Final Report Summary - TOLERACE (The semantics of tolerance and (anti-)racism in Europe: public bodies and civil society on a comparative perspective)
Executive summary:
TOLERACE has pursued a better understanding of the operation of institutionalised racism deeply rooted in the history of European democracies and their existing socio-economic and political structures , which continues to persist despite increasing knowledge production in the field and an apparent political commitment to its eradication. The project has attempted to make an original contribution by questioning the assumptions behind dominant approaches to racism and anti-racism at the level of policy framing, design and implementation , often sanctioned by academic knowledge. In order to achieve this aim, TOLERACE developed a historically informed approach to the study of the renewal of racism through a comparative analysis that considers the links between policy interventions and discursive practices at different levels: a) European Union policy recommendations and monitoring work on racism and discrimination; b) National and regional policies on (anti-)racism and integration, and discourses by policy and decision makers; c) Local discourses and practices of mediation agents (e.g. social workers, union members, employers, teachers). The project focused on seven different European contexts: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain (Andalusia and the Basque Country) and United Kingdom.
Two key life spheres employment and education were studied via an analysis of policy documents and political discourse, as well as through qualitative empirical work of paradigmatic cases. In employment, TOLERACE identified two main key issues:
i) core ideas such as 'employability', 'social competences' and 'vulnerability' are shifting the debate on racism in the labour market and the workplace to the need to assist and correct minoritised populations' perceived 'deficiencies';
ii) the evasion of institutional racism and the negative view of anti-racist struggles by policy and decision-makers and mediation agents is paving the way for the denial of the need for structural change and for the inexistence or marginalisation of anti-racist policies.
In education, TOLERACE research shows that the debate on racism and anti-racism in schools has been almost non-existent. Rather, discourses on 'integration as assimilation' are proposing the a-critical celebration of culture as a panacea for racism. This fails to challenge assumptions of ethnically marked populations as problematic and continuously marks difference, reinforcing the 'us'/'them' divide. TOLERACE research indicates that state-funded initiatives geared towards multicultural and intercultural education have mostly been inconclusive and inconsequential, serving only to legitimate Eurocentric canons of knowledge and unequal school structures, arrangements and practices. Another of the TOLERACE research strands focused on analysing the role of the press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in making racism (in)visibile. The results indicate that the press is contributing to create dominant representations, as particularly evident in approaches to multiculturalism, interculturality, citizenship and the nation reflecting the on-going difficulty in European societies in dealing with the challenge of racism.
Finally, as part of its commitment to policy-oriented research, TOLERACE engaged in dialogue with public bodies and grassroots movements that allowed for the proposal of recommendations for the future of an anti-racist agenda.
Project Context and Objectives:
The TOLERACE research project (March 2010 - February 2013), funded under the European 7th Framework Programme, has pursued a better understanding of the operation of institutionalised racism. More specifically, TOLERACE enquired about the ways in which racism deeply rooted in the history of European democracies and their existing socio-economic and political structures (Goldberg, 2006; Hesse, 2007; Lentin, 2008) continues to persist despite increasing knowledge production in the field and an apparent political commitment to its eradication. In order to achieve this aim, the project focused on the analysis of public institutions and initiatives at the European, national, regional and local level, and on the discursive practices of mediation agents working in civil society organisations dealing with situations of racism in different European contexts (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom).
Background to the project: an inadequate understanding of racism
Since the early 2000s, there have been important advancements in the implementation and mainstreaming of an anti-racist legal framework within the European Union, namely via the adoption of the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) and the Directive for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation (2000/78/EC) the most comprehensive initiatives to date. Despite this, European monitoring agencies, such as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), have produced significant evidence on the inefficiency of existing measures in tackling racism and racial discrimination. Official reports tend to confirm that policy efforts do not always reflect the scope of the problem, failing to challenge deep-seated inequalities in a systemic fashion (e.g. EADLR, 2011: 11; ENAR, 2011: 4; FRA, 2011: 79).
TOLERACE proposes that at the root of this question lies the dominant conception of racism as beliefs or attitudes, that is, as amounting to the prejudice of ignorant individuals (Henriques, 1984; Goldberg, 1990), often leading to hostile attitudes towards the 'presence' of immigrants and minorities (Sayyid, 2004). This conception, which has guided conceptual understandings and policy interventions over the last six decades (Hesse, 2004), has failed to address the relationship of the idea of 'race' with processes of nation-formation, post-colonial conditions and citizenship in Europe (Hesse and Sayyid, 2006). This is where TOLERACE has attempted to make an original contribution: to question the assumptions behind dominant approaches to racism and anti-racism at the level of policy framing, design and implementation, often sanctioned by academic knowledge , by bringing in a historically informed and contextually sensitive approach to the study of the renewal of racism in European contexts with a colonial past.
Main objectives: understanding the renewal of contemporary racism
TOLERACE considers that the common approach to racism as prejudiced social representations and attitudes is inadequate, as it privileges an understanding of racism as individual dispositions towards difference without ever engaging with the historical and political contexts that have produced such stereotypes and behaviours. Rather, TOLERACE approached racism as related to routine governmentalities, that is, to the ways in which power is distributed and populations are administered (Hesse, 2004; Law and Sayyid, 2007; see also Essed, 1991). This theoretical and analytical position required shifting the framing of the problem: that is, to move from an approach that sees discrimination as being related to the characteristics of the 'groups' vulnerable to racism or to ideas about 'cultural contrasts' and 'incompatibilities', toward a focus on the functioning of specific policies, interventions and projects in which public bodies and civil society organisations participate.
TOLERACE's main objectives have been twofold:
(i) to explore how the different meanings given to racism and anti-racism are shaped by public bodies and policies, as well as civil society organisations, at the European, national, regional and local levels;
(ii) to identify the impact of these meanings on the marginalisation of anti-racism within current integration/inclusion policies and post-colonial situations.
The specific sub-objectives of the research have been the following:
a) Building an approach that acknowledges the historical foundations of racism
TOLERACE sought to overcome the dominant understanding of racism as beliefs or attitudes, which neglects its deeply-rooted historical foundations in European societies and political institutions. The project thus aimed at engaging with the legacies of key historical processes such as colonialism, nation-formation and their interrelation within current discourses and policies on 'integration', 'inclusion' and 'social cohesion'. Accordingly, it proposed to 'replace the problematics of empirical testing of racial attitudes and aptitudes with analyses of the body of discourse concerning race and racism' (Goldberg, 1992: xiii). Ultimately, the goal has been to achieve thorough evidence on the current configurations of racism based on a sound understanding of its historical and political foundations.
b) Understanding the logics of institutionalised racism in two key spheres: employment and education
TOLERACE research aimed at unravelling how public policies, institutional bodies and social organisations are framing and tackling racism and discrimination in the spheres of employment and education. In employment, TOLERACE aimed at examining the role of anti-discrimination measures and initiatives within public policies which rationale is centred on ideas of 'employability', 'social competences' and 'normalisation', and their effectiveness in tackling institutionalised racism informing routine practices and everyday discourses on minoritised populations. In education, TOLERACE aimed at exploring paradigmatic cases that illustrate how public policies and bodies (such as state-endorsed institutions, regional and local authorities, and schools), as well as mediation agents (e.g. teachers, social workers, NGO members), are framing and tackling cultural diversity and denunciations of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, particularly in state compulsory schools.
c) Examining the role of the press in framing racism and constructing public issues
TOLERACE pursued the analysis of the role of the national, regional and local press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in (in)visibilising racism. This sub-objective results from the project's understanding that media agents have a central role as producers of meaning and collective representations, within a shared cultural framework.
d) Reframing the debate: the future of an anti-racist agenda?
TOLERACE aimed at producing policy-relevant research by providing clarification of the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings concerning racism and discrimination, as well as religious and ethno-racial equality. Accordingly, a central aim throughout TOLERACE was to engage with a variety of public constituencies (e.g. policy and decision makers, local authorities, social workers, political activists, journalists), building interest and opening up spaces for discussing the project's approach and main findings. More specifically, TOLERACE pursued the (re-)centring of an anti-racist agenda through a critical discussion on the production of research evidence on racism, on the nature of academic advice and its relation with policy-making.
TOLERACE proposes that the persistence of racial discrimination across Europe needs to question existing understandings of racism and anti-racism in academic and political formulations, which are informing inadequate policy interventions. The project thus aimed at understanding the renewal of racism via a comparative and contextualised analysis that considers the links between policy interventions and discursive practices at different levels:
- European Union policy recommendations and monitoring work on racism and discrimination;
- National and regional (in the case of Spain) policies on (anti-)racism and integration, and discourses by policy and decision makers;
- Local discourses and practices of mediation agents in the spheres of employment and education (e.g. social workers, union members, employers, teachers).
Engaging with broader European guidelines and discourses on racism espoused by institutional bodies operating in this area (such as the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the Fundamental Rights Agency), TOLERACE pursued a comparative analysis of seven national contexts: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. In the case of Spain more visibly marked by the regionalisation of policy making and implementation two regional settings were considered: Andalucía and the Basque Country. While the national/regional level of analysis was privileged for the study of public policies and initiatives, the project also engaged with a comparative analysis of case studies aiming to bring about a greater understanding of routine racist structures, processes and practices.
Research combined both an historical approach to understanding racism and its relevance in the formation of European nation states, and a micro view focusing on current policy developments and interventions by mediation agents in two key sectors employment and education. The role of the media in the reproduction of, and challenge to, racism was also considered. The analysis aimed at exploring the existing regimes of denial of racism in the everyday workings of public bodies and civil society organisations.
The national/regional contexts selected constitute an array of varied samples allowing TOLERACE to engage with a diversity of historical, political and societal processes, namely:
a) Historical processes: colonialism and nation and state formation; migration and population movements;
b) The legacies of colonialism: national imaginaries on ´race´;
c) Political traditions: public debate on racism and anti-racist struggles;
d) Policies and initiatives: management of diversity and the fight against racism (including in employment, education and the media);
e) Public debates concerning specific populations (e.g. Islamophobia, anti-Gypsyism, anti-black racism) and the political use of categories (such as 'immigrants' and 'ethnic minorities').
The comparative analytical strategy followed was threefold:
1) Critical analysis of public policies, initiatives and discourses on racism at the European and national/regional levels, considering broader multicultural and intercultural political traditions;
2) Empirical study of local cases focusing on how anti-discrimination and social integration measures in the spheres of employment and education are conceived, institutionalised and regulated at the national/regional level;
3) Analysis of the role of the media in the denunciation and reproduction of racism.
Overall, TOLERACE carried out a critical analysis of policy documents in eight different contexts (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain Andalusia and the Basque Country and United Kingdom), produced by the following public bodies: Denmark - the Ministry for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration and the Danish Institute for Human Rights; France High Authority for the Fight Against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE); Germany Federal Government's Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration and the Federal Anti-discrimination Agency (ADS); Italy National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR); Portugal High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI) and the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination (CICDR); Spain, Andalusia the Government of Andalusia; Spain, the Basque Country Department of Housing and Social Affairs of the Basque Country; United Kingdom - Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Empirical work was carried out via semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions and participatory workshops with over 500 participants. Over 40 newspapers were monitored in all the contexts studied.
