Swedish economists often do a World Values Survey, which measures global opinions and attitudes. One of the questions is, “What kind of person would you not want as a neighbor?” and if respondents choose “people of a different race” from the list, well, they make the “racist” list. Using the results of the survey and independent research, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top 10 most racist countries in the world.
10. India
Racism, prejudice and xenophobia are rampant in India. It’s a strange mixture of prejudice, ignorance and centuries-old discriminatory practices, when communities kept to themselves and there were dining taboos based on caste. You couldn’t eat with people not of your caste or marry into their communities.
India is always a mystery. It is a country which is so huge that practices from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are as different from each other as Scotland is from Greece or Russia. Each state is like a different country with diverse languages, cuisines, clothes, customs, climate. Punjabis, for example, are closer in terms of their food and language to Pakistanis than to Tamils and the Hindi.
All these differences has made people suspicious of other cultures. These closed communities are naturally full of prejudices towards other communities and to those they see as “the outsiders”. Every state considers itself superior. This phenomenon is global, like Polish, Italian jokes in America. Or English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish jokes in the UK. We stereotype each other mercilessly and there are jokes galore about food, clothes and accents (how residents of each state speak English, actually!). There’s a huge North-South divide too. Yet, in pre-colonial times, India was a haven for persecuted people. We gave refuge to Jewish people, Parsis from Persia, Armenians and later Chinese who ran away from the Revolution, and Tibetans who fled the Chinese. These people kept their distinct, separate identities but they prospered and loved India.
Caste System
I’ve only read a few articles on the philosophy of race and critical race theory so I’m not sure about this area of philosophy; however, it seems that the question of whether the caste system of India ought to be classified as a racist institution needs to be seriously addressed. It would obviously have large implications morally and legally for a large swath of humanity if it is deemed such.
The caste system dates back thousands of years and divides the people into specific social and economic groups; the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra and Ati- Sudra. These groups range from the Brahmin, which consists of those who are considered the highest caste, to the Ati-Sudra, who were also known as ‘untouchables’ and seen as the inferior caste. The two lower castes, the Sudra and the Ati-Sudra, currently make up the majority of the population, but are subject to discrimination and segregation due to their status.
At a 2009 meeting the United Nations Human Right Council, to the much dismay of HinduFascist groups (Hindutva) – has passed a resolution, equated Hindu caste system with “discrimination and violation of human rights”. At a recent meeting the United Nations Human Right Council, to the much dismay of Hindu Fascist groups (Hindutva) – has passed a resolution, equated Hindu caste system with “discrimination and violation of human rights”.
9. Russia
Racism in Russia is often targeted towards those people who are deemed as not being ethnically Russians. Fanatic racists are extremely anti- Caucasians, Africans, Chinese and Jews. Migrants from these particular races often face racial stereotyping and discrimination, which leads into hate crimes and gross human rights violation. Although it is the duty of Russian government to safeguard the right of these minorities and combat this social stigma, it seems to fail miserably in this duty. It is also infamous for violating its international obligations under the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination.
8. Germany
Those who think anti-Semitic and eugenics feelings died along with Hitler, the contemporary German neo-Nazi ideas could come as a wide awakening. These groups think along the very lines of the Fuhrer himself, of a United Germany with its glory restored. Midst the constant lash backs from the government and United Nations, these groups have taken to underground activities. The National Democratic Party of Germany has been accused of tacitly propagating Neo-Nazi or Neo-Fascist leanings, while many organization face legal issues and some like Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit, Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists, Free German Workers’ Party, and the Nationalist Front are all indefinitely banned.
7. Japan
According to the Japanese Constitution, all citizens are important under the law, regardless of their ethnic identity. At least one native people-group (the Ainu) has been formally recognized by the Japanese government. However the country has not effectively addressed xenophobic actions, and foreign nationals are sometimes restricted from certain services and activities.
In 2005, a United Nations report expressed concerns about racism issues in Japan and that government recognition of the depth of the problem was not full. Doudou Diène (Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights), concluded after a nine-day investigation that racial discrimination and xenophobia in Japan has a tremendous effect on three groups: national minorities, Latin Americans of Japanese descent, mainly Japanese Brazilians, and foreigners from underdeveloped countries.
