Session 5: The Rise of Race-Religion-Ethnic Discrimination in the Current Development of Capitalism

From Trump’s USA to European resistance to immigrants from both the Global South and even other parts of Europe, to Modi’s India, to South Africa, and dozens of other places, persistent discrimination against various race-religion-ethnic (RRE) and caste groupings has become more normalized within political discourse and policy. While caste may seem to be a different case, tied to the notion of “branded from birth” and merging with extremist religion and politics in India, it has much in common with RRE discrimination. There are differences from place to place, but there are also commonalities that are tied to the intensifying economic instability of late capitalism and often take extreme nationalist forms.

What kinds of effects do these kinds of discriminations have? How do non-state organizations, social movements and civil society react to them? How do we overcome groupism, bridge separation, strengthen community, and foster economic prosperity for all? This session will explore both the differences and especially the commonalities and will serve to build lasting links among the participants.

Session organizer: Alan Spector, Purdue University Northwest Indiana (USA), aspector2020@gmail.com