Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets in Brussels against racism: “We are flooded with hate” (Brussels)

The initiative for the demonstration came from various organizations, including the collective ‘Step against Racism’, which is supported by around 170 civil society organizations. The collective took local action in about fifteen Belgian cities from 2021 to 2023, but because 2024 is an important political year, it was decided to organize a major national action.

The date was not chosen at random, say the organizers: “On March 21, 1960, the Sharpsville massacre took place in South Africa, when the police opened fire on black demonstrators who were demonstrating against the pass laws that hindered their freedom of movement. , which left 69 dead and many injured. Since then, March 21 and the period surrounding it has been a symbolic date in the fight against racism.”

(Read more below the photo)

The central message of Sunday’s manifestation is that no one should be a second-class citizen: “Discrimination denies people with a migration background the right to quality work, education, and (social) housing. For example, studies show that with equal school results, children with a migration background are referred more quickly to vocational or technical education. In one in six job applications, a candidate is discriminated against on the basis of perceived skin color or background. Practical tests on the rental market repeatedly show discrimination against prospective tenants based on name, origin or skin color.”

Practical tests

Discrimination is illegal, yet there are hardly any government controls and the number of convictions can be counted on one hand, according to the demonstrators: “Racism and discrimination divide our society into first- and second-class citizens. Not responding as a society and government against racism and discrimination is paving the way for the extreme right. That is why we want a government that guarantees equal rights, including active investigation, through practical testing, and effective punishment for discrimination.”

(Read more below the photo)

In addition to the trade unions ABVV and ACV, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, 11.11.11, Saamo, various youth movements and youth work organizations, Hart Boven Hard, Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, the Collectif des Sans-Papiers, the Flemish Youth Council and the League for Human Rights, will participate in the demonstration. part.

Hate and racism are rife on social media

“The fight against racism is unfortunately still very topical,” says Ann Vermorgen of the ACV: “Football players with a migration background are still booed, having a strange name on the rental market equals an endless search, as a trade union we receive more and more reports about managers who discriminate against colleagues with a migration background, and hatred and racism are commonplace on social media. Equal rights for everyone, that is the essence of what our predecessors fought for, and that is what we continue to fight for today.”

“The extreme right is and remains an immense danger to democracy,” says Thierry Bodson of the FGTB. “Political democracy, but also economic democracy in companies and factories. The extreme right wants to restrict individual and collective rights, and sows divisions in the labor market, by pitting people who work and those who cannot work against each other, by pitting workers with papers against workers without papers, by putting Belgians on against non-Belgians.”

(Read more below the photo)

Lema Nazeeh, Palestinian activist, also spoke: “The Sharpsville massacre is an example of how far a system of oppression, of racism, of apartheid has to go to stay in power. But it is also an example of the resistance and resilience of those who fight against racism. The South African apartheid system could be dismantled thanks to the work of South African opponents, but also and especially thanks to international pressure and solidarity against racism. As a Palestinian, I am the embodiment of my people’s resilience, of their struggle against oppression.”

Flooded with hate

The demonstration also drew attention to racism within the police and police violence, and gave the floor to Ayoub Bouda, the brother of Mehdi Bouda, who died in a collision with a police vehicle in August 2019: “Since his death, we have not tried anything else. than to make my brother human again, because racism dehumanized him, presented him as a criminal, a criminal, as if that would justify his death. Since his death, people have tried to keep him quiet, they have tried to keep him from being talked about, we have been inundated with hatred, while all we want is to know the truth and see justice.”