Ethnic identity: the cause of joyfulness or sorrow.
Student: Fiordilino Milena. Teacher: Saubidet Stella. Subject: Language and Written Expression IV. Institution: I.S.F.D. Nยบ41.
INTRODUCTION
Belonging to a social group may have positive or negative results. In a group, its members share similar characteristics, preferences, interests and even cultural ties. There is a deep feeling of unity and familiarity that can only be constructed among those members. However, there have always been people who look at these groups and laugh in their faces because of several motives: colour of their skin, clothes they wear, music they listen, political interests, culture they belong to, languages they speak, among many others. Throughout history, inequality has been strongly ingrained in people’s soul hurting the otherness without even caring about the negative impact on their subjectivity. Those whose rights have been violated feel a strong sense of resentment. Consequently, the United Nations adopted a document that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the most universal human rights document in operation. Its thirty articles ensure that everyone has to be treated equally and fairly in every nation of every continent. However, even though laws ensure that ethnic groups have to be treated with respect and give emphasis on fundamental rights that protect them, everyday events show that these minorities still suffer from discrimination.
Ethnicity is the state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition and rights that defend its members from any kind of violence. An individual learns a language, social norms, customs and assimilates into a culture to belong to an ethnic group in a specific area. In other words, there are several characteristics shared by its members: ● a common proper name; ● common religion; ● customs and language; ● community with the same interests and feelings; ● a shared sense of common origins or ancestry; ● a common geographic origin. Members of ethnic minorities are entitled to the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on equal terms with others in society, without discrimination of any kind. The human rights of ethnic minorities are explicitly set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights promoted in 1948, the International Covenants, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities and other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations. (PDHRE) The following articles belong to the universal declaration of human rights: - “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (...)”. (Article 1). - “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms (...), without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (...)country or territory to which a person belongs (...).” (Article 2). - “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” (Article 6). - “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.” (Article 7). - “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (...)” (Article 18). These human rights exalt the fundamental concepts of equality, freedom, justice and peace in the world. Nevertheless, the actual situation in the world is far distant from the ideals envisioned in the Declaration. Ethnic minorities have been protected from 1948; however, they are still the focus of discrimination throughout the world. One person tends to be treated less favourably than others in a foreign country . A typical example of this would be stopping a member of an ethnic minority on suspicion of committing an offence solely or mainly because they are a member of that ethnic minority. In most European countries, new migrants often work in insecure or even exploitative conditions, and in low-paid jobs that the native-born population may deem too lowly to perform(...). We do know that in the UK there is a 12% employment gap between white British and ethnic minority people. This amounts to around 500,000 “missing” workers in the UK labour market. Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show a jobless rate of 45% in 2013 for young black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers, with a figure of 19% for white people. (Khan O., 2015, Ethnic inequality is widespread and a drag on the global economy, The Guardian). This shows that there is a link between ethnicity and occupation, with certain jobs not only viewed as low status, but also lower paid and with fewer rewards. Similarly, even though America is known as ‘nation of immigrants’ or ‘ the melting-pot’, minority groups are not treated equally. There is often direct or indirect discrimination against immigrants. Direct discrimination occurs if a person or a group is treated unfavourably because of their immigrant background. The second refers to a situation where equal treatment has the effect of disadvantaging immigrants. One example is a situation where a test asks for very specific knowledge about the host country that immigrants will typically not have, even though such knowledge is not associated with the job. Hence, discrimination violates the fundamental human right of equal treatment which is established, among others, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
Many gifted singers make use of their incredible skills to compose songs with implicit messages connected to atrocious things people have to face as a result of
discrimination. One singer is Bono with the song ‘Where the streets have no names’. This shows the cruel situation in Ireland and Northern Ireland where cities are divided between poor and rich citizens, Catholics and Protestants, ethnic minority groups, among others. Its implicit message here is that anyone can guess people’s religion, wealth and beliefs by knowing which street they live on. Another singer is Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner known as Sting who wrote ‘They dance Alone’ in the 1980’s. This song makes reference to the Pinochet regime that took place in Chile. General Pinochet seized power in 1973, in a bloody military coup that followed many months of political unrest and economic chaos. During his rule, more than 3,200 Pinochet opponents were executed, disappeared, detained, tortured or exiled. The press was censored, and labor strikes and unions were banned. The song describes the poor women dancing alone in front of government buildings with pictures of their husbands, fathers, brothers or sons. Another of his songs is called ‘An englishman in New York’ written with the intention of emphasizing that minority groups suffer from discrimination in a foreign country. As the song shows “I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien”; “It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile”; among other phrases. Clearly, singers can express what they think about certain unfair topics through their musical compositions.
CONCLUSION In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were promoted in order to give exploited people a horizon of hope in such a cruel world. Many things have changed, many are still changing, and there have been great improvements in promoting respect for people’s rights and freedoms. Nevertheless, several minority groups are still discriminated for their cultures and characteristics that differentiate them from the rest of the citizens who live in a particular nation. Some people consider these characteristics are synonyms of inferiority, incapacity, subordinacy, dependence, imperfection, poverty, etc. that lead them to take advantages of their superior position. This results, for instance, in labour exploitation. The declaration of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities expresses in its first two articles the following: States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity(...) Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities( …) have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.... (Articles 1, 2) Eventually, the epilogue of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a good start to reflect on the way in which humanity can contribute in order to make this world a better place to live: “The time is now for all men and women to work shoulder to
shoulder for peace and freedom and against racial, religious and ethnic hatred. The prize is a world of peace and sanity where the pursuit of happiness is possible.� (UDHR)
BIBLIOGRAPHY -
Human Rights and Ethnicity, The People's Movement for Human Rights Education, New York, https://www.pdhre.org/rights/minorities.html. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN, 1948.
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Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, UN, 1992. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Minorities.aspx Khan O., 2015, Ethnic inequality is widespread and a drag on the global economy, The Guardian. Available on: https://www.theguardian.com/publicleaders-network/2015/jan/20/ethnic-inequality-widespread-global-economy Sting, “Englishman in New York”, ...Nothing Like The Sun, 1987. Sting, “They dance alone”, ...Nothing Like The Sun, 1987. U2, “Where the streets have no names”, The Joshua Tree, 1987.