March 21. International Day against Racial Discrimination

Although some people refuse to accept it, although we live in the 21st century and although we are supposedly a civilized Western society, the truth is that the ghost of racism is something that is very palpable even in our small country... where by the way... we have a mixture of races and, to put it another way, even colors. 

However, and although we pretend to be alarmed by the abuses in the States, and Spain towards our compatriots... there are many cases in our society of Peruvian and Colombian brothers who are exploited at work in Ecuador, either because they are displaced or because the "minimum" salary for household jobs, for example, "justifies" leaving their countries to come here and be "exploited."

In addition to being the day that marked the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, March 21 has international significance. In 1960, in the Shaperville district (Johannesburg, South Africa), the army shot and brutally killed 69 people and injured another 186. In memory of this tragedy, the UN established it as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, ancestry, ethnic or national origin which has the purpose or effect of preventing or hindering the recognition and exercise on an equal basis of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other area of public life." 

In both the North and the South, racial discrimination affects men and women differently, as is the case with sexual violence against women of a certain ethnic or racial origin. Racial discrimination worsens the conditions of poverty, marginalization and social exclusion of individuals, groups and communities, constituting a powerful mechanism of segregation that is articulated and strengthened by other forms of discrimination such as class, gender, sexual orientation, age, region of origin, religion, and even political and ideological opinions, etc.

On March 21, we honor the legality and equality of people, reaffirming from the Ballenita collective our commitment to building a society where the eradication of racism illuminates the horizon of equality and social justice that we must and deserve to build in Ecuador and Latin America.
 
By: Pablo Vargas González / From Below