The Chinese-language website of Deutsche Welle on Tuesday published a commentary entitled "Maintaining critical dialogue with China is more important than ever." The article is filled with clichés about so-called "human rights issues in Xinjiang," which are not worth reading. But the phrase "critical dialogue" in the headline is intriguing. It is in fact the main attitude of the US and other Western countries in communicating with non-Western nations in recent years.
This is, in most cases, an unconscious revelation of American and Western elites' inner feeling of superiority. But now they put it forward consciously and promote it as an "effective way" to deal with China. This cannot be explained simply by "pride and prejudice." They did not articulate it in the past, but Western countries have been practicing and enhancing the so-called critical dialogue with China. It has become an approach or even a weapon in the West's strategic game with China. In other words, they are trying to "lecture" China under the cover of "dialogue."
In global interactions, disagreements are common. It is also normal to express different views or even criticize without mincing words. However, equal dialogue cannot be based on the premise that some values are superior to others. It also cannot be only one party lecturing or accusing the other. The US and the West's "critical dialogue" is condescending, and the implied logic is that only they have the ability, qualification and power to determine right and wrong. This means that one party already claimed the moral high ground before the "dialogue" even begins, which dwarfs the development level and moral image of other countries.
Colonialism has long been discarded as something despicable, but Western-centric power structures and mentality have not disappeared completely. Colonialism has been subtly transplanted into various aspects, lurking in Western political language and communication methods. Some elites in the US and the West, with a strong sense of superiority on civilization, regard non-Western countries as candidates waiting for their "approval." With ideological pointers in their hands, they took to the podium to oversee exams, judge papers, and then grade them based on the "performance" of these countries to determine whether they passed the exam. As for the standard of scoring, it is drawn by the US and the West according to their own historical and social formations, and "Western-centrism" is the only correct answer in all the exams.
In their eyes, only the West is right, civilized and advanced, while those who differ from them are branded as "evil," barbaric and backward. They forcibly create a dichotomy between "civilization" and "barbarism." On this fictional premise, they attach moral labels on different practices of other countries, trying to dwarf them in image so that they can "attack others from a high position" as they wish. It is for this reason they recklessly fabricate the lie of "genocide" in Xinjiang, audaciously call for "punishing China" by various means, and frantically threaten to bomb China "back into the Stone Age."
Sometimes, arrogance is a kind of overbearingness; sometimes, it is also a kind of deep inferiority. In the face of the rise of emerging market countries, including China, and their own troubles, the US and other Western countries are becoming increasingly overwhelmed. Faced with the narrowing gap between them and emerging market countries, they have to rely on slogans of "human rights" and "democracy" to maintain their "absolute advantage." The reason why they are so sensitive to their position in the dialogue is that they are aware of the disappearance of the absolute advantage they used to have. As a result, they have to deliberately highlight their discourse power to maintain the obsolete power structure behind it, which has become a subconscious reaction.
Even in the fields of human rights and democracy, the US and the West are increasingly lagging behind, relying only on slogans, posturing and fist-pumping to show their "self-esteem," which is actually laughable to the rest of the world. The West's self-confidence is collapsing, as the democratization of international relations is increasingly popular and as developing countries' awareness of their rights is strengthening. Today, if someone still wants to engage in colonialism and ideological hegemony, or even imagines leading other countries by the nose like livestock, no country with national pride and a sense of independence will obey.
Returning to the "critical dialogue," China has never been afraid of criticism, but firmly opposes hegemony. Times have changed, and US and Western elites should learn to be equal and respectful. Dialogue is necessary, and we welcome "constructive dialogue," but we reject "critical dialogue." We would also like to remind that a condescending posture is dangerous, because the farther you are from the ground, the harder you may fall.
Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Thursday sternly refuted the allegations of “genocide” made
by the US and the UK over human rights situation in China's Xinjiang region, after the two countries took a Security Council meeting on
international law and maintaining peace and security as a chance to attack China on Xinjiang-related issues. They have also called on another “investigative” trip to Xinjiang on Thursday after they found that the UN human rights chief's recent visit to Xinjiang had failed to support their “genocide” fallacies about the region.
After frequent gun shooting cases nationwide in the US
that caused heavy casualties, including children, the White House and Capitol Hill are trying to show that they are trying to find a solution
under pressure from society, as US President Joe Biden said Congress "must act to pass gun control legislation."
