Racism on an international scale

[oyceter]

This is directly related to several comments seen lately regarding racism on an international scope, most of which have been a part of the conversation about racism and Martha in the New Who. But I'm also writing this because I've seen these arguments come up before in the past as well, only I am too lazy to find all the links.

(From last I saw, there was a lot of dialogue going on in all of the threads, so I am pointing people there as reference and not as an invitation to pile up. The link above are also just examples that were fresh in my mind; again, I've seen this many other places as well.)

I was going to save this for Intl. Blog Against Racism Week, but hey, why not kick things off early?

Disclaimers like whoa!

Despite having largely grown up in Taiwan, I've spent a lot of time in the US as well, and I went to a school in Taiwan in which most of the English teachers were American and many of the students moved there from America, like me. So my worldview is very America-centric, and I am probably going to say some stupid things. I say this not to excuse myself, because really, there is no excuse for ignorance, but to just say I know I have blinders on.

I also in no way support American cultural imperialism, which is alive and well, and I fully agree that the fandom circles I have experience with are largely American-centric and that being American carries a ton of power and privilege that is often ignored by those who have it. That said...

I'm incredibly disturbed by this trend of white British people either denying that racism exists in the UK or protesting that other oppressions are more important and serious than racism. I've also seen this coming from Australians and Canadians, and I'm sure it has come from basically anyone living in a non-US country as well.

I fully support and agree with the notion that racism manifests itself in different ways, shapes and forms in other countries. I also fully support and agree with the notion that racism in all countries is complicated by oppressions of all sorts, particularly oppressions of class, nationality, and religion.

BUT.

None of this means that racism doesn't exist in [insert country here].

Last year, I think coffeeandink asked me about racism in Taiwan. This was after the Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of DOOM and after I had been thinking more about racism and and race. I flippantly said something about there being none, probably thinking in the back of my head that white privilege didn't exist in Taiwan because white people were the clear minority, and that Taiwan was monoracial, and that for me, Taiwan's most important political issues had more to do with sex, class and China. And I'm sure when I said that, I fully believed it and didn't think I was oppressing or denying anyone.

Of course, I believed it and was able to not see racism because in Taiwan, I am a member of the race in power. And in Taiwan, people of other races are made nearly invisible because they are comparatively few in number, because they have basically no visible positions of power in the government, and because, surprise, surprise, their issues are seen as "marginal" and "unimportant." My not seeing them didn't mean they weren't there. It just meant I was blind to them, because I had the privilege to do that.

Perceived invisibility and actual non-existence are two very different things.

For a long time, I believed it when people in the UK and Australia and Canada and etc. told me race wasn't an issue there.

But you know what? Most of the people telling me race wasn't an issue were members of the privileged race there. And a very short time reading around anti-racist communities showed that there were lots of vocal, non-American POC and allies who talked about racism in their own countries. Five seconds on Google pull up lists of anti-racism organizations around the world, and, yes, in the UK. Reading through them, many of the details are different (ex. British Asians vs. Asians in Australia and how the term "Asian" calls to mind different groups of people and of course how the experience of British Asians and Asians in Australia are different). But the overall framework of oppression and privilege has a striking similarity to that of racism elsewhere.

And quite frankly, when I hear from a set of people with privilege and power that racism doesn't exist, and then when I hear from another set of people who are living as POC in those very places or are speaking out as anti-racists, I believe that second set of people more.

I do not think the first set of people are willfully lying, just as I wasn't deliberately deceiving people when I said there was no racism in Taiwan. But I do think that they have the privilege to not see the oppression that they are benefitting from, just as I was blind to oppression of people-who-were-not-like-me.

The lack of racism is a lot more than the non-existence or scarcity of racial minorities, particularly when historically, the lack of racial minorities can usually be traced back to genocide, colonization, deportation, and racially-based immigration policy. This, by the way, also applies to people claiming that their city/state/province/region isn't racist, though then, the reasons are probably compounded by income disparities and white flight (yes, US term I am using as a descriptive shortcut).

Furthermore, I think people who say that racism in their country is nowhere near as important as another ism are perpetuating a false dichotomy. There is no hierarchy of oppression. They intersect and feed off each other. So anti-Muslim sentiment is a huge issue where you live (and probably in a lot more places as well). That doesn't mean that racism is not important. And I don't think saying racism is an issue means that anti-Muslim sentiment is not important, particularly when the two often intertwine to devastating effect.

