Global Phenomenon White Privilege with its root in colonialism
Chandran Nair, Founder of Hong Kong think tank and CEO of Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) reveal how a belief in the innate superiority of White people in Western culture, once the driving force behind imperialism, is now woven into the very fabric of globalization.
Nair’s parents migrated from India and went to Kuala Lumpur by boat, a 10-day journey and some people died of Cholera, malaria, and bad air circulation on the way. Nair was born in Kuala Lumpur, the seventh of eight children – four boys and four girls all born within 12 years and lived in a village community of migrant Indians living together with Malays and Chinese. His dad worked as a clerk for the electricity board and his mother, a housewife looked after the kids. Although from a Hindu family he went to a convent school.
White privilege damages and distorts societies around the world, not just in the United States. Dismantling Global White Privilege Equity exposes its pervasive global reach and creates a new space for discourse on worldwide racial equality. Nair points out even many non-White people have internalized it, judging themselves by an alien standard. It has no rival in terms of longevity, global reach, harm done, and continuing subversion of other cultures and societies. The book also examines its impact on geopolitics, the reframing of world history, and international business practices. In the soft-power spheres of White privilege- entertainment, the new media, sports, and fashion, he offers examples of how White cultural products remain the aspirational standard. Even environmentalism has been corrupted, dominated by a White savior mentally whereby technologies and practices built in the West will save supposedly underdeveloped, poorly governed, and polluted non-Western world. Nair recommends that it must be dismantled- not because it is an injustice but also because we. Will be creating a post-Western world that has less conflict. Is more united, and is better able to respond to the existential challenges facing all of us.
In mid-2020, during the protests in the United States after the murder of George Floyd, over one hundred other countries held solidarity protests. These demonstrations often decried racial injustice and structural discrimination in their own societies. Chandran Nair argues that White privilege is the best way to understand how oppression and dominance by Western cultures operate. Touching on history, business, environment, entertainment, media, fashion, education, and more, he analyses how it has shaped, repressed, and destroyed local cultures to seek and preserve White economic power.
White privilege is the driving force behind globalization, being constantly upheld and reproduced by a global superstructure that perpetuates widespread White economic and military dominance.
Countries like Australia and America struggle with racism within their countries, Chandran Nair wants us to start recognizing the global white privilege which manifests in geopolitics, climate change, education, culture, and even in sport.
It is important in helping to deconstruct these systems for a fairer world. FT, one of the world’s premier and most respected media institutions, which influences tens of millions of people across the world, it too plays a role in perpetuating the systems, that uphold White privilege. It is valuable to reflect occasionally on the people, places, and events that have shaped one’s life and values, and Nair finds himself looking to 2022, and beyond with excitement and some anxiety given the state of the world. He also tells about Amazon’s “broken system” and Asia needs to think for itself when it comes to sustainability issues and not rely on Western consultants who know little of the continent.
Dismantling Global White Privilege Equity for a Post-Western World by Chandran Nair, Berrett-Koehler £19.99/$24.95.