By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
Within a fortnight of July 22 Norway massacre, multi-culturalism is once again being held responsible for yet another form of violence in the West. Great Britain exploded following the killing of Mark Duggan, a Black, in the Afro-Caribbean pocket of London on August 4.
While Anders Behring Breivik of Norway wanted to get Europe rid of Muslims and stall the “invasion of Islam”, in United Kingdom the killing on suspicion sparked off yet another row over mutli-ethnicity.
Surprisingly, when Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician from Brazil, was shot dead several times by police on the suspicion of being a terrorist in July 2005 Britain did not witness violence though there was shock and disbelief everywhere as the incident took place a few days after a terror attack in that country. Though the British government was apologetic and Brazil expressed anger yet the United Kingdom remained peaceful.
The reason is very much there. Unlike Latin Americans, the population of Black is more palpable, have almost five centuries of history and have their own entity. They have their own newspapers and can organize and rightly or wrongly, retaliate and indulge in arson and looting.
The arsonists not only targeted Whites, but also the people of Chinese, Turkish, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi origin. But what is surprising is that many Whites were also seen indulging in large scale loots of shops and property and violence. What prompted them to go on rampage? So the opponents of multiculturalism have been deprived of the argument that it is simply ‘civilized’ Whites versus ‘barbaric’ Blacks or Whites versus non-Whites in the West.
The right wing apologists of Anders Behring Breivik in the West as well as East have been accusing Islam and Muslims for the spread of violence in their part of the world, but once again they were shocked to find that both the killer and the killed––that is the police and Mark Duggan––belong to the same faith, and has nothing to do with Islam. Not only that it was Haroon Jahan and two other Muslims, who laid down their lives saving the people in Birmingham.
The xenophobics in the West hate the outsiders even if they have been living there for generations or centuries. Many among them view them as a parasites who get unemployment allowance and all sorts of facilities and in return indulge in crimes.
There may be some truth in such feelings. But when one digs deep into the history one finds that these outsiders have not come on their own and settled in United Kingdom, United States or other parts of Europe clandestinely. It is the rulers of the West who themselves took the Africans and Asians to their respective countries and colonies for their own purpose.
First the Blacks were shepherded from West Africa to the new world of America as well as England five centuries back. They were treated worst than beast, forced to clear the huge jungles; make the land cultivable, lay the roads and later railway tracks and work in mines in the most inhuman condition. In fact they were used as cannon fodder in the wars in the wild west and in icy cold north when the fact is that these Blacks were brought from hot climates of Africa.
The whole of new world was made inhabitable for the White migrants from Europe to settle. Thus, these Black slaves were used to lay the foundation of what later came to be known as the modern United States of America. The contributions of Blacks in making it Super Power can never be denied though they hardly get any credit for it.
Much later, Africans and other Asians were taken to United Kingdom and other European countries to work in those sectors of the industries where the western countries were facing serious labour shortage.
Many early migrants, even Mirpuris from Pakistan, who were displaced after the construction of Mangla Dam in PoK in 1960s, worked in mines and other menial jobs to overcome the labour crisis in that country.
British during their rule in India took a large number of young Afghans and Pushtoons of the NWFP for laying railway tracks and other physical works in Australia in late 19th century.
Now with the development of technology and less reliance on hands there may be large scale reduction in demand of labourers. This may be one of the reasons for rampant unemployment among the semi-literate and semi-skilled later generations of these migrants. Thus they may be more prone to crime and addiction.
The ultra-rightists in the West may see such Africans and Asians as hate objects but the problem with these countries is that they are facing sharp decline in the population of original inhabitants. Aging is another problem with them. If today they discourage multiculturalism they, in the long run, themselves would be the losers.
So, to say that these migrants are burden on the West is oversimplication of history. In the early centuries of their development these slaves were the prize assets for the West. Not only that the Blacks fought all the tough wars for the West. Even in the American War of Independence the British imperialists took a large number of Blacks to fight their war. After the retreat they were brought back to United Kingdom, their pensions were stopped and were forced to beg for their survival.
The Blacks fought two World Wars as well as many other wars as Sikhs, Rajputs, Paithans, Gorkhas, Baluchis, Punjabis etc did for the British empire.
The problem with the Blacks is more complicated than Asians, who at least root for their respective countries of their origin. Uprooted so many times in the last several centuries there is a strong sense of rootlessness among a sizeable section of Black.
Alex Haley’s Roots and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin may help understand the whole psyche of the Blacks living in the United States, and in the same way Europe.
http://twocircles.net/2011aug12/after_norway_britain_rocked_western_barbarism.html