6. Saudi Arabia
Racism in Saudi Arabia targets foreigner laborers, mostly from countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Philippines, and other developing nations. Reports of discriminatory attitudes towards foreigners from poor Arab countries, like Egypt or Yemen are also common. Most recently, especially with the downfall of Syrian regime, many immigrants from Lebanon and Syria have been subjected to poor living conditions and outrageous employment standards.
Islamic Saudi clerics still insist that slavery is a part of Islam and Saudi Arabia is an Apartheid state that discriminates against Afro-Saudis who make up 10% of the population, that is despite the fact that slavery was abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962. In February of 2014, it was reported that 14 lawsuits have been filed calling for breaking of marriages by relatives who believed that the husband and the wife were not socially equal. Some judges and lawyers believed that there was justification to the claims. Many legally married couples were divorced because somebody discovered that one or the other was not good enough based on their bloodline.
5. South Africa
The International Alliance to End Genocide recently found evidence of organized incitement to violence against white people, which they now consider to be genocide. The International Organization upgraded the country on the Genocide Watch in response to Julius Malema, the youth leader of the ruling African National Congress[ANC] party, holding rallies in which he called for the murder of white people. He would lead huge crowds in singing “Kill the Boer.” The word Boer is dutch for farmer and historically refers to white South South Africans of Dutch ancestry.
4. Australia
Almost one half of all Australians were either born overseas or had a parent born in another country and one in five people confessed to have faced some form of racial discrimination. In the year 2009 there was a surge in number of hate crimes targeting specifically Indians. There were more than a 100 reported assault incidents reported by the Indian students out of which 23 had unmistakable racial undertones. Not to mention the Cronulla riots of 2005 which is a beachfront suburb, there were a series of racially driven mob confrontations. Though, the situation has improved comparably in 2013.
3. France:
In June 2013 six Chinese students were attacked in a racist incident in Bordeaux. One of the students had a bottle thrown at her face, causing severe injuries that required surgery. A month later, approximately 15 North Africans, armed with iron bars and baseball bats, took part in a nighttime attack on a Gypsy camp in Seine-Saint-Denis. White people in France are not excluded in the racism. In 2010, a White couple and their 12-year-old daughter living in a mainly Maghrebi neighborhood were the victims of racist insults and death threats and were evacuated from their home under police protection.
Historically, racism in France was severe. In 1894, a Jewish officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was wrongfully accused of giving secret French documents to the German army and was condemned for treason.Anti-semitism still exists today in France. In November, 2013, fans of the antisemitic comedian Dieudonné responded to his request and started to get pictures of themselves making the ‘quenelle salute’, a backwards Nazi salute, near Jewish or Israeli places in France, or even next to group of Jews.
2. South Korea:
Racism in South Korea stems from the common belief that Koreans are a “pure blood” that have been homogenous throughout history. In July 2009, Bonojit Hussein, an Indian national who was a visiting research professor at Sungkonghoe University, was called “Dirty” and “Pitch-black foreigner” on a bus. The accuser also questioned Hussein’s companion, a South Korean woman, whether “she was a real Korean woman” and “how it felt going out with pitch-black foreigner?” On October 2011, Soojin Goo, in an unrelated incident, a naturalized South Korean citizen formerly from Uzbekistan was denied entry to a public bath house in Busan, South Korea for being a “foreigner” despite showing having a South Korean passport.
1. USA
Racism and ethnic discrimination in the United States has been a point of contention since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism has stirred up trouble between the governments and Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans. European Americans (particularly Anglo Americans) were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. Many non-Protestant European immigrant groups, particularly Jews and the Irish, suffered from xenophobic exclusion and other forms of discrimination in the hands of poorly established American laws.
Formal racial discrimination was formally disallowed in the mid-20th century, and came to be perceived as socially unacceptable and/or morally wrong, yet racial politics remain a part of American culture. Historical racism continues to be reflected in socio-economic inequality, and has taken on more modern, indirect forms of expression, most prevalently symbolic racism as a result.