Racism Report 2003 - Zara

Racism Report 2003 Cases: Public Space Page 13and Mr. K. (from Nigeria) came to a counselling talk in the ZARA office. On Saturday 21 June 2003Ms.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeit(at the Donauinselfest) Mr. K. wanted to go into the locale ‚La Carabela‘ Sunken City in the 22nd district of Vienna.The locale was full. Staff at the door refused him entry because he had ‚no stamp‘. The locale has a second entranceand Mr. K. tried it there. He saw exactly how other customers were allowed into the locale without a stamp. Mr. K.did not get as far as the door because he was pushed by the doormen and hit in the face. The police arrived on thescene and Mr. K. was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Mr. K. has a witness to the incident. Ms. K. attempted to getan apology from the manager of the locale but he was not prepared to apologise. Mr. K. received a police summonsfor bodily harm. ZARA reported the case under Art. IX Abs 1 Z 3 Introductory Provisions to the Code of AdministrativeProcedure.32R. reported: On 8 September 2003 at 5.30 pm, a man who runs a locale in Vienna, who is from theMr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-ArbeitDemocratic Republic of Congo, went into a neighbouring locale. He was not served because he was accused of beinga drug dealer. The only ‚evidence‘ for this totally unfounded accusation was his dark skin colour. A ZARA staff membercontacted him. He did not wish to report the incident to the police but asked ZARA to document the incident.33Z. had twice not been let into the disco Nachtschicht in Kagran, Vienna. He therefore contacted ZARAMr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeitand the newspaper Der Standard, in which a detailed article on this problem appeared:‚DJs also want to be allowed to dance. Welcome as DJ, unwelcome as customer: it is certainly not because somebodylooks „oriental“ that they are not allowed into a disco - in any case this is what disco managers day.Michael Möseneder, Vienna - When he works the turntables as a DJ, he entertains the customers. When he wantsto go to the disco as a customer to entertain himself, he does not get past the doorman. Amin Z., a 20 year-old,Vienna-born, law student has this problem again and again.The „problem“: Z.s parents come from Iran and he is therefore convinced that his oriental looks are thereason for being refused entry to discos and clubs. Discotheque operators vehemently deny this. The student‘sstage name is ‚El Amin‘. He says that he has already provided the music twice a the Nachtschicht-Donauplex(a large discotheque in the north of Vienna). Once at a DJ contest and once as part of a party before aschool trip. Both times he was able to enter without a problem. That first happened when he wanted to goto the disco privately. Once the doorman asked to see his student identification - and refused him entry.One Thursday in the middle of August the twenty-something wanted to go to a party in the ‚Nachtschicht‘ with hisgirlfriend. His version: he arrived hand in hand with his girlfriend, the doorman let the woman in but refused himentry. For ‚El Amin‘ an annoying expression of everyday racism, which he thinks should be punished more strictly.Such as in Styria where the Landtag is in favour of revoking licences to trade for racist pub landlords and restaurantowners (see Der Standard report). Kurt Granegger, „Location-Supervisor“ for the nine Nachtschicht discos in Austriavehemently disagrees. „The fact is that we are an entertainment centre, we would prefer it if we could let everybodyin.“ However, that is not possible, sometimes because of overcrowding, sometimes because those wanting to comein are not appropriately dressed. Thursday is one of the busiest nights and in addition there was free admission forladies who were guided through a different entrance. He therefore cannot believe El Amin‘s account of events.All this has nothing to do with xenophobia, ‚we have 400 staff and many nationalities are represented,‘ emphasisedGranegger. In addition the security staff are trained and instructed to tell customers why they cannot comein. On the other hand, the manager does not want to rule out the possibility that „maybe a mistake was made“.He would be willing to meet those affected on neutral territory to discuss the problem. Incidentally, such mistakesseem to be not so rare at all in the past. This is suggested by a look into the Racism Report 2002 from the organisationZARA. Two similar incidents are documented from the Nachtschicht discos in Salzburg and Vienna-Donauplex.www.nachtschicht.at. www.zara.or.at“(Source: Der Standard, 22 September 2003)34A. comes from Palestine. On 14 August 2003 he went into a supermarket (Interspar Vienna-Meidling)Mr.Zivilcourage Anti-Rassismus-Arbeitat around midday. As he was leaving the alarm went off. After that he was treated ‚like a criminal‘ by Interspar staffand confronted with remarks such as, ‚These foreigners, always the same problem.‘ The staff caused such a commotionthat many customers joined in and made similar racist comments about Mr. A. In the end it became clear that Mr.A. had stolen nothing but that there was a problem with the alarm system. Nevertheless, nobody apologised to Mr.A. A ZARA staff member sent a letter of complaint to Interspar asking for an apology to Mr. A. However, the letterhas remained unanswered.35H. sent a written complaint to the Billa supermarket chain - and sent a copy to ZARA for documen-36Mr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeittation: ‚(...) My wife, who comes from Uganda, has lived in Vienna for 25 years and works for UNIDO, informed byabout an extremely unpleasant and discriminatory incident on Monday 4 August 2003 in the Billa branch at ViennaInternational Airport. (...) Among other things my wife wanted to buy a piece of watermelon but there were only