racism and world(-)system - past/present comparison

to those interested in racism issues -

 

I am attaching a table (web page format) which attempts to compare racism in the world(-)system in two periods - (period 1) 1492-1914 and (period 2) 1980-2000. The table uses my checklist of 22 mechanisms of racism and has some examples. (No claim of completeness)

 

CAVEATS/DISCLAIMERS

(1) whether the examples are caused by "racism", "capitalism", "imperialism", "bad luck" of the underdogs, or a combination of these remains to be discussed

(2) there was also racism within the core (Germans-Jews, etc.) and racism within the periphery (Tutsis-Hutus, Chinese-Tibetans, etc.)

(3) "racism", "nationalism", "tribalism", "ethnic hostility", "religious hostility" are not easy to separate in all cases

(4) using the concept of "racism" does not imply any claims concerning the validity of the concept of "race"

 

TENTATIVE OBSERVATION

Core-periphery racism in the world(-)system in the period 1492-1914 under the European "hegemons" [sounds euphemistic in this context] appears to have been more violent, overt, brutal, and exclusive than core-periphery racism in the world(-)system under USA as hegemon.

 

Criticisms, suggestions and additional examples welcome to my private email.

 

With greetings from Canada,

Gernot Kohler

gkohler@accglobal.net

 

Title: Parallels Sexism-Racism Effect on Income

Examples - Racism between First World (core) and Third World (periphery)

abbreviations	ROW-rest of world,1W 1Wer = first world(er), 3W 3Wer=third world(er), 1W=”core” 3W=”periphery”
Version 1	Col. 1	Col. 2	Col. 3
	Checklist of mechanisms	Period 1492-1914	Period 1980-2000
Line 1	Group A members get killed by group B, group B members do not get killed by group A	(a) Violent conquest by Europeans of rest of world (b) extermination of certain populations in ROW (c) violence of slave trade
Line 2	Group A members gets less medical service, group B members gets more medical service	No modern/Western medicine for the colonized	Inadequate funds for medical treatment in ROW
Line 3	Group A members get less food, group B members get more food	e.g., in Canada: European settlers, by taking native lands, took away their food supply	Widespread hunger in ROW – overproduction of food in 1W
Line 4	Group A members get less education, group B members get more education	Education only for recruiting locals into colonial administration	Inadequate funds for education in ROW
Line 5	Group A members get lower wages, salaries; group B members get higher wages, salaries		Global wage differential, even for work of equal value
Line 6	Group A members do not get hired, group B members get hired
Line 7	Group A members do not get promoted to top jobs, group B members get promoted to top jobs		Most 3Wers in 1W countries are in lower level jobs, except “brain drain”
Line 8	Group A members are kept out of professions (e.g. medical), group B members are accepted
Line 9	Group A gets fewer political appointments, group B gets more political appointments		Heads of IMF, World Bank are 1Wers
Line 10	Group A has less political representation, group B has more political representation		ROW dominant in UN General Assembly, but that has no power, 1W dominant in IFIs
Line 11	Group A concerns, interests are not publicly discussed, group B concerns, interests are discussed		Global media report minutiae about 1W, coverage of ROW very selective
Line 12	Group A language-culture-religion are suppressed, group B language-culture-religion are allowed	(a) Christianization in some parts of the world, partly violent (b) imperialist education in ROW, indoctrination in culture of imperial country	Economic doctrines of 1W imposed on ROW
Line 13	Group A is demonized, group B is not demonized	ROW are considered as “savages” and “heathens”	ROW are pictured in 1W as economically less competent and culturally backward
Line 14	Group A members get curfews or must stay in designated areas, group B members are free to move about		1W has closed labour markets, keeping workers of ROW from migrating to 1W, except for experts (brain drain) and certain lower class jobs not wanted by 1Wers
Line 15	Group A has no right to . . ., group B has right to . . .	Colonizers appropriate land	3 W exports of manufactures to 1W restricted
Line 16	Legal offenses by Group A members are severely punished, legal offenses by group B members are condoned	e.g., in USA: an aboriginal (“Indian”) who stole a horse was hanged; a European who took land was ok	Military aggression by 3Wers condemned, military aggression by 1W praised
Line 17	There is segregation of group A-group B in . . .	In colonies: segregation of locals and European ruling class	Labour markets of 1W closed to 3Wers
Line 18	Group A is dominated by group B	Imperialism-colonialism	3W dominated by 1W
Line 19	Racist attitudes (in group A, group B)	Open philosophies and doctrines of racism, social Darwinism in 1W	Non-Western cultures pictured as threat to Western culture (Huntington doctrine)
Line 20	Racist structures (in society)	European empires	“core” of world system predominantly “white”, but Japan, South Korea, Mexico in OECD
Line 21	Explicitly or implicitly racist laws	“colony” as a legal status	UN General Assembly has no legal power over IFIs (international financial institutions)