صراط عشق صراط عشق
US in an Unprecedented Show of Disrespect to World Community
The ongoing anti-racism protests is the challenge that has proved to be most difficult, decisive and differentiating, preceded by centuries of history but triggered by killer police brutality and racism against people of colour.
The nature of this racial disparity is not singular to the United States as the only modern nation that had slavery in its midst from the very beginning. Many other Western nations suffer from the same problem which is why anti-racism protests have now become global.
The anti-racism protests have expanded through the United States for the second week, and demonstrations as well in countless cities around the world have underscored the collective understanding of the significance of this moment. The protests have stretched from South America to Africa, from Europe to Southeast Asia and from Mexico to Canada.
The question now is whether the United States can get rid of this new low, and the answer is not that promising. In the United States, tolerance of intolerance continues to enable state-sanctioned oppression, prejudice had plunged the nation into a world of fear and hate, and calling for an end to racism is being treated as a punishable offense.
The beatings and killings of peaceful protesters in the US is an unprecedented show of disrespect to the international community that has even alienated European allies. It mirrors the behavior of authoritarian regimes and is not only an assault on human rights at home but is also a deliberate attempt to prolong the on-going racism and xenophobia on the pretext of maintaining law and order, and undermine international bodies charged with holding abusive governments accountable.
In one sense, this is an authoritarian regime in Washington that is also complicit in racism, oppression, injustice and gross human rights abuses by international partners and occupying regimes. This has rested in significant part on the shoulders of a colonial policy that allows killer cops to roam the streets and commit human rights violations and abuses with great impunity. No accountability and prevention here.
The US government similarly provides training and weapons to foreign military and occupying forces who commit similar crimes. Even European allies acknowledge that is not acceptable. The regimes that commit such crimes are never prosecuted and punished. A case in point could be Saudi Arabia which invaded and destroyed neighbouring Yemen with help from the US.
The US government is treating the Saudis and allies as if they are above international law and don’t have to answer to the law. The US government supports these partners who invade and occupy; who violate the personal integrity, dignity, or due process of Yemeni people and even their own their citizens.
The US government makes clear that its own military commanders and forces who order gross violations of human rights – or try to cover them up – can also receive support and impunity. The same military forces and killer cops kill and abuse peaceful protesters in the US, and still receive support in Washington.
Here, the American law is never punitive, as it should be, for killer cops. Today, however, the main problem is systematic racism and injustice against people of colour. The larger purpose is never about national security, nor is it about building a professional, disciplined, transparent, and accountable society.
It’s a sign of what’s to come. This is because human rights has never directed America’s path, and because more and more people of colour recognise that it is less about ending racism than about maintaining America’s white supremacy.
That is not acceptable to the people of colour and those who support their legitimate protests in the US. It is not acceptable to the world community, and it should not be acceptable to the civil society.
