In Dec 2016, the American elections concluded and Donald Trump was elected to the Oval office. And with this started the rise of far right politics across the world. Even before December, the right wingers loomed over the horizon but with the winning of Trump they were on steroids of sorts. Whether its Theresa May in UK or Marine Le Pen in France, people all over the world seem to gravitate towards far tight thoughts. Anybody who eulogizes anti-immigration or a cut off from some geo-political cum economic group (read as EU) or a blanket ban on certain religions seem to ascend to the highest political seat.
These overt expressions of extremism have given birth to discrimination and ridicule in public at large. The recent incident of an Irish woman ranting hate talks on a train is a live manifestation of such ideas. Many people in western nations don’t understand the basic difference between religions. For many Sikhism and Islam is same. The color of one’s skin or appearance of oneself is easily misconstrued for characteristics of a terrorist organization. Few Indians in US were a victim of several such hate crimes. The recent travel bans for people from certain nations only shows a narrow-sighted binary approach to solve complex problems. Here is the response to some sample problems –
- Problem No jobs for locals Response Ban immigration
- Problem Terror strikes in the country Response Ban people from entering
Its like going back to decades old tradition of protectionism and covertness. Our forefathers toiled hard against very same behaviors. Its like modern day untouchability where we don’t want people from certain geographies any where near us.
If all the nations of the world borrow (& implement) the thought of building border walls, soon world will be like big prison cells where you can interact with inmates of your cell only. Meaning of global currency- USD or a global language – English will also lose their relevance then.
Sankalp Labs 