Silence
Kills - Resist Against Intolerance
9 November 2000
International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism |
When we see injustice, discrimination
and intolerance, we make a choice. We make a choice to look away
and be silent or to resist. Resistance takes many forms. Everyone
has the power to make a difference, especially when we find others
with whom we can work together. We do not need heroes for one
day, we need resistance every day.
A short history of the "Kristallnacht" pogrom
In Germany on November
9th 1938, the Nazis started a pogrom against the Jews. After
the Nazis came to power in 1933, Jews were subjected to harsh
laws against them - being forced to hand over their businesses
to 'Aryans' only being allowed to shop in Jewish-owned shops,
children only allowed to go to Jewish schools etc. This was accompanied
by much organised violence against Jews in the streets and elsewhere.
But, until November 9th 1938, these attacks had the appearance
of being unplanned and not sanctioned by the leadership of the
Nazi Party, the government of Germany.
On November 6th, a young Jew living in Paris, Herschel Grynszpan,
received a postcard from his father Zindel who had been deported,
along with 18.000 other German Jews, on October 27th to the Polish
frontier. The postcard described the terrible conditions that
the deportees were living under. Herschel Grynszpan was so angered
by what he read that he went to the German Embassy in Paris and
shot the first German official that he saw, Erns vom Rath, a
diplomatic assistant. Vom Rath died of his injuries on November
8th and the news of his death reached Germany the next day. The
Nazis and Hitler denounced the killing as part of a world-wide
Jewish conspiracy against Germany.
The pogrom started in Berlin on November 9th 1938, organised
unofficially by Hitler's SA storm troops. Hitler never officially
commented on the pogrom, but he must have given his approval.
Goebbels certainly ordered the violence to begin. Synagogues
were set on fire. Jewish shops had their windows smashed across
the country, which gave rise to the name "Kristallnacht",
which freely translated means the Night of Broken Glass. Many
Jews were physically attacked too. More than 7000 Jewish businesses
across the country were attacked. Fires were lit in every Jewish
area and the Nazis burned religious books. Around 200 synagogues
were destroyed. The violence lasted 24 hours and 91 Jews were
killed. More than 30.000 were arrested and sent to concentration
camps. Many of these were killed in the following two months.
The "Kristallnacht" pogrom is usually seen as the symbolic
beginning of the Holocaust. In addition to the approximately
6 million Jews who were the targets of a complete annihilation
policy, were an estimated 5,5 million "enemies of the German
state", criminals and 'asocials', people with mental disabilities,
homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, political offenders such as
communists and socialists, and Roma and Sinti. Estimates of the
number of so-called "Gypsies" murdered are between
200.000 and 1.500.000. The estimated number of homosexuals killed
in the camps varies from 10.000 to 15.000. Around 100.000 men
and women were arrested of the German homosexual community of
around 1.500.000 men and women.
The word "Kristallnacht" was given to the event by
the Nazis themselves, because it mocked what had happened. German
anti-fascists today prefer to describe the pogrom as "Reichspogromnacht",
although in most other countries the term "Kristallnacht"
is used as it is more well-known.
.... and now?
After World War II the European peoples decided that they
would never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. Despite
this, intolerance has continued to fester in the heart of Europe.
We have only to take a look at the history of the Roma, Sinti
and Traveller communities in Europe to see that racism and discrimination
did not disappear.
Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe
Some say the Roma and Sinti are the 'true Europeans' because
they do not have a nation-state that they can call their homeland.
This might be a positive way of referring to their position as
outsiders. Who are the Roma, and how are Sinti and Travellers
related to them? Because of the position of Roma, Sinti and Travellers
in Europe, as outsiders but also as a people without a written
history tradition, there is still no complete clarity about the
origin of the people and the connections between the groups.
Roma and Sinti are commonly seen as one people, with two cultural
traditions, but with a shared history. Travellers however, live
mainly in Great-Britain and Ireland and have a separate tradition,
culture and language. What they all have in common is their history
of nomadism, or the itinerary lifestyle, and the discrimination
and racism they have faced over the years.
