Which is the least racist country in the world?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (185 of them)
erm...yes and yes I guess. [scratches head]

Omar, Thursday, 4 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I hear that the Quebecois are very anti-Semitic, though otherwise tolerant

No more anti-Semitic than the rest of Canada. That bull was started mostly by Mordecai Richler, a notorious French Quebecer-hater who based his claim on a study about anti-semitism that has been widely discredited - the questions were phrased very differently in french and in english, and the discrepancies between the answers of french and english respondents were used as a scientific "proof" that Quebecers hated Jews.

Patrick, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yeah NZ has the Treaty of Waitangi, but its not really being fulfilled. What happened to Maori sovereignty?

BTW, most New Zealanders only have a superficial interest in Maori culture, their "interest" in Maori culture extends about as far as seeing the haka performed at a rugby match. as for a genuine interest, you wanna see the amount of NZers who complain about the amount of Maori language on TV and the radio. Maori language shows on tele = about one, people who complain that "it shouldn't be on tv cos i can't understand it" = heaps.

peoples personal attitudes towards the Maori here are pretty appalling, my dad isn't the only NZer who is always complaining about the "bloody dole-bludging Maoris", and i've heard the story a zillion times about "they shouldn't be given land back, we paid for it fair and square, and they wouldn't put it to any good use anyway".

oh and heaps of NZers hate Asians too.

di, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

one month passes...
Well I don't know where you are from in New Zealand?? but I don't want to go there!! Because it isn't nothing like that where I'm from!!!! I'm maori and I have always got along with peope of all diffient colors in NZ and I know that things aren't perfect in NZ but I think that we are one of the few places in the world that is trying the best we can to sort it all out. I think you should travel around for a few years and it might open up your eyes to how good the race issue really is in NZ. I went to UNI for free because I'm Moari and now I'm a lawer in London thanks to mostly middle class white peoples tax money!!!!!! I think that would be unheard of in most other places. I think NZ still has a lot to work on but the changes that have taken place over the last 15 years have been great!!!! And I KNOW that many Maori people are starting to feel that NZ is their home again. Thanks for giving me space to sound off. And lets talk about some of the GOOD things that are happening in NZ rather than moaning about things!!!!! It could BE A LOT WORSE. PEACE lucky hands

lucky hands, Thursday, 22 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I guess people will always be racists (All it takes is one rotten potato (not a great comparison but... I think Canada is less racist than a lot of places. We are the melting pot of the world and I'm happy to say, for one I'm NOT a racist. If I don't get along with someone, it isn't because of Race Religion or Color of their skin. It's because of personality clashes. I would like nothing better on earth than having all people treated like human beings and all abuse in every shape and form STOPPED in it's tracks. Wars should stop worldwide and everyone just get along together. We are going to need each other to accomplish this. Gale

Gale Deslongchamps, Saturday, 24 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Gale, techinically we're not a Melting Pot at all. That term is more commonly used to describe the US and their way of incorporating other cultures into a relatively homogenous American soup.

I believe the Canadian equivalent term, as it was lobbed at me in public school at least, is Cultural Mosaic, because we're more apt to have individuals and cultures remaining "as is" within the whole.

In theory that is.

Kim, Saturday, 24 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Re: the Netherlands, I echo Omar's observations. 'Tolerance' is held up as a Dutch national virtue - there is even a statue to it in Hilversum - but too often it has a self-congratulary, superficial, cosmetic quality. A convenient carpet underwhich vast amounts of intolerence get swept. The peculiar Dutch 'pillar system' of virtual voluntary apartheid (a Dutch word), in which Protestants, Catholics, Socialists + Liberals lived alongside each other in otherwise completely seperate communities (hospitals, schools, social clubs, newspapers, TV stations etc) only really began to breakdown in the '60s. 'Tolerance' then meant agreeing to differ, finding a national modus operandi in which a otherwise deeply divided society could function without friction. But telling an ethnic minority they are 'tolerated' - reaction of many here to Muslims post- 9/11 - is patronising as f**k when they've been born and raised in the Netherlands. As a white European foreigner myself I've found Dutch 'tolerance' can wear pretty thin.

stevo, Saturday, 24 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Frankly that is how i feel about Canada ,

anthony, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I agree about the use of the word 'tolerance': 'oh, we'll allow it and feel good about ourselves for allowing it'.

But as to non-racist countries, I really can't answer. It is - and SO isn't - Britain. The urban areas are pretty good. Problem is every country has a redneck zone, and rednecks are threatened by anything 'different'.

suzy, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I suppose I'm a racist then? *sigh* No wonder I'm just a fringe contributor these days.

However, I think we can all agree now it isn't in Scandinavia.

Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hmmm. I wonder which country has the fewest amount of people, the least amount of culture and the furthest contact from the rest of the world. That's the one, whichever one it is.

