The International Day for the Elimination of Racism marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa when police opened fire on hundreds of South Africans protesting against Apartheid's passbook laws, killing 67 and wounding 186. Every year we join friends and allies around the world to mark this day and to speak the truth about racism.
We stand in solidarity with the courageous leadership demonstrated by Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, most recently evident in the Idle No More movement. We also recognize that Idle No More is one mobilization amongst centuries of ongoing Indigenous resistance against colonialism.
This country is founded on the exploitation and marginalization of racialized communities, including dispossession and displacement of Indigenous nations, theft of resources from the global South, as well as the enslavement, exclusion and exploitation of diverse communities of colour. This country is marked by the forced confinement of Indigenous children in residential schools and the internment of Japanese-Canadian children in camps. Today we see the same logic resulting in Indigenous children being forcibly apprehended from their families and refugee children being incarcerated and facing mandatory detention.
The site for the Vancouver local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.