Racism
(Courtesy of The Island)
The brutal murder of George Floyd, live on camera in the USA, is revibrating around the world. Howls of protest and in some cases loud silences (Canadian PM) are emanating from all the usual sources. Is this anything new?
Survival of the fittest, natural selection are universal truths now. At the origin of Darwin’s theory, it was nature that made the selection and it was simple and uncomplicated. If you were stronger and faster, you survived. The problem now is that the “selection” is being done by artificial and often extremely insidious means!
Look at recent history. You don’t need to even go back as far as the era of slavery. Just look at the collapse of the British empire. Name one country that actually kicked the British out, which has a ranking in the “developed” world. What has happened to India and Pakistan whose huge populations should have made them Economic powerhouses, what about Zimbabwe and Kenya who are so rich in resources and agriculture which economic theory dictates should have thrived? Neat compact countries like Sri Lanka should have been so easy to run, and success should have been a no brainer. Regular and consistent insurgencies, riots, civil unrest, and other engineered problems have seen to it that these countries remain firmly ensconced in the 3rd world or “developing” countries as the more politically correct term goes.
Let’s go back to Mugabe of Zimbabwe, I know for a fact that he was respected and even revered by his peers in Africa. What a start he had – again talking of personal experience, A visit in the late nineties showed a thriving country with White company directors and clerks and waiters and Blacks doing similar jobs. However, the dire warnings of my Black tourist guide of the “freedom fighters” waiting in the wings for their rewards were proved so true. Mandela, Oh what joy when he was released and when he took over the reins, but he seems to have simply postponed the inevitable as far as South Africa goes. When Obama “did it” again joy and rejoicing but in retrospect, he seems to have been just a brief hiatus in the white dominance of America. Whatever good work he did has been undone post haste!
The Chinese saw the danger of colonialism and managed to limit its’ influence in their country. Now they are making a play for the top slot. Very interesting to see them play the same game and the White mans’ reaction. Even though their shade of color is midway between white and black!
The sheer hard work and self-discipline of the Japanese have allowed them to thrive albeit with a few stumbles on the way and jury is still out on South Korea and Taiwan. Closed kingdoms of the Arabs have the huge weight of oil revenue that outweighs all attempts to bring them down.
Conversely, look at Singapore, Dubai and even Hong Kong (for as long as it stayed under British rule), they thrived. The dictator who “made” Singapore was a disciple of the British, if Lee was not and he did what he did to the opposition and the minor races in Singapore, do you seriously think he would have survived? Sheikh MO who owns Dubai, single-handedly supported and saved the British racehorse industry. If you treated the British with “respect” you thrived, if you got uppity with your colonial masters you were systematically destroyed. Secret service agents who posed as diplomats with diplomatic immunity infiltrated society and identified “causes” and hotspots that they could fund and promote and have on standby to activate when required. Look at Sri Lankan history, every time we looked like we would raise our heads and get genuinely strong economically, there have been insurgencies and ethnic conflicts, dating back from the Chola invasions of the ancient civilizations of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa eras. Yes, in the case of the pearl the Indians mastered the art very early in the piece and continued it when the Brits looks like easing the pressure on our necks!
The American CIA played their part too and of course, the FBI looked after the internal situation. All you have to do is look at Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. A little help from Putin on occasion.
Germany dominates Europe despite two decimating world war defeats, Australia and New Zealand prosper unreservedly despite having relatively tiny populations and little or no actual excellence when one looks beneath the surface. The common denominator here seems to be white dominance and in the case of the latter two countries an allegiance to the British crown. The former country is of course the certified home of White supremacy!
Darwin’s natural selection was replaced by artificial selection created by the White man. Oh, there is justification. They say that Black American children are subjected to violence, (read as Maori in NZ) broken homes and child abuse and that is why the crime rate among them is higher. Really?!
Are the statistics of these things happening among whites less? Are they low enough to justify that 312 Maoris and only 41 Pakeha (White) people for every 100,000 experience Police brutality in Aotearoa – New Zealand! No way, in the words of a media journalist this morning, the real situation is that they “see trouble when they see brown”! That is putting it in very mildly and in typical Kiwi fashion.
Lest I should be accused of being biased towards the media, we had a demonstration in Wellington NZ, supporting “black lives matter” and our Prime Minister was faced with a crazy situation, this demonstration violated the existing level of Covid alert, which prohibited such gatherings. Now, if she banned it or got the Police to intervene, she would have been called racist, so she allowed it. And the opposition went berserk saying “why was this allowed when gathering in Churches and funerals are limited! I ask you, readers….why do we tolerate such nonsense, why do we allow ourselves to be taken for such fools? After all, it is to us the reader and the watcher and the follower that the press and all these politicians cater to. They are trying to get our attention and improve their ratings. We duly oblige, don’t we?!
How about having a look at Policing in the Pearl? Do we really want to go there? How regularly do people die in custody? Too regularly to even cause a ripple in the sea of society. Murders are hushed up, rapes swept under the carpet any violation of the law by people with connections can be fixed. Are we happy about this? We obviously are O denizens of the Pearl, we most obviously are! We seem to be more worried about a Black man in America than what goes on in the pearl. Minnesota, S the state in which this outrage took place, is looking at disbanding their Police force. This should have been done in Sri Lanka LONG AGO!
Disband the disgrace that passes for the Police force today and re-recruit from scratch and look at fitting in all those “war heroes” from the now excessive cadre of the armed forces. At least they would have more discipline and some ethics and a sense of duty. What’re more the people may have a semblance of respect for these personnel, at least at the start! If anyone has the guts to do that, it will be the G- MAN.
I am told the G-man is appointing a committee of ex-army officers to bring discipline to society. This reminds me of when I visited Jaffna soon after the war and saw Army personnel with whistles moving the public along at archaeological sites. I actually thought it a “spiffing” idea and maybe shooting the tires off a few “wheelers” for cutting in and out of traffic and a couple of private bus drivers being put in stocks and pelted with rubbish, will make a difference? We may get a REAL opportunity to see for ourselves.
The point I am trying to make here (in a not too convoluted fashion I hope) is that this is nothing new. People of color have put up with this for a very long time. We have never had the strength or the organization or the UNITY to defeat this. I am stepping on dangerous ground here when I say look at China. China seems to be making a real play at changing this age-old equation.
Let’s assume this virus was planned to decimate the Western economies and their dominance? OUCH! Let’s assume the string of airports, harbors, mineral options and lands that China has been acquiring in different parts of the world, tie into the conspiracy theory that these are the trump cards to be used in the event of a world war.
Keep in mind that the textbook solution to a recession is a war. The cowboy in charge of America will resort to this option without blinking an eyelid, should he be re-elected. Or maybe even if re-election looks hard to achieve!
What do we (people of color) want in the event of this situation? Are we going to forget about all our protests and howling and go back under the yolk of our colonial masters? Or are we going to challenge the White man at long last and join the purported uprising?
Maybe I am dreaming but maybe just MAYBE we will have to make that decision! That is those of us in Countries that are not already compromised and virtually owned by China and have the option available to us.
By Ranjith Ratwatte
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