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The “civilized” West must look within itself

Theo

Earlier this week, a disturbing video emerged in the UK showing a young Asian boy being kicked and punched as he lay defenseless on the floor of Manchester Airport. Most reports said that three Greater Manchester police officers were initially attacked – one of whom suffered a broken nose – and that this led to police intervention. One officer was suspended following the incident – which the right-wing Reform Party immediately politicized by praising the police’s actions.

The incident did not spark national outrage beyond a mild debate about alleged police brutality. Had an Indian police officer committed a similar act, the Western media would likely have condemned the entire police force and highlighted India’s poor human rights record.

Akhmed Yakoob, the Asian boy’s lawyer, described the incident as police brutality against people from BAME (British Asian and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds. Some people took to the streets to protest against the police actions as the incident reminded them of the George Floyd attack in 2020, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement across the West.

Racism, discrimination and misogyny are rife in Britain’s police forces. Last year, after a year-long official review of London’s Metropolitan Police, auditor Baroness Casey found: “The police force suffers from institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia,” adding: “It is time the police stopped denying these deep-rooted problems.”

The many types of racism

Racism in Britain is not just a phenomenon limited to the police. Several official reports have recently highlighted racism in some of Britain’s leading institutions, including the BBC, the armed forces and various government agencies. All of these institutions are controlled primarily by white men. It is almost impossible for non-whites to reach top positions in these institutions, and if it happens at all, it is usually just a token move. Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC, said in 2001 that the media house was “hideously white”, referring to the lack of diversity within its workforce at the time. His comment sparked a wider discussion about the representation of ethnic minorities in British media and other institutions. While some improvements have been made since then, not much.

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There is also blatant racism that comes to the fore throughout Europe during the ten months of the football season (August-May). I am a football fanatic and an avid supporter of European club football; I have not only witnessed racism first hand in and outside the stadiums, but have also been a victim of it myself. After being called a “Paki” or “Chutney” on occasion, I now prefer to watch games on TV.

Still, there is little guarantee that you will be spared just because you are watching the game in the company of your white friends. But as I said, I managed to escape the worst of racism. Think of the black players who suffer daily humiliation and inhumane treatment from fans of opposing teams. Some call them “monkeys” and throw bananas at them.

Colonialism, slavery and subjugation

White, Western racism has existed for decades, even centuries. The Western Hemisphere calls itself “civilized,” a notion perpetuated by media, writers, academics, and politicians who position themselves as champions of “civilization” in Third World countries. One form of this “civilizing” role was long ago adopted by religious missionaries who believed that people outside Christendom needed to be “led to the right path.”

Historical figures such as Rudyard Kipling and Winston Churchill have espoused these ideas. In his book The White Man’s Burden, the former advocated this self-proclaimed “colonial duty” to civilize colonized societies. Churchill once said: “I do not admit, for example, that any great injustice has been done to the Indians of America or to the blacks of Australia… by a stronger race, a race of a higher class… taking their place.” Churchill, who is considered a racist and imperialist in India, is Britain’s – or more precisely, England’s – national hero.

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Just recently, in 2019, Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, said: “We are the guardians of a civilization that has developed over millennia… We are the ones who built the modern world, who built the West, who built the European Union. We are the ones who wrote the rulebook of the world.” This statement not only reflects the arrogance of the Hungarian Prime Minister, but also exposes him as an ignorant fool. Unfortunately, this arrogance is widespread in the West.

Western hypocrisy

In this context, the speech of US President George W. Bush during his official visit to London in November 2003 was also interesting. “The United States and Great Britain have a common mission: to bring the values ​​of freedom and democracy to the world… We will not be deterred. We will not be defeated. We will bring freedom and civilization to the world,” he said.

Bush’s comments came several months after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The two “civilized” nations, the US and Britain, had invaded a faraway land to civilize its people by implanting democracy and instilling Western values. However, the rationale presented to the world was to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. The entire Western media jumped on the “civilizing” narrative, completely ignoring its duty to question the real reason for the invasion. Ultimately, no weapons of mass destruction were found. It was all a pack of lies spread by the “most civilized country in the world.”

“The greatest, the most powerful”

Who can forget the faux pas of President Donald Trump—commander-in-chief of the world’s deadliest military force and president of the most powerful country—when he falsely claimed to have met with the “president of the Virgin Islands,” not knowing it was a U.S. territory? How can we expect Trump to know anything about the ancient civilizations of India, China, Syria, and Egypt when he isn’t even sure of his own country’s geography? And yet, in 2017, Trump once confidently declared, “We are the greatest country in the world. When you think about it, we are the greatest. We are the greatest because of our values, because of our principles, because of our Constitution, because of our system of government, because of our economic system. We are the greatest because we are a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.”

Read also | British Prime Minister ‘hurt’ after racist insults from far-right party activist

The West’s superiority complex and its burning need to civilise others continue to shape attitudes and policies. The challenge is to recognise and dismantle these deeply rooted prejudices. While Tuesday’s incident at Manchester Airport may not be as serious as some events of the past, it is still an example of systemic racism and the West’s bloated institutions poisoning their self-image. These issues require continuous review and action to promote a fairer society. Indeed, several laws have been passed in the UK and elsewhere in Europe and things have improved compared to the 20th century. But laws are hardly enough. You need to change mindsets, from schools and police forces to media houses and private institutions.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based leading Indian journalist with 30 years of experience in the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

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