No subject
Mon Jun 25 16:37:47 BST 2012
the invisibility of whiteness distorts debate
*
<http://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=180444840287&link=http://www.gua
rdian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/privilege-blindness-roots-of-terrorism
&display=popup&redirect_uri=http://static-serve.appspot.com/static/facebook-
share/callback.html&show_error=false> Share154
*
*
* <http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1787745> Description:
http://static.guim.co.uk/static/2101e686aef3eab4a910b0cbdddd9a8235c0d3f3/com
mon/images/icon-email.pngEmail
* <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/priyamvadagopal> Description:
gopal
.
* Priyamvada Gopal <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/priyamvadagopal>
* guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk> , Tuesday 14 August 2012
21.00 BST
An independent inquiry has established that Anders Behring Breivik, the
clean-cut white supremacist who methodically murdered 77 people in Norway,
moved around unchallenged for three hours after detonating a car bomb,
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/anders-behring-breivik-attacks-
halted-report?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter> despite police
receiving eyewitness accounts of an armed man in protective gear.
Were the police looking for a different kind of killer? Or, despite the
existence of a long-established white power underground in Norway, was it
assumed that this was not a terrorist attack which would have triggered a
protocol of nationwide alerts and roadblocks? The verdict on Breivik, whom
prosecutors wanted declared insane and who believes multiculturalism has
harmed "white Christian identity", is due in a few days.
While mass killing always has a madness to its method, white supremacists
are all too often declared to be psychopathic loners, where others are seen
as part of organised ideological networks.
Following the massacre of Sikh worshippers by another white supremacist in
Wisconsin last week
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/05/gunman-sikh-temple-wisconsin> ,
little was made of the similarities between this apparently "senseless
killing" and the recent firebombing of a Missouri mosque
<http://presstv.com/detail/2012/08/08/255058/mosque-target-hate-crime/> .
Had Wade Page
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/08/wade-michael-page-violent-far-r
ight?newsfeed=true> been Wadi Pervez and his victims predominantly white,
talking heads would have debated the relationship between his religion and
violent inclinations while "moderate Muslims" would distance "the community"
from him.
Instead, there were suggestions that Page had targeted Sikhs "unfairly",
alongside irrelevant discussions about Sikhism. Chances are that
Representative Peter King will not hold hearings, as he did for Muslims
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/peter-king-muslim-radicalization-h
earings_n_1613746.html> , on the "extent of radicalisation in the American
white Christian community and that community's response".
While black and, more recently, Muslim anger are widely seen as the
problematic pathologies of our times, and thus subjected to the full weight
of sociological, scriptural, political and even economic analysis, declared
white rage is routinely relegated to the fringes, written off as the result
of individual psychopathy, and eliciting passing interest only after blood
is shed. Supremacists warn that there are "thousands of other angry white
men like Page out there, the vast majority of them unknown". Yet as former
department of homeland security analyst Daryl Johnson points out
<http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/9/former_dhs_analyst_daryl_johnson_on> ,
an extensive report on rightwing terrorism, including white extremism, was
angrily repudiated by Congress in 2009 and the number of security analysts
devoted to domestic non-Islamic terrorism slashed to just one.
This marginalising of the real and present danger of white terrorism at a
time when other forms of religious or nationalist militancy are under
unprecedented scrutiny has to do with how "whiteness" itself operates.
Sociologists note that in Europe and America, whiteness and the privileges
that have accrued to it historically are reliant on invisibility. To have
white privilege is to not identify or be identified as racially specific
unlike, say, "black athletes", "Asian entrepreneurs" or just an ethnic
minority air passenger.
White supremacists make it difficult to uphold the individualist axiom that
society is now "post-racial" or "colour blind". By asserting racial
affiliation and calling for (the perpetuation of) an endangered white
domination, they paradoxically undermine a more quotidian white power which,
writes scholar Richard Dyer, "secures its dominance" by remaining ostensibly
featureless and general. It can sit aloof from "multiculturalism", which is
deemed a special pleading thing that only ethnic minorities do.