The US, whose flag flies over 750 military bases in more than 80 countries and regions, seems to
be sitting on pins and needles after witnessing China sign ONE security cooperation framework agreement with the Solomon Islands. On Tuesday
local time, US President Joe Biden met with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the White House. Their “shared concern” about China's
security agreement and “China's Pacific ambitions” were soon placed under the spotlight of Western media outlets.
` ` MAN and nature are running out of time. That’s
the core message of the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change
...
` In short, historically it was the Church that gave the moral blessing
for colonisation, slavery and genocide during the Age of Globalisation.
The tragedy is that the Doctrine of Discovery is now embodied in US
laws.
Protesters raise their fists as they stand on the base of a statue of Christopher Columbus in front of City Hall during an "International March for Black Lives" protest against police brutality in downtown Columbus, Ohio. - Protests continue across the nation over police brutality and systemic racism have taken place following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. (Photo by SETH HERALD / AFP)
https://youtu.be/TdomoLSwoqc
WASHINGTON: Protesters in the US city of Baltimore pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus on Saturday, local media reported, the latest monument to be toppled in anti-racism demonstrations.
Statues of figures connected to colonialism and slavery have been ripped from their plinths in the United States and around the world since Black Lives Matter protests were sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May.
Footage published by the Baltimore Sun showed protesters using ropes to pull down the statue of Columbus – the Italian navigator who reached the Americas in 1492 – near the city's Little Italy district and rolling it into the Inner Harbor on the night of July 4.
Long hailed as the so-called discoverer of "The New World," Columbus is considered by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the Americas. He is regularly denounced in a similar way to Civil War generals of the pro-slavery South.
President Donald Trump earlier mentioned the sailor in his speech to mark the July 4 holiday, when Americans typically celebrate their 1776 declaration of independence from Britain.
"Together, we will fight for the American dream, and we will defend, protect, and preserve the American way of life which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America," he said in an address in which he railed against protesters demanding racial justice.
"We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and the people who, in many instances, have absolutely no clue what they are doing," he said.
"We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children."
The president last month signed an executive order pledging to enforce prosecution for protesters who vandalise public memorials, promising "long prison terms" for "lawless acts against our Great Country!"
A statue of Columbus was taken down in San Francisco last month because the explorer's actions "do not deserve to be venerated," city officials said, and another was removed from California's state capital Sacramento.
Elsewhere, a statue of Belgium's King Leopold II – who ruled over a brutal regime in Africa – was removed in the port city of Antwerp and a monument to slave trader Edward Colston was ripped down in Bristol in the United Kingdom. - AFP
Hong Kongers and the West have forgotten that Hong Kong was a forced ‘concession’ territory from China at gunpoint. The colonial history books that Hong Kongers want to preserve portray China as corrupt, evil and oppressive, as if Britain occupied Hong Kong for democratic purposes.
https://youtu.be/WIcP7pNtmmA
What you should know about China's new national security law for Hong Kong
https://youtu.be/_kVfsXQM01k
https://youtu.be/mrqOHpP5524
Has Democracy ever existed in HK under British colonial rule?英国学者：回归前的香港有民主吗？Martin Jacques
https://youtu.be/L7BEGpfuVi8
STATUES represent memories of the past, both glory and shame. With Bristol taking down the statue of slave trader, later philanthropist Edward Colston (1636-1721), US protestors have started taking down statues of Civil War or slave-tainted personalities. Law and order President Trump want to protect statues against desecration.
Who is right?
History contains more icons of past glories and few memories of bad losses. One of the worst defeats in British military history is remembered in the comic phrase “up the Khyber Pass” when in 1842 British forces retreated out of Afghanistan and lost 16,000 troops and civilians, with only one survivor. Up the Khyber Pass means today an expletive project without an exit strategy, blunders both the Russians and Americans repeated in Afghanistan.
The prestigious magazine Foreign Affairs devoted a whole issue in January/february 2018 on how countries have grappled with their past brutality. Museums and public education help explain why these events occur and how we should deal with them as a community. Remembering is painful, discussion is difficult and blaming deepens the divide.
All individuals, families and nations have blunders, tragedies and scandals that they prefer to forget. They deal with these in their own way.
