Once we left the museum, we took a boat trip down the River Seine and saw famous Parisian sights including Le Louvre, Diana's memorial and Pont Maria- the most romantic bridge in Paris! However, after walking around the city and seeing the beauty of the Parisian centre, we were met with some discrimination first hand.
Some of the Palestinian women needed to use the toilet and asked in various hotels and restaurants if it would be okay to use the bathroom. Every place they went into said no straight away, no one even offered to direct them to the nearest public toilet.
After a while, Meg (one of the British participants) went in to the same hotel the Palestinians had already been in, and asked if it was possible. The man at the desk said yes straight away, so Meg called in the Palestinian girls and directed them to the bathroom. The man looked slightly embarrassed, but offered nothing of an apology. It became clear that what he was doing was a blatant act of discrimination. He was helping the white, European woman and refusing to address the needs of the Arab women.
After this, we discussed the implication of this man's actions. Why was he behaving in this way? What has led him to have these beliefs? Is there hope of changing these stereotypes of Arabs and Europeans that so many people in France and the UK have? We concluded that we have a lot of work to do, but as long as we keep educating people about racism, we keep talking to our local communities about our experiences and we make friends with people of all races and religions, it is a fight that we feel we are winning.
We were not angry at the man in the Hotel, because we spoke about how the only way to fight discrimination is by breaking the chain. When someone discriminates, you educate, you build bridges and you give love.
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