The business of race

Of recent Kanye West has been talking out of his ass and stirring up a lot of controversy with threatening and offensive pronouncements about Jews. A lot of his behaviour and what he has been saying has strong hints of clinical paranoia. People have turned on him in droves and he has not made much of an effort to make amends or row back his comments. Multiple businesses and organisations have ended relationships with him in response to the public outcry. He is clearly being hit in the pocket by the reactions to his unconscionable utterances but his reputation is taking an even bigger battering. It remains to be seen if there is any way back for him from casting out that he is currently going through. 

Kanye has been accused of stirring up anti-semitism and giving license to fascists and nazis to show off their bigotry. This might be a bit of a reach because fascists have never needed any encouragement to abuse or attack Jews. While fascists might wholeheartedly agree with Kanye it would appear he is actually getting more obvious and vocal support from Republicans. Republicans have literally hoisted Kanye on their shoulders and showed him around as their gladiator in their war against “wokeness”. While the mainstream is working overtime to cancel Kanye the Republicans are promoting him for all they’re worth. 

Kanye West is currently topping the unpopularity charts but he has an extensive back catalogue of bigoted declarations dismissing the suffering of Black people and criticising the response to historic abuses, and icons in the civil rights struggle. He also routinely mistreats and verbally abuses Black people and women he comes across. It is interesting that even when he was at his most obnoxious he did not receive the wholesale disapproval he is currently experiencing. In fact, businesses were falling over themselves to throw money at him for his questionable creative endeavours. Whether you call him a maverick or a moron businesses had no problem making money off him while Black people and women were the targets of his unsavoury sayings. 

It is only too right that Kanye West is facing censure for his anti-semitism. His behaviour thoughtless and feeds into harmful stereotypes of Jews. However, it is problematic that society in general is a lot more tolerant of prejudice when it is directed at other minorities. We have seen mainstream right wing personalities and politicians try to downplay the murder of George Floyd and the GOP in America have launched an all out onslaught on Critical Race Theory. A lot of the right wing outrage is a concerted effort to deny the reality of prejudice and discrimination suffered by Black people in America. A lot more could be done to address racial inequality and tensions but they would rather put all that effort into covering it up. 

The U.K.’s prime minister’s office recently released a statement saying that Rishi Sunak; the prime minister, does not consider the U.K. a racist country. While it is true that not all people are racist certain groups definitely are and the institutions still show evidence of systemic racism. Health inequalities, disproportionate involvement in criminal justice system, the ‘Windrush Scandal’, and the current animosity towards Critical Race Theory are strong indications of that. These are permitted to persist because the environment we’re in allows it. There is such a strong undercurrent of prejudice towards Black people that many cases of subtle or overt racism towards Black people barely cause a ripple. The business community has figured out that they are better off covering up or just ignoring the issue. Maybe this was what Kanye was hoping for when he decided to give vent to his inner voice. 

Democracy in Disrepute

© OECD

The United Kingdom has for long prided itself on having one of the world’s most highly regarded democracies. The history and workings of the parliamentary political system have facilitated the smooth transition of power for generations. However, recent going ons has meant that its gilded reputation has become less than sparkling. In recent times other than Tony Blair and David Cameron there hasn’t been a prime minister that has been elected into the post. Now a new prime minister is about to be chosen but by a narrow partisan political group rather than a national mandate. Of the two contenders for prime minister; one is seeking to defund civil servants who work in the North, and the other wants to defund deprived neighbourhoods all over the country. So we are left to put up with a pantomine prime minister playing out his last days; and two witless clowns spouting inanities in the slap dash scramble to succeed him in the circus.

The parliamentary and presidential political systems in the United Kingdom and United States are generally considered to be the foremost examples of the democratic process. However, neither of them actually make provision for the country prime minister or president to be elected directly by a straightforward majority count of votes. The U.K. is comprised of four nations yet in recent years the country’s prime minister has come from a political party that barely wins enough votes to come second in three of those nations. And still the prime minister is able to assume office as the leader of a United Kingdom! In America there have been two recent elections in which the winner of the presidency actually failed to win the popular vote. At least Vladimir Putin had the decency to dispense with the people’s mandate and take power by trickery and scheming. 

Across the world democratic elections now represent a trade off between partisan jingoism and nationalist fear mongering. Ideology and public service barely get a look in anymore. The notion of a democracy being a government of the people for the people has become a distant ideal. Now government’s get voted in to protect special interests. No true democracy should elect a national leader without a national vote in which the whole electorate gets a say. France’s elections are one of those to adopt this approach but even  then it doesn’t guarantee the election of a universally liked candidate. Too often a compromise has to be settled on between aspirants who might often be considered a choice between bad and worse. 

Democracy has evolved from from a political idea into a universal ideal. However, a system in which the will of the citizens is subverted by the desires of a select few is not ideal or even acceptable. However, while a powerful elite only seek to perpetuate their control and power then the majority will remain disenfranchised.