Project Results:
TOLERACE research was steered to address six main areas of enquiry:
1) the historicity of (anti-)racism in contemporary Europe;
2) (anti-)racism in contemporary integration policies;
3) employment, racial discrimination and the current focus on 'employability', 'social competences' and 'normalisation';
4) education, cultural difference and the logics of racism;
5) the press, the reproduction and denunciation of racism;
6) the future of anti-racist policies: policy dialogues and recommendations.
1. Understanding racism in contemporary European democracies: the need to acknowledge its historical foundations
Engaging with literature produced mainly in race critical theories, post-colonial studies, and critical discourse analysis, TOLERACE deemed it necessary to overcome the current neglect of the deeply-rooted historical foundations of racism in European societies and political institutions. The initial development of such a conceptual approach was crucial for the critique of hegemonic and enduring conceptions of racism as amounting to individual prejudice and hostile attitudes towards the presence of minoritised populations.
The evasion of history has shaped dominant academic research and political initiatives mainly since the 1940s, evident in the well-known four Statements on Race (1950-1967) sponsored by the UNESCO a project in which prominent scientist from different disciplines participated. The emergent political agenda concerning the eradication of racism mainstreamed in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at providing answers to the perceived crisis of the West and Europe, in the context of the aftermath of two devastating wars, the acknowledgment of the Holocaust, the imminent triumph of anti-colonial political struggles and national liberation projects. However, the so-called 'race question' or 'race relations problem' was often framed as an issue circumscribed to wrong or extremist doctrines and ideas about the inferiority of certain peoples based on the idea of 'race'.
This political and academic approach had a long-lasting impact on current conceptions of 'race', racism and anti-racism; TOLERACE highlights the following:
- Debates on racism tend to evade its embeddedness in the history of Europe and, in particular, fail to consider the close relationship between the formation of national states and the colonial enterprise. A contemporary consequence of this elusion is the debate on the need to stress the 'positive aspects' and 'effects' of colonialism or the different national histories of 'benevolent colonialism', and that usually informs current policy developments (e.g. the idea that certain national societies are more welcoming to different cultures than others);
- The focus on racism as merely amounting to the prejudiced representations of immigrants, minorities and non-Western or non-European cultures has precluded a deeper understanding of this phenomenon that acknowledges the core role of 'race' within ideas about what it means to be European thus hindering the possibility of constructing more equal and just societies. While dominant, the approach to racism as a matter of prejudice has failed to address the historical roots of certain established notions, such as that which sees immigrants and minorities as 'non-assimilable' and 'unwilling to integrate'. These are related to widespread ideas of minorities as a 'threat to national identity and national core values'; Mainstream scientific approaches to combating racism have over-emphasised the narrative of possibility to correct racism via the demystification of prejudices and biased attitudes towards minoritised populations. This has had two main effects: i) the reproduction of a naïf idea of the relationship between academia and policy making, that is, one that sees researchers as seemingly providing neutral evidence for political decisions; ii) the exclusion of an in-depth analysis of the complicit role of the academia in silencing racism as a historical and political process;
- Finally, dominant political and academic debates in Europe have disregarded the long-lasting history of political struggles (such as anti-slavery and anti-colonialism), and have also actively disregarded the contribution of more critical anti-racist activist-intellectuals.
In order to go beyond the shortcomings of mainstream approaches, which broadly fail to engage critically with institutional racism, TOLERACE built on a conception that sees racism as a product of modernity that is currently being re-configured through the interrelation of processes, structures and ideologies that activate and reproduce unequal power relations, thus conditioning access to socio-economic, cultural and political resources (i.e. discrimination) by populations ethnically marked as inferior in relation to ideas and practices of being a European/national citizen. This condition of inferiority is interpreted as the way of being of those marked populations and therefore as somehow 'inherited', though it may be 'corrected' via assimilation/integration. While TOLERACE considers that racism is not an exception of Europe (i.e. it does not only happen in the European territory) it sees it as rooted in Eurocentrism, that is, in a specific theory of history and of human rationality that made possible to talk about Europe and European national-states as forms of political belonging. It is through the contested nature of political belonging (and its surveillance) that racism is being reconfigured in current European liberal democracies.
2. Institutional racism and integration policies: the marginalisation of anti-racism
TOLERACE considered that it is crucial to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which institutional racism (Carmichael and Hamilton, 1967) - beyond the acts and beliefs of specific individuals or groups - shapes everyday conceptions of policy issues and the functioning of public bodies. This requires engaging with racism as a far more complex political phenomenon than the existence of 'wrong' ideas about people seen as 'different' and points to the historical and political roots of naturalised 'hostility' and 'fears'. Institutional racism is thus a core concept helping to think about prejudices and attitudes as representing the tip of the iceberg.
TOLERACE´s analysis of policy discourse and implementation specifically in the spheres of employment and education highlights the need to critically question assumptions behind discourses on integration, social cohesion, interculturality and cultural difference. These discourses, common to all the contexts analysed, hinder the possibility of addressing racism as a core societal problem. Rather, they constantly shift the focus to minoritised populations and their presumed 'deficiencies'. TOLERACE showed that integration policies being implemented in Europe take for granted that: i) a main problem facing societies experiencing demographic change is the inability to assimilate populations understood as 'non-modern' and culturally 'unfit'; ii) the failure to correct minoritised populations' 'cultural backwardness' explains unequal access in key life spheres, such as employment or education.
These assumptions are operationalised through different discursive logics, such as:
- Within an economicist approach to integration, minorities are seen as guest immigrant-workers that have to prove their contribution to the national and regional communities where they live, having to constantly show that they qualify to claim and benefit from the rights consecrated in existing legislation. This operates within a logic that classifies minorities according to their presumed distance to European or national cultural, political norms and values;
- The ideas of 'integration' and 'social cohesion' work within the assumption that there is a clear divide between a unified national society (the 'host society', ethnically unmarked) and the various minority groups (ethnically marked);
- Racism is misrecognised as related to specific 'events' and 'actions' that can be isolated from the general functioning of society, or trivialised as 'hostile' reactions to the different 'other' obliged to show his/her 'willingness to integrate';
- 'Integration' and 'interculturality' are seen as positive approaches to diversity, whereas anti-racism is perceived to have a negative and polarising effect, threatening social cohesion;
- Within the European context, strongly marked by discourses on tolerance and freedom of speech, denunciations of racism are often regarded with suspicion, and the debate is reduced to questions regarding objectivity and intentionality;
- The ineffectiveness of anti-racist and anti-discrimination measures is usually discussed within a patronising discourse that considers minorities as victims who are unaware of their rights, whilst downplaying their experiences resulting from the inadequate responses of public bodies;
- The current prevalence of a comprehensive human rights approach across Europe tends to lump all forms of discrimination together (e.g. based on 'race', gender, sexuality, age, disability and so on), discarding the historical specificities of racism and anti-racist struggles in the context of slavery, imperialism and colonialism.
3. Key issues and findings in the sphere of employment
TOLERACE research focused on analysing how public policies, bodies and social organisations are framing and tackling racism and discrimination in the sphere of employment. The empirical work explored one or two case studies in each national and regional context. The cases chosen refer to populations considered as vulnerable to racial discrimination, or to situations and geographies that had attracted the attention of policy intervention, the media and political discourses.
The limitations of the focus on employability
- Current integration and inclusion policies frame the problem as related to the 'characteristics' of minoritised populations, neglecting a discussion on institutional racism. TOLERACE research shows that the agents in charge of policy implementation (e.g. local authorities, NGOs, local public servants) tend to see their work as aiming at the 'correction' of the perceived deficits (e.g. 'backward' cultural practices, 'passivity', 'unrealistic expectations') that would constrain the integration of minorities and immigrants in the labour market. Consequently, discussions on racism and anti-racist approaches become peripheral or even irrelevant;
- The focus on employability, that is, on ideas such as the 'activation of social competences' and the 'empowerment' of so-called 'vulnerable' populations transform anti-discrimination measures into a question of social assistance;
- The weakening of anti-racist policies and legislation within a strong rhetoric on 'cultural respect´. The tackling of racist structures and practices in recruitment and professional training is replaced by a strong rhetoric on the need to respect cultural difference, diversity and identity. This discourse serves to legitimise racism as the 'unsuccessful inclusion' of immigrants and minorities in the labour market and their 'unfitness' for living among 'us'. Accordingly, conceiving of their 'presence' as mere guest-workers anticipated as temporary is seen as less problematic, because they would not present a 'threat' to the presumed original homogeneity of the 'autochthonous' population and the institutions that are based on that assumption.
A negative representation of anti-racism
- TOLERACE found that most gatekeepers working in the sphere of employment acknowledge the occurrence of prejudices and negative attitudes that may affect social relations in the workplace or recruitment processes. However, racism is not examined as a structural problem and public bodies do not invest in a systematic monitoring of racial discrimination and how it affects the life chances of immigrants and minorities;
- Legalism is a common political approach, especially deployed by public authorities, who claim that existing laws are not discriminatory and that ethnic and racial discrimination is an offense (for instance, in constitutions and penal codes). Thus anti-racism does not qualify as a specific policy strategy. Public authorities tend to see anti-racist approaches as potentially 'disruptive' and, in the end, unnecessary;
- The negative representation of anti-racist policies, movements and struggles is also related to dominant depictions of immigrants and minorities as problematic in the labour market, that is, 'over-sensitive' or 'unwilling to integrate', within the horizon of an (im)possible assimilation. Moreover, prevailing policy interventions stress immigrants and minorities' 'lack of knowledge' of cultural and social codes in the (national) labour market as the main barrier to equality;
- All of the case studies examined in TOLERACE point at an attending understanding which perceives racism as the problem of racist people (whether through delusion or ignorance). This means that policy proposed courses of action point at reforming individuals, rather than social and political transformation.
- Local policy makers and public servants, as well as NGO professionals, often interpret discrimination as something which is self-inflicted and they tend to disregard denunciations of racism.
Case studies
The specific cases analysed reveal the aforementioned logics within policy framings and implementation, which result in the misrecognition of racism and the reproduction of discrimination in the labour market and at work. Empirical research carried out in the cities/regions of Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Coimbra (Portugal), Rioja Alavesa region (Spain), Seville (Spain), El Ejido (Spain), Leicester (UK) and Leeds (UK), illustrate how racism is being naturalised through the emphasis on the presupposed 'deficiencies' of immigrants and minorities described as problematic , and trivialised by virtue of its expressed understanding as the reactions of 'over-sensitive' minoritised populations.
Anti-Roma racism and Islamophobia (case studies in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal and United Kingdom)
- Employment gatekeepers that implement integration policies, which target the Roma and Muslims regard racial discrimination as a rarity and exceptional. Specific anti-racist strategies in the employment sector are generally considered superfluous.
- Muslims and the Roma are perceived as problematic populations, who are 'unwilling' to integrate into the national society, naturalising their perceived need for assimilation.
- In the absence of a sound discussion on the impact of racism in society, ideas about 'cultural difference' and 'religiosity' reproduce the discursive construction of these groups as 'backward' and 'unwilling to integrate' and, at the same time, threats to 'social cohesion'.
- That discrimination occurs is occasionally acknowledged by employment gatekeepers, but liability typically shifts to the minoritised populations, because they are seen as 'over-sensitive' and thus denunciations of racism are regarded with suspicion. Public bodies and social organisations are not held accountable and policy framings are rarely questioned. The presupposed lack of knowledge on the part of minority groups of the 'national cultural codes' in the labour market, and their lack of formal education and skills are seen as the main access barriers to the labour market.
