Condemnation of Racist Appeals of President Donald Trump and in Solidarity With Women of Color in the US Congress Attacked by Him
Resolution from the 8th World Congress
The 8th Education International World Congress taking place in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2019:
Considering:
1. The racist comments directed by United States President Donald Trump against four women of color members of the United States Congress, the latest in his series of divisive appeals to open racism.
2. His declaration that the four Congresswomen – Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), and Rashida Tlaib (MI) – should “go back to where they came from,” President Trump employed the well-established racist trope that US citizenship is the property of white Americans alone, and that people of color – even those whose family’s citizenship dates back well before Trump’s own family – have no rights that must be respected.
3. President Trump once again deployed the dangerous and destructive rhetoric of authoritarians who seek to divide their nation’s people by demonising and scapegoating on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, immigrant and refugee status.
4. That at the same time that he is promoting racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism in the US, President Trump has supported and enabled authoritarian rulers across the globe, who use similar tactics of fomenting prejudice and hate to wage their own wars on democracy and to promote, like Trump, a politics of greed which promotes cronyism and corruption over the common good.
5. The defeat of Trumpism in the 2020 elections will thus be a defeat for authoritarianism and racism internationally.
6. The continual stoking of racist and sexist resentments and divisions by President Trump represents a clear and present danger to the ideals of democracy and universal human rights upon which EI was founded. It represents a tipping point in the history of the United States and the world, and must be defeated.
7. That as educators, we know the fight to safeguard democracy begins in our classrooms and schools, where we both embrace diversity and forge a common identity—the opposite of Trump’s divisive agenda.
The 8th EI World Congress:
8. Condemns President Trump’s actions and unites to support the work of EI’s US affiliates to ensure his defeat in 2020 as a victory for democracy and a blow against authoritarianism across the globe.
9. Supports the work of EI’s US affiliates to replace him with a pro-public education president who believes in decency, democracy, and human and civil rights.
10. Continues to advocate that the US rejoin the UN Human Rights Council and use its position to stop oppressive regimes, rather than give them greater license.
