The president of Portugal has called on everyone to unite for “a diverse, less unequal and more inclusive Portugal” in a message to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is celebrated every year on 21 March.
“May prejudice give way to friendship and mutual understanding, animosity to good neighbourliness, mistrust to openness to what, in each and every one, is different,” wrote Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a message published on his official website on Monday.
According to the text, the head of state “extols the relevance of uniting around the design of a diverse, less unequal and more inclusive Portugal, where we can all aspire to the same opportunities and a more prosperous, fairer and more fraternal future.”
It goes on to say that, for de Sousa, “in a time of challenges, still marked by the effects of Covid-19, the war back in Europe and the deepening of inequalities in Portuguese society and in the world” it is decisive that the Portuguese focus on what unites them and find “a common ground for dialogue and peaceful coexistence” in troubled times.
“The President of the Republic calls on us to unite around this conviction,” it continues. “Only together can we achieve this. That we may be able to leave to our children and grandchildren a fairer and less unequal Portugal than the one we were born into.”
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was established by a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations on 26 October 1966, due to the events that occurred on 21 March 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa, where police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against laws to entrench apartheid in the country.
The aim of the day is to mobilise civil society to fight against racial discrimination, with this year’s theme being ‘Voices for Action Against Racism’.
