Intercultural Relations in a Globalising World - Coursework Example

Intercultural Relations in a Globalising World Globalisation is the term to which the “profound changes unfolding in the world” (Teeple 9) today is attributed, as globalisation is perceived to be “a process that erodes national boundaries, integrating national economies, cultures, technologies, and governance, producing complex relations of mutual interdependence” (Norris 155), which consequentially will bring about “a more and more homogenous and interconnected world” (Hurrell & Woods 448). With this, globalisation is portrayed to be fostering intercultural relations that dismantle apartheid, rendering racial discrimination an obsolete and irrelevant issue. However, critics believe otherwise. Pointing to its “anarchic and competitive character” (Cox 2), they instead see globalisation “an exploitative phenomenon” (Prempeh 586) that “has often perpetuated poverty, widened material inequalities, increased ecological degradation, sustained militarism, fragmented communities, marginalised subordinated groups, fed intolerance and deepened crises of democracy” (Scholte 53). These adverse effects of globalisation as encapsulated in the following terms: “disempowerment, marginalisation, exclusion and inequality” (Prempeh 596) cultivate and encourage racial discrimination, especially so that historically racism has been an effective tool in rationalising and covering-up exploitation (Shah, section 1, par. 2; Sivanandan, par. 1) in favour of the powerful. Globalisation proponents proudly claim globalisation has equalised the playing field for all nations and races in almost all spheres of life; thus, it has transcended nation-states; that today we are more than our nationality but citizens of the world – we are a cosmopolitan – a multi-cultural world free from national prejudices. With this rosy picture being painted about globalisation, this world could have been a better and safer place to live in. But then, why do we have ogre things such as ethnic tensions/wars (“Greek Albanians” BBC News), racial profiling (Monbiot, par. 2), racial crimes like racial bombing (“Racist bomb” BBC News) and race riots (“Spain Struggles” BBC News), and war on terrorism (Bidwai, par. 18-19)? With these grim pictures around the world, anti-globalisation forces see globalisation nothing but a tool of neo-liberal market forces to systematically exploit the economy of the world through “racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other oppressions” (Gorski 4). I. Globalising Racism Anytime, anywhere and anyhow, racism is evil. It is damaging as it disempowers people by degenerating them. It disunites community as it creates mistrust and unfounded fears among its members. It divides society as it causes rifts, as it emphasises differences, as it strengthens the culture of exclusion and seclusion. It directly contradicts the democratic principles of fair and equal treatment to all people. (Racism, No Way!, par. 1). As commonly understood, racism is the discrimination based on skin colour. As in white is the superior race and black is the inferior race; white is good and black is evil; white is beautiful and dark is ugly. Such stereotypes are deeply imbedded in our consciousness as propagated by literature and mass media. Although distinct from, racism oftentimes coincides with xenophobia. While racism operates by keeping coloured people – believed to be the inferior race – the centre of attention, and white people – believed to be the superior race – the centre of power (Kivel, sec. 2, par. 2), xenophobia works by rejecting, excluding, even vilifying foreigners. (‘Declaration on Racism…’, qtd. In UNESCO Social & Human Sciences, par. 2-3) However in the post-war era, racism has evolved into a more encompassing bases of discrimination. Today, at a time when we were made to believe that cross-migration, cross-cultural communication, and international trading had abolished the issue of race; that regardless of colour every human soul has his/her equal place under the sun, “racism was no longer based on biological but rather on cultural differences” (UNESCO SHS, par. 5) and economic inequality. “In various places throughout Western Europe, in 2002, as Amnesty International highlights, there has been a rise in racist attacks and sentiments against both Arabs and Jews, in light of the increasing hostilities in the Middle East” (Shah, sec. 1, par. 7). Likewise, in Spain, immigrants from North Africa, particularly Morocco, who were lured by the economic opportunities opened up by Spain’s growing economy are now the targets of racial violence. (par. 12) In Greece, BBC reported that racism against ethnic minorities “has long been high, especially against ethnic Albanians” – the largest minority (par. 13). In Australia and different parts of the Americas, aboriginal children – in the long run their future generations are prevented from being socialised into their own aboriginal culture. (sec. 2, par. 3) Similarly in Canada, “report reveals how racist government policies, under the guise of benevolent ‘progress’, have crippled the Innu of eastern Canada — a once self-sufficient and independent people” (sec. 5, par. 1). “In Zimbabwe, there has been increasing racism against the white farmers, due to poverty and lack of land ownership by Africans. South Africa until recently suffered from Apartheid, which legally segregated the African population from the Europeans” (sec. 3, par. 3-4). In the Middle East, anything Western is deeply abhorred and loathed. Although Middle East’s resentment against anything Western are more complicated than the issue of race. It