"Let's stand up against racism", your help is needed !

The Hatred of Immigrants session today at the European Economic Forum was very intense, even more intense as the Speakers were Religious Leaders from around the World.

During the session, Participants decided we would say as loud as we can "Let's stand up against racism" and sign it on the World Economic Forum weblog.

Please stand up with us against racism and sign this note too by leaving a comment, and we would also really appreciate if you can help us get more people around the World sign it too by spreading the word (especially on your own weblogs of course if you have one)

Names of Participants of the European Economic Summit are not in any special order. Company names have been removed.

Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Archbishop of Kaduna, Nigeria
Abdullah O. Nasseef, President, World Muslim Congress, Saudi Arabia
Shimon T. Samuels, Director, International Liaison, Simon Wiesenthal Center, France
Henryk Sawka, Editorial Cartoonist, Poland
Awraham S. Soetendorp, President, European Region, Progressive Judaism, Liberal Jewish Community, Netherlands

Martin Varsavsky, Spain
Jelka Kvsar, Slovenia
Barbara Sadowska, Poland
Tomasz Sadowski, Poland
Miles Webber, UK
John Burbridge-King, UK
Krzysztof Stroinski, Poland
Georges Ugeux, USA
Gavin Fennel, Poland
Jo Deblaere, Belgium
Marek Ostrowski, Poland
Adam Leach, UK
dr. Miran Mejak, Slovenija
Lars Bertmar, Sweden
Adam Horowitz, South Africa
Roberto Favaretto, Switzerland
Siegfried Borho, Spain
Bernadette Ségol, Belgium
Loïc Le Meur, France

Please join us by adding your name to the list. Simply add a comment below.

Comments

[Sally Kung]

I believe in God and have a strong sense that God's near me and I don't walk on my own. When I was still a child in China, I had no idea of the world was like and I didn't even know if it's round or not; I didn't bother to know why. I didn't even know that children have the right to go to school. The only day I spent in a kindergarten in China was a lonely day because I was shy and couldn't enjoy nor stand a day with other stranger kids. I was so alone.

After arriving Hong Kong, I usually zipped my mouth and could kept silence for a whole day though I talked to my little lovely younger sister. I always loved to live in a cocoonand loved loved to remain known as a quiet and well-behaved girl. Unfortunately, I didn't look at strangers and didn't observe; I didn't do anything besides talking to myself and enjoying my own world. I didn't enjoy my cousin's company. He always teased me and I hated his presence. It's about competing for the love of our second aunt. I couldn't stand any competition because I always lost.

I didn't like reading either. I could not read. I could not write. I picked up my pen at the age of five when I was grateful and I prayed to the higher Power saying that I thanked Him for giving me education and made me become a better person. I wouldn't be able to receive better education if I stayed in China. I would always remember my conversation with Him. The very moment of gratefulness and thankfulness. I love you, God.

When I was small, I knew nothing about Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Muslim or any other religion. All I know is my pure conversation with a superior power. I know I am always this self. I know life is "hard, hard and Hard." These are the first three words of the Chinese poem I composed when I was seven. I have a strong inclination towards "what is the meaning of My LIFE?" "What is past, present and future?" "What is Time?" What is this voice?"
I always love to ask "why man still exist? Where does man come from? Why do many people die? Is it because there are too many people on this earth?"

Even now I still want to chase my little childhood voice, I know the very self has not changed much. She is still inside me. Sometimes I would like to think a certain "past" is only a past, it's long gone; nevertheless, the history exists. It's not a dream. It's a truth. A reality that exists and will exist forever. History is eternal. We cannot change it.

When we signed as forever friends in our primary school records, it means forever friends. You will be my forever friend. You will be my forever lover. The moment turns to be eternal. When we ring a bell, the "ding" is the moment. It's the moment of eternality.

God gives me the right and responsibility to live. Through one moment, I inhale; through another moment, I exhale. Finding the meaning of life seems to be a big task. In fact, this big task is composed of smaller tasks of inhalation and exhalation. If life is hard to think of its meaning, just let it shrink to be an indistinguishable moment. That's the eternal moment of awareness and existence.

[Wolf Schweitzer]

I believe that prejudice is one of the most important things in the world to know about. only after we investigate prejudice in all shades of life, can we come to something that equals appreciation and adequate description. only a long time after acknowledging and observing will there be some understanding. and only a long way after understanding, will there be possible paths to resolution, to peace, in instances where prejudice is harmful.

[John Arthur]

How pathetic these people at Davos are, saying sweet nothings to each other about things they don't understand, or even care about. The posts here are as bad, if not worse. A better world takes more than just using the words 'tolerance', 'justice' and that new favorite, 'diversity'. I have followed both Davos and Porto Alegre very closely for several years, and as far as I can tell, the speeches by the fools at Davos are as bad as those in Rio Grande do Sul. They are all meaningless. The people that preach tolerance are often the most intolerant of all. The fools that worship diversity only care about a certain flavor of it and the 'justice' activists always have their peculiar ideas about what constitues justice. What a bunch of hypocrites these people are, marching to the drums of mindless conformity, parroting banal platitues as if they could change anything at all. The fact is that diversity and equality are, by nature, incompatible. Think about it! Justice is just an abstract concept, what mankind actually gets is something called the 'legal system', which can only deliver a certain, undetermined degree of that quality called justice. And tolerance, as defined today, is always a one-way street depending upon a person's agenda (... to end discimination we must differenciate as follows, applying these different standards...). I have nothing but contempt for fools like these. As they say in Brasil: Podem pegar todas estas palavras bonitas mas vazias e enfia-las onde o sol nao brilha.
John
PS: Excuse we for interrupting the 'kumbaya' session.

