Statement for 20 March 2021, UN Anti Racism Day
United against all forms of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism – United against the rise of fascism
We will come together again for a global day of protest on Saturday 20 March 2021 for UN Anti-Racism Day. Across many countries, #WorldAgainstRacism actions will take place against all forms of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism, in opposition to racist scapegoating of refugees, migrants and ROMA communities, and in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Anti-racists will highlight the importance of our unity in the face of division, and stress that we must stand together to challenge the threat of racist populism, the far right and fascism.
The Covid-19 Pandemic —combined with the failure of governments to properly protect their populations and the looming impact of a major economic crash— has created the situation where the most abhorrent forms of racism can thrive. The disproportionate impact of the virus on black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, reflected in the starkly disproportionate deaths in these communities, has been a major feature of the pandemic. Refugee camps threaten to become a deadly trap for refugees due to the spread of Covid-19.
Alongside this, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has exposed the deep levels of institutionalised racism in society and sparked a global anti-racist movement in response. It has marked the biggest anti-racist movement ever and has spanned the globe in its reach, and preceded the defeat of Trump in the US elections in November.
In some countries, fascist and extreme right parties and organizations try to build through the mobilizations of the Corona deniers. Conspiracy myths fuel antisemitic and racist prejudices.
As has been shown by anti-racist and anti-fascist movements in Greece, with the defeat and jailing of fascist Golden Dawn, and in Austria with the huge drop in the FPO’s vote, the key to driving back the threat of fascism and the far right lies in building mass, broad united campaigns to expose, oppose and defeat racism, fascism and the far right.
On 20 March 2021, we are organising across the world to deliver many (safely organised socially distanced) demonstrations and other protest actions, that can show our unity and develop and build the anti-racist movement that is so critical to ensuring we oppose all forms of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism and resist the rise of fascism and the far right.
World Against Racism
World Against Racism and Fascism 