StandupSpeakup

It’s been a long time since I decided to put up a new blog entry. I haven’t forgotten about the word of Blogville, I simply didn’t feel the need to post anything. The main reason is because I always saw blogging as an effective psychologist that allowed me to arrange all the chaotic thoughts that went on my little head. The past few weeks I did not need this anymore because things have fallen into place and I feel liberated. I can breathe again. No more possessive and abusive guy around, no more lying and manipulative so-called friend – it feels great. From now on I will put myself first and I will let no guy tell me who my friends can be and who can’t. If he cannot accept the fact that I have male friends and that I am not going to give them up just because they are guys, then I don’t want to bother anymore. This is the last thing I ever said about it because it doesn’t deserve any more words. I am liberated it I will stay this way.

The reason why I have turned to this blog is not to yap some more about feeling liberated and all of that or to state of stupid I was to ignore the abusive signs of the relationship I was in, but I want to point out a very serious issue, an issue I have spoken about many times before and that is racism. The past weeks this subject was omnipresent, both in my private life as in the media. I would like to share four events of the past weeks that show my dissatisfaction concerning this serious threat.

The first two ran-ins with racism were some that happened not too long ago. The first one was directed towards myself. When I was checking the mails I received on a social network site, I received a very insulting message about one of my photos, a photo that pictured a friend, a Belgian-Congolese music artist and myself backstage at his showcase of last December. This is the message I received: “You are the worst low class whore i've ever seen shame on you!!! You should show these pictures to your father and see what he thinks?? Go back to fucking monkeys and apes thats what you deserve you piece of crap”. The second confrontation came not so long afterwards; it was only a matter of some hours. The father of his ex-girlfriend told him that black and white should be separated from each other.
See I know I should not let this bother me because it shows more about their intelligence and spoiled thoughts, but yet it makes me so mad. How can people even think like that? Having heard some arguments that do not make sense, I am starting to believe it is just a lack of intelligence, competence and social conscience. Things like this should be taken seriously, and not minimized by saying it is only a small part of the population that thinks this way because that is unfortunately not true. There is a growing part of the population that thinks this way and this all over the world. A good example is the third ran-in.

This one has surfaced today. There are elections for the European Parliament this week and the Netherlands has leaked the first results this morning. The outcome is that the PVV of Wilders has wan the elections with a strong outcome of 17%. I don’t know if any of my readers are aware of the political stances of this party, but it can be compared to those of Belgians Vlaams Belang. They both stand for a nation that is free from Muslims, free from immigrants and claim to be a party for the man in the street, but if you look more closely at their program, it will only make the wealthy more wealthier and the poor even more poor.
As a future lawyer, I understand the importance of freedom of speech and the democratic representation, but there also has an importance assessment to be made. Is this kind of freedom of speech still appropriate in a Western world with its many nationalities and plurality of human beings? Does freedom of speech give people the right to discriminate other human beings based on race? No it does not and it will only raise more hate between human beings. I think that both governments have given some signs that it is not acceptable, but not strong enough in my opinion. They condemned preamble of Vlaams Belang, the Vlaams Blok party for racism, but their successor is basically doing the same thing. Other Belgian parties have set up a Cordon Sanitaire, but this has become a fact that the party likes to use to address as the “non-democratic” government that prevents from all voices to be heard. The Netherlands have condemned Wilders’ release of the movie Fitna, a movie that called the Koran fascistic book that incites violence.
I am wondering how Europe’s stance will be when they are confronted with this and if the European Court of Human Rights will rule when they have to rule about articles 10 (freedom of expression) and article 14 (discrimination). I hope and I think they would rule in favor of discrimination or this would be a very bad sign for the equality between human beings. Because in the end that is what this is all about, people can not be simplified and put and/or ruled by a race label, because that would be a lack of respect and dignity to the human race.

About the last ran-in, I would like to state I am neutral. It happened during the game for the championship between RSC Anderlecht and Standard de Liège. According to the player of Standard, the American with Nigerian roots Onyewu, the player of the component, Anderlecht’s Van Damme, called him a dirty monkey. Did this really happen, I have no idea because I did not watch the game and there are so called no witnesses or if there were, they preferred to ignore it. But apart from all this did he or did he not, it should not be allowed, especially in a game like this. I can understand that when the tension gets high, things can be said, but calling each other like that… Not acceptable. Almost the whole world is crazy about football and it sets an example for many people, especially young children that join their fathers to the games of their preferred club. It is good that Italian side Juventus has been ruled to pay for the racist choirs of their supporters. I truly believe that many players, mostly those of African origin, are still discriminated and the victim of racism and maybe that is why it is good that someone with a head on his shoulder stands up for those who do not have the courage to do so, I just hope that, in this case, the things that are claimed to be said are really said if it really goes to court because innocent people don’t have to pay for those that are guilty.

I will rest my case about this for now but I hope that people will unite against discrimination and racism. It is just wrong!