Whiteness is no more scientific or natural than any other racial category
and is as internally diverse, but it still has huge operative force. It has
expanded over time from an Anglo-Saxon and Nordic provenance to include, for
instance, the Irish and Italians. Historians such as David Roediger
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roediger> and Noel Ignatiev
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Ignatiev> have shown how who was deemed
white was often linked to capitalist imperatives, such as union-busting,
increasing earning power and dividing labour forces. That economic affluence
still bears on ideas of whiteness is clear from pejoratives such as "chavs"
or "white trash" attached to "poor whites", the qualifier itself implying
contradiction.
While its institutional force is denied, a sense of collective whiteness is
still appealed to for political purposes, often in code, through invocations
of "shared Anglo-Saxon heritage" or attacks on immigration, criminal "black
culture" and
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/28/olympics-multicultural-crap-
tweet-misunderstood> "leftie multicultural crap". When David Cameron
knowingly invokes
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/10/david-cameron-school-sports
-targets> "Indian dance" as a time-wasting activity that justifies target
cuts as sports fields are sold off, the address is to the presumed racial
solidarity of the "you and I who wouldn't think of [it] as sport". It's the
multiculturalism, stupid!
Though all white supremacists are not poor, a brutally inequitable economic
order generates underclass anger, and there is encouragement for this
sometimes murderous rage to be displaced on to foreigners, Muslims, gays,
blacks, Jews and immigrants.
With ongoing military conflicts also pitting a "civilised west against
archaic others", is it sheer coincidence that Page was an ex-soldier now
thrown, like many veterans, into an economy where there are neither jobs nor
prospects?
No murderer represents a community. But all killers, however psychopathic,
act in a context, whether of economic deprivation, racism, militarisation,
gun proliferation or lack of mental healthcare. To minimise these social
realities in favour of individual psychopathy condemns us all to shooting in
the dark.
Comments on this article will be switched on tomorrow
------=_NextPart_001_0073_01CD7AD1.02B3BE20
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" =
xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" =
xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" =
xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META =
HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Dus-ascii"><meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 14 =
(filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* =
{behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
h1
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.Heading1Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;
font-weight:bold;}
p.stand-first-alone, li.stand-first-alone, div.stand-first-alone
{mso-style-name:stand-first-alone;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.facebook-share
{mso-style-name:facebook-share;}
span.facebook-share-label
{mso-style-name:facebook-share-label;}
span.facebook-share-count
{mso-style-name:facebook-share-count;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:4863950;
mso-list-template-ids:356563018;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1
{mso-list-id:532881618;
mso-list-template-ids:2080655146;}
@list l1:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l1:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l1:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext=3D"edit" spidmax=3D"1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext=3D"edit">
<o:idmap v:ext=3D"edit" data=3D"1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=3DEN-GB link=3Dblue =
vlink=3Dpurple><div class=3DWordSection1><h1><span lang=3DEN>How =
privilege-blindness stops us understanding the roots of =
terrorism<o:p></o:p></span></h1><p class=3Dstand-first-alone =
id=3Dstand-first><span lang=3DEN>From Cameron's 'Indian dance' remark to =
the discussion of Breivik's motives, the invisibility of whiteness =
distorts debate<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul type=3Ddisc =
id=3Dcontent-actions><li class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 =
level1 lfo1'><span class=3Dfacebook-share><span lang=3DEN><a =
href=3D"http://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=3D180444840287&lin=
k=3Dhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/privilege-blindne=
ss-roots-of-terrorism&display=3Dpopup&redirect_uri=3Dhttp://stati=
c-serve.appspot.com/static/facebook-share/callback.html&show_error=3D=
false"><span class=3Dfacebook-share-label><span =
style=3D'color:blue'>Share</span></span></a></span></span><span =
class=3Dfacebook-share-count><span lang=3DEN>154</span></span><span =
lang=3DEN><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 =
level1 lfo1'><span lang=3DEN><o:p> </o:p></span></li><li =
class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 =
level1 lfo1'><span lang=3DEN><o:p> </o:p></span></li><li =
class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 =