Normalisation policies and immigration: interventions on 'illegality' and 'third-countries immigrant-workers' (case studies in France and Spain Andalusia and the Basque Country)
- Broad-based policy developments and political commentaries are producing an ambivalent discourse on current immigration flows and their impacts on the labour market: either as a problem or an opportunity;
- 'Immigration as an opportunity' considers the 'immigrant-worker' in terms of needs and benefits for the national economy. Public bodies and social organisations produce routine representations that differentiate between the 'good/welcomed' immigrant and the 'problematic and potential criminal/fraudster' immigrant a distinction reinforced also by political initiatives;
- 'Immigration as a problem' perpetuates the idea that the so-called host society naturally and legitimately cannot accept 'all' immigrants;
- The 'immigrant', represented through discretionary and successive stages called generations, is under constant surveillance, especially after 'integration into the host society' seems or has been accomplished;
- Policies related to so-called 'third-country nationals' amplify the European/non-European divide, which is rooted in the overriding idea that non-Europeans are 'unfit' to live according to the standards of national values and identity set by Europeans;
- Racism is downplayed as a natural reaction to difference, somewhat legitimised by the perceived 'contrast' between a nation (homogeneous and democratic) and the 'new habits and customs' brought into European countries by immigrants who may disrupt the way in which institutions work.
4. Key issues and findings in the sphere of education
(Case studies in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom)
In education, TOLERACE researched paradigmatic cases that illustrate how public policies and bodies (such as state-endorsed institutions, regional and local authorities, and schools), as well as mediation agents (for instance, teachers, cultural mediators, social and community workers), are framing and tackling cultural diversity and denunciations of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in state schools. Empirical research was carried out in Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Coimbra (Portugal), Bilbao (Spain), El Ejido (Spain), Seville (Spain), Leeds (UK) and Leicester (UK).
Case studies
The misrecognition of institutionalised racism
- In the various contexts studied, the debate on racism is being downplayed on the basis that it is potentially disrupting for the established status quo and only serves the interests of immigrants and minorities. This view is aiding the misrecognition of racism, particularly in its institutional forms, and prevents measures from being implemented to effectively tackle the long-lasting effects of racism;
- An analysis of the work by European monitoring bodies reveals an inadequate approach to the logics of institutionalised racism, resulting in the reproduction of problematic routine assumptions (racism as reactions to difference, deriving from individual prejudices) and thus ineffective solutions (public awareness as ensuring sufficient change);
- In addition, European bodies working on racism have not been able to develop the necessary mechanisms for the systematic and long-term monitoring of denunciations and responses by national Member States. In cases involving school segregation (for instance, in Portugal and Italy), the TOLERACE research found that even after public denunciations were made and a political commitment to reverse such situations was announced, inter- and intra-school segregation persisted.
Schools and the logics of racism
- Public discourses have often considered education as crucial for the elimination of prejudice. This is grounded on the assumption that discrimination can be prevented merely by challenging the stereotypical views of minoritised populations which prevail in society;
- The case studies reveal that the very existence of discrimination is often played down and that racism is not considered a problem serious enough to be tackled by schools. Accordingly, they did not generally institute mechanisms to deal with cases of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination;
- Moreover, the cases analysed reveal the prevalence of perceptions of immigrants and minorities as cultural and educational deficits, sustained by wider education policies, school guidelines and practices. Intervention often shifts from occurrences of racism to the minoritised pupils and families themselves, who constantly need to show their 'willingness to integrate'. They thus become targets for increased surveillance;
- In the United Kingdom, for instance, Muslim children as young as 5 are being targeted by anti-terrorist measures, under the initiative 'Preventing Violent Extremism' (PREVENT);
- Negative views of minoritised populations are shared among teachers and other staff, and used to rank students according to how closely they are perceived to meet established school expectations in accordance with the implicit notion of the 'ideal' European pupil;
- Minoritised pupils are set up to 'compete' for the position of ideal pupil, even though at the outset most are not given the opportunity to perform well or on a par with other students due to their minority status;
- These types of classificatory practices have an impact on education: they inform academic assessments and future opportunities, as well as political decisions involving funding (including special needs classes and support for language learning), disciplinary procedures and school-parents relationships.
The legitimation of existing school structures, arrangements and practices
- Negative views of minoritised populations are not just a matter of biased prejudices and stereotypes. Rather, by articulating a clear distinction between 'us' and 'them' and conferring legitimacy on 'we Europeans' they help to sustain the existing power relations and validate existing school structures, arrangements and practices;
- The TOLERACE research that engaged with debates on the curriculum, bilingual teaching, and school arrangements for cultural and religious diversity shows how demands by minoritised populations are constructed as problematic, while simultaneously rendering the privileged status of the so-called 'majority' population invisible.
The shortcomings of multicultural and intercultural education
- National and regional authorities have often invested in solutions such as multicultural and intercultural education the former emphasising plurality and the latter dialogue. While distinctions have been made between these approaches, our research shows that both are ambiguous, overemphasise culture and implicitly assume that racism will disappear once the 'other' is known;
- Some interviewees suggested that these approaches conceal assimilation as a policy goal, since they do not actually make use of different cultures and knowledges for the benefit of all;
- Within the political ambiguity concerning the meanings of inter- and multicultural education, the fact that it is not embedded in everyday school practices or canons of knowledge is evident in the persistence of a Eurocentric curricula, as shown in research conducted within the United Kingdom;
- An illustration of current challenges to Eurocentrism can be seen in the debates in France studied within TOLERACE on the teaching of colonialism including slavery which bring these issues into the heart of discussions on racism and anti-racism in education.
5. The monitoring of the press: key findings
Media agents, particularly those working in the press, play a central role as producers of meaning and collective representations within a shared cultural framework. One of the TOLERACE research strands focused on analysing the role of the (national, regional and local) press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in making racism (in)visibile.
Silencing or misrecognising racism
- In the news analysed, TOLERACE identified a mainstream cultural sensibility revealing that serious racism is no longer believed to be present in developed European societies. Thus in reports of specific incidents, racism often tends to be denied or trivialised;
- Only a few news items suggested that structural racism should be considered serious. The silencing of racism or discrimination against immigrants and minorities is often accompanied by softer language, such as 'lacking equality' and 'insufficient integration';
- Broadly speaking, in the news the trivialisation of racism tends to shift from questions of discrimination to issues involving culture and development among immigrants and minorities, who are presented as responsible for social conflicts and inequalities. In sharing this approach, journalists and expert opinions are in fact contributing towards reproducing racism by misrecognising that a problem exists.
Case studies
The Representation of Muslims as a threat to European democracies
- Current representations of Muslims tend to foster moral fears. This is seen in the wider social and political discourses surrounding Muslims, who are represented as fundamentally problematic in Western democratic societies. For instance, in the case of Spain, many news items focused on the construction of mosques as a visible threat to democracy;
- Newspapers in Denmark, Germany and Spain featured a large number of reports focusing on the relationship between Muslims and fundamentalism. Stories fostering hostility often dominated the press coverage of Muslims and Islam, and the analysis showed that most news stories were restricted to certain kinds of topics, such as extremism, terror, and the sharia. The alleged lack of democracy and freedom of speech and the absence of women's rights was also framed as endogenous to Islam;
- Other topics such as the everyday life of the vast majority of Muslims, the value of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims were found to a lesser extent in the newspapers. Thus, while topics and stories that foster moral panic were seen to be newsworthy, those related to the everyday life of Muslims and their struggles against discrimination were not;
- In Germany and the UK, TOLERACE found a significant number of news items that focused on gender-related issues, such as women's rights and 'forced marriages'. Muslim men, often portrayed as the violent and barbaric aggressors based on assumptions of a patriarchal-fundamentalist mentality, are deemed responsible for extreme violent behaviour (such as humiliating, beating, and killing women);
- Muslim women are represented as powerless and voiceless victims in urgent need of empowerment and emancipation. Their dramatic fate is reduced to the assumed 'backward traditions' of their parents' culture and religion;
- In the UK, aside from world news, the press focused strongly on the themes of the war on terror and fundamentalism. The research found a clear divide between editorial lines in the tabloid newspapers based on speculation, sensationalism, Islamophobia, accusatory and inflammatory commentary (for instance, reinforcing the idea of Muslims as threats to British nationhood and British freedoms), and the broadsheet newspapers, which attempted to represent a more balanced and impartial account of events by offering a diversity of perspectives, including those from the perspective of Muslim populations and their representatives.
The Roma as victims of (self-)exclusion
- TOLERACE found that, in the press, the Roma were framed either as a problem or as victims. Their characterisation as a problem follows a long-lasting pattern in the relationship between Roma and non-Roma, while their depiction as victims is relatively recent;
- Allusions to their precarious living conditions, unstable or non-existent work opportunities, school absenteeism and dropout rates, criminality, and poor housing conditions were recurrent themes in most newspapers. The main social problem addressed by the press was the process of ghettoization, namely Roma communities concentrated in specific neighbourhoods and schools;
- The research revealed an ambivalent discourse in the news on processes of exclusion and discrimination directed against the Roma, especially in education or housing. On the one hand, discrimination is denounced, giving a voice to the representatives of Roma associations and pointing out the state's responsibilities. On the other hand, the representation of the Roma as culturally unfit and unwilling to integrate is constantly emphasised, therefore holding this group accountable for its own exclusion. Most of the news analysed in the newspapers published in the Basque Country (Spain) and in Portugal reflects this discursive ambivalence.
6. The future of anti-racist policies: recommendations emerging from joint work between academics, policy makers and civil society representatives
The TOLERACE project has indicated four key aspects that merit clarification concerning the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings associated with anti-racism, anti-discrimination and ethno-racial equality: i) the dominant understanding of racism that has informed public policies and the work of monitoring agencies; ii) the relationship between the mainstream framing of integration or inclusion policies and the reproduction of racism; iii) the increasing relevance, within policy implementation, of representations of minoritised populations as 'problematic' and 'unwilling to integrate'; iv) the links between these negative images and the re-configuration of exclusionary ideas and practices of European and national political belonging. Overall, the research indicates that it is imperative that public policies address the institutionalisation of racism in Europe, moving beyond understanding the phenomenon as amounting to extreme political ideologies or bigoted attitudes. The sections below present the main recommendations emerging from the TOLERACE research findings, as well as the joint dialogue with participants at the workshops.
I) Equality/monitoring bodies and legal framework
European level
TOLERACE considers that it is imperative to effectively monitor the implementation of EU anti-discrimination directives in the different Member States. Additionally, policy strategies should tackle institutionalised racism, moving beyond an approach based on the 'awareness' of rights on the part of minoritised populations towards a clear political investment in the status of equality bodies for the protection of rights, thus allowing for a more systematic and in-depth monitoring of institutional racism.
- Apply existing laws and ratified conventions and treaties that protect the rights of minoritised populations (for example, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities), and develop accountability mechanisms to ensure compliance by EU Member States;
- Regularly promote a broader debate at national level on the data for patterns of discrimination and segregation collected by European monitoring bodies, with the involvement of the various representatives of anti-racist organisations, grassroots associations, academics and public authorities;
- Ensure that anti-racist public policies consider the common yet shifting patterns of discrimination, while also engaging with the specific contours of racism in contemporary Europe for instance, Islamophobia and anti-Gypsyism (e.g. common discourses on the 'Muslim woman' and the 'Roma woman' that reveal a historical pattern to the construction of the inferiority of non-white women).
