Racism - Zero Tolerance
Racism comes in many guises and may not be immediately obvious to those not directly affected, but that makes it no less harmful when it happens. It may be malicious or thoughtless, targeted or generalised, but whatever form it takes it has no place in any kind of society. At Tangosynthesis we cannot fix the country as a whole, but we can ensure that our venues and events provide a safe and welcoming space to everyone, whatever their nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or anything else might be.
Racism in any form is absolutely unacceptable at any Tangosynthesis event or on any of our online social media platforms. Anyone found to be in breach of this rule may be given a single verbal warning or may be asked to leave our venue or forum immediately. Anyone so excluded may also be barred from attending any future Tangosynthesis event, blocked from membership of our online forums and commenting on our posts*, and if appropriate reported to the police.
*as allowed by technology
To be clear, racism includes but is not limited to:
- Discrimination against an individual or a group based on their ethnicity, nationality, primary language, accent, name origin, religion, or culturally influenced appearance.
- Physical abuse directed against an individual or group based on their ethnicity, nationality, primary language, accent, name origin, religion, or culturally influenced appearance.
- Emotional abuse or pressure directed against an individual or group based on their ethnicity, nationality, primary language, accent, name origin, religion, or culturally influenced appearance.
- Pejoratively describing anyone as a ‘foreigner’, an ‘immigrant’, a ‘migrant’, or any synonym for these terms.
- Pejoratively referring to ethnicity, nationality, primary language, accent, name origin, religion, or culturally influenced appearance, whether generalised or targeted.
- Using disparaging, derogatory, or pejorative cultural stereotypes.
The decision as to whether a comment, attitude, or interaction is racist does not lie with the person making the comment, but with the person affected. This may be the subject of the racist incident or it may be a third party, including any member of the crew.
COVID Notes
It has become common for the UK media to refer to ‘variants’ of the Sars-CoV-2 virus by the names of the areas in which they were first discovered or identified. This is what is known as “dog-whistle” racism - language that is not inherently racist in itself, but which can encourage the demonisation of a group or nationality through association with something bad. Use of these labels should therefore be avoided.
Any reports of racism received by us will be held in absolute confidence and dealt with as sensitively as possible. If you have encountered racism at any Tangosynthesis event or on our online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. then please tell us about it by email to [email protected], via our contact form, or by speaking to a member of our crew at any event.
Racism and nationalism have no place anywhere. Let’s start by eradicating them from dance.