Some forget, others hide their shame, a few atone for their past crimes by engaging in philanthropy or doing good deeds, and smart ones hire PR firms to make them look good. But memories and instant history that we watch unfold today are over-whelming. Today’s eight billion smartphone/cameras record all events real-time.
Reducing complex events and trends as tweets and soundbites paint the world as false binaries of black and white, good versus evil. Instead of finding solutions to the mess we are in, quasi-religious emotion over-rides rational process. So we delete or cancel what we do not like or blame them on someone else. Such emotion is understandable at a time of pandemic, shock and trauma. New York Times columnist David Brooks identified what America is going through as five epic crises all at once - bungling the pandemic; dealing with racism; political polarisation; quasi-religious struggle; and economic depression. From this side of the Pacific, it looks more like America going through her own “cultural revolution” – a rite of passage for every community in times of profound change.
Since July 1997, Hong Kong is still going through her painful cultural revolution.
Under the One Country Two Systems philosophy, no colonial statues or street names were changed. But Hong Kongers and the West have forgotten that Hong Kong was a forced “concession” territory from China at gunpoint.
The colonial history books that Hong Kongers want to preserve portray China as corrupt, evil and oppressive, as if Britain occupied Hong Kong for democratic purposes. Today, Britain is haunted also by her slavery history, just as Australian aborigines, New Zealand Maoris and Canadian native Americans bear the brunt of post-colonial injustices, with serious social problems that the elites have ignored for years.
How can Americans condemn others’ human right abuses, when America has the highest number of people in jail, of which the majority are African Americans and Hispanics? None of us are so clean of sins that we can morally judge others.
In other words, if your memory of what happened is very different from my memory, how can we communicate with each? And if I delete what you consider an important statue that represents to you very important values and meaning, who judges who is right?
Behind this deep social divide is the debate over the use of face masks. Throughout East Asia, there are few cultural taboos against wearing masks when the pandemic started.
Indeed, East Asians avoided much of the pandemic spread because most people instinctively wore masks because they understood the dual benefits of protecting self and others.
In the US, however, there is aversion to wearing masks, beginning with US President Trump as if it is a challenge to individual ego and right against any state interference in individual freedom.
The pandemic and the economic lockdown have put this conflict between individual “good” or right that leads to public harm. Individual freedoms or rights are not absolute at the expense of others.
As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof says in “Refusing to Wear a Mask is like Driving Drunk”: it is “reckless, selfish behaviour that imperils the economy and can kill or endanger innocent people.”
You get double whammy of hurting the economy and lives at the same time.
In “Covid-19 and the End of Individualism”, Cambridge economist Diane Coyle reminded us that humans are social beings whose every decision affects other people.
To monitor and evaluate this interactive and interdependent risk requires the state to monitor where the communal risks lie, using tools such as contact tracing apps.
But these apps can also be used for commercial or national security purposes.
The real problem is that the public good versus individual privacy and rights issue is extremely controversial with few good answers. Increasingly, we become aware that an individual or virus can take down an entire economy, supply chain or defense system. The marginal costs of such a viral attack is very small compared to the ensuing disaster. This pandemic alone cost US$10 trillion this year and perhaps US$30 trillion to 2023. Deleted memories that interrupt our social discussion on how to cope with the post-covid world is far more complex than we could have imagined. What civilisational model fits an individual and the communal good in this age of climate change, social inequality, disruptive technology and intense geopolitical rivalry?
This civilisational conversation is only just beginning. Every family, community and nation engage in their internal conversation in different ways, because all have painful memories to resolve. Some do it through mega-phones, shouting slogans at each other, others do it quietly below the radar screen.
Our conversations with our loved ones, parents, spouses, partners, friends, are often conducted through silences rather than outright open quarrels.
But if we are to remain a family, community or nation, that conversation must be conducted, however painful and difficult.
We must find the common threads that bind us, or else they will break us.
The UK is about to leave the EU. It should make itself stronger and more independent instead of being a US' henchman like Australia. Will the UK have a future by turning itself into another Australia?
IT has been 400 years since the first ship carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived on American soil, in Virginia – stolen lives in a stolen land. Slavery ended long ago but its legacy lingers on, in the callous disregard for black lives.
