I’ve been sitting on this for seven months after watching Rory Stewart’s interview on BBC News Night. Watching what’s happening around the world, I thought it might be time to point out the bleeding obvious.
In case you don’t know, I hate racism, ALL racism, but as a white person, I definitely have a deep revulsion for white supremacy. It’s such a ridiculous idea, one I thought we moved on from decades ago, especially as the smartest people I’ve met are rarely white!
But it’s also social suicide and EXACTLY the wrong direction we should be taking right now. Whether it’s tackling climate change, or making sure we don’t all slip into more poverty, which hurts everyone (even the people on top that remain rich), racism is a downward spiral into universal suffering.
When the pandemic hit, my family was living in Phuket. One thing I noticed quickly when money started running out, was crime increased quickly. It wasn’t violent crime; it was people breaking into homes to get food. Hungry people.
Our community came together to take care of each other as #OnePhuket, but when people pushed back on what we were doing I said simply: this isn’t just charity, it means our community remains safe too.
I didn’t do it for that reason, but for those against the idea (the “government should do it”-types!), it’s the only message that made a difference. Whatever it takes.
If you’re up against a racist or a white supremacist anywhere in the world, talk through why immigration is critical for our survival, but remember to talk about why it matters to them. You won’t change every mind, but we need to change enough minds to stop this dirge of hatred spreading.
Humanity needs to come together, so don’t let anyone drive us apart. We can’t win if that happens, “they” do – the ones building the billionaire bunkers. Why do we allow them to convince us to operate against our own interests? We look around and “down” but never “up” where the problem is!
It still works, and honestly, I’m dumbfounded we can still be so stupid, with all this access to so-called intelligence.
Cheers
Andrea
References
Migration Advisory Committee full report
Office for Budget Responsibility fiscal outlook
Risk & Insurance / The Institutes
World Bank Japan population data
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