Also, to take this from a country-specific POV to an international POV, racism is an international issue and internationally, white privilege is a problem. Look at the division of wealth among nations; look at the political power. But over a century of white imperialism takes a long time to erase. (And no, citing Japan as the exception doesn't actually prove anything, save that it's an exception.) Yes, a white person abroad in a non-white country will very likely experience racial prejudice. But within the global framework, I'm also betting that overall, that white person is seen as having more power and money than a POC.

Bringing up how your country isn't racist in an argument about racism looks a lot like other tactics for derailing discussions about racism, particularly when other people of your nationality have been actively participating in anti-racist activity for quite some time. It looks a lot like someone popping into a thread about sexism in your country solely to say that their country has no sexism and that sexism is a concern of your country, and your country alone.

Which is to say: I (and I suspect most people blogging about this) welcome comments on how racism differs in various countries and on a global scale. But not on how racism doesn't exist or how talking about racism (particularly complaining about racist representations and stereotypes) in and of itself perpetuates racism.

Links:
- delux_vivens on the African diaspora
- spiralsheep on "Mammy" in Britain
- rydra_wong on racism in the UK
- shewhohashope on color-blindness in the UK
- Links to international anti-racist sites here and here
ETA:
- The Global Hierarchy of Race
- Stop Trying to "Save" Africa
- Racism in UK media
(More useful links being posted in comments as well)

NOTE: I am screening all anonymous comments to this entry, and I will be freezing any threads that look troll-y.

Comments

[em-h.livejournal.com]

I'm really stunned by people trying to claim that racism doesn't exist in Canada.

It's true that racism operates a bit differently here (I have the impression that in the US, the black/white dynamic is kind of primary and almost primal, and the main framework in which racism is understood; it's probably true that racism against black people doesn't have that same dominant emotional charge as opposed to, say, racism against First Nations) -- but slightly different racism doesn't equate to less racism.

[em-h.livejournal.com]

Also, that was an insanely unclear and badly-written comment. Apologies for hideous sentence structures.

[oyceter]

Not at all! Also, I boggle when I hear the "no racism in Canada" thing, because... yeah, First Nations?

And while the black-white dynamic is really big in the US, the thing that gets to me is that most talk I've seen in anti-racist spheres do talk about Asian-Americans, Latinos/Latinas, mixed-race people, Native Americans, and even further down into those groups as well. But yes, different racism! Not no racism!

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I used to think quite proudly that there was no racism in Canada. Alas, that is not the case. I used to think that I was not racist. I now think I'm not racist as much as I can be. All the "ism"s are important, especially if you're on the wrong side of the equation.

I remember how steaming mad I was about a year ago when one of our papers ran a headline along the lines of "By 2010, Toronto will be more not-white than white. How will we deal?" Steaming mad. Bastards.

[oyceter]

*nodnod* I think awareness of racism is the first step to eliminating it.

Also, ouch to that headline!

[cija.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, thank you. I sometimes wonder if people say this stuff because they really believe it[1] or because they just think Americans won't know any better or be able to contradict them. (Like -- I remember a while ago there was a minor stir because Oprah Winfrey was supposed to have been treated shabbily in an Hermes boutique in Paris, and there were lots of people tittering about what a stupid American she must be to wonder if it was because she was black, because of course French people aren't racist like that. And I would see stuff like that, and first my head would explode and then I'd want to say, I've BEEN to France, who the hell do you think you're fooling?)

But of course lots of Americans do start to believe this stuff and even repeat it, once they've heard some (white) Europeans say it a few times. It makes me really embarrassed for them as well as angry.

[oyceter]

But of course lots of Americans do start to believe this stuff and even repeat it, once they've heard some (white) Europeans say it a few times. It makes me really embarrassed for them as well as angry.

Yeah! I mean, not too long ago, I was too embarrassed to talk about racism outside of the US because all the responses I'd previously gotten had made me think maybe I was wrong and it didn't exist, even though... I had heard from other people that that so wasn't the case.

The feeling I've gotten is that a lot of people actually do believe it; they don't see the effects of racism on them, and therefore assume it doesn't exist. Which, uh... yeah.

(frozen) (no subject)

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

White Australians have said to you with a straight face that Australia isn't racist?! Please. We had a White Australia policy. You weren't allowed into the country as an immigrant if you weren't white. We had a policy of taking indigienous children away from their parents. This shit was still going on in the late sixties/early seventies. And the ramifications of those profoundly racist government policies are still being felt.

Australia not racist? Give me a break.