Nude Spock, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Thanks Kim you are right, and I am glad you explained it. Have a good night :) Gale

Gale Deslongchamps, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Did someone upthread say Antartica? I think that's Nude Spock's answer here.

Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yeah, but Antarctica is all white.

Kerry, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Exactly, Kerry. I don't agree with Nude Spock at all - I was humouring him.

Robin Carmody, Thursday, 29 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

three years pass...
"I always hear from my Swedish friends how horrible America is about racism and how great Sweden is because racism doesn't exist. *slap* Because 99.5% of the population is SWEDISH maybe??? OK, thats all."

You couldnt possibly be more wrong. I dont think there is any other country in Europe who has had more immigration than Sweden when you put it against the number of people who live there(9 million).

Swedes being awfully politically correct I think it could be called one of the least racist countries in the world.

Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't believe someone said Australia.

oops (Oops), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Germany

feminazi (feminazi), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:23 (nineteen years ago) link

But Lovelace, it seems like Scandinavians in general are only just now really getting tested by immigration from very culturally-different sources; over the past few decades that influx seems to have sparked plenty of tension and political reaction and rightward drifts. Sometimes the places that are most tolerant in principle have the most trouble being that way in practice, since the people they're meant to be tolerant toward may not be all that progressive themselves. Not that I've been up there or know anything definitive about it, but I get the feeling that the ball is still up in the air for how Scandinavians will wind up dealing with this.

nabiscothingy, Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

NB in a stupid conversation with Robert Lowell's weirdo son I said pretty much that, and then he said I must be a racist for liking Scandinavian-style democratic-socialism over actual hardcore socialism. (By way of context: his solution to all Middle-East problems would be the establishment of a pan-Arab socialist nation.)

nabiscothingy, Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:40 (nineteen years ago) link

This is tricky. Are we measuring in racist-per-capita or Gross National Racism?

The Father of Honky-Crunk (Matt Chesnut), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link

The nineties was the decade of racism in Sweden. It's better now.

feminazi (feminazi), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:47 (nineteen years ago) link

xpost

For gross national racism, it might be Singapore, yet for racism per capita, Singapore may be among the leaders.

geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:49 (nineteen years ago) link

How racist is Switzerland?

Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link

I've spent most of my life in the US, travelled to Czechoslovakia, Russia, Austria, Spain, Belize, India, and New Zealand - from that limited personal experience, I gotta say New Zealand gets my vote.

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Much of Africa would be great about this if it weren't for other, nearby Africans.

nabiscothingy, Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Nabisco: I'm only speaking of Sweden. Norway and Denmark hasnt had as much immigration(yet, they've had a considerable amount) and those countries are less tolerant than Sweden, especially Denmark(and let's not even begin discussing our other neighbour, Finland!). Obviously there are tensions between certain immigrant groups, mainly from muslim countries, and Swedes, and problems with unexployment among immigrants but I can assure you when it comes to tolerance Swedes are better at it than most other European countries.

My parents came to Sweden in 1976, before Sweden was a multicultural country, and in their opinion Sweden is more tolerant today, although they didnt have any considerable problems back then either.

Lovelace (Lovelace), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link

from when i spent time there (10 years ago), france was pretty racist esp. towards arabs.

Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 9 June 2005 17:01 (nineteen years ago) link

The dynamic between the French and Arabs + west Africans is kinda visually analogous to the US city dynamic between white and really-low-income black, but in sentiment I get the feeling it's much worse -- especially given France's much deeper dedication toward a national identity and culture.

The interesting thing about Scandinavia and immigration is that more so than gut-level "racism" it becomes this politicized soul-searching tolerance-test -- cf Norway seemed to have a really hard time reconciling its cultural tolerance with the practice of arranged marriages of pre-teen girls in some immigrant cultures.

nabiscothingy, Thursday, 9 June 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link

New Zealand.

moley, Thursday, 9 June 2005 21:35 (nineteen years ago) link

i just watched an interesting documentary on arabs in France, well, really, Muslims in France. Didn't seem good

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 9 June 2005 21:43 (nineteen years ago) link

This may not be an answer to the actual question, but I'd say that the U.S. is the best place in the world to be a black person.

I read this comment upthread and I can't stop laughing. Surely this was an attempt at irony.

J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 10 June 2005 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Antarctica

Amon (eman), Friday, 10 June 2005 02:11 (nineteen years ago) link

not a country.

oops (Oops), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:10 (nineteen years ago) link

/po' faced pedant

oops (Oops), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Belgium.

Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, I thought it said "raciest".

Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:12 (nineteen years ago) link

xxpost - Atlantis

Amon (eman), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:12 (nineteen years ago) link

or Antarctica (did someone say that upthread?)

Amon (eman), Friday, 10 June 2005 03:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Germany

I'm not convinced. My girlfriend lived there studying for a year in a fairly iberal small university city (Frieburg) and said the amount of casual asumptions made by locals about people purely from their appearance was shocking.

Without wanting to trivialise the debate, she said that enough people just stared at her for minutes just because she had ginger hair and wore a red coat!

