Faces of racism. . - books - book review

New Internationalist, Dec, 2001 by Peter Whittaker

by Josef Szwarc (Amnesty International, ISBN: 1873328559)

Written with a young audience in mind and in a straightforward A-Z format, this Amnesty International primer on racism is a fresh and forceful mix of effective quotes, anecdotes and lively and striking illustrations. From Apartheid to ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government). via Hate Speech and Xenophobia, the book sets out to debunk the pernicious myths that are endlessly swapped in the sewers of racist thought.

Josef Szwarc neatly sidesteps the main pitfall of the schematic design. He chooses far-from-obvious alphabetical chapter headings - Underground Railroad, Faith, On the Origin of Species- and then crams each entry with argument and debate from an eclectic and diverse range of sources. In effect, each chapter becomes a mini-essay that can move from Mussolini to indigenous land rights or Abraham' Lincoln's separatist notions to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo.

While the quotes from the likes of the fascist grouplet Blood and Honour or the neo-Nazi bomber David Copeland are as nauseating as you'd expect, Szwarc has chosen well and judiciously and, far from giving such creatures free publicity, the overall effect is that they are condemned by the manifest nonsense of their own warped logic.

Faces or Racism is the first in an Amnesty International introductory series on key human-rights issues. If the subsequent volumes are as clear and as punchy as this one, then it will certainly be a series that deserves to be on every student's bookshelf and in every school library.

RATING ***

STAR RATING

EXCELLENT *****

VERY GOOD ****

GOOD ***

FAIR **

POOR *