Wild Past Still Haunts the West !
There have been violent attacks over the years on Asians and people of diverse religions and cultures in the West. They have given rise to the belief that the West has never really been rid of the baggage of violence and intolerance that it has been carrying over the centuries.
One may say, the West’s history of bloodshed and violence still haunts it. It is a history of racial intolerance and gore: the Saxon and Norman invasions, the Crusades, centuries of bloody colonization by the Europeans over the peoples of the Americas and Asia in the name of establishing culture and civilization, the many wars between the European powers themselves and the two World Wars.
The increase in racial attacks in recent years—whether it be the post-9/11 attacks in the USA or racial attacks against Asians, particularly Indians, in the UK or attacks against Indian immigrants in Australia—reveal that the so-called ‘tolerant’ and ‘civilized’ West is increasingly manifesting its insecurity through intolerant, ‘uncivilized’ acts of violence. Let’s take the many instances of attacks which either have been directed at symbols or places of Asian religions and cultures or involve direct attacks on people of Asian descent. What they all do is express resentment towards the ‘alien’ religions and cultures which are, needless to say, non-White and non-Christian.
There has been a ban on Sikhs wearing turbans in drivers’ license photographs in France and in clubs as in New Zealand and army’s ban on turbans and beard in USA.
The assaults on Islam, especially symbols of Islamic culture, have been many and varied, such as the recent banning of the hijab in France. The Western argument is that covering of the face is subjugation of women and a disrespect of women’s rights. Never mind what the women themselves, who wear the hijab as part of their religious and cultural attire, actually feel. And never mind that the very people who are opposed to it allow and adopt a covering to the face in the form of a mask when there is the slightest panic of a swine flu virus spread.
The attacks on persons of Asian descent by individuals and groups have grown to such an extent that it has become a daily occurrence. The post 9/11 attacks on persons of Asian appearance with a beard or turban and the racial attacks against Indians in Australia immediately come to mind.
Attacks by members of right-wing extremist parties reveal the racial and ethnic hatred in the West against non-white cultures and peoples. The attack on a summer camp on the island of Utoya in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud, organized by AUF, the youth division of the ruling Norwegian Labour Party, was carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian right-wing extremist, who opened fire and killed 69People. It was the deadliest attack in Norway since the Second World War. He was against the immigration policy of the Labour Party which he felt had allowed immigrants especially Muslims to settle in the country.
Bombs were thrown at a Hindu temple and an Islamic centre in New York and three other locations recently by Ray Lengend who unabashedly said he did what he did because, among other things, he was upset over being denied entry into the Islamic centre to use its bathroom! The killer of the Indian student Anuj Bidve in Manchester on December 26, Kiaran Mark Stapleton, has stated that his violence was part of a gang initiation process: he had to prove to violent dons that he was capable of cold blooded murder and who a better victim than a harmless young Indian student. The request on banning the Bhagavad Gita in Siberia is by a Christian Orthodox church group that sees the Gita as extremist.
Food for thought here? The most extremist form of violence in the twentieth century was unleashed by persons and powers of extremist ideology in Europe and not in Asia. What can match the fascism of Mussolini or Hitler’s Nazism and its hatred of Jews in terms of intolerance?
The attack on Iraq and the ‘war on terror’ unleashed by George Bush saw unprecedented violence by one country on others in the name of safeguarding civilization and peace in the world and finishing off terrorism and terrorists. The war started off on the basis of lies: Saddam Hussain never possessed WMDs —an argument that was extended as the basis of initiating the war against Iraq.
Not only that, the ‘war on terror’ itself somewhere became terrorizing as civilians populations, that is, countless innocent men, women and children, were made the targets of bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the ‘war on terror’ attacks, the terrorizing BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, nicknamed daisy cutter, a 15,000 pound (6,800 kg) conventional bomb, one of the biggest ever, was dropped by the US even though these bombs were terribly lethal and could cause immense damage to people in these areas in general. Not only this, the treatment of detainees from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq in places like Guantanamo Bay was terrorizing to say the least.
The West is still haunted by its history of violence and intolerance, and continues to harbor a sense of superiority and a penchant for exercising double standards and favoritism. The transfer and annihilation of Arabs in Palestine has been the policy of Zionist Jews since the late 1800s. And in recent times, with Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing has been displayed to the entire world in all of its horrific manifestations. But the US only reiterates its commitment to Israel as an ally and Israel’s right to defend itself. US impose sanctions on Iran and Europe has agreed to impose an embargo on Iranian oil. But the United States does not have a comprehensive embargo against North Korea which scores bad on many counts, whether in terms of its potential threat to the US and its allies, South Korea and Japan; its attempted nuclear proliferation, nuclear weaponry and missiles; and its human rights abuses and its extensive gulags.
The necessity is for the West to understand that the fear of being colonized by Asian populations and its hatred for ‘alien’ communities and cultures is wreaking havoc in Western society as its stands today. A growing racial insecurity is driving groups and individuals to express themselves in violent ways. This no way does credit to the West that has always projected an image of itself steeped in liberalism, rationalism and racial tolerance. It is time for the world to question the veracity of this ‘image’ and make the West answerable to the victims of its culture of violence and hatred.
By: Syed Ruman Hashmi
Editor-In-Chief
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