Roma, Sinti and Travellers have had to deal with tremendous intolerance
and exclusion and have learned to deal with this through skills
that are now often seen as being 'asocial'. The transition that
needs to be made is from 'survival' to 'living', which is not
always easy. Non-governmental organisations of Roma, Sinti and
Travellers as well as organisations of outsiders have been working
for equal rights and equal chances.
Roma, Sinti and Travellers are going through a process of identity-building
and emancipation. Part of that process has been to reject the
pejorative names, such as 'gypsies', 'zigeuner', 'ziganes', 'tinkers',
etc. that have been given to them by outsiders. This process
has not finished yet and different names are used by different
groups.
Porrajmos, 'the Devouring'
Before World War II Roma were often considered to be 'mentally
ill', 'asocials' and genetically prone to criminality. Since
the 19th century solutions included putting people in work camps,
sterilising the women and expulsion and deportation. In September
1935 Roma became subject to the restrictions of the Nuremberg
laws that aimed to protect the German blood and could no longer
marry ethnic Germans. In 1937 they were relegated to being second
class citizens, without civil rights. Between June 12th and June
18th 1938 "Gypsy Clean-up Week" took place throughout
Germany which like the "Kristallnacht" pogrom marked
the beginning of the end.
In Romani the Holocaust is called Porrajmos, which means "the
Devouring". Since the end of World War II, Roma have been
the forgotten victims of the Holocaust. It is only recently that
commemorations have taken place, memorial monuments have been
placed and compensatory payments have been promised or actually
made.
Media and images
"Roma flood Kent countryside" screamed the headlines
in Great-Britain. Suddenly all Roma were beggars, all beggars
were Roma and all migrants and refugees were beggars too.
Media can have a tremendous effect on public opinion and sometimes
this effect is very negative. Media can enforce stereotypes,
fan an already smouldering fear for foreigners into a wildfire
of racism and create an atmosphere of distrust. However, they
can help also to provide information, to reduce the distance
between ethnic groups and help to make people aware of problems
as well as solutions. Non-governmental NGOs need to decide on
their strategies towards the media: to use them, ignore them
or create alternatives
For alternative news on Roma/Sinti/Traveller issues:
Roma National Congress / Romnews, rnc@romnews.com,
phone +49-40-3194249, fax +49-40-310475, http://www.romnews.com,
European Roma Rights Centre, errc@errc.org, http://errc.org,
phone +36-1-4282351, fax +36-1-4282356
International Romani Union, phone +49-30-7919951, fax +49-30-79706029
Union Romani, u-romani@pangea.org, http://www.unionromani.org,
phone +34-93-4127745, fax +34-93-4127040
Forum of European Roma and Travellers Young People,
phone +34-976-380101, fax +34-976-380101
Pavee Point - Travellers' Centre, pavee@iol.ie, http://homepages.iol.ie/~pavee/,
phone +353-1-8780255, fax +353-1-8742626
Racist Violence
If you are different from the majority, because of the colour
of your skin or because your culture is different, you may become
the victim of discrimination and even violence. In recent years
violence against minorities has cost lives, such as the life
of Albert Adriano who died of his wounds in Dessau (Sachsen-Anhalt,
Germany) on 11 June 2000. Three days before he had been beaten
up very severely by three neo-nazis in the 'Stadtpark'. In Central
and Eastern Europe beatings of Roma often go unremarked and unreported,
let alone that they are punished.
The state, the police and the justice system have shown a lack
of willingness to deal with the problems that Roma face. The
attitude of the states is largely responsible for the vulnerability
of Roma as a group.
Institutionalised discrimination
Many people in our
societies are disadvantaged in different ways. Their quality
of life and their opportunities are affected because they are
part of a minority group. Racism, sexism and homophobia are an
inherent part of our societies. This sort of disadvantage operates
within institutions such as the police, justice system and health
service - in all parts of the state.
