Tag afstand fra personforfølgelsen af Bwalya Sørensen

Tag afstand fra personforfølgelsen af Bwalya Sørensen

Started
January 17, 2021
Petition to
Danish Media
Signatures: 5,629Next Goal: 7,500
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Why this petition matters

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ENGLISH BELOW

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Vi, en række aktivister, debattører, communities, forskere og enkeltpersoner, ønsker med dette indlæg at stille os solidariske med Bwalya Sørensen, talsperson for Black Lives Matter Danmark, i den voldsomme og uretfærdige hetz danske medier og debattører har udsat hende for.

Danmarkshistoriens hidtil største antiracistiske demonstration løb af stablen i sommeren 2020. Den var en klar modreaktion på de bestialske drab på George Floyd og Breonna Taylor i USA. Et kæmpe, fredeligt nej til racisme og et klart ja til fællesskab og ligeværd blev aktivt bakket op af mennesker i alle aldre, hudfarver og køn.

Men vi er mange, der er dybt bekymrede. Efter at have set hvordan Danmark igennem en årrække har udviklet et politisk klima, hvor racistisk retorik og undertrykkende strukturer er virkeligheden, siger vi fra. Vi siger fra overfor de medier, der konsekvent bruger den personlige hetz mod Bwalya Sørensen til at fordreje de dybt nødvendige samtaler om racisme. Som skaber fjendebilleder og skaber had mellem grupper i befolkningen, der ellers burde stå sammen. Som benytter gamle, racistiske karikaturer og stereotyper til at tilsværte og miskreditere de mennesker, der står forrest i kampen mod racisme.

Hverdagsracismen er et produkt af den strukturelle racisme og danske medier er i den grad med til at fastholde den dagsorden gennem deres ensidige vinkling. Det er et udtryk for den systemiske racisme, den strukturelle og institutionelle racisme, som på forskelligartet vis kommer til udtryk gennem magtinstitutionerne i vores samfund.

Der er mange medier, debattører og politikere, der nægter at anerkende problemet. Men intet har i 2020 skabt så meget ballade og været årsag til så udpræget en hetz og trusler som den omtalte demonstration, arrangeret af Black Lives Matter, Danmark. Nok var den fredelig, men efterdønningerne var alt andet end dét:

Til demonstrationen opfordrede Bwalya Sørensen, talsperson for Black Lives Matter Danmark, alle sorte demonstranter til at komme op foran. Til at stå sammen i et styrket fællesskab sammen med andre sorte demonstranter. Opmuntrede dem til ikke at være bange. Heller ikke hvis det var første gang, de overhovedet var i en demonstration. Dét blev samme dag gengivet som et krav om, at alle hvide skulle gå bagerst, og lige siden er hun blevet hetzet, karikeret og svinet til, anført af medierne, der kalder hende racist. Kvinden, der måtte have politibeskyttelse for at tale Paludan imod og har været udsat for trusler, bliver gjort til syndebuk og bruges til at vende folkestemningen mod en hel, antiracistisk folkebevægelse.

Vi protesterer på det kraftigste over, at redaktørerne på dén måde systematisk hænger et menneske, der har kæmpet en årelang antiracistisk kamp ud. Vi protesterer over, at de med deres vinkling og hurtige overskrifter ikke anerkender deres medansvar i at skabe fjendebilleder og opretholde en racistisk retorik. Medierne har konsekvent lavet fuldstændig groteske beskyldninger mod en kvinde, der i årevis har kæmpet for en ordentlig behandling af de allermest udsatte mennesker.

Vi konstaterer, at hele dette forløb netop viser, hvor stort et problem der er med racisme i Danmark; det skal ties ihjel. Medierne har et ansvar for ikke at producere og sprede fake news. For ikke at fordreje virkeligheden. Man er ikke racist, fordi man til en Black Lives Matter-demonstration ønsker at synliggøre de sorte, ved at bede dem stå forrest. Man er ikke racist, hvis man beder de sorte komme foran til talerstolen, så deres stemmer kan blive hørt. Man er ikke racist, når man skaber platforme, der taler dem op, som medierne taler ned. Vi støtter Bwalya Sørensen og vi tager den skarpeste afstand fra den personforfølgelse medierne insisterer på.

 

Mino Danmark

Afro Danish Collective

Danmarks Intersektionelle Højskole

Psykologfagligt Netværk imod Diskrimination

SOS Racisme Danmark

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Petition: Denounce the Danish media's relentless persecution of Bwalya Sørensen!

 

We, a group of activists, debaters, community members, researchers and individuals, sign this petition as a show of solidarity with Bwalya Sørensen during the violent and unjust smear campaign that the Danish media, politicians and debaters have perpetrated against her:

In the summer of 2020, Denmark saw the largest antiracist demonstration in its history. A pushback against the brutal murder of George Floyd in the United States. A peaceful, resounding no to racism, and a clear yes to fellowship and equal rights, supported by people of all ages and genders. 

After witnessing how Denmark, over the course of several years, has developed a climate where millions of kroner are spent on police protection for Rasmus Paludan to seek out Muslims to insult and harass, where a politician whose views have been found racist by the Supreme Court can be elected Speaker of Parliament, and where data in 2019 showed that one in four Danes want Muslims expelled from the country if they were out of work, there are many of us who are gravely concerned! “Everyday racism” is a product of the structural racism, it is the systemic racism, the structural and institutional racism that expresses itself through the institutions of power in our society.

There is a great number of politicians who refuse to acknowledge the problem. There was outrage in the media when Sikkander Siddique held a moment of silence in Parliament after George Floyd’s murder. But nothing – NOTHING – has created as much uproar or been the cause of as much persecution and threats as the demonstration mentioned above, arranged by Black Lives Matter Denmark. 

Though it was peaceful, the repercussions were anything but. At the demonstration, Bwalya Sørensen, the spokesperson for Black Lives Matter Denmark, encouraged all Black demonstrators to come to the front. Encouraged them not to be fearful. Even if this was the first time they’d ever been to a demonstration. Not one day later, this was twisted into a falsehood that white participants were ordered to the back of the demonstration, and in the months since, Bwalya has been smeared, caricatured, maligned and attacked by media sources who call her racist – the very same woman who needs police protection for speaking against Pauldan.

We denounce in the strongest possible terms these editors’ systematic hanging of someone who has fought a years-long antiracist battle!! Calling her racist is a completely grotesque accusation, leveled against a woman who has spent years fighting for proper treatment for the most vulnerable people. It is clear to us that this entire process reveals the massive scale of the racism problem in Denmark, and that those who dare to speak about it are being silenced to death. If that demonstration had been for women’s right to vote, and women had been encouraged to come to the front, wouldn’t everyone agree on the appropriateness of that?   

The media has an obligation to not produce or spread fake news. To not distort reality. A person isn’t racist because, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration, they want to increase the visibility of Black participants by asking them to stand in the front. A person isn’t racist for inviting Black participants to speak, so their voices can be heard.

We support Bwalya Sørensen, and we condemn the media’s relentless persecution of her!

 

Mino Danmark

Afro Danish Collective

Danmarks Intersektionelle Højskole

Psykologfagligt Netværk imod Diskrimination

SOS Racisme Danmark

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Signatures: 5,629Next Goal: 7,500
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Decision Makers

  • Danish Media