Racism and discrimination: Why silence should not be an option

One of life’s greatest scourges is discrimination against people, regardless of their reason: race, religion, political views, poverty, gender, or disability. This scourge is all the more serious because it often goes unnoticed by those not directly affected. Yet it is so deeply rooted that it must be considered one of society’s most deeply embedded social reflexes. I am of German French descent. When I came to the Philippines from Europe (in 2004), I was shocked by the conditions of poverty and helplessness. I don’t come from a wealthy family, but true poverty was unknown to us, apart from the years after World War II in my hometown of Kaiserslautern (where up to 80 percent of it was destroyed). Because I was considered gifted and well-read at school, I quickly became an outsider and a victim of bullying. Therefore, I know very well how it feels to be seen as an outsider. Racism and poverty kill every day all over the world.

In no other society I’ve ever lived in (the former GDR in East Germany, Austria, Russia, Cuba, Japan, Nepal—with the exception of South Africa, which was still ruled by apartheid) have I ever experienced such profound, institutionally, and socially entrenched poverty on the streets, nor have I experienced such prejudice and discrimination against a population group—and certainly not in Germany with its numerous reintegration and rehabilitation programs. What Black people in the US, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and the poor in the Philippines, “the only Christian country in Southeast Asia,” still experience today is systematic discrimination on all levels of life. In schools, at work, when looking for housing, in court—everywhere they encounter an attitude that treats them as inferior. My pen pal, the late Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, was discriminated against because of his schizophrenia, even though he was largely capable of leading a normal life. It wasn’t until Hollywood took up the issue in the film “A Beautiful Mind” that there was a lot of feigned outrage and empathy. But poor, racist, religious, or sick minorities are not only at risk from discrimination. This often takes the form of open violence and—what is worse, also tacit tolerance of injustice. Where is the media and political coverage? It is an everyday, tolerated form of disenfranchisement that can be worse than open hatred.

For a system that claims to be founded on liberty and equality after the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution (like France’s “Liberty, Equality & Fraternity”) cannot treat any group of people as second-class citizens because of their poverty, disability, race, political views, religion or atheism, or gender. The fight against racism and discrimination for whatever reason is not a “problem of those affected,” but a question of morality. Silence is consent. Turning away and hoping that others will address the problem and then go “shopping” is pathetic.

I see it as my duty, as someone who stands up for justice and humanity to raise my voice against these forms of injustice. Anyone who recognizes injustice and does nothing against it is complicit. Where injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty.

We set a wonderful peaceful example here in 1986. Let us follow our ancestors; let us follow people with heart and mind, not populists who have nothing to offer but cool sayings. While I was writing these lines, I heard the old Italian anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao” in the background. Many people only know it from “Money Heist” by the likeable professor and his brother “Berlin,” but it’s worth googling the roots of the song or asking about it in ChatGPT. May we all live long, in peace and success.