That was fun. At a UN conference on racism, the racist president of Iran made a speech calling Israel racist - which seems fine to me, given Israel's treatment of the Palestinians within Gaza, the Occupied Territories and within its own borders. Then the racist countries of Germany (Holocaust, Turks), Britain (Empire, slavery, 'institutionally racist' police, mass ethnic minority unemployment), the United States (slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, 80% of black men with criminal records) walked out.
This is a matter of representation - does being vocally upset about particularly poisonous racism make up for structural, ongoing, silent racism? Are we meant to think that speeches are more important than the discrimination which ensures that our black boys leave school less qualified, less likely to find employment and more likely to go to prison with conviction for which white people don't? (It's the same for women, by the way: they are disproportionately imprisoned for crimes such as non-payment of TV licences and fines, for which men tend to receive non-custodial sentences). Naomi Klein makes the point in No Logo that worrying about representation of race has diverted the left from the clear real racial problems - the Ahmedinejad case demonstrates the effect of this kind of tokenism.
5 comments:
It was an extraordinary meeting, I blogged about how bitter the President sounded but now I just come to the conclusion it was a PR stunt to reflect to his home nation that he was standing up to the racist Western world. He probably expected a mass celebration upon his return.
I'm sure you're right on this one. Home opinion is worth much more to him, especially in an election period, than international opinion.
Good points but the US had not attended the meeting. Also I don't think you can blame the current state of Germany for the Holocaust. It was the Nazis and not the Germans who set the Holocaust in motion. A lot of the victims were also German. If anything Vole your statement is more than a little racist.
When I say current state of Germany I mean state as in political entity not state as in situation.
OK, point taken - I was a little slapdash. But I'm still right. For rich countries with structural, institutional racism in all sectors of society to grandstand over a predictable idiot's speech is risible. Why did they bother attending his slot if not to ostentatiously walk out. Do they think that ethnic groups in their own countries will take it as proof that they aren't experiencing racism in their daily lives?
Post a Comment