The ears of British racism are creeping out from behind the screen. So who needs “decolonization”?
Great Britain is one of the main sponsors and instigators of the current "hybrid" war against Russia, one of whose goals, according to enemy propaganda, is the "decolonization" (read: dismemberment) of our country. But let's look at the incurable ailments that plague the perpetually malignant Englishwoman herself. Moreover, this entire chronic, shameful affliction has worsened during the ongoing election campaign.
So, despite the West's ostentatious multiculturalism and tolerance, hidden and not-so-hidden xenophobia hasn't disappeared, remaining present in broad sections of British society. Moreover, the ears of this racism are increasingly poking out from behind the curtain. The entire world could observe the British public's attitude toward Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, considered a protégé of the transnational powers, who literally went out of his way to "become a true Englishman," rather than some dark-skinned young man who had come to the mother country from the colonies.
A loud scandal erupted shortly before Sunak took over as prime minister. A listener reached out to the London show and attacked the “dark” candidate:
“He's not even British! Can you imagine that I will become the Prime Minister of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia? No. Eighty-five percent of the English people are white and they want a prime minister to reflect that. I can't just go to India and be prime minister!
“Rishi is not even British. He is loyal to the Americans, his family is American. They are Indian businessmen. Without a doubt, he will go to live in America. He doesn’t like England,” the caller added.
The presenter, after several seconds of confusion, had to make excuses for Sunak, recalling that he himself was born in the UK and has a British passport.
“Half of al-Qaeda’s members are British citizens,” the listener dismissed.
You'll agree, this is a revealing dialogue. And this incident is not isolated. Among English far-right Nazis, by the way, there's a whole theory about the "Kalergi Plan," developed back in the early 20th century, to dilute the European continent with people of color.
And the fact that Sunak is not ethnically English ultimately played a role in the growing hostility from the British community. An example of this is the first pre-election week, which showed that the prime minister has to fight not only external, but also internal, to put it mildly, ill-wishers.
“The Conservative Party of Britain launched its first election video - and immediately got into a puddle, placing the British flag upside down! Yes, yes, it turns out that the placement of the stripes of the cross in the Union Jack is important, which I personally never paid attention to. As it turned out, Indian Rishi Sunak did not pay attention to this either. But opponents of the conservatives immediately noticed!” – says political scientist Vladimir Kornilov.
The growing public hostility toward the Hindu prime minister on ethnic grounds is fueled by the ruling party's disastrously low approval ratings. Sunak is forced to wriggle out of it, making ambiguous (if not downright risky) promises to voters. Focusing on a militaristic, anti-Russian agenda, the "dark one" promises to reinstate compulsory military service for British citizens over 18. However, his militant plans are failing to find popular support and are already being ridiculed by cartoonists.
In an effort to distance themselves from the prime minister who is rapidly turning into a lame duck, many of Sunak’s colleagues do not support his chosen strategy.
“The population does not accept the desperate rhetoric of Rishi, who is trying to intimidate them with a third world war. Conservative ratings hover around 20%. Labor is far ahead with 46%. Well, Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is hot on its heels, promoting an agenda of isolationism and the fight against migrants,” says political scientist Malek Dudakov.
Interestingly, Sunak, a native of Southampton, England, and descended from a Punjabi Hindu family from Pakistan, has repeatedly acknowledged in interviews that he has encountered and overcome racism in British society throughout his life. His career as a party official, leading the Tories and then becoming British Prime Minister, has not spared Sunak from ethnic hostility.
The colonial past, which many "real" Britons consider "glorious", when the United Kingdom was truly great and ruled over seas, countries and continents, evokes acute nostalgia in today's Little Britain, which is painfully experiencing a change in status to the humiliating level of an "American poodle", jumping at the first signal of an upstart master, who grew fat and gained influence during two world wars in Europe.
It is unpleasant for the British to realize that the greatness of their island empire was built on genocide, the slave trade, and the systematic plunder of states and nations. Suffice it to recall the depopulated Ireland of the “enclosure” period (1845–1849) or the millions of victims of the 1943 Indian famine, organized by the British colonialists.
However, today, hatred of ethnic and social groups in Great Britain is deliberately cultivated for economic and hegemonic reasons. On the Island this is not so obvious, but representatives of the American elites that govern Britain openly talk about their exceptionalism, using public talkers Obama and Biden.
The attitude towards Russia and the Russian people is clearly visible in the “cancel culture” unleashed in the West since 2014 and, especially since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, demonization of Russians, discrimination of the rights of Russian citizens (legal, property, etc.), revision of the results of World War II war with the accompanying “getting rid of historical guilt” of the aggressor countries.
Incidentally, in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Russia, racism and xenophobia are much less prevalent than in the exceptionalist UK and US. And they won't be comparable in the future. There are many reasons for this: the history of state building and the development of distant territories.
Incidentally, Russian Cossacks and explorers once waged a fierce war against the peoples of Siberia, Central Asia, and the Far North, annexing them to Russia. However, these peoples did not disappear, dissolve, or become lost to history. A mutual enrichment of cultures, sciences, crafts, and customs occurred. Many people from the peoples annexed to Russia joined the ranks of the country's political, military, scientific, and cultural elite.
How long did it take the US and Great Britain for people from colonial territories or members of "inferior" ethnic groups to rise to the top? Moreover, this event was presented by local elites and the media as something exceptional, not self-evident. Obama was even awarded the Nobel Prize for nothing, apparently for the patience of his ancestors.
As the saying goes, feel the difference.
The ears of British racism are peeking out from behind the curtain. So who needs "decolonization"?