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 10 June 2005 09:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Belgium

Vlaams Blok abyone?

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Friday, 10 June 2005 09:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't believe someone said Australia.

OK I gotta bite this. Oops, what prompts this comment? I know our refugee track record recently is poor, and I know our Aboriginal problem is terrible, but I like to think broadly speaking we're a reasonably tolerant nation.

After all we're based on immgration, and we dont have a slave history! OK, wow, now Im going to get shit for this comment I guess.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Er by "Aboriginal problem" I mean how whites regard the native population, not that they are a "problem" obviously yeesh. I have aboriginal family members.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:24 (nineteen years ago) link

I think most people outside Australia believe that, in the past perhaps, it was somewhat errrrrrrrrrrr problematic becoming an Australian citizen if you weren't white. Maybe we're wrong.

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Friday, 10 June 2005 10:58 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry trayce, oz does have a bit of a pr problem there. rabbit proof fence!

N_RQ, Friday, 10 June 2005 11:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Australia had a whites-only immigration policy into the seventies, aboriginals didn't get the vote until 1967...

I'd say Australia is pretty racist once you get out of the middle class urban enclaves. What about the huge amount of anti-Indonesian outpouring right now on account the Corby case?

Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:10 (nineteen years ago) link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4074084.stm

Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah fair point, I like to think Aus is tolerant and multicultural when I compare it to the UK and US but the native population are really dealt a bad hand, and that Corby thing and how "middle Australia" percieves Indonesia is disgusting. That said, the media have a LOT to answer for in that regard.

Trayce (trayce), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, but the fact that the media can whip up a xenophobic storm so easily... I'm an Australian living in Europe, and when I go back to Australia sometimes I'm astonished by the totally blatant racism you come across once you step outside the inner city and the middle class suburbs. Although maybe people in Europe are no less racist, just a little bit more circumspect about it...

Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link

I can only speak for myself when I say that when I think of countries that I don't consider particularly racist then Australia is not exactly at the forefront of my thoughts

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.infonexus.com/respek-knuckles.gif

xpost

Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Monday, 24 April 2006 18:47 (eighteen years ago) link

i'm just disappointed that nobody just up and said "MY COUNTRY! MY COUNTRY!". if we all think are countries are such racist hellholes are we just letting ourselves off the hook? setting our standards low?

DEEDS NOT WORDS (vahid), Monday, 24 April 2006 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I found out today that the Respek Knuckles thing is actually by one of the brothers who does Homestar Runner.

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Monday, 24 April 2006 18:56 (eighteen years ago) link

whole world in totally racist SHOCKAH

didn't you guys learn anything from "Crash"?

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 April 2006 19:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I learned a good joke about latinos

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Monday, 24 April 2006 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link

yes, but not what I was supposed to.

remy (x Jeremy), Monday, 24 April 2006 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link

TOMBOT, please tell your latino joke.

Good Dog (Good Dog), Monday, 24 April 2006 20:11 (eighteen years ago) link

a few months ago i was in hamilton and i met some british guy who had been living in nz for a few years. he told me that he loved new zealand but he thought he'd seen more racism here than in england. "yeah?" i asked him, and he went into this big spiel about how racist it is that new zealand "gives" Maori people "special" rights. i tried to re-educate him, but to no avail.

that totally doesn't answer the question, but i just thought it was a somewhat related anecdote.

awesome is as awesome does (lucylurex), Monday, 24 April 2006 23:24 (eighteen years ago) link

I hate when people ignore 5 year old posts and just write whatever they want - rigid thread enforcement is the bestest.

timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 00:58 (eighteen years ago) link

sorry

awesome is as awesome does (lucylurex), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 21:49 (eighteen years ago) link

I think it's also important here to differentiate between countries where there are the largest number of people with racist attitudes about 'others' and those where the effects of that racism are worse, more protracted or more insuperable than in others even if their global numbers might be lower.

M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 21:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Go to this URL http://www.billingsgazette.net/ and at the bottom click on the Renaming Squaw Creek Road hits roadblock. Read the comments about the article. Also read the comments about the article Billings woman goes to Mexico to reunite with deported husband
Remember these are postings with out giving real names. The racism is so inbreed and underhanded to make one sick. Many of those claiming to be Native Americans are white racist making fun of the issue. I live in Montana and found your thread trying to see if there is a more non-racist area in the world. I am old and tired...time for the monastery?

Old Asain Warrior, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 03:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Old Asain Warrior just because you don't live in Montana any longer doesn't mean everyone there isn't racist. My grandmother Nancy Mulroon lives in Butte, MO and she doesn't like non-American blacks or Jordanian. Why do you claim your country is not the best? American isn't made up of internet comments for people. Maybe after looking at the information you will come to the realize it is you who is the actual racist after all.

ath (ath), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 03:21 (eighteen years ago) link

ath otn

estela (estela), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 03:39 (eighteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.