Racism and world peace.

TOK PRESENTATION

Racism is a belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by the color of his skin.

Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another.

It has existed throughout human history. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes.

WHAT IS RACISM?

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Roots of Racism in India

Racism in India has its roots in pre-history as Aryans perhaps invaded India in 2000 BC and considered themselves to be a superior race as they spoke many Indo-European languages and were pre-dominantly white.

Much later, British colonialism of India had elements of racism as the Britishers made rules and regulations not favoring the locals, non-Asians got more job opportunities, top positions in the Indian administrative service, higher quality education as well as a better standard of living. In the 30’s of the 19th century, year 1835 to be precise, Thomas Macaulay, (later Baron Macaulay of Rothley:1800-1859) a racist of the first order and architect of Colonial Britain’s Educational Policy in British India, articulated the goals of British colonial imperialism most succinctly. He wrote, “We must do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect.”

Ever since the British rule, today most South Asian people are victims of racism. http://library.thinkquest.org/28172/s.13.jpg

Examples of Racism across the world

It is a known fact that racism existed across the world and not just

India. There are glaring examples that

racism has had an impact in world affairs

and is a long-drawn conflict as terrorism.

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AustraliaIn a sensational discovery showing Australia’s racist past, D J Mulaveney, a Professor of Sydney University said that in 1788, the Australian population was 750,000. More than 600,000 people had died as a result of white settlement.

In 1998, ‘One Nation’, a nationalist party won 25% of the votes with their main aim being to fight immigration by non-whites.

The party felt that Asians were soon going to take over most of the job opportunities available and the whites would have nothing.

As we can see today, the so-called ‘higher level’ of people in the country are attacking the so-called ‘lower level’ of people. http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_404/12437529498rl

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AfricaMost nations in Africa are at war or civil war, or have been very recently.

In Zimbabwe, for example, there is racism against white farmers on the contrary due to poverty and the lack of land ownership by the non-white farmers.

Till today, they have a dictatorial president who follows racist policies and as a result we see people suffering from a severe political and economic crisis. It can be said that unless racism is not eradicated, Zimbabwe’s future is bleak and could possibly be isolated from the world soon. http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/1214473/0135624850085.jpg

cont....

Also South Africa suffered recently from apartheid until Nelson Mandela was elected as president in 1994.

Till 1992, South Africa was deliberately not accepted by the UN as a peaceful country.

It has partially eliminated racism even though it does still exist but at smaller levels. http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/images-3/nelson-mandela-free.jpg

USAThere has been no black leader in America since Martin Luther King.

Top political leaders such as John F Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln have been assassinated as they fought for equality.

Probably as a step to stop racism, Barack Obama was elected as the first non-white US president in November 2008.

It is now seen that US along with being a superpower, has also improved relations with the world, especially developing countries especially at the time of recession. Unlike his predecessor, George Bush, whose international policies weren’t accepted across the world.

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Internet and Racism

The World Wide Web may have social sites propagating love such as Face book, it can also be a breeding ground harboring hatred through hate sites such as Hate watch.

Internet has a huge influence on the young generation and with people not willing to reason, they become followers of hate sites.

Such sites should be banned.

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Globalization and Racism

Globalization means the world is one entity.

It is a way in which multilateral relations between countries can improve for long-term benefits.

Globalization is a forward step to reduce racism as people would be united enough to understand each other and make human existence survive. http://www.unesco.ca/en/commission/resources/images/

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UN World Conference

In September 2001, UN held a conference to discuss issues like racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Countries were not willing to accept their own drawbacks.

However, globalization and this conference has given countries the impetus to take severe action towards racism.

The conference created history as racism was brought to the attention of most of the countries in the world as they are UN members.

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Conclusion Hence, we would like to end our presentation with by saying that racism can be completely destroyed if people use their intellect, i.e, reason and judgment towards reflecting and contemplating upon their actions. They should realize that attacking people who are not of their own race is pointless and will hamper human existence. The awareness of brotherhood and friendship is important to overcome this challenge.

In a survey that we conducted, all people felt that racism affects world peace and governments can take action against racism such as passing strict equality laws and penalizing people heavily for such acts. However, 3 out of 6 people felt that racism is not as destructive as terrorism and can be stopped but not necessarily by governments. It’s in the hands of the common man to end racial discrimination by being friendly and understanding other cultures.

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Bibliography

www.wikipedia.org

www.globalissues.org

www.indhistory.org

www.the-spark.net

THANK YOU

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