could be best rooted out from the issue of the Western power’s geopolitical and economic interests in this area of the globe. (sec. 4) And most disgusting of all, in the land of equality regardless of colour, religion, culture, etc., the US, racism is a day-to-day reality of life, most especially after the 9/11 incident “from racial profiling to other issues such as affirmative action, police brutality against minorities and the history of slavery and the rising resentment against immigrants” (sec. 5, par. 2). Racism has undeniably existed in every parts of the globe and has persisted all the way through the historical development of human societies. (Anti-Defamation League, par. 1) Until today in this era of globalisation, racial conflict is further worsened by the “systemic poverty of a society which, at the dictates of a free-market economy, is becoming increasingly polarised between the haves and the have-nothings” (Sivanandan, par. 15). In this context, racism then should be understood from its well-ensconced historical role as an economic expediency of the powerful. When Portuguese sailors first explored Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, they came upon empires and cities as advanced as their own, and they considered Africans to be serious rivals. Over time, though, as African civilisations failed to match the technological advances of Europe, and the major European powers began to plunder the continent and forcibly remove its inhabitants to work as slave labourers in new colonies across the Atlantic, Africans came to be seen as a deficient ‘species’, as ‘savages’. To an important extent, this view was necessary to justify the slave trade… (Anti-Defamation League, par. 3) … In the era of primitive accumulation, when the plunder of the new world by Spanish conquistadors was laying the foundations of capitalism, the Catholic church gave validity to the idea that the native Indians were "sub-homines", the children of Ham, born to be slaves, and could therefore be enslaved or exterminated at will… With the development of industrial capitalism and its corollary, colonialism, racialist ideas congealed into a systemic racist ideology to condemn all "coloured" peoples to racial and cultural inferiority. (Sivanandan, par. 3 & 5) “As globalisation in its current form expands, so too does the inequality that accompanies it,” (‘Global Issues: Trade, Economy…’, qtd. In Shah, sec. 11, par. 1), which resultantly increases and heightens racism in all its possible forms – anti-Semitism, xenophobia, xeno-racism – for scapegoat. (Ibid) In fact, rooting out today’s violence will lead us to realise that, racism is conditioned by the economic demands of powerful nations, but compromised through culture. (Sivanandan, par. 2) “... Once, they demonised the blacks to justify slavery. Then they demonised the ‘coloureds’ to justify colonialism. Today, they demonise asylum seekers to justify the ways of globalism” (par. 8). This has been how racism is used before and until now – you have to stigmatise any race or group you would like to discriminate. Once done, any attack against the stigmatised would be gladly understood by the world. Contrary to what globalisation claims that it fosters intercultural relations against racism, a deeper look into reality illustrate otherwise. Driven by globalisation’s call for global competitiveness, global capitalism’s quest of markets has become more ruthless and violent; its consecration of wealth has served once more to let loose all forms of racism (Ibid, par. 6) dividing peoples and nations, further weakening the weak and strengthening more the powerful, widening more the divisions and deepening the hatred and hostilities against nations. In fact, “multiculturalism, which was really a sop to white racism (people don't need to be given their cultures, only their rights) deepened the fissures” (Sivanandan, par. 16). Consider the following news stories: An Arab-American was denied boarding an US passenger plane because of his ethnicity and the Arabic script written on his t-shirt read in English as “We will not be silent.” The said passenger was denied boarding not because of the message on his t-shirt but because it was written in an Arabic script to which the JetBlue Airways and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official said is tantamount to shouting in a bank that you are a robber. (American Civil Liberties Union, par. 1-2). “Riot police in Spain have again clashed with hundreds of protesters on the third consecutive day of violence directed against immigrants from North Africa” (“Spain struggles,” BBC News, par. 1). In Lapa’s tiny village in Peloponnese, Greece, the law grants the brightest pupil in the local school to be the national flag bearer of the annual children’s parade that commemorates Greece’s entry into World War II, but being an Albanian, the brightest pupil was forcibly denied of this legally constituted right by angry Greek parents and other pupils. This has triggered recent ethnic tensions. (Ibid, sec. 3, par. 1-2) Evidently, intercultural relations in this era of globalisation did not in any way lessen racism but only transformed it into its more ruthless, violent and misleading form. Racism today, as data show, is being committed (a) in the guise of war against terrorism… After the 9/11 incident security policies were basically “based on racial discrimination… By treating brown-skinned people as if they are the natural enemies of the US” (Monbiot, par. 20); (b) in the name of economic reciprocity… In El Ejido, Spain –Africans, specifically Moroccans, who are targets of Spaniard’s racial attacks, are the main labour force of