National level
TOLERACE findings indicate that it is imperative to guarantee the independence of the specialist bodies in charge of monitoring and combating racism and racial discrimination. Political independence from state authorities is crucial to collecting and providing reliable and systematic data, as well as effectively supporting the victims.
- Independently monitor the national implementation of European directives on racism and related discrimination;
- Guarantee the independent functioning of equality bodies, their high profile status, the transparency of the processes and the outcomes of denunciations;
- Independently analyse the impact of national measures and policy initiatives on anti-discrimination;
- Assess the effects of public policies for religious and ethno-racial equality in key areas such as education (including higher education), employment, health and housing, via regular monitoring at state and sector levels;
- Promote the effective participation of the various representatives of anti-racist organisations, grassroots associations, academics and national/local public authorities in the drafting of key policy documents and strategies, in addition to the consultation processes already in place.
II) Employment: (re-)centre anti-racism in policy design and encourage diversity in the workplace
TOLERACE recommends a comprehensive assessment of dominant policy strategies, particularly those focusing on the 'activation of social competences' and 'employability'. These tend to reproduce an individual-centred approach that regards minoritised populations as problematic, naturalising exclusion while side-lining discrimination from the labour market. Research findings also indicate the need to encourage diversity and anti-discrimination as social values in the workplace, both in the state and private sectors.
- Foster mechanisms that combat racism in the selection of applicants, professional advancement and career promotion;
- Tackle routine racist practices in the workplace that prevent existing legislation and policy recommendations from being fully implemented, both in the state and the private sector;
- Create and improve existing protocols for public inspection in order to prevent discrimination and to safeguard workers' rights;
- Formulate anti-racist campaigns that address questions related to the persistence of structural discrimination, moving beyond a strategy that merely aims to create 'awareness' of the problem among the 'majority population';
- Increase the amount and quality of critical training on institutional racism and anti-racism, mobilising the public sectors and intermediate agents, such as trade unions and professional associations;
- Create incentives for anti-racist programmes in the private sector via corporate social responsibility measures;
- Develop and implement a system for monitoring discrimination in collaboration with workers' unions and other organisations;
- Improve and speed up the process of validating academic qualifications (degrees, diplomas and certificates) and previous professional experience, and promote requalification programmes within an anti-discrimination strategy;
- Promote an informed debate on affirmative action policies, considering experiences in this field in other contexts and related patterns of discrimination, such as gender.
III) Education: commit to anti-racism in education and to changing the canons of knowledge in schools
TOLERACE recommends the development of a broader multi-level anti-racist strategy (at national, regional and local levels) that monitors and tackles inequalities in compulsory, further and higher education. Research findings point to an urgent need to develop systemic and systematic measures to fight racism in education systems that extend beyond culturalist discourses and initiatives (such as music or gastronomy festivals) which merely result in the exoticisation of minorities.
- Effectively include positive ideas about cultural and religious diversity in Europe, as well as anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, in regular school activities, promoting informed debate amongst students and teachers on the history of minoritised populations and their historical contributions to European societies and identities;
- Mainstream debates and initiatives in this field, within an approach that sees diversity, multiculturalism and interculturality as related to changes in social and political imaginaries rather than simply a matter that concerns minoritised populations;
- Promote significant changes to existing canons of knowledge in schools challenging Eurocentrism, the lack of representation and the misrepresentation of minoritised populations in the curricula and textbooks for different subjects building strategies for participatory consultation and long-term monitoring of change;
- Foster an anti-racist approach to education that informs school structures and everyday pedagogical practices, and create in-school mechanisms to identify and tackle situations of ethno-racial and religious discrimination;
- Develop a systemic approach to cases of school selection and segregation that considers them within wider patterns of spatial and socioeconomic segregation - increasing under current arrangements that promote free choice of schools;
- Mainstream the discussion and understanding of (anti-)racism by organising debates at national and local level, prioritising the critical perspectives of grassroots associations and political activists that engage with, rather than eschew, the sensitive nature of racism in the contemporary political context;
- Build a sustainable debate outside school communities that extends beyond the pragmatics of everyday teaching and learning and involves representatives of institutional bodies, third-sector organisations and grassroots movements.
IV) The media: systematic and consistent monitoring of racism in the press
- Construct a positive view of diversity by drawing on a diverse workforce at all levels (not just in visible positions, such as reporters and presenters);
- Promote regular inquiries into racism in the media, making the results publicly available and encouraging accountability;
- Include anti-racism as a key issue in the codes of ethics for the press, and penalise and delegitimise hate speech on the basis of existing legislation and recommendations, fostering responsible practices (for example, in public broadcasting);
- Encourage anti-racist training for journalists, and their interest in learning other languages and cultures;
- Promote more analytical insight in news reports and include the views of independent anti-racist, human rights and grassroots association representatives. In high profile cases of racism, encourage the media's role to investigate and denounce similar situations, as well as inform the public about existing mechanisms and legislation to combat this;
- Establish a specific monitoring service for the blogosphere and social networks, as well as the comments sections of online newspapers, improving the denunciation mechanisms used by the public.
Potential Impact:
TOLERACE envisaged its commitment to policy-relevant research on the grounds of providing clarification of the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings associated with anti-racism, anti-discrimination and ethno-racial equality. Accordingly, the project carried out a series of activities and developed different dissemination tools targeting a wide range of audiences working directly or indirectly with the issues of anti-racism and anti-discrimination, namely: policy makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, political activists, trade union representatives, journalists, school teachers, academics, members of grassroots associations, NGOs professionals and members of faith associations.
KEY POLICY-RELEVANT DISSEMINATION TOOLS
BOOKLET Understanding the logics of racism in contemporary Europe (48 pages; printed and online versions, in English, Portuguese and Spanish) presents the TOLERACE project's approach, key findings and recommendations for understanding the process of institutionalisation of racism in contemporary European contexts and the marginalisation of anti-racist policies. The booklet targets policy and decision-makers at European, national and local level, national and local government practitioners, NGOs professionals, employment and education gatekeepers, political activists, academics and journalists. The booklet is also envisioned as a document providing guidelines for the debate on racism and anti-racism within public bodies working on related issues and in secondary and higher education.
It is divided into six sections:
(i) Policy and research context;
(ii) Key questions for understanding racism in contemporary European democracies;
(iii) Key issues and findings in employment;
(iv) Key issues and findings in education;
(v) Monitoring the press: key findings;
(vi) Recommendations.
It also includes a methodological annex. The booklet was presented at the TOLERACE project's final conference held in Lisbon. The digital version is available at the project's webpage:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_booklet_en.pdf
Online DATABASE monitoring the press, available at the project's webpage: http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/monitoring
This database results from the monitoring of newspapers (both print and online) carried out within the TOLERACE research project in seven European contexts: Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France and UK. The database provides information of the analysis of news items, focusing on the role of the press in framing and constructing issues concerning ethnically marked populations and, in particular, how the press can be seen to contribute towards shaping the semantics of (anti)racism in contemporary Europe.
The anti-racist DICTIONARY online
Throughout the project, it became evident that different political traditions and academic approaches have shaped our understandings of racism and anti-racism in significant ways. TOLERACE's on-going dialogue with non-academic audiences has lead to the commitment of creating an on-line dictionary on (anti-)racism that will allow to present the project's conceptual approach and to help open up the debate. The dictionary is expected to be launched by the end of 2013, and will be made available in the project's website in English and Portuguese.
Policy Brief
A policy brief on Discourses and Public Policies on Racism and Anti-racism in Europe was published online in July 2012, detailing the project's approach and main findings of the analysis of key national and regional public bodies, political and academic discourse and policy documents on anti-racism, immigration and integration, in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_policybrief_final.pdf
Flyer
When the project started, a flyer was produced to present TOLERACE's identity, funding information, research aims, thematic research fields, target audiences and expected results.
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_flyer_final.pdf
KEY TOLERACE DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES
TOLERACE participatory workshops: TOLERACE organised 17 participatory workshops in the different national and regional contexts, involving a total of 166 participants, to discuss the academic findings and propose policy recommendations. Participants included: policy and decision-makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, members of local associations, NGOs professionals, political activists, academics, school teachers, trade union representatives and journalists. The workshops constituted a crucial endeavour for the presentation and discussion of the TOLERACE's approach and main findings, helping to map out the difficulties involved in discussing racism in contemporary European contexts, and to propose a way forward by identifying approaches and key areas in which a sound debate on anti-racism can be constructed.
Policy dialogue with the European Parliament's Intergroup on Anti-Racism and Diversity
The project's consortium considered it of great relevance to engage in a policy dialogue with the European Parliament's Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup. Consequently, the coordinating team sent a letter followed by a series of questions that the TOLERACE consortium would like to pose to the intergroup and the Booklet with the project's approach, main findings and recommendations to Ms Emine Bozkurt, Chairperson of the Intergroup since 2009. The TOLERACE consortium proposed the possibility of a videoconference to discuss the project's findings and recommendations, or of organising a meeting in Brussels with some members of the intergroup.
TOLERACE posed the following four questions concerning the project's main findings:
1) What measures are being taken to guarantee the independent functioning of equality bodies in Member States, their high profile status, the transparency of the processes and the outcomes of denunciations?
2) How is he European Union ensuring the effective implementation of existing European anti-discrimination directives especially in the sphere of employment , as well as ratified conventions and treaties that protect the rights of minoritised populations and tackle discriminatory and racist institutionalised practices?
3) Considering the lack of a comprehensive anti-racist and anti-discrimination strategy and EU directive for the sphere of education, what measures are being taken to combat the enduring problem of ethno-racial segregation in schools (especially considering the promotion of measures for 'school choice' in a number of European contexts), the lack of proper recognition of non-European languages in education systems and the pervasiveness of Eurocentric curricula and textbooks that represent minoritised pupils and their families as culturally deficient and non-historical subjects?
4) What are the specific monitoring tools aimed at ensuring the implementation of regular inquiries into racism in the media, the blogosphere and social networks, as well as at making the results publicly available and encouraging accountability for offensive and stereotypical representations of minoritised populations?
The future of an anti-racist agenda: better horizons?
TOLERACE research has engaged in dialogue with policy-makers, academia, political activists and stakeholders at local, regional and national levels, allowing it to identify the lasting patterns of insufficient problem-framing in public policies and academic debate. Findings have contributed to map out the difficulties in discussing racism in contemporary European contexts, as well as to propose a way forward by identifying approaches and key areas in which a sound debate on anti-racism can be constructed. In particular, contemporary movements for the memorialisation of slavery and anti-colonial struggles are helping to rethink historical contexts and legacies in the current problematic framework of discussing and challenging racism in the everyday functioning of liberal-democratic institutions.
TOLERACE aims to continue the dialogue with policy and decision-makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, members of grassroots and local associations, political activists, academics, school teachers, trade union's representatives and journalists. The maintenance and future update of the TOLERACE webpage is intended as a resource that will allow interested parties in making use of its key findings and of the dissemination materials produced beyond the duration of the project.
