Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief recently said;
“Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build – the three things together. The rest of the world is not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.”
Years back there was this story someone told me: There was this interview on one of the ‘global’ TV stations. The European guest was talking about climate change. And it was said sometime in the future the climate issue getting worse the whole of Europe would be under water. According to the alleged info it’s the land of Africa that would be spared of this catastrophe and remain above water. So the journalist asks this European what would happen to the hundreds of millions of Europeans.
“We’ll immigrate to Africa,” the person answers.
“What about Africans?” the journalist presses. That was when the man gave the answer to beat all answers to the dustbin of history;
“It’s survival of the fittest.”
Yes, may be the fittest have upgraded the plans!
Recently I was kind of mini-researching for an Amharic piece I had to deliver. That was when I came to the phrase “Replacement Theory.” According to this theory which is said to have been the brainchild of some French writer or something there is conspiracy to replace the whit race with the black raise.
A worried person tweets, “Racism is so rampant AND normalized in Europe, that most Europeans are oblivious that racism is hatred, & leads to violence. EU’s top diplomat calls the world a jungle, echoing fascists incitement re minorities, calling them animals, criminals & invaders.”
I mean racists don’t necessarily have to put on KKK garb or burn crosses. They don’t have to be caught in the act like the policeman in the George Floyd incident.
But facts are facts and racism alive and kicking and even some would say with ever increasing force.
EPL players have been kneeling for quite a while the League using the “No to Racism” as sort slogan. Is it working? Well, maybe. But as of recent times, racist chants and banana-throwing incidents have been on the rise. So trying to play down Borrel’s comments as simple slip of the tongue would be wrong.
Coming back to our case most of the comments and the crude, ill-intentioned media blitz of the so-called int’l community against historic Ethiopia on the situation in the northern part of the country are rooted, among other reasons, in racism. Racism isn’t only discriminating against people based on their identities, beliefs etc. Denying the identities could also be taken a form of racism. We’ve been subjected to such incidents in ages long gone. Remember when Ethiopians defeated Italian invaders at Adwa American and European papers tried to paint the Atlanta Constitution recommends its readers to do a close study of Ethiopians’ features and raised Ethiopians as white. Racist! Raymond Jonas in his epic book, ‘The Battle of Adwa, writes how the American newspaper doubts how much we have in common with Africans…” and Jonas said the story ends by asserting that they (Ethiopians) were of “of Phoenician origins.”
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka are some of the best young talents the English Premier League gave to the world. But just because they missed penalties for the England national team at the Euro finals they were no longer British citizens, but “black” people.
I remember many years back someone telling me in the compounds of an international institution there was this closed off area in which a cafeteria was situated. Only; the whites could enter that area. When you talk to some free thinking Ethiopians who call a spade a spade working in int’l institutions you’d know racism is alive and kicking.
To round it all up here are a few comments to Borell’s garden/jungle comment;
Here we go again, European leaders with their condescending Colonial claim they feed people of poor nations. Let me remind you Europe is known more for robbing the poor nations of world of their wealth an impoverish them to make them dependent forever. Must stop!
“Europe is a garden and hence civilized. The rest of the world is a jungle and hence uncivilized. The gardeners of Europe should manicure the jungle to their liking. Only then it will be pleasing and delightful. And hence civilized. The hypocrisy…”
Racism is alive and kicking!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 23 OCTOBER 2022