The Durban declaration, signed back in 2001, committed the world to fighting all forms of racism and other intolerance but South Africa is still stumbling along the path to the realisation of that ideal.Racism is not only part of us, it is becoming ever bolder as we battle to contain it.Those at the receiving end of hate speech and xenophobia are telling us that the situation is getting worse.Yesterday the Department of Justice convened a discussion near Pretoria of how to get society at large involved in determining this country's policies on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.It became clear from the discussions that ignorance fuels the racism and other forms of intolerance we see in our streets and places of work.But for as long as we have laws that don't bite and consequences for breaking them that are uncertain we will complain in vain.South Africa should follow the examples of countries such as Germany and Rwanda, where there is clear legislation.It is against the law to deny the Holocaust in Germany and Rwanda prosecutes those who promote intolerance and hatred.Twenty-two years after our historic transition to democratic rule we are still deep in the woods and seem to be struggling to deal with racists in our communities.It is important that the government moves with speed and legislates against racism, hate speech and related intolerance, and sends a clear message that action will be taken.As we celebrated World Refugee Day yesterday, we again pledged to respect and treat refugees with respect - but we all know that abuse of foreigners is the order of the day.We are told that when foreigners try to report crime our police either ignore them or drag their feet.For us to defeat the scourge of racism and all forms of intolerance we should look to our laws and not shy away from sending people to prison...