Nothing very new in this world, but does anybody else have the feeling that the world has gone completely crazy in a very short time? The lack of empathy, solidarity and humanity and the level of cruelty and inhumanity has become crystal clear. Before it seemed at least as if politicians and world leaders tried to make us believe that they were doing the right thing for us, the population, but since Trumps election and the Gaza genocide it doesn’t seem necessary anymore to even pretend. I think we have come to a point where we need to acknowledge some very important things.
We shouldn't deny anymore that everything is connected. Racism, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, imperialism, oppression, exploitation. We are living in a world where consumerism is the highest goal. We want to buy as much stuff as possible at the lowest prices. To uphold that system we need people that can be exploited and those people are (almost) always people of color (POC) living in poor countries. That is racism, because when you consider people to be inferior to you because of skin color, origin or birth place, you place people in a hierarchy of value. If we (implicitly or explicitly) approve of some people working in miserable and inhumane conditions, then we accept that hierarchy. Racism is probably a problem of all times, but it was exacerbated by the colonialism. Western countries had imperialistic ideas of conquering other countries and make them better or more civilised by ruling them, thinking they alone had the correct civilisation that they needed to impose on other 'uncivilised' states. That thinking was (and is) also based on the racist idea that countries where people were (mainly) of color could never be as sophisticated. And there we have the idea of white supremacy: everything that is white culture is more civilised, more sophisticated, which makes white people better and it gives them more privilege and more rights. Maybe this is not a conscious idea we have, but if you would really be honest and question yourself, you would see that we are almost all brainwashed into this idea. It made the ‘system’ very white people oriented and that’s how we ended up with systemic racism. Some examples: some of the most valuable passports in the world (which means easy access to a lot of countries and travel destinations) belong to white people or countries considered white; a black person always has to be more afraid of police violence than white people and the criminal sentences given to POC are much more severe; white people residing in other countries are mainly called expats, POC are called immigrants; it's much more difficult for POC to get housing and jobs; the performance of students with a different origin, language or skin color are more often underestimated in schools. This is only a small selection of examples and all of them have been proven through research.
Within the white population, a specific type of people has taken the lead. The patriarchy is strong as ever: mainly old, white men are ruling the world. Most of them have billions and their only goal is to make more money, preferably on the backs of people they consider to be inferior to them. The sad thing is that they seem to have us convinced that they are the perfect people to lead us, even telling us that the immigrants, poor people and other vulnerable groups of people are out to get us: they will steal our jobs, our houses, our money. Meanwhile, they are the ones who create systems to keep us small and inferior, to make us spend money on things we don’t need and they distract us from seeing what they are doing by diverting our attention to fights among ourselves. Middle class against lower class, locals against foreigners, men against women, country against country, religion against religion and even fractions within the same religion and so on. 1% of the world population has as much wealth as the 50% poorest people. In numbers: about 80 million people (that's the number of inhabitants of Germany, Iran or Turkey) have as much as 4 billion people. Let that sink in. There is really enough for everyone, we just have to divide and share it equally. And maybe you want to argue that there are also POC and women in charge and that's true, but let's be honest: they are almost insignificant in number and they play by the rules of those old, white, rich men. To survive in that world you have to be or become ruthless, selfish, merciless and brutal, otherwise you are ridiculed and forced out.
We can’t deny that there is a hierarchy, but we sometimes refuse to see or name it. White people, I’m speaking mainly to you now: stop the white fragility. It’s hurting everyone. White fragility means that white people feel attacked, offended or hurt when people mention racial inequality or injustice or when someone says they are experiencing racism. Common things to say:
I didn’t mean it like that, it was not my intention. I didn’t want to hurt you, Im not racist/not a bad person.
Not everything is about racism, we should not look for examples everywhere. I believe we are all equal, we should not constantly look for problems.
You shouldn’t be so sensitive, I think you misunderstood. That person didn’t mean to speak in a racist way, it is just their style of speaking.
