Meet the MRAP
The Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples
Born in turmoil
MRAP's original name, the Movement Against Racism, Antisemitism and for Peace, manifests its post-WWII roots that have since spread to all terrains of the struggle against racism. MRAP was created in 1949, a reaction to Nazism and the Nazi-collaborative Vichy Regime in France, and supporter of those deported or working for the French Resistance during the war. Since its conception, MRAP has worked to honor the post-war slogan “Never Again!” by fighting violations of human rights, and racism in all its forms.
Historic Struggles
In the fifties, MRAP lead a campaign against the rearmament of Germany; the organization held several conferences on the subject and spoke for the cause at the lower house of the French parliament, the Assemblée Nationale. MRAP also opposed the South African Apartheid, fighting against the discriminatory policies and violence and for Nelson Mandela's release. MRAP combated segregation during the United States' civil rights movement of the 1960s, and is currently working to prevent a death-penalty conviction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of former Black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal. Most recently, MRAP achieved the first ever conviction of a French serving minister for racist speech. In all of its work, MRAP bears in mind the themes, struggles and consequences of history's racist and discriminatory violence, including slavery, the Algerian War and subsequent torture of Algerians in Paris on October 17th, 1961, and the extermination of Jews and Gypsies in WWII.
Everyday Work
A non-partisan organization, MRAP is the ally of all people, on all continents, who promote justice, humanity, and societies without racism; we pursue our goals with respect for pluralism of opinions and ideas. MRAP fights all forms of racism and promotes peace and human rights, and leads many campaigns against fundamentalism, obscurantism, and the French extreme right's habitual use of racist speech and ideas.
MRAP combats not only egregious crimes against humanity (and any justification for them,) but also insidious expressions of racism or discrimination, in government, in schools, in the media, on the internet and in everyday speech. MRAP receives, informs, and aids all victims of racist acts, speech and discrimination, as well as undocumented immigrants, to whom the organization offers the help of its legal volunteers.
Specific campaigns include ending the death penalty, in particular in China, Iran and the United States, as well as encouraging disarmament, and finding a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. In addition, MRAP urges that debt in third-world countries be dissolved and seeks cooperative, peaceful relations between developed and developing nations. In support of those seeking their rights, MRAP works in many South American countries, as well as with the Roma, Travelers and Gypsies so long victims of racism in France and Europe as a whole.
MRAP is very invested in the education of European citizens. The organization has condemned a potential cut of history and geography from the last year of French high school, and has produced a book list designed to teach young readers about diversity, immigration and peace between peoples.
MRAP publishes the bimonthly review Différences, which covers international news and cultural events in the field of anti-racism, as well as articles by educators, researchers and experts on a variety of topics.
Basic Information
MRAP is a non-governmental organization
MRAP was granted NGO Consultative Status with the United Nations in 1974
MRAP is a member of the International Movement Against all form of Discrimination as well as ENAR-France (of the European Network Against Racism, a collection of NGOs of the European Union)
MRAP is recognized as an Organization for the Education of the People (association d'éducation populaire)
MRAP is a member of the French governmental organization National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme, CNCDH)
There are more than 180 MRAP branches and sister-offices in France
