Discrimination today

“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” This is the second item of the Universal declaration of human rights, which was signed by most of the countries, despite discrimination is happening right now all over the world to the millions of people that can’t even change that.

In the past few days Breisach became a place where discrimination is highly discussed, its forms, reasons and ways how to stop it. Youth Exchange “Celebrate the difference!” gathers 30 young people coming from different countries, speak different languages and have different customs. Everyone’s common fact is that they find differences interesting and don’t want to exterminate them but to share them.


In few discussions about discrimination, we tried to explain what it actually is and in which way and forms it exist, and that today’s life is full of bad examples. Starting from discrimination about the skin color, nationality, social origin to discrimination because of minor differences. People are social beings and they feel a need to belong to a certain social group which has its customs and beliefs and if someone different wants to fit in that society, he will face long time adjustment, nevertheless if that person in time will succeed to keep its identity and at the same time assimilate in the new surrounding or the outcome will be different. The ideal struggle against the discrimination would be the one that as a result would have itself completely disappeared, but something like that is still impossible. It is needed to increase the consciousness about the existence of the prejudices and discrimination, and as a result people would become more and more aware that maybe they insensible discriminate the others. One of the negative public happenings is last year’s reaction of the people in Split (Croatia), while the Gay Parade. People were shouting “Kill gays!” and similar expressions, throwing rocks, bottles and ashtrays when one of the cameramen was hit and transferred to the hospital. Something similar but worse, happened in Belgrade, where group of people were running after homosexuals and they tortured and kicked them while the cameraman was just standing and recording it for the TV news. Examples where force is used are always most shocking and they leave not only physical but long-term psychic consequences. Also, even the physical contact is often, discrimination is spreading fast enough even without it. It feeds with intolerance, prejudices, conservatism and mind narrowness.

Here are some examples of typical discrimination. One of the participants in this exchange spend one year in USA, and she transferred to us her experience and the feeling of discrimination among the “most democratic” nation. The school that she attended had two entrances, on for the black and one for the fair-colored skin people. On the list of the students in the school, apart of their names, sex and skin color were listed. In Macedonia, if one has different opinion from the one of the government, it is very possible the very next day after you have publicly said something, to be fired from work. In Albania there is different type of discrimination regarding the religion, and the Christians are the ones that are discriminated. It is present at work as well and other fields in life. In situations like this, Universal declaration of human rights is being questioned. Is it reality or it is just dead letters written on a piece of paper. Each of the participants attending the workshops throughout the days was giving various and multiple examples of discrimination in their countries and the fact is that it is not something rare, but very present in our surrounding. It is much needed to increase the awareness about discrimination among people, but before that we have to look at ourselves and see if we sometimes discriminate as well, since everyone around us does it. I would finish this article with a famous quote which gives everything sense, because before we accept other people, we have to learn that we can not change them and adjust them to something that we consider is right. “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own.”