The problem with white fragility is that it denies the feelings and reality of the person who experiences racism and that it again focuses on the experience and the feelings of the white person. So again the POC is not taken seriously. I also want to believe in a world where we are all equal and I do believe that every person is equal, but denying that the system is racist, is not helping any of us. We need to start forgetting about our own hurt feelings and start listening to the people who experience racism almost daily. Because let’s be honest: white people rarely experience racism. Other forms of discrimination: yes, but they are mostly not as invasive to living our lives happily. If you really want to make a difference: start listening to people’s experiences and fight alongside them instead of focusing on your own guilt and hurt feelings about being part of a system that gives white people more privilege. Is racism a typical white people thing? No, also not what I’m saying, but we need to start understanding that racism coming from white people is more powerful and damaging, exactly because there is systemic racism that is giving more privilege and more rights to white people. It's not because that systemic racism is not always visible that it doesn't exist and it is hurting people on a daily basis.
What we see in Gaza, Congo, Sudan is based on racist thinking and principles. The lives of POC or people adhering to a hated religion simply is undervalued. Remember when Russia started the war in Ukraine and how Ukrainians immediately were helped and sheltered in Europe, even given priority over people of other origins who were waiting months or years already to get a permit. We have to call it what it is: racism. Every person should be helped in the same way. Gaza finally gets attention after almost 2 years, but a genocide is happening before our eyes and still governments don’t take real actions. Not because they can’t, but because they choose not to. Because they don’t think it is worth the effort. Because there is power and money involved and the lobbies are strong. People’s lives (and mainly POC's lives) don’t matter. What matters, is power, business deals and profits.
Tell me: is this the kind of world, society, community that we want to live in? World leaders who are owned by the rich and privileged who think they own and deserve everything on this planet? The sad thing is: by convincing us they have that right, they do own everything: resources, money, power, territory and land, the media. Nobody even bothers to talk about what’s happening in Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan anymore. The media are silent. We can pretend it isn’t happening anymore and we are still keeping ourselves busy pointing towards ‘illegals’, immigrants, lower class people for destroying our happy lives. It’s all an illusion and we need to wake up. The western powers have created a lot of the problems that are now happening in the world, through starting wars, intervening in conflicts or causing instability, because there was something to gain: resources (such as oil or minerals), strategic and military power, trade and economical benefits. In short: to serve capitalistic and imperialistic purposes. Secondly, the capitalistic system is putting a huge strain on our environment and our planet is slowly becoming inhabitable. The first people who suffer the consequences are living in countries where war, conflict, instability and starvation are a daily reality, but the problems are mainly caused by the 'first world countries'. Still, we feel entitled to look away and blame refugees and immigrants for trying to find a better life.
It was Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, it is today also Gaza, Congo, Sudan. But we also see ICE raids happening in the US that violently remove so called 'illegals' (I prefer to call them people) from their homes and lives, without any mercy or compassion. Who will it be tomorrow? Us? For speaking out, for having an opinion? Or for having the 'wrong' opinion? For being different? For being married or not being married? For having children or not having children? For speaking a language with or without accent? For having short or long hair, for being small or tall? For loving men or women or both? For looking too angry or too happy? For not dressing correctly or too fancy? For walking in the wrong way? Should I go on? Just to say: nobody is safe. If we don’t stand up for empathy, compassion, understanding, humanity, you can be the next one to be bullied, persecuted, shunned, mocked, ridiculed, excluded, imprisoned, killed. Instead of choosing the side of inhumanity, cruelty and judgment, let’s stand together against everyone who’s trying to divide us. Many politicians commit crimes that they will never be judged for because we, the people, approved and supported their actions or we kept silent. Why is a serial killer sentenced to many years of prison and can a government that is killing thousands of people get away with it, even with public approval? More and more people who stand up for other people get arrested. How crazy is it that you would be judged for defending other people? I would want other people to stand up for me too. We failed Gaza already. Hopefully we will learn from it.