Mastodawn

When I said that Serbia has no racism, I got comments that I'm racism denier and what not, mostly citing news about Serbs hating Roma. Unfortunately, we hate the people from Albania and Kosovo with the same passion, and they are the skin color as I am. I got all kinds of comments from pure hatred to "you're not right", like I wasn't born and live in Serbia to this date. On top of that, my grandmother was Roma/Gypsy so I should know what I'm talking about, right? But let's put all of that aside and just concentrate on the map in the picture. Let's even ignore the fact that when Serbia was part of Yugoslavia we formed the Non-Aligned Movement and helped African countries regain their freedom. Just look at the map! I rest my case!

some quirky girl 17h ago

@meka are you saying it's not racism if it's the same skin colour?

@lw we have ethnicity issues, not race

some quirky girl 17h ago

@meka discriminating people by "ethnicity" is racism. like, in a literal sense... that's what racism is.

@lw I learned that human races are differentiated by skin color. What did you learn?

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka er, human races are not differentiated by skin colour. please look at the early US history of Irish and Italian people being considered not "White", even though they had white skin. racism is nothing to do with skin colour.

@lw US has tradition of calling people "black" that are considered white in the rest of the world. For example, look at Tom Morello. He says he's black, but here he would be just a normal with guy. That being said, I wouldn't trust US definition of race all that much. In the end, that's just one of the countries of almost 200.

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka no one is calling those Irish-Americans, Black. they clearly had white skin and were not Black and did not have Black ancestors. they simply weren't admitted to the "white people" club because they were discriminated against for being uncouth, rude Irish people.

i don't know what you mean by a "US definition of race", but what i'm talking about is pretty much accepted everywhere, not just in the US. if anything, the US is slow to accept this because it means they'd have to confront their history of racism and the social construction of Whiteness that they pioneered.

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka like, if you seriously think the only reason someone would not be considered "white" is because they're (claiming to be) black, you are 30 years or more out of date on the science here. please do some research and learn how racism and whiteness works.

@lw you lost me. So what are "white people" then?

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka "white people" are people who are permitted to be white. does that sound absurd? it should do, because it is absurd. Irish-Americans were not considered white because, basically, they weren't WASPs. they were Catholic, they didn't fit in, they had their own communities. they didn't suit the white people club, so they weren't white.

again, if that sounds absurd, yes, it is. racism is absurd.

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka here is some reading you might find interesting: https://annas-archive.gl/search?q=how+the+irish+became+white

how the irish became white - Search - Anna’s Archive

@lw I don't think that was a racial issue. As a matter of fact, official US recognition of race agrees with me, more than with you: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

About the Topic of Race

This section provides detailed information and statistics on Race. Find the latest news, publications, and other content.

Census.gov

some quirky girl 16h ago

@meka i... are you... citing... what? oh my god

@meka The map misrepresents what the vote was about. The actual resolution was whether the transatlantic slave trade should be considered "the gravest crime against humanity".

That many countries reject that wording (especially Germany with the Holocaust!) is no surprise.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/mar/25/un-votes-slave-trade-gravest-crime-against-humanity-reparatory-justice

UN votes to describe slave trade as ‘gravest crime against humanity’

Members call for reparatory justice as landmark resolution aims for ‘political recognition at the highest level’

The Guardian

@meka If you want to see why the EU abstained, read the statement: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-explanation-vote-%E2%80%93-un-general-assembly-action-a80l48-declaration-trafficking-enslaved-africans_en

Framing this as "the EU won't condemn the transatlantic slave trade" is wrong. The concerns rest with the "gravest" framing; and with the call for reparations. Both of which are understandable and *not* fundamental issues with condemning slave trade.

Naturally a country that had close to zero involvement (?) historically has no trouble with calling for someone else to pay reparations.

EU Explanation of Vote – UN General Assembly: Action on A/80/L.48 - Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity

25 March 2026, New York – European Union Explanation of Vote (before the vote) delivered by Ms. Gabriella Michaelidou, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations, at the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly: Action on A/80/L.48 - Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity

EEAS

@luatic all other ex-YU countries also didn't have anything to do with slavery, yet they're not blue. Probably other countries share the same history, I'm just not historian and I will not claim anything I'm not sure about.

Anyway, my point is about racism in Serbia, which people had problem with. Or lack of it.

@meka Whether a country is blue on that map has little meaning. It doesn't tell you anything about racism in a country.

I can't tell you how big of a problem racism is in Serbia or which forms it takes, but I can tell you that this map certainly does not "prove" your point.

(Also, my history is a little rusty, but if Serbia knows no racism, how do you explain what happened in Srebrenica ~30 years ago?)

@luatic etnical clensing, not racism