Of all the problems of this world, hatred of others remains one of the most intractable. Despite much social progress over the last century, there are still those who hate people based on race, religion, national origin, politics, or sexual identity among many other factors. I believe that it is important to identify a problem in order to find solutions. So, in addition to examining problems here and abroad, I believe that we must also offer solutions.
The international scene sadly provides many stories about hate. In Nigeria,scores of farmers were killed in what looks like a grave incident in a long dispute between farmers and ethnic herders. It seems unrelated to attacks by the Islamist group Boko Haram elsewhere in the country. Also, there are reports that less than 1,000 Muslims remain in Bangui, the capitol of the Central African Republic, after violence by Christian militias.
As the number of Muslims in Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, dwindles to an estimated 900, the head of a global alliance of churches has urged tackling the conflict from a political rather than a religious angle if the Muslim exodus is to be reversed.
“It is very unfortunate the Muslims have to flee,” said John Nduna, general secretary of the Geneva-based Action by Churches Together, or ACT International. “It is very sad this is happening.”
The alliance is one of the agencies providing humanitarian assistance in the country, where chaos erupted last year after the mainly Muslim rebels toppled the government.
The Seleka rebels looted, raped and killed mainly Christian civilians, prompting the formation of an equally brutal pro-Christian anti-Balaka (anti-machete) militia.
Elsewhere, ]three more people died in the political violence in Venezuela.
Such violence and hatred can be found in many nations. A friend made me aware of mass protests in Malmo. Sweden after a man was attacked by neo-Nazis. Fortunately, the act was widely condemned.
Swedish neo-Nazis allegedly attacked several people in central Malmo on Saturday night. Six victims were reportedly taken to hospital; one of them remains in critical condition. Police have arrested three others on suspicion of attempted murder. Neo-Nazi group Svenskarnas Parti (“Party of the Swedes”) acknowledged their members were involved in the incident, but claimed they were acting in self-defence.
The victim in critical condition, identified by his first name, Showan, is a prominent 25-year-old football fan and co-founder of the group “Football Fans Against Homophobia”. He has received a wave of support locally and internationally, after friends and fellow football fans launched a campaign in support of his recovery.
Protests against the violence also took place in several Swedish cities on Sunday, as word of the attack spread through social media. 1,500 people demonstrated in Malmö, while hundreds gathered in both Gothenburg and Stockholm. The hashtag #KämpaShowan (“Fight, Showan!”), trended on Twitter on Sunday and Monday, as thousands spoke out against far-right violence.
Such protests are heartening, as the power of racist groups have grown in many places. There is a disturbing element of the far right and neo-fascists in the new Ukrainian government.
Take the Svoboda party, which gained five key positions in the new Ukrainian government, including deputy prime minister, minister of defense and prosecutor general. Svoboda’s call to abolish the autonomy that protects Crimea’s Russian heritage, and its push for a parliamentary vote that downgraded the status of the Russian language, are flagrantly provocative to Ukraine’s millions of ethnic Russians and incredibly stupid as the first steps of a new government in a divided country.
These moves, more than Russian propaganda, prompted broad Crimean unease. Recall that this crisis began when Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovich retreated on a deal toward European integration. Are the Europe-aspiring Ukrainians who now vote to restrict Russians’ cultural-language rights even dimly aware that, as part of the European Union, such minority rights would have to be expanded, not curtailed?
More to the point, why wave a red flag in front of a nervous bull? The answer is that for Svoboda, Right Sector and other Ukrainian far-right organizations, it was barely a handkerchief. These are groups whose thuggish young legions still sport a swastika-like symbol, whose leaders have publicly praised many aspects of Nazism and who venerate the World War II nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, whose troops occasionally collaborated with Hitler’s and massacred thousands of Poles and Jews.
Far right parties such as the Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary have preached their
There is even some concern that several parties could unit and try to form a bloc in the European Union Parliament.
The U.S. has its own share of hatred. For many decades, the Southern Poverty Law Center has fought hatred of all sorts and monitors what happens in this country. Late last month, the SPLC released a report, “The Year In Hate and Extremism 2013.” Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC, reports that there has been some positive news about the number of hate groups here in the U.S. — even if numbers remain high.
After four years of spectacular growth driven by the 2008 election of President Obama and the nearly simultaneous collapse of the economy, the radical right in America saw its first significant decrease in 2013. The shrinking numbers of hate groups and, especially, antigovernment “Patriot” groups appear to be the result of a host of factors, ranging from the co-opting of their issues by mainstream politicians, to an improving economy, to law enforcement crackdowns.
