A day late, but...
-----Original Message-----
From: Zapopan Muela [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 1:01 PM
To: brla; faife faife; IFLA IFLA; IFLA Management of Library Associations
Section; Biblio-Info-Sociedad Biblio-Info-Sociedad; proinforomx proinforomx;
Biblio Biblioprogresistas; docuforum bibliodocuforum
Subject: 21 March: International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination
Today, 21 of March, is the International Day for
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination declared by the General Assembly
of the United Nations as a reaction to the murder
of 70 demonstrators in Sharpe-ville,
South-Africa, in 1960. (See source below). And
this has to do with libraries and librarians
because we are librarians and have to deal with
these issues, and the best ways are through
interculturalism and not based on racial,
xenophobic, homophobic, sexual, nationalist, or
any other kind of discriminations and hates.
But even today many people are still prejudiced
about skin color of people and therefore in the
way they treat others or are being treated. But
it is time to learn about our human condition, to
realize we are scentially black colored (as Carl
Sagan, probed it, see below), and --if the
case-- to stop being prejudiced or hate or
promote hate to other humans based on skin color
or any other discriminations.
This is a scientific evidence we are black
through the visible light. And although you may
be sceptical --which is okay-- you may as well
read this evidence and research more about this
proof and on the grounds of scientific research
approve it or disapprove it. Nevertheless, wether
you agree or disagree with it, nothing justifies
discrimination based on race like nazis and
fascist did and still some criminal-minded like
them, the new neo-fascist and neo-nazis do. Carl
Sagan, a U.S. biologist and astronomer, one of
the world's greatest science popularizers in the
world's greatest TV series Cosmos and book of the
same title ever published in English about
science and the most outstandnig scientist
proponent and supporter of libraries, readership,
and books, probed scientifically in the 1990s
that at the visible light we, all human beings,
are black coloured --everyone, including white
skinned.
In a special day like today, March 21 --beginning
of Springtime and the International Day of Poetry
too-- this is a reminder of the importance of
erradication of all forms of racial
discrimination and hate. Read Sagan's findings,
read below the source, more of his works against
racism, fascism, nazism, chauvinism and ignorance
as source for hating on racial grounds, and more
about anti racial discrimination:
"We're prejucided toward visible light. We're
visible light chauvinists. That's the only kind
of light to which our eyes are sensitive. [...]
Among humans, most "whites" are not as white as
freshly fallen snow (or even a white
refrigerator); most "blacks" are not as black as
black velvet. The terms are relative, vague,
confusing. The fraction of incident light that
human skin reflects (the reflectivity) varies
widely from individual to individual. Skin
pigmentation is produced mainly by an organic
molecule called melanin, which the body
manufactures from tyrosine, an amino acid common
in proteins. Albinos suffer from a hereditary
disease in which melanin is not made. Their skin
and hair are milky white. The irises eyes are
pink. Albino animals are rare in Nature because
their skins provide little protection against
solar radiation, and because they lack protective
camouflage. Albinos tend not to last long.
In the United States, almost everyone is brown.
Our skins reflect somewhat more light toward the
red end of the visible light spectrum than toward
the blue. It makes no more sense to describe
individuals with high melanin content as
"coloured" than it does to describe individuals
with low melanin content as "bleached."
Only at visible and immediately adjacent
frequencies are any significant differences in
skin reflectivity manifest. People of Northern
Europe ancestry and people of Central Africa
ancestry are equally black in ultraviolet and in
the infrared, where nearly all organic molecules,
not just melanin, absorb light. Only in the
visible, where many molecules are transparent, is
the anomaly of white even possible. Over most of
the spectrum, all humans are black. (These are
among the reasons that "African-American" (or
equivalent hyphenations in other countries) is
much more better descriptive than "black" or
--the same word in Spanish-- "Negro." "
Sagan, Carl. (1997). Billions and Billions.
Thoughts of Life and Death at the Brink of the
Millennium. New York: Ballantine Books. (Chapter:
The Gaze of God and the Dripping Faucet), p. 48,
50-51.
More about Sagan:
Sagan and libraries quoted by IFLA:
http://www.ifla.org/I/humour/author.pdf
The Common Enemy essay:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~apetrov/memes/cmn_enemy.html
Carl Sagan and his support to public libraries:
http://www.visityourlibrary.net/when_speech.html
Sagan's passages to libraries:
http://www.cgndesigns.com/passages/passages3author.cfm?urlFT=html&urlFN=cosm
os
http://www.quotegarden.com/libraries.html
On Anti Racism:
21 MARCH
March 21st was declared International Day for the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
by the General Assembly of the United Nations as
a reaction to the murder of 70 demonstrators in
Sharpe-ville, South-Africa, in 1960. During the
annual European-wide Action Week, which centers
around 21 March, thousands of people actively
engage themselves for tolerance and equal rights.
This year once again hundreds of activities will
take place all around Europe, organised by a wide
variety of organisations. Activities range from
special TV programs to cleaning the
walls of racist slogans.
Source:
UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism,
fascism and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413
NL-1000 AK Amsterdam
Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778
fax +31-20-6834582
[log in to unmask]
www.unitedagainstracism.org
More about anti-racism:
THE DANGER OF WORDS. DEFINITIONS of concepts most
used in anti-racist work:
http://www.united.non-profit.nl/pages/info13.htm
Searchlight the International Anti-Fascist
Magazine
Searchlight's aim is to combat racism,
neo-nazism, fascism and all forms of prejudice.
Searchlight is a non-sectarian organisation in
political, ethnic and religious terms. It
believes in achieving the broadest possible unity
in the fight against racism, neo-nazism, fascism
and prejudice.
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/searchlight.asp
And to know more about where has led racism and
hate taken to the extreme of irrationality read
these introducing books against the irrational
thinking of Fascism and Nazism (Nationalism &
"Socialism"):
Hood, Stuart & Janz, Litza. (1993). Introducing
Fascism and Nazism. Cambridge, UK: Icon Books.
Bresheeth, Haim, Hood, Stuart & Janz, Litza.
(1994). Introducing the Holocaust. Cambridge, UK:
Icon Books.
=====
"no necesito hacer hincapie en que la libertad de enseñanza y la libertad de
opinion en la literatura y en la prensa son las bases para el desarrollo
natural de cualquier individuo" -- Albert Einstein. Sobre el humanismo.
Escritos sobre política, sociedad y ciencia. Barcelona: Ediciones Paidos,
1995, p. 68..
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