As surprising as it may sound to many who heard Tory leadership contender, Kemi Badenoch’s comments that “…not all cultures are equally valid…“[1] when deciding who should be allowed into Britain, they are not new. In fact, they resemble sentiments echoed more than a decade ago:
“All peoples possess a culture, but this does not mean all cultures are equally valid and commendable. Some values and ideas are better than others. The Enlightenment was better than the Dark Ages. Freedom is better than slavery. Democracy is better than fascism. Scientific knowledge is better than superstition.
While all human beings deserve human rights, not everyone’s beliefs and traditions deserve respect…”[2]
In the above excerpt, Peter Tatchell refers to racist political and religious ideas, patriarchy and homophobia as being unworthy of respect, and the requirement to challenge, rather than tolerate, such positions. Not many would argue against his view, regardless of its subjectivity. However, herein lies an existential conundrum. How far does this subjectivity extend as it relates to other’s beliefs and traditions not deserving respect? Doesn’t the invalidation of some cultures, juxtaposed with those considered more superior, open a potentially dangerous door of xenophobia and bigotry? The annals of history – distant and more recent – provide frightening examples of where such ideas can lead humanity. Indeed, we only have to witness the devastation currently being wrought across the Middle East, Sudan and elsewhere to comprehend how, when one culture considers itself ethnically, religiously and/or generally superior to its neighbours, can subject the latter to barbaric campaigns of ethnic cleansing, genocide and/or wanton murder in pursuit of so-called justice. The opposite is usually the fateful reality:
“…ethnic cleansing is a well-defined policy of a particular group of persons to systematically eliminate another group from a given territory on the basis of religious, ethnic or national origin. Such a policy involves violence and is very often connected with military operations. It is to be achieved by all possible means, from discrimination to extermination, and entails violations of human rights and international humanitarian law… Most ethnic cleansing methods are grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and 1977 Additional Protocols.”[3]
To invalidate or disrespect other cultures, and do so from a position of economic, political and/or military strength, is to risk delegitimising and subsequently, dehumanising them. There are innumerable examples of this, including what ensued with the indigenous populations of Australia, North and South America, and across the African continent. The resulting visceral resentment emanating from these populations was accurately recounted by Malcolm X when decrying the adverse impact of imperial and colonial legacies spanning the globe:
“The dark masses of Africa and Asia and Latin America are already seething with bitterness, animosity, hostility, unrest, and impatience with the racial intolerance that they themselves have experienced at the hands of the white West.”[4]
- The Wild White West vs. The Brown East
One needn’t look at the continued double standards and hypocrisy of many western governments in relation to prominent and ongoing conflicts involving European and non-European actors, such as Russia and Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen and most recently, Lebanon. The unyielding financial and military support for Ukraine in defence of its sovereignty against Russian aggression is in stark contrast to the absence of any substantive action to prevent the unfolding genocide and erasure of Palestinian land and its people. Ukraine is, after all, considered civilised, in contrast to ‘other’ societies:
“…Ukraine “isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European…city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”
Additionally,
“The BBC interviewed a former deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine, who told the network: “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blond hair … being killed every day.” Rather than question or challenge the comment, the BBC host flatly replied, “I understand and respect the emotion.”
On France’s BFM TV, journalist Phillipe Corbé stated this about Ukraine: “We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin. We’re talking about Europeans leaving in cars that look like ours to save their lives.”[5]
The above comments are not from fringe right-wing extremist entities; they were aired on mainstream media. The normalisation of such narratives should be a cause for concern but instead, societies throughout Europe have ceded ground to populist parties conveying even more virulent messaging that:
“…point[s] to a pernicious racism that permeates today’s war coverage and seeps into its fabric like a stain that won’t go away. The implication is clear: war is a natural state for people of color, while white people naturally gravitate toward peace…
“This type of commentary reflects the pervasive mentality in western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world such as the Middle East, Africa, south Asia, and Latin America.” Such coverage, the report correctly noted, “dehumanizes and renders their experience with war as somehow normal and expected.”[6]
- Dehumanisation & Blood Sport: Let the Games Begin…
“Dehumanization is the process by which people are understood to be less than human. A group or class of people is dehumanized through language or imagery depicting them as animalistic or subhuman. Dehumanization encompasses two layers. One layer involves stripping a person, or class of persons, of human qualities, such as emotions and cognitive abilities. The second layer involves “attributing demonic or bestial qualities to them.” The two layers combine to turn a dehumanized person into something less than human, something even akin to a subhuman, animalistic creature.”[7]
When considering the current catastrophe in Gaza and the West Bank, it appears that among the occupation’s historic and societally embedded strategies was one of dehumanisation:
“Statements like Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying, “We are fighting against animals” are clear examples of the strategy to try to legitimize war crimes, said Gordon.