[John Mahony]

Racism = ignorance.
To combat racism, we need to be exposed to different cultures from an early age. Let us see that people who don't look like us, speak like us, or hold the same religous beliefs as us are the same as us. They have hopes and dreams, they need to love and be loved. They laugh and they cry, they write poetry and sing. An international movement for cultural education of children, perhaps, that makes funds available to send children to other countries for a few weeks at a time? There's a thought.

[Ryan Kinglsey]

There is no acception for racial slurs or remarks. Slang today, has gotten to the point that slurs are made a joke or nicknames. In my opinion, no one should use hurtful words in any situation.

[john hardin]

i had to tell my friends last night to stop using racial comments in my house, asked them why they are not true to themselves, why would you call someone something behind their back but not to their face, they said they would not back i said fine, with friends like you who needs enemies.

[Celestino Goncalves]

Dear Sirs,
Racism is something we all practice some time during our daily activities. We need to be vigilant on ourselves. Bahá'ú'lláh has said more than a hundred years ago:" The World is But One Country and Its Citzens Their Inhabitants " Is there any other solution to be considered?

[news-]

news

[Philip J. Markert]

If we truly eliminated racism, you would not notice the skin color of those you see. If we place relevance on the color of their skin, we perpetuate and validate racism.

People follow and society will only change if we all set an example and ignore our irrelevant differences and treat all persons with respect that is due them. If enough people take a leadership role and do this, the followers will follow.

Political correctness is a new way to politely and (unfortunatelty) socially acceptable way to point out irrelevant differences and should be taken in it's true form. People should be offended by any reference to heritage when it is irrelevant to the point being made.

[Christopher Shimkin]

While we wish and want not, in many ways we are all racist in that our first thoughts often see race before anything else. What one chooses to do about that can mark the difference between compassion or bigotry. Without race life is boring, without bigotry life is beautiful.

[tjasa babic]

a great man once said,that people are too much concerned with building walls instead of bridges.
it is sad that people today can not look at the diversity as something beautiful, special... we would like everyone to be the same. i am a disabled person and i see how people often react when they see me.they are affraid, because they do not know. it is the same with everyone who is different. it is strange, because as long as people will look away with fear they will never learn and will therefore reject diversity, which makes this world a beautiful, colourful place.

[eva biaudet]

We are all part of some minority, and those who are not, are really a minority.

[Christina von Halle]

Thank you.

[Pierre-Selim Huard]

signed

[Lilia]

Signed.

And please make sure that EU takes care about Russian minorities in Baltic countries (http://wef.typepad.com/blog/2004/04/russia_out_in_t.html).

[Santiago]

Racism and prejudice is a sign of fear and it is connected to the roots of your cultural assumptions. look inside and deep, neither the law, policies or propaganda can get rid of something like this, it is us looking inside us and being aware of our own prejudices (we usually deny)

Look inside.

[Jean Rognetta]

signed

[Pascal]

Racism is prejudice. Prejudice is itself a sign of stupidity.

[Fabienne Chanavat]

Racism is a plague that we need to fight with all our might. Prejudice is often at the root of the problem, so we must show the way and help people to open up. There are more similarities than fudanmental differences between any two people anywhere in the world. Don't we all love, dream, cry, laugh, breathe, hope (and more) in the same way?

[Ulrike Levri]

Prejudice is the child of ignorance. 'Europe needs positive people', having heard it being said in the last days at WEF, I hope to be speaking for the youth, that has grown, both in age and personal experiences with the enlargement, and should be all but ignorant.

And William Faulkner was so right when he said,
"to live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow."

It's so good to see initiative.

[Eric Munz]

Congratulations!!

[Rosanna Mastrogiacomo]

We all are different in many ways but also all equal ... let's combat racism - a hatred based on fear – and go beyond races, beyond religions, beyond cultures.

"Racism has been to human relationships what cancer has been to human existence. It is a disease that eats away at the very fabric of humanity itself." Oscar Peterson

[Daphne de Laleu]

Racism is a sad reality, but if we, with peer pressure, use such platforms to spread out messages based on tolerance, diversity and justice, the world should be a better place.

[Oliver Thylmann]

Signed

[Can Sar]

Xenophobia and Racism have plagued Europe and the world for millennia. The future of Europe must be one where people from all countries, cultures, races and religions are equal and can live together in peace.

[Chris E. Stout]

Those who are colorblind can actually see more.

[Trevor Cook]

Diversity is here, diversity is the future, diversity is wonderful. Racism is based on ignorance, there is biologically no significant differences between human 'races' - we are all the same species. Racism is a form of self-hatred and a failure to cope and enjoy the world. Racists are victims of racism themselves, or it is a symptom of their self-loathing. Help them learn to accept the world and the diversity their god (whoever she or he maybe) created for them.

[Rodrigo Sepulveda]

This quote has been on my personal page since I put it online many years ago:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948., Article I.

[Britt Blaser]

Thanks for taking a stand!