The year started out with a national discussion of gun control in the wake of a deadly Connecticut school massacre and a promise that action would come soon on comprehensive immigration reform, two issues that energized the right and seemed to promise an intensification of radical rage. But those issues faded away with little real action, leaving a deflated radical right to wallow unhappily in “losses” including the advance of same-sex marriage and national health care reform, the failure of various nightmarish predictions to materialize, and Obama’s re-election.
Those factors, along with the collapse or near-collapse of several major groups for a variety of reasons, seem to have taken some of the wind out of the sails of the radical right, leaving the movement both weaker and somewhat smaller. But that has not dampened the violence and terrorism coming out of the movement, as a number of cases last year, including a Klansman’s alleged attempt to build an X-ray weapon to mass murder Muslims, reflected. And while the number of groups has diminished, they are still at historically high levels, far higher even than the very high number that was seen at the peak of the militia movement in the 1990s.
The number of hate groups last year dropped for the second year in a row, down 7% from 1,007 in 2012 to 939, after reaching a 2011 high of 1,018, according to the latest count by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). But the more significant drop came among the Patriot groups, which fell 19% from 1,360 groups in 2012 to 1,096 in 2013. That drop followed an unprecedented rise in Patriot groups, which climbed from a mere 149 in 2008 to the all-time high seen in 2012
What I find very disturbing is how what used to be considered extremist ideas have become adopted by mainstream politicians, as Potok states later in the article. Laws forbidding states from implementing Sharia Law passed in Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee, while other states are considering similar measures. (Potok points out that the U.S. Constitution bans religious laws, but some politicians may not be as well versed as he — or some middle school civic class students.) Similarly, thee has been talk about nullifying some federal laws.
Nor, as Potok points out are members of Congress immune from offering ideas that once had no place in most political conversations.
Other far-out fears originating on the extreme right also have found their way into the political mainstream. The idea that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, among others, is being plugged by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Last November, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) suggested the president was using the Affordable Care Act as cover to set up a “secret security force.” Earlier in 2013, U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), echoing many Patriot groups, falsely claimed that a proposed United Nations arms treaty “set the stage for [gun] confiscation on a global scale.”
Even Congressman Paul Ryan, who could have been one heartbeat away from the Presidency, cited the work of a white nationalist in his claim that lazy men in our inner cities are a major cause of poverty[/url]. Charles Murray, the social scientist whom Ryan cited, is a member of the American Enterprise Institute.
So what can we do against a rising tide of hatred in our nation and our world? First, I think being informed is crucial. Secondly, I think that we must realize that racism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry are essentially based on fear and ignorance. As sociologist Pete Simi said in an interview with the SPLC, extremists hold world views where they try to oversimplify a complex world. In a history class that I took on the European dictatorships of the 1930s, the instructor and the texts noted that the regimes needed both internal and external to justify their dictatorial policies. There are some people who need enemies and create a world view where some group is behind the ills of society.
We are seeing a more interconnected world, and this helps combat stereotypes. It is hard to think of people as representing a stereotype when you come to know them. I have great hopes for the Millenial generations and those who come after them, as racial hatred, sexism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry seem to be less common among them in prior generations.
There are also movements in the U.S. and elsewhere to condemn hatred. In addition to the reaction of many in Sweden to the attack that I mentioned earlier, we see that there is a challenge to Uganda’s new anti-homosexuality law. There are many people in this country who are also speaking up against all forms of bigotry and discrimination, including the Moral Monday movement that addresses issues from efforts to limit voting to labor rights.
In the end, I think that the way to combat hatred is to remember our common humanity. I come from a faith and a heritage that has faced discrimination time and time again. I believe that the only way that my rights and dignity as a person can be secure is if I fight to secure the rights and dignity that I demand for myself for others throughout this nation and this world. The journey may be long, but like Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. I believe that we will one day reach a time when we will judge others by the content of their character, their deeds, and the quality of their ideas rather than by thei color of their skin or other aspects of our identity. We must have hope and work hard to build such a world. In this I am inspired by a very old quote.
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
Let us strive not just to be our brother’s keepers, but our sister’s keepers, keepers of the noblest aspirations of our ancestors and the best dreams of our children. Time to get to work.
(This blog appeared earlier at the Four Freedoms Blog.)
