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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-racism | 3/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-racism | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:56:21.521108+00:00 | kb-cron |
After the end of seclusion in the 1850s, Japan signed unequal treaties, the so-called Ansei Treaties, but soon came to demand equal status with the Western powers. Correcting that inequality became the most urgent international issue of the Meiji government. In that context, the Japanese delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference proposed the clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations. The first draft was presented to the League of Nations Commission by Makino Nobuaki on 13 February as an amendment to Article 21:The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League of Nations, the High Contracting Parties agree to accord, as soon as possible, to all alien nationals of States Members of the League equal and just treatment in every respect, making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality.After Makino's speech, Lord Cecil stated that the Japanese proposal was a very controversial one and he suggested that perhaps the matter was so controversial that it should not be discussed at all. Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos also suggested that a clause banning religious discrimination should also be removed since that was also a very controversial matter. That led to objections from a Portuguese diplomat, who stated that his country had never signed a treaty before that did not mention God, which caused Cecil to remark perhaps this time, they would all just have to a take a chance of avoiding the wrath of the Almighty by not mentioning Him. Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes clarified his opposition and announced at a meeting that "ninety-five out of one hundred Australians rejected the very idea of equality. Hughes had entered politics as a trade unionist and, like most others in the working class, was very strongly opposed to Asian immigration to Australia. (The exclusion of Asian immigration was a popular cause with unions in Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand in the early 20th century.) The Chinese delegation, which was otherwise at daggers drawn with the Japanese over the question of the former German colony of Qingdao and the rest of the German concessions in Shandong Province, also said that it would support the clause. One contemporary Chinese diplomat said the Shandong question was far more important to his government than the clause. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George found himself in an awkward situation since Britain had signed an alliance with Japan in 1902, but he also wanted to hold the British Empire's delegation together. Although the proposal received a majority (11 out of 16) of votes, the proposal was still problematic for the segregationist US President Woodrow Wilson, who needed the votes of segregationist Southern Democrats to succeed in getting the votes needed for the US Senate to ratify the treaty. Strong opposition from the British Empire delegation gave him a pretext to reject the proposal. Hughes and Joseph Cook vigorously opposed it as it undermined the White Australia policy.
=== Mid-century American revival ===
Opposition to racism revived in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Ashley Montagu argued for the equality of humans across races and cultures. Eleanor Roosevelt was a very visible advocate for minority rights during this period. Anti-capitalist organizations like the Industrial Workers of the World, which gained popularity during 1905–1926, were explicitly egalitarian. In the 1940s Springfield, Massachusetts, invoked The Springfield Plan to include all persons in the community. Beginning with the Harlem Renaissance and continuing into the 1960s, many African-American writers argued forcefully against racism.
=== 1960s expansion ===
The struggles against racial segregation in the United States and South African apartheid including Sharpeville massacre saw increased articulation of ideas opposed to racism of all kinds. During the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws were repealed in the South and blacks finally re-won the right to vote in Southern states. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential force, and his "I Have a Dream" speech is a condensation of his egalitarian ideology.
=== 21st century ===
Mass mobilization around the Black Lives Matter movement have sparked a renewed interest in anti-racism in the U.S. Mass movement organizing has also been accompanied by academic efforts to foreground research regarding anti-racism in politics, criminal justice reform, inclusion in higher education, and workplace anti-racism. Anti-racism has been argued to include opposition to antisemitism and anti-White racism.
== Strategies == Anti-racism has taken various forms such as consciousness-raising activities aimed at educating people about the ways they may perpetuate racism, enhancing cross-cultural understanding between racial groups, countering "everyday" racism in institutional settings, and combating extremist right-wing neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist groups. Anti-racists focused on institutional and structural racism have fought, including through nonviolent resistance and legislative campaigns, for anti-discrimination legislation, as exemplified by the US Civil Rights Act, 1964 and UK Race Relations Act 1965. The anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s campaigned globally for an end to racial discrimination in South Africa. Groups targeted by racism have built political but also cultural movements to demand respect and recognition and revalorise oppressed peoples. Examples include Cultural Zionism, the Harlem Renaissance, negritude, the Black Arts Movement, and the Black pride/Black power and Chicano power movements.