Anti-racism

Anti-racism refers to beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined. By its nature, anti-racism tends to promote the view that racism in a particular society is both pernicious and socially pervasive, and that particular changes in political, economic, and/or social life are required to eliminate it.

Anti-racism's influence

Anti-racist ideology has been hugely influential. It has been a catalyst for feminism, anti-war, and anti-imperialist movements. Henry David Thoreau's opposition to the Mexican War, for example, was based in his fear that the U.S. was using the war as an excuse to expand slavery into new territories. Thoreau's response was chronicled in his famous essay "Civil Disobedience", which in turn helped ignite Ghandi's successful campaign against the British in India. Ghandi's example in turn inspired the American Civil Rights movement.

Related Topics:
Civil Disobedience - Ghandi - India - Civil Rights

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Indeed, as James Loewen notes in "Lies My Teacher Told Me","Throughout the world, from Africa to Northern Ireland, movements of oppressed people continue to use tactics and words borrowed from our abolitionist and civil rights movements." In East Germany, in revolutionary Iran, in Tiananmen Square, in South Africa, images, words, and tactics developed by anti-racism have been used regularly and repeatedly.

Related Topics:
East Germany - Iran - Tiananmen Square

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Many of these uses have been controversial. For example, Ho Chi Minh was an admirer of John Brown. The pro-life movement often draws connections between its goals and the goals of abolitionism. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has used anti-racist rhetoric to a land-distribution scheme which resulted in widespread starvation. Still, whether one supports or despises anti-racisms use in any particular context, its success, at least in one sense, has been overwhelming. Not so long ago, racism was the explicit ideology of the West. Today, on the other hand, it is eschewed -- at least in name -- by almost every prominent figure of note. Today, virtually no one -- not Strom Thurmond, not David Duke -- wants to be known as a white supremacist.

Related Topics:
Zimbabwe - Robert Mugabe - Strom Thurmond - David Duke - White supremacist

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