(frozen) (no subject)

[oyceter]

Heh, yeah. I sort of boggle at the people who say "My town is all white; therefore, there is no racism!" Because, um... maybe it is all white for a reason? Just like maybe some countries don't have a large POC population because of immigration policy?

Sigh. But yes, and thank you.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

A couple of recommendations re racism in the UK: The first is the film Bend it like Beckham, about a Sikh family in the shadow of Heathrow and the daughter who wants to play soccer like David Beckham. If you haven't seen it, Oyceter, (you probably have but I'll mention it anyway for your friends list) it's a great movie for talking about Third Culture kids. I use it when I'm teaching post-colonial theory. Speaking of theory, one of the best videos on race, representation and the UK is Stuart Hall's Representation and the Media, which has made it onto youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzMsPqssOY. A recommendation of a French film is Cache http://imdb.com/title/tt0387898/.

(frozen) (no subject)

[jennifergearing.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I mean, hell, even if we let alone the 60s/70s, we've got stolen Indigenous wages which went on until the early 80s, Pauline Hanson in 1996 (and last I heard, she intends to take time out from her busy reality tv schedule to run for Senate next election), the continuing obsession with illegal immigrants in leaky boats, the snafu that was Cronulla, and the latest federal government 'let's invade the Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory because They're abusing teh children.'

Urgh. Honestly, the next Australian I see trying to say Australia isn't racist gets a metaphorical brick to the face.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

It looks like they only uploaded the first five minutes of the Stuart Hall video, but you might be able to find the whole thing at a university library.

[jessibot.livejournal.com]

Racism is a huge problem in Australia, and I do believe we are starting to get a reputation overseas thanks to the past White Australia policy, and the detention centres also. There were also riots last year where a mob of white Australians were chasing and bashing anyone of Middle Eastern descent. Hundreds and hundreds of drunk, angry people.

It's disgusting, it's violent, and it's everywhere. Chinese immigrants get less of a raw deal than, say, Muslims or African refugees, but I am flabbergasted at the idea that any white Australian (of which I am one) could deny seeing the huge racism issues in our country.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

i know deep down taht you just made this post because of my evil negro mind control powers, but thanks anyway!

:-P

[oyceter]

I loved Bend It Like Beckham! Although I'm still irked that Keira Knightley went on to become a major movie star and Parminder Nagra didn't =(. Um, hi, welcome to my Keira Knightley issues...

Thanks for the links and the rec!

(frozen) (no subject)

[oyceter]

Ugh. Yeah. The tone of moral superiority in particular kills me.

[oyceter]

Thank you! I mean, it's not something I'm happy to hear, but I feel acknowledgment is the first step to working against racism, so.. yes.

[oyceter]

It's so true ;).

(frozen) (no subject)

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed.

Not to mention we've got John "racist arsehole" Howard RIGHT NOW. Though hopefully not for much longer . . .

[heresluck]

What really snapped racism in the UK into focus for me was reading Salman Rushdie's Imaginary Homelands, which includes essays that deal with (among other things) the racist implications of Thatcher's imperialist rhetoric as well as experiences of racism that are, shall we say, less rhetorical. In many ways Rushdie is more concerned with imperialism than racism (although of course they are intimately interconnected), but... yeah. That was the book that started enabling me to see and hear the other stuff that was out there to see and hear, if that makes sense.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Isn't Parminder Nagra on E.R.? She definitely deserves a stellar career. Ending up in an ensemble role on ER is an iffy thing. George Clooney took it to movie stardom, but I don't think anyone else has.

Pirates of the Caribbean seems to have been Knightley's big break. Before then, her roles seem to have been fairly minor.

Thinking of another movie rec for Australia: Rabbit-proof fence, about aboriginal girls in the 1930s who escape from a camp intended to train them into becoming domestic servants.

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

You are not alone with your Keira Knightley issues . . .

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I must report, I adore your Ooga Booga icon. I mean, #1, use of "ooga booga" in the expression of what is, in fact, a serious discussion. #2, ooga booga moves around within the icon. #3, the particular cap you chose makes him look like he is about to sneeze. #4, confrontational sarcasm is always funny.

I swear I have some content in me, I swear I do. But, I had to make the icon comment first.

(frozen) (no subject)

[jennifergearing.livejournal.com]

Oh don't even get me started. It's like they kicked Hanson out of the Party and stole her playbook. (Not to mention that even though they kicked her out of the party she was elected on a ballot that still listed her as a Liberal Party candidate - not that I have a Hanson-grudge from being an Asian teenager when she was elected or anything. *mutters*)

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

it's part of a set.

*snicker*