List of Websites:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE
TOLERACE has pursued a better understanding of the operation of institutionalised racism deeply rooted in the history of European democracies and their existing socio-economic and political structures , which continues to persist despite increasing knowledge production in the field and an apparent political commitment to its eradication. The project has attempted to make an original contribution by questioning the assumptions behind dominant approaches to racism and anti-racism at the level of policy framing, design and implementation , often sanctioned by academic knowledge. In order to achieve this aim, TOLERACE developed a historically informed approach to the study of the renewal of racism through a comparative analysis that considers the links between policy interventions and discursive practices at different levels: a) European Union policy recommendations and monitoring work on racism and discrimination; b) National and regional policies on (anti-)racism and integration, and discourses by policy and decision makers; c) Local discourses and practices of mediation agents (e.g. social workers, union members, employers, teachers). The project focused on seven different European contexts: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain (Andalusia and the Basque Country) and United Kingdom.
Two key life spheres employment and education were studied via an analysis of policy documents and political discourse, as well as through qualitative empirical work of paradigmatic cases. In employment, TOLERACE identified two main key issues:
i) core ideas such as 'employability', 'social competences' and 'vulnerability' are shifting the debate on racism in the labour market and the workplace to the need to assist and correct minoritised populations' perceived 'deficiencies';
ii) the evasion of institutional racism and the negative view of anti-racist struggles by policy and decision-makers and mediation agents is paving the way for the denial of the need for structural change and for the inexistence or marginalisation of anti-racist policies.
In education, TOLERACE research shows that the debate on racism and anti-racism in schools has been almost non-existent. Rather, discourses on 'integration as assimilation' are proposing the a-critical celebration of culture as a panacea for racism. This fails to challenge assumptions of ethnically marked populations as problematic and continuously marks difference, reinforcing the 'us'/'them' divide. TOLERACE research indicates that state-funded initiatives geared towards multicultural and intercultural education have mostly been inconclusive and inconsequential, serving only to legitimate Eurocentric canons of knowledge and unequal school structures, arrangements and practices. Another of the TOLERACE research strands focused on analysing the role of the press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in making racism (in)visibile. The results indicate that the press is contributing to create dominant representations, as particularly evident in approaches to multiculturalism, interculturality, citizenship and the nation reflecting the on-going difficulty in European societies in dealing with the challenge of racism.
Finally, as part of its commitment to policy-oriented research, TOLERACE engaged in dialogue with public bodies and grassroots movements that allowed for the proposal of recommendations for the future of an anti-racist agenda.
Project Context and Objectives:
The TOLERACE research project (March 2010 - February 2013), funded under the European 7th Framework Programme, has pursued a better understanding of the operation of institutionalised racism. More specifically, TOLERACE enquired about the ways in which racism deeply rooted in the history of European democracies and their existing socio-economic and political structures (Goldberg, 2006; Hesse, 2007; Lentin, 2008) continues to persist despite increasing knowledge production in the field and an apparent political commitment to its eradication. In order to achieve this aim, the project focused on the analysis of public institutions and initiatives at the European, national, regional and local level, and on the discursive practices of mediation agents working in civil society organisations dealing with situations of racism in different European contexts (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom).
Background to the project: an inadequate understanding of racism
Since the early 2000s, there have been important advancements in the implementation and mainstreaming of an anti-racist legal framework within the European Union, namely via the adoption of the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) and the Directive for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation (2000/78/EC) the most comprehensive initiatives to date. Despite this, European monitoring agencies, such as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), have produced significant evidence on the inefficiency of existing measures in tackling racism and racial discrimination. Official reports tend to confirm that policy efforts do not always reflect the scope of the problem, failing to challenge deep-seated inequalities in a systemic fashion (e.g. EADLR, 2011: 11; ENAR, 2011: 4; FRA, 2011: 79).
TOLERACE proposes that at the root of this question lies the dominant conception of racism as beliefs or attitudes, that is, as amounting to the prejudice of ignorant individuals (Henriques, 1984; Goldberg, 1990), often leading to hostile attitudes towards the 'presence' of immigrants and minorities (Sayyid, 2004). This conception, which has guided conceptual understandings and policy interventions over the last six decades (Hesse, 2004), has failed to address the relationship of the idea of 'race' with processes of nation-formation, post-colonial conditions and citizenship in Europe (Hesse and Sayyid, 2006). This is where TOLERACE has attempted to make an original contribution: to question the assumptions behind dominant approaches to racism and anti-racism at the level of policy framing, design and implementation, often sanctioned by academic knowledge , by bringing in a historically informed and contextually sensitive approach to the study of the renewal of racism in European contexts with a colonial past.
Main objectives: understanding the renewal of contemporary racism
TOLERACE considers that the common approach to racism as prejudiced social representations and attitudes is inadequate, as it privileges an understanding of racism as individual dispositions towards difference without ever engaging with the historical and political contexts that have produced such stereotypes and behaviours. Rather, TOLERACE approached racism as related to routine governmentalities, that is, to the ways in which power is distributed and populations are administered (Hesse, 2004; Law and Sayyid, 2007; see also Essed, 1991). This theoretical and analytical position required shifting the framing of the problem: that is, to move from an approach that sees discrimination as being related to the characteristics of the 'groups' vulnerable to racism or to ideas about 'cultural contrasts' and 'incompatibilities', toward a focus on the functioning of specific policies, interventions and projects in which public bodies and civil society organisations participate.
TOLERACE's main objectives have been twofold:
(i) to explore how the different meanings given to racism and anti-racism are shaped by public bodies and policies, as well as civil society organisations, at the European, national, regional and local levels;
(ii) to identify the impact of these meanings on the marginalisation of anti-racism within current integration/inclusion policies and post-colonial situations.
The specific sub-objectives of the research have been the following:
a) Building an approach that acknowledges the historical foundations of racism
TOLERACE sought to overcome the dominant understanding of racism as beliefs or attitudes, which neglects its deeply-rooted historical foundations in European societies and political institutions. The project thus aimed at engaging with the legacies of key historical processes such as colonialism, nation-formation and their interrelation within current discourses and policies on 'integration', 'inclusion' and 'social cohesion'. Accordingly, it proposed to 'replace the problematics of empirical testing of racial attitudes and aptitudes with analyses of the body of discourse concerning race and racism' (Goldberg, 1992: xiii). Ultimately, the goal has been to achieve thorough evidence on the current configurations of racism based on a sound understanding of its historical and political foundations.
b) Understanding the logics of institutionalised racism in two key spheres: employment and education
TOLERACE research aimed at unravelling how public policies, institutional bodies and social organisations are framing and tackling racism and discrimination in the spheres of employment and education. In employment, TOLERACE aimed at examining the role of anti-discrimination measures and initiatives within public policies which rationale is centred on ideas of 'employability', 'social competences' and 'normalisation', and their effectiveness in tackling institutionalised racism informing routine practices and everyday discourses on minoritised populations. In education, TOLERACE aimed at exploring paradigmatic cases that illustrate how public policies and bodies (such as state-endorsed institutions, regional and local authorities, and schools), as well as mediation agents (e.g. teachers, social workers, NGO members), are framing and tackling cultural diversity and denunciations of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, particularly in state compulsory schools.
c) Examining the role of the press in framing racism and constructing public issues
TOLERACE pursued the analysis of the role of the national, regional and local press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in (in)visibilising racism. This sub-objective results from the project's understanding that media agents have a central role as producers of meaning and collective representations, within a shared cultural framework.
d) Reframing the debate: the future of an anti-racist agenda?
TOLERACE aimed at producing policy-relevant research by providing clarification of the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings concerning racism and discrimination, as well as religious and ethno-racial equality. Accordingly, a central aim throughout TOLERACE was to engage with a variety of public constituencies (e.g. policy and decision makers, local authorities, social workers, political activists, journalists), building interest and opening up spaces for discussing the project's approach and main findings. More specifically, TOLERACE pursued the (re-)centring of an anti-racist agenda through a critical discussion on the production of research evidence on racism, on the nature of academic advice and its relation with policy-making.
TOLERACE proposes that the persistence of racial discrimination across Europe needs to question existing understandings of racism and anti-racism in academic and political formulations, which are informing inadequate policy interventions. The project thus aimed at understanding the renewal of racism via a comparative and contextualised analysis that considers the links between policy interventions and discursive practices at different levels:
- European Union policy recommendations and monitoring work on racism and discrimination;
- National and regional (in the case of Spain) policies on (anti-)racism and integration, and discourses by policy and decision makers;
- Local discourses and practices of mediation agents in the spheres of employment and education (e.g. social workers, union members, employers, teachers).
Engaging with broader European guidelines and discourses on racism espoused by institutional bodies operating in this area (such as the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the Fundamental Rights Agency), TOLERACE pursued a comparative analysis of seven national contexts: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. In the case of Spain more visibly marked by the regionalisation of policy making and implementation two regional settings were considered: Andalucía and the Basque Country. While the national/regional level of analysis was privileged for the study of public policies and initiatives, the project also engaged with a comparative analysis of case studies aiming to bring about a greater understanding of routine racist structures, processes and practices.
Research combined both an historical approach to understanding racism and its relevance in the formation of European nation states, and a micro view focusing on current policy developments and interventions by mediation agents in two key sectors employment and education. The role of the media in the reproduction of, and challenge to, racism was also considered. The analysis aimed at exploring the existing regimes of denial of racism in the everyday workings of public bodies and civil society organisations.
The national/regional contexts selected constitute an array of varied samples allowing TOLERACE to engage with a diversity of historical, political and societal processes, namely:
a) Historical processes: colonialism and nation and state formation; migration and population movements;
b) The legacies of colonialism: national imaginaries on ´race´;
c) Political traditions: public debate on racism and anti-racist struggles;
d) Policies and initiatives: management of diversity and the fight against racism (including in employment, education and the media);
e) Public debates concerning specific populations (e.g. Islamophobia, anti-Gypsyism, anti-black racism) and the political use of categories (such as 'immigrants' and 'ethnic minorities').
The comparative analytical strategy followed was threefold:
1) Critical analysis of public policies, initiatives and discourses on racism at the European and national/regional levels, considering broader multicultural and intercultural political traditions;
2) Empirical study of local cases focusing on how anti-discrimination and social integration measures in the spheres of employment and education are conceived, institutionalised and regulated at the national/regional level;
3) Analysis of the role of the media in the denunciation and reproduction of racism.
Overall, TOLERACE carried out a critical analysis of policy documents in eight different contexts (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain Andalusia and the Basque Country and United Kingdom), produced by the following public bodies: Denmark - the Ministry for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration and the Danish Institute for Human Rights; France High Authority for the Fight Against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE); Germany Federal Government's Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration and the Federal Anti-discrimination Agency (ADS); Italy National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR); Portugal High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI) and the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination (CICDR); Spain, Andalusia the Government of Andalusia; Spain, the Basque Country Department of Housing and Social Affairs of the Basque Country; United Kingdom - Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Empirical work was carried out via semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions and participatory workshops with over 500 participants. Over 40 newspapers were monitored in all the contexts studied.
Project Results:
TOLERACE research was steered to address six main areas of enquiry:
1) the historicity of (anti-)racism in contemporary Europe;
2) (anti-)racism in contemporary integration policies;
3) employment, racial discrimination and the current focus on 'employability', 'social competences' and 'normalisation';
4) education, cultural difference and the logics of racism;
5) the press, the reproduction and denunciation of racism;
6) the future of anti-racist policies: policy dialogues and recommendations.