Campaigning and lobbying
As part of a commitment
to tackling racism and xenophobia, governments must ensure that
they examine how their own departments treat minorities. Non-governmental
organisations aim to influence the policies of the governments.
They lobby for better or more comprehensive legislation, for
independent bodies that can hear complaints on the police and
the justice system, against new restrictive laws against migrants
and refugees. By campaigning they aim to influence the general
public that eventually will or will not vote for the politicians
in power.
Cooperation against intolerance
When you sit in a train
together with your friends and a stranger enters, it feels awkward.
The stranger is viewed with suspicion. You don't know why he
is in this train and why he dresses, speaks and acts differently.
This kind of suspicion may be natural, but it cannot be allowed
to become permanent. Organisations have worked on introducing
the different groups that work in a country to each other. They
have organised cultural events and social events that bring together
different groups.
Around 9 November many organisations feel the wish to commemorate
the past together with other groups. If Jewish groups wish to
work with Roma groups and anti-fascists, this may lead to a working
cooperation that may continue after the commemorations are over.
Resistance through education
Education can be a
form of resistance, schools can be places where intolerance is
installed in children's minds or firmly banished. There are different
forms of racism to be found in schools. Not all of it comes from
classmates. The educational material can be racist. Books on
history, geography and religion, but also other books, often
contain stereotypes of minorities. Taking a critical look at
school material is something pupils, parents and teachers can
do together. Taking action against different forms of racism
and intolerance is a responsibility that pupils, teachers and
parents can and should share.
A first step: organising a coalition of the organisations already
in place, including teacher's organisations and unions, pupils
council, anti-racist organisations, gay and lesbian organisations,
etc. They may well be able to help you in setting up discussion
meetings, collect signatures, organising festivals and manifestations
etc.
What you can do
Around 9 November the
UNITED network organises each year a European-wide campaign to
commemorate the past, protest against the present and build the
future.
Together we:
- motivate and inspire each other
- learn from each other's experience and ideas
- generate more publicity
- mobilise more people
If you would like to take part in this campaign, you can do so
by announcing your intentions to the UNITED office and start
organising. The variety and creativity of many different simultaneous
activities on different levels and all over Europe make the campaign
successful. The campaign is linked together by the use of a single
date at its centre - 9 November - and the use of a common theme
and or slogan. This poster is designed to introduce you to the
theme. Special care is taken to bring together groups of different
backgrounds, such as anti-fascist groups and Roma groups together
with gay and lesbian organisations. The idea behind the campaign
is to use the divisions that were made in the past (such as by
giving Jews a yellow star, antifascists a red and gays/lesbians
a pink triangle) to unite us in our fight for equal rights and
equal chances today. We stand together as one big colourful movement.
Some ideas from the past years included: drawing competitions
in schools, public discussion meetings, demonstrations in the
streets, commemoration meetings, conferences, poster action,
media actions, cultural events with minority music groups, etc.
etc.
How UNITED can help
UNITED will produce
a special calendar of activities taking place all around Europe,
which can help you to make contacts and exchange speakers with
other groups. It will be updated several times and will be published
on our website http://www.united.non-profit.nl
Call UNITED if you cannot find a partner of your activities.
We might know of other NGOs in your country who are planning
something.
A media release will be sent out to all important European press
agencies, newspapers, etc. If you feel that we should include
a specific media contact from your country in our list, let us
know. Journalists that want to know about specific activities
are referred to the organisations involved in local actions.
UNITED will produce a European report after 9 November, including
as many of the activities that took place as possible.
We can only do this with your help!
How you can help UNITED
Help us make the media release exciting! Announce your activities
to us! Send us your announcements, invitations, leaflets and
posters before the activities take place. Help us make the report
complete. Make sure your activity is included! Send us reports,
newspaper articles, photographs, etc. after the event.
Check out also: Internet Centre
Anti-Racism Europe (I CARE): www.icare.to
Up
UNITED
for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus
413, NL-1000 AK Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778, fax +31-20-6834582,
info@unitedagainstracism.org,
www.unitedagainstracism.org
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