On 26 March 2019 the European Parliament issued a resolution on Fundamental Rights of People of African Descent in Europe1)European Parliament resolution of 26 March 2019 on fundamental rights of people of African descent in Europe. Full text.in which it boldly diagnosed Europeans with deep-seated racism who are without rhyme or reason xenophobic and prejudiced, and who – conversely – should ingratiate themselves with the peoples of Africa with gratitude for their significant and vast contributions to the development of the Old Continent; they should also redress the past and present injustices inflicted on them by present and past Europeans by offering public apology, returning stolen artefacts and inviting more Africans through the preparation of “safe and legal avenues for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to enter the EU”, who in turn should be well represented in all spheres of life, beginning with school to employment to policy making. All this ought to be crowned with the celebration of holidays devoted to the people of Africa and these include:
1 the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade,
2 Black History Months, and
3 the UN-sponsored International Decade for People of African Descent.
The document states that Europe is inhabited by at least 15 million people from Africa and calls on the EU Member States to prepare safe routes for many more. This action should be accompanied by a wide range of measures for making the life of blacks in Europe easier in every dimension and for suppressing the resistance that such measures and the resettlement procedures might spark on the part of the indigenous people. To this end a new term has been coined: Afrophobia, probably modelled on homophobia, yet another mortal sin in the Church of Political Correctness.
This is how injustices are to be redressed. Paapa Essiedu stars as Hamlet in the 2016 RSC production. Photo by Manuel Harlan.
The document is also prescriptive. It says that people resettled from Africa are to be referred to as people of African descent – as if it were not genes but the geographical longi- and latitude that determines the human races – or Afro-Europeans (modelled on the term Afro-Americans) or Black Europeans. The last two are especially misleading because properly speaking Afro-Europeans can only denote miscegenated individuals whereas there is no such thing as a black European unless, again, race is not determined by biology but geography or – better still – arbitrary documents of personal identity where a civil servant may enter any label he is told to.
Afrophobia – as the document continues – is an expression of persistent negative and discriminatory stereotyping. Here, too, the authors are in the wrong. Stereotyping is the particular function of the human psyche which categorises things, people and experiences to facilitate navigation in the complex world and simplify instant decision making. Stereotyping derives from the accumulated collective experience of generations and is passed down from parents to children. So is xenophobia, a phenomenon known to all species of animals. A stranger, a newcomer, an intruder must always be perceived with caution: the most basic defence mechanism.
This fragment is not the only one that shows that the authors of the resolution either have no idea of reality or have purposefully – some of them no doubt driven by fear of being called racists – turned a blind eye to it. In another place of the text they accuse Europeans of awarding lower grades to black children and of causing them to drop out of school earlier than their white peers do. Obviously, in the opinion of the European resolution-producers lower grades have nothing whatsoever to do with poorer performance: they have everything to do with – yes, you guessed it right – racism; not racism as such – mind you – but structural racism, which is another term fashionable in the EU circles.
This is how injustices are to be redressed. Source.
In the same vein the authors of the resolution deplore the fact that spatial segregation takes place on the housing market. Blind to reality though they are, they have somehow noticed that people of colour tend to flock together and that also in Europe the phenomenon of white flight is observable. The authors of the document cannot be bothered with a simple question, namely, why such phenomena occur around the globe. Rather than investigate reality, they prefer to play demiurge and the Grand Inquisitor. They cannot even be bothered to see whether all Europeans are xenophobic: they call on the Member States to recognise the assumed, alleged fact. Period.
History shows that ethnic cleansing is part and parcel of humanity. Everywhere. Always. How much arrogance does it take to think that this time it is going to be different? Not only are the managers of the world and the European Union calling on inviting Africans to white countries, not only are they calling for developing strategies of social inclusion which means that blacks are to be well-represented in the professions, universities, media (they call it workforce diversity) and politics: they are also calling for the governments to include black history in school curricula and to teach Europeans how much they owe blacks and to teach them that Europeans have only left a trail of tears and blood in Africa! How much ignorance does it take to act like this and expect the indigenous people not to – sooner or later – lash out?
It is still worse. Racial profiling is to be banned. Never mind that facts reveal the glaring over-representation of blacks in crime: so much worse for the facts. A European must not be fed that kind of information and thus be on his guard while dealing with blacks. Yet, a contrary profiling is not only allowed but mandated: racial bias, racial motivations are to be recorded and taken into consideration while meting out punishment for offence. From now on, if you happen to have an argument with a black, you will be found guilty – that’s for sure – but the severity of retribution will depend on your records, on whether or not you have been reported as having a racial bias.
Nor are traditions allowed to remain intact if only they are deemed racist. Books, fairy-tales and all customs featuring blacks in an unfavourbale light are all to be purged or racially cleansed, so to say. A black Hamlet, a black Sir Lancelot or a black Achilles are the new normal. You’d better get accustomed to it.
The new Achilles by the BBC and Netflix. Source.
References
| 1. | ↑ | European Parliament resolution of 26 March 2019 on fundamental rights of people of African descent in Europe. Full text. |