1. Understanding racism in contemporary European democracies: the need to acknowledge its historical foundations
Engaging with literature produced mainly in race critical theories, post-colonial studies, and critical discourse analysis, TOLERACE deemed it necessary to overcome the current neglect of the deeply-rooted historical foundations of racism in European societies and political institutions. The initial development of such a conceptual approach was crucial for the critique of hegemonic and enduring conceptions of racism as amounting to individual prejudice and hostile attitudes towards the presence of minoritised populations.
The evasion of history has shaped dominant academic research and political initiatives mainly since the 1940s, evident in the well-known four Statements on Race (1950-1967) sponsored by the UNESCO a project in which prominent scientist from different disciplines participated. The emergent political agenda concerning the eradication of racism mainstreamed in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at providing answers to the perceived crisis of the West and Europe, in the context of the aftermath of two devastating wars, the acknowledgment of the Holocaust, the imminent triumph of anti-colonial political struggles and national liberation projects. However, the so-called 'race question' or 'race relations problem' was often framed as an issue circumscribed to wrong or extremist doctrines and ideas about the inferiority of certain peoples based on the idea of 'race'.
This political and academic approach had a long-lasting impact on current conceptions of 'race', racism and anti-racism; TOLERACE highlights the following:
- Debates on racism tend to evade its embeddedness in the history of Europe and, in particular, fail to consider the close relationship between the formation of national states and the colonial enterprise. A contemporary consequence of this elusion is the debate on the need to stress the 'positive aspects' and 'effects' of colonialism or the different national histories of 'benevolent colonialism', and that usually informs current policy developments (e.g. the idea that certain national societies are more welcoming to different cultures than others);
- The focus on racism as merely amounting to the prejudiced representations of immigrants, minorities and non-Western or non-European cultures has precluded a deeper understanding of this phenomenon that acknowledges the core role of 'race' within ideas about what it means to be European thus hindering the possibility of constructing more equal and just societies. While dominant, the approach to racism as a matter of prejudice has failed to address the historical roots of certain established notions, such as that which sees immigrants and minorities as 'non-assimilable' and 'unwilling to integrate'. These are related to widespread ideas of minorities as a 'threat to national identity and national core values'; Mainstream scientific approaches to combating racism have over-emphasised the narrative of possibility to correct racism via the demystification of prejudices and biased attitudes towards minoritised populations. This has had two main effects: i) the reproduction of a naïf idea of the relationship between academia and policy making, that is, one that sees researchers as seemingly providing neutral evidence for political decisions; ii) the exclusion of an in-depth analysis of the complicit role of the academia in silencing racism as a historical and political process;
- Finally, dominant political and academic debates in Europe have disregarded the long-lasting history of political struggles (such as anti-slavery and anti-colonialism), and have also actively disregarded the contribution of more critical anti-racist activist-intellectuals.
In order to go beyond the shortcomings of mainstream approaches, which broadly fail to engage critically with institutional racism, TOLERACE built on a conception that sees racism as a product of modernity that is currently being re-configured through the interrelation of processes, structures and ideologies that activate and reproduce unequal power relations, thus conditioning access to socio-economic, cultural and political resources (i.e. discrimination) by populations ethnically marked as inferior in relation to ideas and practices of being a European/national citizen. This condition of inferiority is interpreted as the way of being of those marked populations and therefore as somehow 'inherited', though it may be 'corrected' via assimilation/integration. While TOLERACE considers that racism is not an exception of Europe (i.e. it does not only happen in the European territory) it sees it as rooted in Eurocentrism, that is, in a specific theory of history and of human rationality that made possible to talk about Europe and European national-states as forms of political belonging. It is through the contested nature of political belonging (and its surveillance) that racism is being reconfigured in current European liberal democracies.
2. Institutional racism and integration policies: the marginalisation of anti-racism
TOLERACE considered that it is crucial to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which institutional racism (Carmichael and Hamilton, 1967) - beyond the acts and beliefs of specific individuals or groups - shapes everyday conceptions of policy issues and the functioning of public bodies. This requires engaging with racism as a far more complex political phenomenon than the existence of 'wrong' ideas about people seen as 'different' and points to the historical and political roots of naturalised 'hostility' and 'fears'. Institutional racism is thus a core concept helping to think about prejudices and attitudes as representing the tip of the iceberg.
TOLERACE´s analysis of policy discourse and implementation specifically in the spheres of employment and education highlights the need to critically question assumptions behind discourses on integration, social cohesion, interculturality and cultural difference. These discourses, common to all the contexts analysed, hinder the possibility of addressing racism as a core societal problem. Rather, they constantly shift the focus to minoritised populations and their presumed 'deficiencies'. TOLERACE showed that integration policies being implemented in Europe take for granted that: i) a main problem facing societies experiencing demographic change is the inability to assimilate populations understood as 'non-modern' and culturally 'unfit'; ii) the failure to correct minoritised populations' 'cultural backwardness' explains unequal access in key life spheres, such as employment or education.
These assumptions are operationalised through different discursive logics, such as:
- Within an economicist approach to integration, minorities are seen as guest immigrant-workers that have to prove their contribution to the national and regional communities where they live, having to constantly show that they qualify to claim and benefit from the rights consecrated in existing legislation. This operates within a logic that classifies minorities according to their presumed distance to European or national cultural, political norms and values;
- The ideas of 'integration' and 'social cohesion' work within the assumption that there is a clear divide between a unified national society (the 'host society', ethnically unmarked) and the various minority groups (ethnically marked);
- Racism is misrecognised as related to specific 'events' and 'actions' that can be isolated from the general functioning of society, or trivialised as 'hostile' reactions to the different 'other' obliged to show his/her 'willingness to integrate';
- 'Integration' and 'interculturality' are seen as positive approaches to diversity, whereas anti-racism is perceived to have a negative and polarising effect, threatening social cohesion;
- Within the European context, strongly marked by discourses on tolerance and freedom of speech, denunciations of racism are often regarded with suspicion, and the debate is reduced to questions regarding objectivity and intentionality;
- The ineffectiveness of anti-racist and anti-discrimination measures is usually discussed within a patronising discourse that considers minorities as victims who are unaware of their rights, whilst downplaying their experiences resulting from the inadequate responses of public bodies;
- The current prevalence of a comprehensive human rights approach across Europe tends to lump all forms of discrimination together (e.g. based on 'race', gender, sexuality, age, disability and so on), discarding the historical specificities of racism and anti-racist struggles in the context of slavery, imperialism and colonialism.
3. Key issues and findings in the sphere of employment
TOLERACE research focused on analysing how public policies, bodies and social organisations are framing and tackling racism and discrimination in the sphere of employment. The empirical work explored one or two case studies in each national and regional context. The cases chosen refer to populations considered as vulnerable to racial discrimination, or to situations and geographies that had attracted the attention of policy intervention, the media and political discourses.
The limitations of the focus on employability
- Current integration and inclusion policies frame the problem as related to the 'characteristics' of minoritised populations, neglecting a discussion on institutional racism. TOLERACE research shows that the agents in charge of policy implementation (e.g. local authorities, NGOs, local public servants) tend to see their work as aiming at the 'correction' of the perceived deficits (e.g. 'backward' cultural practices, 'passivity', 'unrealistic expectations') that would constrain the integration of minorities and immigrants in the labour market. Consequently, discussions on racism and anti-racist approaches become peripheral or even irrelevant;
- The focus on employability, that is, on ideas such as the 'activation of social competences' and the 'empowerment' of so-called 'vulnerable' populations transform anti-discrimination measures into a question of social assistance;
- The weakening of anti-racist policies and legislation within a strong rhetoric on 'cultural respect´. The tackling of racist structures and practices in recruitment and professional training is replaced by a strong rhetoric on the need to respect cultural difference, diversity and identity. This discourse serves to legitimise racism as the 'unsuccessful inclusion' of immigrants and minorities in the labour market and their 'unfitness' for living among 'us'. Accordingly, conceiving of their 'presence' as mere guest-workers anticipated as temporary is seen as less problematic, because they would not present a 'threat' to the presumed original homogeneity of the 'autochthonous' population and the institutions that are based on that assumption.
A negative representation of anti-racism
- TOLERACE found that most gatekeepers working in the sphere of employment acknowledge the occurrence of prejudices and negative attitudes that may affect social relations in the workplace or recruitment processes. However, racism is not examined as a structural problem and public bodies do not invest in a systematic monitoring of racial discrimination and how it affects the life chances of immigrants and minorities;
- Legalism is a common political approach, especially deployed by public authorities, who claim that existing laws are not discriminatory and that ethnic and racial discrimination is an offense (for instance, in constitutions and penal codes). Thus anti-racism does not qualify as a specific policy strategy. Public authorities tend to see anti-racist approaches as potentially 'disruptive' and, in the end, unnecessary;
- The negative representation of anti-racist policies, movements and struggles is also related to dominant depictions of immigrants and minorities as problematic in the labour market, that is, 'over-sensitive' or 'unwilling to integrate', within the horizon of an (im)possible assimilation. Moreover, prevailing policy interventions stress immigrants and minorities' 'lack of knowledge' of cultural and social codes in the (national) labour market as the main barrier to equality;
- All of the case studies examined in TOLERACE point at an attending understanding which perceives racism as the problem of racist people (whether through delusion or ignorance). This means that policy proposed courses of action point at reforming individuals, rather than social and political transformation.
- Local policy makers and public servants, as well as NGO professionals, often interpret discrimination as something which is self-inflicted and they tend to disregard denunciations of racism.
Case studies
The specific cases analysed reveal the aforementioned logics within policy framings and implementation, which result in the misrecognition of racism and the reproduction of discrimination in the labour market and at work. Empirical research carried out in the cities/regions of Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Coimbra (Portugal), Rioja Alavesa region (Spain), Seville (Spain), El Ejido (Spain), Leicester (UK) and Leeds (UK), illustrate how racism is being naturalised through the emphasis on the presupposed 'deficiencies' of immigrants and minorities described as problematic , and trivialised by virtue of its expressed understanding as the reactions of 'over-sensitive' minoritised populations.
Anti-Roma racism and Islamophobia (case studies in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal and United Kingdom)
- Employment gatekeepers that implement integration policies, which target the Roma and Muslims regard racial discrimination as a rarity and exceptional. Specific anti-racist strategies in the employment sector are generally considered superfluous.
- Muslims and the Roma are perceived as problematic populations, who are 'unwilling' to integrate into the national society, naturalising their perceived need for assimilation.
- In the absence of a sound discussion on the impact of racism in society, ideas about 'cultural difference' and 'religiosity' reproduce the discursive construction of these groups as 'backward' and 'unwilling to integrate' and, at the same time, threats to 'social cohesion'.
- That discrimination occurs is occasionally acknowledged by employment gatekeepers, but liability typically shifts to the minoritised populations, because they are seen as 'over-sensitive' and thus denunciations of racism are regarded with suspicion. Public bodies and social organisations are not held accountable and policy framings are rarely questioned. The presupposed lack of knowledge on the part of minority groups of the 'national cultural codes' in the labour market, and their lack of formal education and skills are seen as the main access barriers to the labour market.
