Posted: Thursday, 18 March 2010

Activists are courageous people.

Five decades ago, students, community members and workers, came together in Soweto, South Africa; a group of individuals opposed to apartheid and armed only with non-violent courage, and they stood together as a community.

Their goal was simple – to resist with one voice the “pass laws,” which separated families and limited free movement of black and coloured South Africans. The “pass laws” were part of South Africa’s policy of apartheid, state-supported measures which promoted the separate and unequal development of races of people in the country.

Derived from the Afrikaans word for “apartness,” apartheid met with both international condemnation and spurred a resistance movement among black South Africans. Apartheid was defined as a crime in 2002 by the International Criminal Court; the United Nations had declared it a crime against humanity in 1973, though many nations still have not signed on to the convention.

The courage to take on such a powerful and racist policy comes with a huge price.

Five decades ago today, 69 lives were lost and 180 were injured in the hail of bullets aimed at activists dedicated to eliminating racism.

The Canadian Labour Congress is part of the struggle to eliminate racism. It is a struggle that demands vigilance still five decades later.

Racialized communities in Canada are three times more likely to be poor than other Canadians because of inequalities in access to education, barriers to employment and low wages. Likewise, Aboriginal people experience persistent health and income inequities due to colonialism; conditions made worse by racism and discrimination.

Racialized people in Canada report experiences of discrimination because of race, ethnic origin, at twice the rate of non-racialized individuals. Meanwhile, white youth report higher levels of well being compared to racialized youth and two times higher than Aboriginal youth.

Eliminating racism must continue to be priority for the Canadian labour movement.

In the 1990s, courageous labour activists struggled to eliminate systemic racism embedded within union structures. Union members stood together and successfully demanded the reform of our own structures. These activists fought for representative voice and resources and argued for the labour movement to share power with activists of colour and allies.

In 2001, labour activists came together in Durban, South Africa, alongside a global army of anti-racist activists and endorsed the Durban Declaration developed through a United Nations process. The declaration embodies a comprehensive action plan that, if implemented by member nations, can contribute to the elimination of racism.

In 2009, the labour movement condemned this government’s reprehensible decision to boycott the UN review conference before a single paragraph that would guide the conference was even written. The objective of the conference was to review the progress nations were making in their part of the global task to eliminate racism.

Today, the CLC continues to challenge government policies that persist in segregating, profiling and denying rights to racialized workers and communities.

Labour activists come together to resist racial profiling on the ports, in the airports and at the borders. We stand in support of immigration and refugee policies that truly welcome and integrate diverse communities with equity, and oppose programs that foster the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers who are predominantly racialized. Union members work in solidarity with Aboriginal communities to re-connect water systems that should have been in place long ago had it not been for systemic racism and discrimination. The CLC and its affiliates provide leadership training programs for racialized workers and educational workshops for union members to combat workplace racism.

Despite these important contributions, truly eliminating racism will continue to require the strength and courage of labour activists.

Today, in honour of the sacrifices made by courageous activists fifty years ago in Soweto, the Canadian Labour Congress joins with anti-racist activists, allies and comrades globally today in a renewed commitment to eliminate the scourge of racism from our workplaces and communities.