The Spanish Post launches an anti -racist campaign and takes its feet in the carpet

Reading time: 2 min - spotted on The Washington Post

The initiative is criticized.The Spanish postal service has just launched a collection of stamps with an anti -racist vocation, called "The stamps of equality", representing different skin shades, reports an article from the Washington Post.The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of racial inequality and to fight for diversity, inclusion and equal rights.

The particularity of the collection is that stamps have a different value depending on the skin of skin they represent."The closer the stamp, the less value it will," explains the Correos public company, in a press release.Therefore, when sending, it will be necessary to use more black stamps than white stamps.In this way, each letter, each shipment will become a reflection of the inequality created by racism. ”Thus, the black stamp is worth 70 cents, 80 cents brown, lighter brown 1.50 euros and white, the one with the most value, costs 1.60 euros.

The campaign, carried out in collaboration with the NGO SOS Racisonmo, was launched at the same time as the beginning of the European month of diversity and the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd, specifies the postal service.

This initiative did not really have the expected effect and is not unanimous.Some Internet users speak of an "accidentally racist" campaign, others assimilate it to the Spanish far right party, Vox, or claim that it is a reflection of the lack of diversity in the majority of Spanish companies.

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The intention of the postal service "was good", but she finally sent a racist message, analyzes Moha Gerehou, journalist and author of a book on racism in Spain.According to him, this is explained by the fact that campaigns of this type in Spain are often designed "by whites".

However, in its press release, the Spanish postal service Correos is clear: the campaign tries to make people understand that the value of a person should not have color.On his Twitter account, he insists on his objective of raising awareness of "an unjust and painful reality which should not exist".For its part, SOS Racisonmo evokes in a declaration, the importance of making racial discrimination visible.

In Correos Creemos that El Valor de Una Persona No Debería Tener Color, Por Eso Lanzamos #Equalitystamp: Una Coletcción de Sellos in La that Cuanto Más Oscuro Sea El Color del Sello, Menor Valor tendrá.Reflejando así una injusta y dolorosa realidad that no deber exist.

— Correos (@Correos) May 25, 2021

Before this anti -racist campaign, Correos had already engaged several times in social battles, specifies the American daily.Last year, he notably unveiled a rainbow stamp on the occasion of the pride month and a 2019 "protest stamps" in support of the Youth Movement for the Environment.