The killing of George Floyd, caught on video, has led to protests across the United States and catapulted the Black Lives Matter movement around the globe, with many “taking a knee” in solidarity.
Modern racism based on skin colour has its roots in the slave trade. (Note that Roman slavery in ancient times was not race-based.) To justify enslaving fellow humans, a narrative was perpetuated: dark skin was inferior. Slaves were “stupid” and “lazy”, as were natives who “needed” to be colonized. One common belief was that black people did not feel pain as whites did. This justified physical mistreatment and horrific experiments performed on blacks. J. Marion Sims, the “father of modern gynaecology”, repeatedly cut the genitals of enslaved women without anaesthesia in experimental surgeries.
Ideas like white superiority still persist. Systemic racism traps people of colour, making social mobility difficult.
There are some parallels here. Among Malaysians, more Indians die in police custody – they account for almost one in four deaths in custody, despite making up only 7% of the population.
Some cases have come to light. N. Dharmendran died in custody aged 31 from “breathing difficulties” in 2013. But a postmortem found multiple trauma injuries and stapler bullets in his ears. A. Kugan was only 22 when he died in a cell in 2009. His family broke into the morgue and fought for a second autopsy, which found injuries from repeated trauma.
Indians are falling behind in all areas. Among major races, they have the lowest life expectancy, highest suicide rate and lowest relative home ownership, a 2017 study from the Centre for Public Policy Studies found. They also own just 1.5% of shares in limited companies and have a relatively high involvement in crime and gangs. Inequality breeds crime – studies show if there’s little chance of legitimate success, unlawful activities are more likely.
How did Indians end up in this state? The answers lie not in race but history.
It has been close to 200 years since the first ships carrying indentured workers from India docked in ports of her Majesty’s colonies. After slavery ended in the British empire in 1833, giving black slaves manumission, plantation owners looked to India for replacements.
The Indian indentured workers were desperate, impoverished peasants, burdened with debts from British taxes. They arrived to horrific conditions in plantations in the Caribbean, Fiji or Mauritius. They were treated like slaves. In British Guiana, Indians stayed in the “ni***r yard”.
In Malaya, most Indians came as indentured workers bound for rubber estates. Some also worked on railway and road construction. Malaria killed many of those clearing jungle. Many died from “the most cruel conditions of treatment, malnutrition and misery”, writes George Netto in his 1961 book Indians In Malaya. This history has barely been acknowledged.
They often worked nine to 10 hours a day, six days a week, writes KS Sandhu in his 1969 book Indians In Malaya: Some Aspects Of Their Immigration And Settlement (1786-1957). Employers sometimes withheld pay for unsatisfactory work or inflated workers’ debts, making it very difficult to end the indenture. They were thus living “almost in slavery”, or not far from it, Sandhu writes. Often, only “flight or death” could end the misery. Death rates in some estates were as high as 80% to 90%, says Sandhu. Suicide was common, as it was for plantation slaves. Not till 1929 did births of Indians exceed deaths. Later, toddy shops were opened by the management as a form of control and debt. Alcoholism became a problem, alongside poverty, sickness, shoddy housing and violence from supervisors. Conditions never improved. In 1910, indentured labour to Malaya was banned. But the “kangani” recruiting system that replaced it was little better. Finally, in 1938, the Indian government placed a complete ban on assisted immigration to Malaya.
Communities long suffering decay and abuse do not easily move upwards, unlike immigrants. Governments may leave them to languish.
When I lived in Washington DC while on a fellowship in the 1990s, I interviewed a black woman from a ghetto. She had only met a white person once, when she gave birth. That’s how great the city’s black-white divide was.
Plantation Indians here were always isolated. When plantations closed, 300,000 Indians were evicted, losing their jobs, housing, crèches, and, significantly, community support as well as plots of land for farming. Brutally, there was no programme to resettle them. The result was an underclass that fell even further behind – now, 40% of Indians are at the bottom of the income ladder.
Poverty eradication programmes have overlooked Indians. Aid has often been siphoned away. After so many years of neglect, when will they get the help they need? When will people start to care? When will Indian lives matter?
Mangai Balasegaram writes mostly on health, but also delves into anything on being human. She has worked with international public health bodies and has a Masters in public health. Write to her at lifestyle@thestar.com. my. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
China US Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
