ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with racism as the victims experience it. Many scholars have concentrated on the causes of racism and the relationship between this phenomenon and economic, social, cultural, political, and social factors. The innovative potential of the victim perspective to unearth ‘other’ racist social actors to those already considered as such is often overlooked simply because it is not made the focus of most studies. The distinctions made here between the four types of racism are, of course, analytical. Antiracist legislation was passed in Switzerland in 1994, thus making it possible to file a legal complaint. However, in many cases an incident is difficult to prove, especially in cases of interpersonal racism, which usually occur within the private sphere and without the presence of witnesses. A systematic observation of racist manifestations in the French speaking part of Switzerland enables comparison of data gathered by other Swiss and European antiracist hot lines.