level1 lfo1'><span lang=3DEN><a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1787745" title=3D"Send to a =
friend"><span lang=3DEN-GB =
style=3D'color:blue;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;text-decoration:none'><img=
border=3D0 width=3D15 height=3D12 id=3D"Picture_x0020_3" =
src=3D"cid:image001.png at 01CD7AD1.02105230" alt=3D"Description: =
http://static.guim.co.uk/static/2101e686aef3eab4a910b0cbdddd9a8235c0d3f3/=
common/images/icon-email.png"></span>Email</a><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul=
><ul type=3Ddisc><li class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 =
level1 lfo2'><a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/priyamvadagopal"><span =
style=3D'color:blue;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;text-decoration:none'><img=
border=3D0 width=3D60 height=3D60 id=3D"Picture_x0020_2" =
src=3D"cid:image002.jpg at 01CD7AD1.02105230" alt=3D"Description: =
gopal"></span></a><span lang=3DEN><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p =
class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:7=
2.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><![if =
!supportLists]><span lang=3DEN =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span =
style=3D'mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style=3D'font:7.0pt "Times New =
Roman"'> =
</span></span></span><![endif]><span =
lang=3DEN><o:p> </o:p></span></p><ul type=3Ddisc><ul =
type=3Dcircle><li class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 =
level2 lfo2'><span lang=3DEN><a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/priyamvadagopal">Priyamvada =
Gopal</a> <o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 =
level2 lfo2'><span lang=3DEN><a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a>, Tuesday 14 August =
2012 21.00 BST<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul></ul><p><span lang=3DEN>An =
independent inquiry has established that Anders Behring Breivik, the =
clean-cut white supremacist who methodically murdered 77 people in =
Norway, <a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/anders-behring-breivi=
k-attacks-halted-report?utm_source=3Dtwitterfeed&utm_medium=3Dtwitter=
" title=3D"">moved around unchallenged for three hours after detonating =
a car bomb,</a> despite police receiving eyewitness accounts of an armed =
man in protective gear.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>Were the =
police looking for a different kind of killer? Or, despite the existence =
of a long-established white power underground in Norway, was it assumed =
that this was not a terrorist attack which would have triggered a =
protocol of nationwide alerts and roadblocks? The verdict on Breivik, =
whom prosecutors wanted declared insane and who believes =
multiculturalism has harmed "white Christian identity", is due =
in a few days.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>While mass =
killing always has a madness to its method, white supremacists are all =
too often declared to be psychopathic loners, where others are seen as =
part of organised ideological networks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>Following the <a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/05/gunman-sikh-temple-wi=
sconsin" title=3D"">massacre of Sikh worshippers by another white =
supremacist in Wisconsin last week</a>, little was made of the =
similarities between this apparently "senseless killing" and =
the recent <a =
href=3D"http://presstv.com/detail/2012/08/08/255058/mosque-target-hate-cr=
ime/" title=3D"">firebombing of a Missouri mosque</a>. Had <a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/08/wade-michael-page-vio=
lent-far-right?newsfeed=3Dtrue" title=3D"">Wade Page</a> been Wadi =
Pervez and his victims predominantly white, talking heads would have =
debated the relationship between his religion and violent inclinations =
while "moderate Muslims" would distance "the =
community" from him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>Instead, there were suggestions that Page had targeted Sikhs =
"unfairly", alongside irrelevant discussions about Sikhism. =
Chances are that <a =
href=3D"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/peter-king-muslim-radica=
lization-hearings_n_1613746.html" title=3D"">Representative Peter King =
will not hold hearings, as he did for Muslims</a>, on the "extent =
of radicalisation in the American white Christian community and that =
community's response".<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>While black and, more recently, Muslim anger are widely seen =
as the problematic pathologies of our times, and thus subjected to the =
full weight of sociological, scriptural, political and even economic =
analysis, declared white rage is routinely relegated to the fringes, =
written off as the result of individual psychopathy, and eliciting =
passing interest only after blood is shed. Supremacists warn that there =
are "thousands of other angry white men like Page out there, the =
vast majority of them unknown". Yet as former department of =
homeland security analyst <a =
href=3D"http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/9/former_dhs_analyst_daryl_joh=
nson_on" title=3D"">Daryl Johnson points out</a>, an extensive report on =
rightwing terrorism, including white extremism, was angrily repudiated =
