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Racism and War: Overcoming Us and Them
By Ramzy Baroud
09/23/07 "ICH" -- -- Racism is, among many things, convenient.
It provides simplified, definite and ready-to-serve answers to
complex and compounded questions. Racists, in turn, come from
all walks of life; their motivation and the root causes behind
their contemptible views of others may differ, but the outcome
of these views is predictably the same - racial discrimination,
social and political oppression, religious persecution and war.
The textual definition of racism pertains only to race, but in
practice racism is a consequence of groupthink, whereby a group
of people decides to designate itself as a collective and starts
delineating its relationship with other collectives - or other
people in general - with a sense of supremacy. When coupled with
economic and/or political dominance, supremacy translates into
various forms of subjugation and cruelty.
The adulation of the self/collective and the disparagement of
the other is an ancient practice, as old as human civilisation
itself. It is everlasting for the simple reason that it has
always served as a political and economic tool and will likely
remain effective so long as the quest for political and material
power drives our behaviour.
It is also pertinent to stress that the need for this negative
group designation is not always as straightforward as "black"
and "white". For example, less economically advantaged Eastern
Europeans seeking (and competing for) employment in Western
Europe find themselves lumped in the same group and subject to
all sorts of classifications. Equally convenient has been the
caricatured misrepresentation of "Arabs" by mainstream media,
which serves to further specific political and economic
interests.
Ironically, an extreme form of racism also exists in various
Arab countries where foreign workers find themselves placed in a
demeaning hierarchy based on country of origin. Western
Europeans and Americans top the scale and are readily
accommodated, while Southeast Asians are often at the bottom. A
very qualified Indian engineer, for example, may find himself
getting paid a lot less than a French one with relatively little
experience.
In some countries, like South Africa, racism has wreaked havoc
on society for generations. It manifests itself in the refusal
of some people to identify with their original ancestral
cultures because they fear that such affinity would negate the
fact that they are "full" South African citizens - a right for
which they fought a most arduous fight.
In Malaysia, which exhibits considerable social harmony compared
to some of it neighbours, racial classification is still very
much real. Despite the government's commendable efforts to
accentuate the Malaysian national model while carefully
underscoring Malay, Chinese or Indian sub-groupings, members of
these groups are wary of their statistical representation in
Malaysian society. Some react by stressing their number in
comparison to the other groups, while others tirelessly
underscore the types of discrimination they experience at the
hands of the politically and economically advantaged.
While racism is universally recognised, few individuals would
admit to their own prejudices and racist tendencies. Moreover,
it would be self-deceiving to view racism as a purely Western
phenomenon. While the Western model of racism, influenced by
18th century colonialism, is unique in many respects, group
prejudices based on class, race and religion are shared almost
equally between all nations.
The racism of those with political, military and economic power
is often violent and detrimental, but it is important to
remember that the underdog can be just as racist. An Arab reader
from London sent me an e-mail demanding that I explain myself
for collaborating on various projects with some well-known
Jewish authors. "You are either naïve or you are selling out,"
she wrote. It made no difference to her that these authors are
anti-Zionist and have been, for many years, on the frontline of
the struggle for Palestinian rights and justice. She simply
couldn't break away from a deeply ingrained racist belief that
"Jews are not to be trusted."
Of course, this is not an Arab, but a global predisposition;
prolonged conflicts and wars tend to validate and inflate
already existing prejudices. Although the Israeli educational
system has produced generations of students saturated with
grossly misleading images of Arabs and Palestinians, the
relationship between Arabs and Jews hasn't always been negative.
For centuries, both groups lived in harmony; some of the best
Arab poets of past times were Jews and some of the most luminous
Jewish texts were written originally in Arabic. Unfortunately,
conflict and war have a way of undermining such facts; racism in
Israel is so intense now that few dare use the term "Arab Jew".
Even when it doesn't pertain to race, most people seem to slide
easily into greater tribal memberships that divide the world
into "us" and "them", often using words of negation and often
utilising religion. The "non" factor becomes very useful here:
"non-Muslim", "non-Jew", "non-Christian", and so on. Such
negations are never well intended and always produce negative
results. Less conspicuous terms such as "non-democratic" (a
neo-colonial equivalent to "uncivilised", perhaps?) could be
similarly loaded and dangerous and are often used to promote and
justify war.
It remains to be said that a true fight against racism and
various other types of group prejudice requires first accepting
personal responsibility in shaping one's own society, and this
includes the racism that exists within it. Martin Luther King
Jr. refused "to accept the view that mankind is so tragically
bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright
daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality".
We, too, must uncompromisingly reject such pessimism if we truly
wish for peace, harmony and equality to replace war, social
discord and injustice.
-Ramzy Baroud is an author and a journalist. His latest volume,
"The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's
Struggle" (Pluto Press, London) is available from Amazon and
other book venues. He is the editor of PalestineChronicle.com
and his articles are archived at ramzybaroud.net
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