Comparisons of Palestinians to “rats or snakes” on Israeli social media accounts are an effort to “dehumanize” them and “legitimize civilian deaths.“[8]
Even media outlet, Haaretz, observed:
“Very few struggles in history have centered on how a nation should treat a third group of people, but there are strong parallels between black slavery and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”[9]
- “They tried to bury us; they did not know we were seeds.”[10]
One such parallel is arguably the disregard and loss of life of children:
“Children made up about 26 percent of the captives. Because governments determined by the ton how many people could be fitted onto a slave ship, enslavers considered children especially advantageous: They could fill the boat’s small spaces, allowing more human capital in the cargo hold. Africans were crammed into ships with no knowledge of where they were going or if they would be released. This forced migration is known as the Middle Passage.”[11]
Palestinian children constitute 41% and 47% of the population in Palestine (West Bank and Gaza respectively). Approximately 16,500 among the more than 40,000 murdered have been children. Similar to the abducted and enslaved Africans on the Transatlantic Middle Passage, Palestinians have been forcibly moved from what was an environment of curtailed freedoms. However, it was all many of them knew and called home. They have no knowledge of their final destination to safety; trajectories only lead to further oppression and despair, with potentially fatal consequences.
As we enter Black History Month, it is important to remember the Transatlantic Slave Trade remains among the most barbaric periods in human history, where Africans were dehumanised and commodified, purchased and sold akin to oxen and other beasts of burden. While Palestinians have not endured the above-mentioned plight, they nevertheless continue to endure treatment that violates several human rights conventions, some of which are tantamount to war crimes.
Conclusion
America’s complicity in today’s Middle East crisis, and muted overtures towards an enduring ceasefire, is perhaps due to its own history and foundations that enabled it to become the world leader it is today:
“When European settlers arrived in the Americas, historians estimate there were over 10 million Native Americans living there. By 1900, their estimated population was under 300,000. Native Americans were subjected to many different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying the community. In the late 1800s, blankets from smallpox patients were distributed to Native Americans in order to spread disease. There were several wars, and violence was encouraged; for example, European settlers were paid for each Penobscot [indigenous] person they killed.”[12]
Penultimately, it is perhaps necessary to refer to Malcolm X’s challenging yet legitimate questions that continue to resonate among many today:
“Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves? Just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a “new Moroccan nation” …where Spain “used to be” …as the Zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?”[13]
Referring to Peter Tatchell once more, if his observations were to be taken onboard and adopted as part of international policy, we would not be witnessing occupying forces behaving like rogue states, invading and attempting to possess lands or other sovereign states and indigenous populations:
“It is true there is no one-size-fits-all blueprint for all societies and communities. But are there no universal humanitarian values that should be defended in all cultures at all times? Is everything relative? Should we accept practices in other communities that we would never accept in our own? Allowing people in developing countries to suffer indignities that we would never tolerate in our society is a shameless double standard. It smacks of racism.”[14]
[1] Wheeler, B: ‘Not all cultures equally valid, say Kemi Badendoch,’ BBC News, 28th September 2024: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg56zlge8g5o
[2] Tatchell, P: ‘Peter Tatchell: Not all cultures are equally valid and commendable,’ The Independent, 3rd November 2009: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/peter-tatchell-not-all-cultures-are-equally-valid-and-commendable-1813655.html
[3] Pappe, I: ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,’ citing Drazen Petrovic, ‘Ethnic Cleansing–An Attempt at Methodology’, European Journal of International Law, 5/ 3 (1994), pp. 342–60.”
[4] Fischbach M R: ‘Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color’: https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/kshare?asin=B08B8WJ22X&id=zwwccu5spjdhxlna2cmd5cju5m
[5] Bayoumi, M: ‘They are ‘civilised’ and ‘look like us’: The racist coverage of Ukraine,’ The Guardian, 2nd March 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/civilised-european-look-like-us-racist-coverage-ukraine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
[6] Ibid
[7] Oh, R: ‘Black Citizenship, Dehumanization, And The Fourteenth Amendment,’ https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1122&context=conlawnow [accessed 30th September 2024].
[8] Medet, H I: ‘Israel paints Palestinians as ‘animals’ to legitimize war crimes, Israeli scholar,’ Anadalou Agency, 24th October 2023: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-paints-palestinians-as-animals-to-legitimize-war-crimes-israeli-scholar/3030278#
[9] Illouz, E: ’47 Years A Slave: A New Perspective on the Occupation,’ Haaretz, 7th February 2014: https://www.haaretz.com/2014-02-07/ty-article/.premium/47-years-a-slave/0000017f-decf-df62-a9ff-dedfc4ff0000
[10] Christianopoulos, D: ‘They tried to bury us; they did not know we were seeds,’ https://meagangunn.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/they-tried-to-bury-us-they-did-not-know-we-were-seeds/ [accessed 1st October 2024].
[11] Elliott, M & Hughes, J: ‘The 1619 Project,’ The New York Times Magazine,’ 19th August 2019: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html
[12] Holocaust Museum Houston: ‘Genocide of Indigenous Peoples,’ https://hmh.org/library/research/genocide-of-indigenous-peoples-guide/ [accessed 1st October 2024]
[13]Fischbach, M R: ‘Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color: https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/kshare?asin=B08B8WJ22X&id=jlrhiz3ajrfvhmydzztpp6l2se
[14] Tatchell, P: ‘Peter Tatchell: Not all cultures are equally valid and commendable,’ The Independent, 3rd November 2009: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/peter-tatchell-not-all-cultures-are-equally-valid-and-commendable-1813655.html