by Congress in 2009 and the number of security analysts devoted to =
domestic non-Islamic terrorism slashed to just =
one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>This marginalising of the =
real and present danger of white terrorism at a time when other forms of =
religious or nationalist militancy are under unprecedented scrutiny has =
to do with how "whiteness" itself =
operates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>Sociologists note that =
in Europe and America, whiteness and the privileges that have accrued to =
it historically are reliant on invisibility. To have white privilege is =
to not identify or be identified as racially specific unlike, say, =
"black athletes", "Asian entrepreneurs" or just an =
ethnic minority air passenger.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>White supremacists make it difficult to uphold the =
individualist axiom that society is now "post-racial" or =
"colour blind". By asserting racial affiliation and calling =
for (the perpetuation of) an endangered white domination, they =
paradoxically undermine a more quotidian white power which, writes =
scholar Richard Dyer, "secures its dominance" by remaining =
ostensibly featureless and general. It can sit aloof from =
"multiculturalism", which is deemed a special pleading thing =
that only ethnic minorities do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>Whiteness is no more scientific or natural than any other =
racial category and is as internally diverse, but it still has huge =
operative force. It has expanded over time from an Anglo-Saxon and =
Nordic provenance to include, for instance, the Irish and Italians. =
Historians such as <a =
href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roediger" title=3D"">David =
Roediger</a> and <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Ignatiev" =
title=3D"">Noel Ignatiev</a> have shown how who was deemed white was =
often linked to capitalist imperatives, such as union-busting, =
increasing earning power and dividing labour forces. That economic =
affluence still bears on ideas of whiteness is clear from pejoratives =
such as "chavs" or "white trash" attached to =
"poor whites", the qualifier itself implying =
contradiction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>While its =
institutional force is denied, a sense of collective whiteness is still =
appealed to for political purposes, often in code, through invocations =
of "shared Anglo-Saxon heritage" or attacks on immigration, =
criminal "black culture" and <a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/28/olympics-multicult=
ural-crap-tweet-misunderstood" title=3D"">"leftie multicultural =
crap"</a>. When <a =
href=3D"http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/10/david-cameron-sch=
ool-sports-targets" title=3D"">David Cameron knowingly invokes =
"Indian dance"</a> as a time-wasting activity that justifies =
target cuts as sports fields are sold off, the address is to the =
presumed racial solidarity of the "you and I who wouldn't think of =
[it] as sport". It's the multiculturalism, =
stupid!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span lang=3DEN>Though all white =
supremacists are not poor, a brutally inequitable economic order =
generates underclass anger, and there is encouragement for this =
sometimes murderous rage to be displaced on to foreigners, Muslims, =
gays, blacks, Jews and immigrants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>With ongoing military conflicts also pitting a "civilised =
west against archaic others", is it sheer coincidence that Page was =
an ex-soldier now thrown, like many veterans, into an economy where =
there are neither jobs nor prospects?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span =
lang=3DEN>No murderer represents a community. But all killers, however =
psychopathic, act in a context, whether of economic deprivation, racism, =
militarisation, gun proliferation or lack of mental healthcare. To =
minimise these social realities in favour of individual psychopathy =
condemns us all to shooting in the =
dark.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span lang=3DEN>Comments on this =
article will be switched on tomorrow</span></em><span =
lang=3DEN><o:p></o:p></span></p><p =
class=3DMsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>
------=_NextPart_001_0073_01CD7AD1.02B3BE20--
------=_NextPart_000_0072_01CD7AD1.02B3BE20
Content-Type: image/png;
name="image001.png"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-ID: <image001.png at 01CD7AD1.02105230>
iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAA8AAAAMCAIAAAAyIHCzAAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJ
bWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAGtJREFUeNqUkQEKwCAIRZt4mXUbDyrepl1nwh9lQeE+lKTva9SlqiUt
9iUiGdTMCCGD+k7ofTZ4FfMJ54Oho4PeGSI60U9riwGo56c3AXrXukxAV8/3Kkc0QlEwfDeJ6E5g
qPwRJ38HegUYAMy9OrF4HWekAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC
------=_NextPart_000_0072_01CD7AD1.02B3BE20
Content-Type: image/jpeg;
name="image002.jpg"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-ID: <image002.jpg at 01CD7AD1.02105230>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------=_NextPart_000_0072_01CD7AD1.02B3BE20--
More information about the Debate-list
mailing list