Normalisation policies and immigration: interventions on 'illegality' and 'third-countries immigrant-workers' (case studies in France and Spain Andalusia and the Basque Country)
- Broad-based policy developments and political commentaries are producing an ambivalent discourse on current immigration flows and their impacts on the labour market: either as a problem or an opportunity;
- 'Immigration as an opportunity' considers the 'immigrant-worker' in terms of needs and benefits for the national economy. Public bodies and social organisations produce routine representations that differentiate between the 'good/welcomed' immigrant and the 'problematic and potential criminal/fraudster' immigrant a distinction reinforced also by political initiatives;
- 'Immigration as a problem' perpetuates the idea that the so-called host society naturally and legitimately cannot accept 'all' immigrants;
- The 'immigrant', represented through discretionary and successive stages called generations, is under constant surveillance, especially after 'integration into the host society' seems or has been accomplished;
- Policies related to so-called 'third-country nationals' amplify the European/non-European divide, which is rooted in the overriding idea that non-Europeans are 'unfit' to live according to the standards of national values and identity set by Europeans;
- Racism is downplayed as a natural reaction to difference, somewhat legitimised by the perceived 'contrast' between a nation (homogeneous and democratic) and the 'new habits and customs' brought into European countries by immigrants who may disrupt the way in which institutions work.
4. Key issues and findings in the sphere of education
(Case studies in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom)
In education, TOLERACE researched paradigmatic cases that illustrate how public policies and bodies (such as state-endorsed institutions, regional and local authorities, and schools), as well as mediation agents (for instance, teachers, cultural mediators, social and community workers), are framing and tackling cultural diversity and denunciations of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in state schools. Empirical research was carried out in Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Coimbra (Portugal), Bilbao (Spain), El Ejido (Spain), Seville (Spain), Leeds (UK) and Leicester (UK).
Case studies
The misrecognition of institutionalised racism
- In the various contexts studied, the debate on racism is being downplayed on the basis that it is potentially disrupting for the established status quo and only serves the interests of immigrants and minorities. This view is aiding the misrecognition of racism, particularly in its institutional forms, and prevents measures from being implemented to effectively tackle the long-lasting effects of racism;
- An analysis of the work by European monitoring bodies reveals an inadequate approach to the logics of institutionalised racism, resulting in the reproduction of problematic routine assumptions (racism as reactions to difference, deriving from individual prejudices) and thus ineffective solutions (public awareness as ensuring sufficient change);
- In addition, European bodies working on racism have not been able to develop the necessary mechanisms for the systematic and long-term monitoring of denunciations and responses by national Member States. In cases involving school segregation (for instance, in Portugal and Italy), the TOLERACE research found that even after public denunciations were made and a political commitment to reverse such situations was announced, inter- and intra-school segregation persisted.
Schools and the logics of racism
- Public discourses have often considered education as crucial for the elimination of prejudice. This is grounded on the assumption that discrimination can be prevented merely by challenging the stereotypical views of minoritised populations which prevail in society;
- The case studies reveal that the very existence of discrimination is often played down and that racism is not considered a problem serious enough to be tackled by schools. Accordingly, they did not generally institute mechanisms to deal with cases of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination;
- Moreover, the cases analysed reveal the prevalence of perceptions of immigrants and minorities as cultural and educational deficits, sustained by wider education policies, school guidelines and practices. Intervention often shifts from occurrences of racism to the minoritised pupils and families themselves, who constantly need to show their 'willingness to integrate'. They thus become targets for increased surveillance;
- In the United Kingdom, for instance, Muslim children as young as 5 are being targeted by anti-terrorist measures, under the initiative 'Preventing Violent Extremism' (PREVENT);
- Negative views of minoritised populations are shared among teachers and other staff, and used to rank students according to how closely they are perceived to meet established school expectations in accordance with the implicit notion of the 'ideal' European pupil;
- Minoritised pupils are set up to 'compete' for the position of ideal pupil, even though at the outset most are not given the opportunity to perform well or on a par with other students due to their minority status;
- These types of classificatory practices have an impact on education: they inform academic assessments and future opportunities, as well as political decisions involving funding (including special needs classes and support for language learning), disciplinary procedures and school-parents relationships.
The legitimation of existing school structures, arrangements and practices
- Negative views of minoritised populations are not just a matter of biased prejudices and stereotypes. Rather, by articulating a clear distinction between 'us' and 'them' and conferring legitimacy on 'we Europeans' they help to sustain the existing power relations and validate existing school structures, arrangements and practices;
- The TOLERACE research that engaged with debates on the curriculum, bilingual teaching, and school arrangements for cultural and religious diversity shows how demands by minoritised populations are constructed as problematic, while simultaneously rendering the privileged status of the so-called 'majority' population invisible.
The shortcomings of multicultural and intercultural education
- National and regional authorities have often invested in solutions such as multicultural and intercultural education the former emphasising plurality and the latter dialogue. While distinctions have been made between these approaches, our research shows that both are ambiguous, overemphasise culture and implicitly assume that racism will disappear once the 'other' is known;
- Some interviewees suggested that these approaches conceal assimilation as a policy goal, since they do not actually make use of different cultures and knowledges for the benefit of all;
- Within the political ambiguity concerning the meanings of inter- and multicultural education, the fact that it is not embedded in everyday school practices or canons of knowledge is evident in the persistence of a Eurocentric curricula, as shown in research conducted within the United Kingdom;
- An illustration of current challenges to Eurocentrism can be seen in the debates in France studied within TOLERACE on the teaching of colonialism including slavery which bring these issues into the heart of discussions on racism and anti-racism in education.
5. The monitoring of the press: key findings
Media agents, particularly those working in the press, play a central role as producers of meaning and collective representations within a shared cultural framework. One of the TOLERACE research strands focused on analysing the role of the (national, regional and local) press in framing and constructing public issues concerning ethnically marked populations and in making racism (in)visibile.
Silencing or misrecognising racism
- In the news analysed, TOLERACE identified a mainstream cultural sensibility revealing that serious racism is no longer believed to be present in developed European societies. Thus in reports of specific incidents, racism often tends to be denied or trivialised;
- Only a few news items suggested that structural racism should be considered serious. The silencing of racism or discrimination against immigrants and minorities is often accompanied by softer language, such as 'lacking equality' and 'insufficient integration';
- Broadly speaking, in the news the trivialisation of racism tends to shift from questions of discrimination to issues involving culture and development among immigrants and minorities, who are presented as responsible for social conflicts and inequalities. In sharing this approach, journalists and expert opinions are in fact contributing towards reproducing racism by misrecognising that a problem exists.
Case studies
The Representation of Muslims as a threat to European democracies
- Current representations of Muslims tend to foster moral fears. This is seen in the wider social and political discourses surrounding Muslims, who are represented as fundamentally problematic in Western democratic societies. For instance, in the case of Spain, many news items focused on the construction of mosques as a visible threat to democracy;
- Newspapers in Denmark, Germany and Spain featured a large number of reports focusing on the relationship between Muslims and fundamentalism. Stories fostering hostility often dominated the press coverage of Muslims and Islam, and the analysis showed that most news stories were restricted to certain kinds of topics, such as extremism, terror, and the sharia. The alleged lack of democracy and freedom of speech and the absence of women's rights was also framed as endogenous to Islam;
- Other topics such as the everyday life of the vast majority of Muslims, the value of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims were found to a lesser extent in the newspapers. Thus, while topics and stories that foster moral panic were seen to be newsworthy, those related to the everyday life of Muslims and their struggles against discrimination were not;
- In Germany and the UK, TOLERACE found a significant number of news items that focused on gender-related issues, such as women's rights and 'forced marriages'. Muslim men, often portrayed as the violent and barbaric aggressors based on assumptions of a patriarchal-fundamentalist mentality, are deemed responsible for extreme violent behaviour (such as humiliating, beating, and killing women);
- Muslim women are represented as powerless and voiceless victims in urgent need of empowerment and emancipation. Their dramatic fate is reduced to the assumed 'backward traditions' of their parents' culture and religion;
- In the UK, aside from world news, the press focused strongly on the themes of the war on terror and fundamentalism. The research found a clear divide between editorial lines in the tabloid newspapers based on speculation, sensationalism, Islamophobia, accusatory and inflammatory commentary (for instance, reinforcing the idea of Muslims as threats to British nationhood and British freedoms), and the broadsheet newspapers, which attempted to represent a more balanced and impartial account of events by offering a diversity of perspectives, including those from the perspective of Muslim populations and their representatives.
The Roma as victims of (self-)exclusion
- TOLERACE found that, in the press, the Roma were framed either as a problem or as victims. Their characterisation as a problem follows a long-lasting pattern in the relationship between Roma and non-Roma, while their depiction as victims is relatively recent;
- Allusions to their precarious living conditions, unstable or non-existent work opportunities, school absenteeism and dropout rates, criminality, and poor housing conditions were recurrent themes in most newspapers. The main social problem addressed by the press was the process of ghettoization, namely Roma communities concentrated in specific neighbourhoods and schools;
- The research revealed an ambivalent discourse in the news on processes of exclusion and discrimination directed against the Roma, especially in education or housing. On the one hand, discrimination is denounced, giving a voice to the representatives of Roma associations and pointing out the state's responsibilities. On the other hand, the representation of the Roma as culturally unfit and unwilling to integrate is constantly emphasised, therefore holding this group accountable for its own exclusion. Most of the news analysed in the newspapers published in the Basque Country (Spain) and in Portugal reflects this discursive ambivalence.
6. The future of anti-racist policies: recommendations emerging from joint work between academics, policy makers and civil society representatives
The TOLERACE project has indicated four key aspects that merit clarification concerning the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings associated with anti-racism, anti-discrimination and ethno-racial equality: i) the dominant understanding of racism that has informed public policies and the work of monitoring agencies; ii) the relationship between the mainstream framing of integration or inclusion policies and the reproduction of racism; iii) the increasing relevance, within policy implementation, of representations of minoritised populations as 'problematic' and 'unwilling to integrate'; iv) the links between these negative images and the re-configuration of exclusionary ideas and practices of European and national political belonging. Overall, the research indicates that it is imperative that public policies address the institutionalisation of racism in Europe, moving beyond understanding the phenomenon as amounting to extreme political ideologies or bigoted attitudes. The sections below present the main recommendations emerging from the TOLERACE research findings, as well as the joint dialogue with participants at the workshops.
I) Equality/monitoring bodies and legal framework
European level
TOLERACE considers that it is imperative to effectively monitor the implementation of EU anti-discrimination directives in the different Member States. Additionally, policy strategies should tackle institutionalised racism, moving beyond an approach based on the 'awareness' of rights on the part of minoritised populations towards a clear political investment in the status of equality bodies for the protection of rights, thus allowing for a more systematic and in-depth monitoring of institutional racism.
- Apply existing laws and ratified conventions and treaties that protect the rights of minoritised populations (for example, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities), and develop accountability mechanisms to ensure compliance by EU Member States;
- Regularly promote a broader debate at national level on the data for patterns of discrimination and segregation collected by European monitoring bodies, with the involvement of the various representatives of anti-racist organisations, grassroots associations, academics and public authorities;
- Ensure that anti-racist public policies consider the common yet shifting patterns of discrimination, while also engaging with the specific contours of racism in contemporary Europe for instance, Islamophobia and anti-Gypsyism (e.g. common discourses on the 'Muslim woman' and the 'Roma woman' that reveal a historical pattern to the construction of the inferiority of non-white women).
