose share of the poverty of children in the country is 955. The total poverty share of white children is rural and urban areas is 0.3%."
The experience of racism as lived by women of African-descent in Brazil, Indigenous women in Peru, Costa Rica and other parts of Latin America, is played out in issues of reproductive rights. Population- related policies, whether explicit or not, have a goal of birth control for poor and African-descent and Indigenous populations. Sterilization has been mystified as contraceptive method, safe and without side effects and women have been induced to undergo surgical sterilization without other contraceptive options being made available. The effects of mass sterilization of African-descent women in Brazil can already be felt in the significant decrease of the Black population in this decade.
"The racist and patriarchal position of the neo-Malthusian which considers population growth as responsible for poverty, hunger and environmental imbalance was exposed by the evidence of maintaining sub-human life conditions in our country, despite the drop in the fertility rate in the last decade. Therefore we state that poverty should be attributed mainly to a bad income distribution and to the absence of an agrarian reform, which penalizes mainly the Brazilian population of African origin."
In the words of Luz Campos, an Indigenous woman from Peru living in Costa Rica, "whenever the practices that transform Indigenous women into guinea pigs for different experiments to be tested and for implementation of elimination strategies, there is no doubt racism exist".
It is in the ancient history of India that the links between racism and casteism can already be found. James Massey of Dalit Solidarity Peoples (DSP), debating those links, quotes N.K. Dutta in the following words:
"Thus we see that the most important factors in the development of caste were the racial struggle between the fair-skinned Aryans and the darker skin non-Aryans, the division of the labour leading to the formation of occupational classes; and the tribal differences, especially among the non-Aryans, which survived the spread of a common Aryan culture."
Massey affirms that after the seeds of the caste system were sown through the racial struggle, it was fully rooted in the Indian social system. In the process, many religious myths were created to support the caste system as well as legal systems and even, during the British period, an act of Parliament. Theological justification for this discrimination was given by affirming that dark-skinned non-Aryans do not find any place in the body of the Creator God.The highest caste are the Brahmins... The next caste are the Kshatriya... After them follow the Vaisya... After the Sudra, who were created from the feet... After Sudra follow the people called Antyaja (low caste people) who renders various kinds of services, who are not reckoned amongst any caste... The four castes do not live together with them... They are occupied with dirty work... In fact they are considered like illegitimate children;..."
This means that Dalits and other Indigenous peoples (the Tribals or Adivasis) have no place of their own as human beings.
It is well-known that Indigenous Peoples, whether in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Bolivia, West Papua, Canada, Norway, India, Bostwana or Greenland, no matter where they live or what their political or social culture and beliefs, all view the land as the basis of their survival. "We are deeply conscious of our relationship with our Mother Earth, and the sacredness of our lands and territories. We affirm that our identity, culture, languages, philosophy of life and our spirituality are linked to a balanced relationship with all creation."
"(...)by mining, the lack of wildlife conservation, logging, hydro-electric dams, militarization, forced displacement for the benefit of tourism and other projects. Equally threaten by these developments are their languages and traditional way of life. The colonially drawn up of boundaries in the process of creating modern forms of states has fragmented and interfered with the way of life of Indigenous Peoples. Even sacred sites have not been exempted from desecration. These threats are caused and reinforced by models of development imposed by the rich industrialized nations that seeks to exploit natural resources without regard for present or future generations".
Indigenous participation in politics and decision making processes reveals a situation which is far from egalitarian. In countries were Indigenous Peoples constitutes the majority of the population, 60 % and more in some countries, few leaders are drawn from the Indigenous communities. The decision making power still in the hands of an elite few.
One of the dynamics shaping today's globalized economy is the new international division of labour and elimination of labour brought on by new technologies, competition, and the search for cheap labour. In economic terms the bottom line is that, for the global community, fewer and fewer workers are needed to produce more and more goods and services for larger and larger profits.
Immigration, which is growing, provoking discriminatory measures and xenophobic reactions, is a worldwide phenomenon. In Africa, America, Asia, Europe and the Pacific, discriminatory barriers are being thwoun up against men and women who, looking for a better life, set out in hopes of finding a place in what is said to be the 'global village' but turns out to have neighbourhoods closed off to some by legislation alluding directly or indirectly to racial identity, national or ethnic origin or preference for nationals.
Many countries have become fortresses to keep out those they perceive as unwanted and unneeded, and racist attacks, police brutality and human rights violations have became common. Feminization of migration was better understood in the last 15 years. The rapidly increasing number of Asian women working abroad as domestic workers, factory workers or entertainers are often victims of sexual violence or even killed by their employers.
There is a direct relationship between the increasing globalization of the economy, the environmental degradation of the living spaces of many of the world's peoples and the location of residential areas of African-descent, Black or Indigenous peoples. In many places where they live oil, timber and minerals are extracted in ways that devastate eco-systems and destroys their culture and livelihood. Waste from both high and low tech industries, much of it toxic, must be disposed of somewhere and waste plants are often built in or near low-income living areas, where there is a predominance of these people, without any consultation with the people most directly affected.
"Convent, where a multi-racial residents group is seeking to block the Shintech Corporation from building a $700 million polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in their already heavily polluted community; Oakville, where a 150-year-old community is fighting to close and clean a private toxic dump established 10 years ago, literally in their back yards."
Wealthier nations are also increasingly exporting their wastes to countries in the South. Basically, unjust and unequal economic relation between the North and the South place the heavier burden of degradation of global environment on the South. The use of the Pacific as dumping ground for nuclear waste and the testing ground for nuclear devices, is an example of racism against Indigenous Peoples. This was also the case in the nuclear testing in Australia on Aboriginal land and in the USA on Western Shoshone territory in Nevada. The recognition of this aspect of racism has only recently been part of discussions on environmental devastation.
Racism and Militarism
Towards a Theology and Practice of Credibility