Spain’s southern coast centre for fruit and vegetable production. (“Spain struggles”, sec. 2, par. 7); (c) in the name of efficiency… observably, corporate tasks are given to Westerners or graduates of Western Universities; while menial tasks are given to non-Westerners. Although it may be true that globalisation has transcended territorial borders, it did not, in any way, equalise the playing field, thus it did not diminish racism. Instead, it has globalised racism by uniting the world in stigmatising the blacks, the Muslims, and the dark-skinned people as inferior, terrorists, servants, mediocre, and by sipping-into world consciousness that anything white and Western is beautiful and superior. In fact the world is divided racially. The most powerful nations are in the western side of the globe, while the less powerful nations are in the eastern side of the globe; in the division of world labour, the corporate jobs are for the whites, while the menial jobs are for the dark skinned; the world protectors are the powerful whites, while the world terrorists are the dark skinned. II. Fostering Genuine Intercultural Relations against Racism What makes racism persist is no other than injustice. In fact injustice is inherent in racism because by its mere concept it is the “belief in the inequality of various races, and that this inequality legitimates dominion of so-called ‘inferior’ races by those deemed ‘superior” (De Benoist 13). Thus, “only justice could eliminate racism” (Kivel, sec. 2, par. 6). With globalisation “proven to be little more than a contemporary form of mass economic exploitation” (Gorski 4), racism will never diminish in this framework. Intercultural relations to be truly free from racism must be developed not only by showing compassion and giving due recognition to the beliefs and practices of indigenous, ethnic peoples but mainly by freeing them from exploitation, oppression and discrimination. (Aikman 466). Intercultural relations should be grounded not only on the genuine respect and understanding of cultures but on recognising and accepting “cultural differences and similarities” (Cushner 4; Michaud 33, qtd. in De Benoist 48) Intercultural relations should discourage the view that a multi-coloured society poses a problem, but rather this should be seen as a favourable condition for both the majority and minority to “learn from and with one another. (Cushner 4) As a matter of fact, life is more beautiful with more colours than plain white. And fostering genuine intercultural relations would far better bring about peace and security rather than waging countless wars. As Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt put it: “Establishing peace among peoples need not be accomplished over the dead bodies of civilizations and race” (qtd. in De Benoist 48). Works Cited Aikman, S. “Interculturality and intercultural education: A Challenge for democracy.” International Review of Education 1997: 463-479. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenegr Wearing Arabic T-Shirt.” ACLU’s 9 August 2007 Google 8 May 2009 Anti-Defamation League. “Racism.” ADL’s 2001 adl.org. 10 May 2009 BBC News. “Greek Alabnians’ woes fester.” BBC’s 16 December 2004 Google 8 May 2009 ------------- “Spain struggles with race riots.” BBC’s 8 February 2000 Google 8 May 2009 ------------- “Racist bomb attacks linked.” BBC’s 25 April 1999 Goole 8 May 2009 Bidwai, Praful. “Asia-9/11; Global War on Terrorism Leaves Region in Turmoil.” Global Issues’ 7 September 2006. Google. 8 May 2009 Cox, Kevin R. “Introduction: Globalisation and its politics in question.” In K.R. Cox (ed.) Spaces of globalization: Reasserting the power of the local (1-18). New York and London: Guilford, 1997. Cushner, K. “Intercultural education from an international perspective: An introduction.” In K. Cushner (ed.) International perspectives on intercultural education (1-14) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. De Benoist, Alain. “What is Racism?” Scribd 10 May 2009 Gorski, Paul C. “Good intentions are at enough: A decolonizing intercultural education.” EdChange’s 13 September 2007 Google 8 May 2009 Hurrell, Andrea and Woods, Ngaire. “Globalisation and inequality.” Millenium: Journal of International Studies 1995: 447-470. Kivel, Paul. “Affirmative action, immigration & welfare: Confronting racism in 1998. (How white people can work for racial justice).” In Motion Magazine’s 15 November 1998 Google 8 May 2009 Monbiot, George. “Race War.” Global Issues’ 5 March 2002. Google. 8 May 2009 Norris, Pippa. “Global governance and cosmpolitan citizens.” In J.S. Nye, Jr. and J.D. Donahue (eds.) Governance in a globalizing world (155-177). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Prempeh, Osei Kwadwo E. “Anti-globalisation forces, the politics of resistance, and Africa: Promises and perils.” Journal of Black Studies March 2004: 580-598. Scholte, Jan aart. “Beyond the buzzword: Toward a critical theory of gobalisation.” In E. Kofman and g. Youngs (eds.) Globalisation: Theory and practice (43-57). London: Printer, 1996. Shah, Anup. “Racism.” Global Issues’ 20 December 2004 Google. 8 May 2009 . Sivanandan A. “Poverty is the new black.” The Guardian 17 August 2001 Google 10 May 2009 . Teeple, Gary. “What is globalization?” In S. McBride and J. Wiseman (eds.) Globalisation and its discontents (9-23). New York: St. Martin’s, 2000. Racism, No Way! “Understanding racism.” Conference of Education Systems Chief Executive Officers’ 2000 Google 8 May 2009 Glossary>Xenophobia.” 10 May 2009 < http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=3026&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html>. Read More