Subtle and invisible discrimination.

There are various forms of racism, discrimination and inequality in all countries of the world. Today, though, it is often illegal, the forms become subtle and almost invisible. Earlier, South Africas apartheid regime institutionalised a racist system of white supremacy from 1948, but it also existed before that, as it did in all European colonies and other territories in Africa, Asia and Latin America at the time. There wasnt much democracy and equality in those countries in those days. In Europe, too, the system was designed for limited change; poor people remained poor, and the rich stayed at the top. But then, when USA was populated by immigrants, mainly 150-200 years ago, there were opportunities for a better life and more democracy for many, except for the African-American community.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year old African-American, was killed by the police in a particularly brutal incident in the city of Minneapolis in USA. It triggered immediate unrest in the city and in cities all over the country and world. It has not quite gone back to business as usual yet, and some have predicted that maybe this time, USA will have to address their racism, discrimination and inequality issues more thoroughly than before, with real improvement to happen. 'A change is gonna come', sang the black American artist Sam Cooke in 1964. Perhaps something will happen this time

I have recently written articles about racism, discrimination and inequality. I have underlined that the economic and class aspects are major aspects of the problems. Today, I shall to draw attention to the more subtle and almost invisible forms of discrimination, racism and inequality - those things that are there and are almost accept by all as part of life. They can be as cruel as the more direct and heavy-handed forms of racism, and they may be more difficult to react against.

Last week, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, was as asked by a radio reporter about structural racism in that otherwise very democratic country. She quickly denied that such racism exists, and said that in her understanding the term structural should not be used. She said that there was ignorance and lack of exposure to people of diversity. That could lead to mistakes being made, often unwittingly, and sometimes they could have racist and discriminatory aspects. She said that the government had recently introduced a project where applicants to government posts were anonymous, i.e...