National level
TOLERACE findings indicate that it is imperative to guarantee the independence of the specialist bodies in charge of monitoring and combating racism and racial discrimination. Political independence from state authorities is crucial to collecting and providing reliable and systematic data, as well as effectively supporting the victims.
- Independently monitor the national implementation of European directives on racism and related discrimination;
- Guarantee the independent functioning of equality bodies, their high profile status, the transparency of the processes and the outcomes of denunciations;
- Independently analyse the impact of national measures and policy initiatives on anti-discrimination;
- Assess the effects of public policies for religious and ethno-racial equality in key areas such as education (including higher education), employment, health and housing, via regular monitoring at state and sector levels;
- Promote the effective participation of the various representatives of anti-racist organisations, grassroots associations, academics and national/local public authorities in the drafting of key policy documents and strategies, in addition to the consultation processes already in place.
II) Employment: (re-)centre anti-racism in policy design and encourage diversity in the workplace
TOLERACE recommends a comprehensive assessment of dominant policy strategies, particularly those focusing on the 'activation of social competences' and 'employability'. These tend to reproduce an individual-centred approach that regards minoritised populations as problematic, naturalising exclusion while side-lining discrimination from the labour market. Research findings also indicate the need to encourage diversity and anti-discrimination as social values in the workplace, both in the state and private sectors.
- Foster mechanisms that combat racism in the selection of applicants, professional advancement and career promotion;
- Tackle routine racist practices in the workplace that prevent existing legislation and policy recommendations from being fully implemented, both in the state and the private sector;
- Create and improve existing protocols for public inspection in order to prevent discrimination and to safeguard workers' rights;
- Formulate anti-racist campaigns that address questions related to the persistence of structural discrimination, moving beyond a strategy that merely aims to create 'awareness' of the problem among the 'majority population';
- Increase the amount and quality of critical training on institutional racism and anti-racism, mobilising the public sectors and intermediate agents, such as trade unions and professional associations;
- Create incentives for anti-racist programmes in the private sector via corporate social responsibility measures;
- Develop and implement a system for monitoring discrimination in collaboration with workers' unions and other organisations;
- Improve and speed up the process of validating academic qualifications (degrees, diplomas and certificates) and previous professional experience, and promote requalification programmes within an anti-discrimination strategy;
- Promote an informed debate on affirmative action policies, considering experiences in this field in other contexts and related patterns of discrimination, such as gender.
III) Education: commit to anti-racism in education and to changing the canons of knowledge in schools
TOLERACE recommends the development of a broader multi-level anti-racist strategy (at national, regional and local levels) that monitors and tackles inequalities in compulsory, further and higher education. Research findings point to an urgent need to develop systemic and systematic measures to fight racism in education systems that extend beyond culturalist discourses and initiatives (such as music or gastronomy festivals) which merely result in the exoticisation of minorities.
- Effectively include positive ideas about cultural and religious diversity in Europe, as well as anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, in regular school activities, promoting informed debate amongst students and teachers on the history of minoritised populations and their historical contributions to European societies and identities;
- Mainstream debates and initiatives in this field, within an approach that sees diversity, multiculturalism and interculturality as related to changes in social and political imaginaries rather than simply a matter that concerns minoritised populations;
- Promote significant changes to existing canons of knowledge in schools challenging Eurocentrism, the lack of representation and the misrepresentation of minoritised populations in the curricula and textbooks for different subjects building strategies for participatory consultation and long-term monitoring of change;
- Foster an anti-racist approach to education that informs school structures and everyday pedagogical practices, and create in-school mechanisms to identify and tackle situations of ethno-racial and religious discrimination;
- Develop a systemic approach to cases of school selection and segregation that considers them within wider patterns of spatial and socioeconomic segregation - increasing under current arrangements that promote free choice of schools;
- Mainstream the discussion and understanding of (anti-)racism by organising debates at national and local level, prioritising the critical perspectives of grassroots associations and political activists that engage with, rather than eschew, the sensitive nature of racism in the contemporary political context;
- Build a sustainable debate outside school communities that extends beyond the pragmatics of everyday teaching and learning and involves representatives of institutional bodies, third-sector organisations and grassroots movements.
IV) The media: systematic and consistent monitoring of racism in the press
- Construct a positive view of diversity by drawing on a diverse workforce at all levels (not just in visible positions, such as reporters and presenters);
- Promote regular inquiries into racism in the media, making the results publicly available and encouraging accountability;
- Include anti-racism as a key issue in the codes of ethics for the press, and penalise and delegitimise hate speech on the basis of existing legislation and recommendations, fostering responsible practices (for example, in public broadcasting);
- Encourage anti-racist training for journalists, and their interest in learning other languages and cultures;
- Promote more analytical insight in news reports and include the views of independent anti-racist, human rights and grassroots association representatives. In high profile cases of racism, encourage the media's role to investigate and denounce similar situations, as well as inform the public about existing mechanisms and legislation to combat this;
- Establish a specific monitoring service for the blogosphere and social networks, as well as the comments sections of online newspapers, improving the denunciation mechanisms used by the public.
Potential Impact:
TOLERACE envisaged its commitment to policy-relevant research on the grounds of providing clarification of the contexts that harbour certain political options and prevalent policy framings associated with anti-racism, anti-discrimination and ethno-racial equality. Accordingly, the project carried out a series of activities and developed different dissemination tools targeting a wide range of audiences working directly or indirectly with the issues of anti-racism and anti-discrimination, namely: policy makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, political activists, trade union representatives, journalists, school teachers, academics, members of grassroots associations, NGOs professionals and members of faith associations.
KEY POLICY-RELEVANT DISSEMINATION TOOLS
BOOKLET Understanding the logics of racism in contemporary Europe (48 pages; printed and online versions, in English, Portuguese and Spanish) presents the TOLERACE project's approach, key findings and recommendations for understanding the process of institutionalisation of racism in contemporary European contexts and the marginalisation of anti-racist policies. The booklet targets policy and decision-makers at European, national and local level, national and local government practitioners, NGOs professionals, employment and education gatekeepers, political activists, academics and journalists. The booklet is also envisioned as a document providing guidelines for the debate on racism and anti-racism within public bodies working on related issues and in secondary and higher education.
It is divided into six sections:
(i) Policy and research context;
(ii) Key questions for understanding racism in contemporary European democracies;
(iii) Key issues and findings in employment;
(iv) Key issues and findings in education;
(v) Monitoring the press: key findings;
(vi) Recommendations.
It also includes a methodological annex. The booklet was presented at the TOLERACE project's final conference held in Lisbon. The digital version is available at the project's webpage:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_booklet_en.pdf
Online DATABASE monitoring the press, available at the project's webpage: http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/monitoring
This database results from the monitoring of newspapers (both print and online) carried out within the TOLERACE research project in seven European contexts: Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France and UK. The database provides information of the analysis of news items, focusing on the role of the press in framing and constructing issues concerning ethnically marked populations and, in particular, how the press can be seen to contribute towards shaping the semantics of (anti)racism in contemporary Europe.
The anti-racist DICTIONARY online
Throughout the project, it became evident that different political traditions and academic approaches have shaped our understandings of racism and anti-racism in significant ways. TOLERACE's on-going dialogue with non-academic audiences has lead to the commitment of creating an on-line dictionary on (anti-)racism that will allow to present the project's conceptual approach and to help open up the debate. The dictionary is expected to be launched by the end of 2013, and will be made available in the project's website in English and Portuguese.
Policy Brief
A policy brief on Discourses and Public Policies on Racism and Anti-racism in Europe was published online in July 2012, detailing the project's approach and main findings of the analysis of key national and regional public bodies, political and academic discourse and policy documents on anti-racism, immigration and integration, in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_policybrief_final.pdf
Flyer
When the project started, a flyer was produced to present TOLERACE's identity, funding information, research aims, thematic research fields, target audiences and expected results.
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE/media/TOLERACE_flyer_final.pdf
KEY TOLERACE DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES
TOLERACE participatory workshops: TOLERACE organised 17 participatory workshops in the different national and regional contexts, involving a total of 166 participants, to discuss the academic findings and propose policy recommendations. Participants included: policy and decision-makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, members of local associations, NGOs professionals, political activists, academics, school teachers, trade union representatives and journalists. The workshops constituted a crucial endeavour for the presentation and discussion of the TOLERACE's approach and main findings, helping to map out the difficulties involved in discussing racism in contemporary European contexts, and to propose a way forward by identifying approaches and key areas in which a sound debate on anti-racism can be constructed.
Policy dialogue with the European Parliament's Intergroup on Anti-Racism and Diversity
The project's consortium considered it of great relevance to engage in a policy dialogue with the European Parliament's Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup. Consequently, the coordinating team sent a letter followed by a series of questions that the TOLERACE consortium would like to pose to the intergroup and the Booklet with the project's approach, main findings and recommendations to Ms Emine Bozkurt, Chairperson of the Intergroup since 2009. The TOLERACE consortium proposed the possibility of a videoconference to discuss the project's findings and recommendations, or of organising a meeting in Brussels with some members of the intergroup.
TOLERACE posed the following four questions concerning the project's main findings:
1) What measures are being taken to guarantee the independent functioning of equality bodies in Member States, their high profile status, the transparency of the processes and the outcomes of denunciations?
2) How is he European Union ensuring the effective implementation of existing European anti-discrimination directives especially in the sphere of employment , as well as ratified conventions and treaties that protect the rights of minoritised populations and tackle discriminatory and racist institutionalised practices?
3) Considering the lack of a comprehensive anti-racist and anti-discrimination strategy and EU directive for the sphere of education, what measures are being taken to combat the enduring problem of ethno-racial segregation in schools (especially considering the promotion of measures for 'school choice' in a number of European contexts), the lack of proper recognition of non-European languages in education systems and the pervasiveness of Eurocentric curricula and textbooks that represent minoritised pupils and their families as culturally deficient and non-historical subjects?
4) What are the specific monitoring tools aimed at ensuring the implementation of regular inquiries into racism in the media, the blogosphere and social networks, as well as at making the results publicly available and encouraging accountability for offensive and stereotypical representations of minoritised populations?
The future of an anti-racist agenda: better horizons?
TOLERACE research has engaged in dialogue with policy-makers, academia, political activists and stakeholders at local, regional and national levels, allowing it to identify the lasting patterns of insufficient problem-framing in public policies and academic debate. Findings have contributed to map out the difficulties in discussing racism in contemporary European contexts, as well as to propose a way forward by identifying approaches and key areas in which a sound debate on anti-racism can be constructed. In particular, contemporary movements for the memorialisation of slavery and anti-colonial struggles are helping to rethink historical contexts and legacies in the current problematic framework of discussing and challenging racism in the everyday functioning of liberal-democratic institutions.
TOLERACE aims to continue the dialogue with policy and decision-makers, representatives of regional and local authorities, members of grassroots and local associations, political activists, academics, school teachers, trade union's representatives and journalists. The maintenance and future update of the TOLERACE webpage is intended as a resource that will allow interested parties in making use of its key findings and of the dissemination materials produced beyond the duration of the project.
List of Websites:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/TOLERACE