Monday, June 26, 2006

Why the West Must ReOrient

Recently, Francesco Sisci, Asia editor of the popular Italian daily La Stampa, wrote an article entitled “Why the West Must ReOrient” for his mass audience: it no doubt sent shock waves through Europe. In it, he argues that the EU and US must change “because China’s growth has brought a systemic change to the world at large.” China is fueling growth in Asia that, Sisci claims, “foreshadows a different world, where for the first time in at least two centuries the West will become an economic minority.”
The EU and US, whose combined population is less than China’s, confront the rise of this largest of all nations, which happens to be ruled by a Communist Party. Ironically, the US spent trillions to bring down the former Soviet Union by allying with Maoist China, not to mention “Islamic fundamentalism.” Now it is precisely that fateful decision, which involved the opening of China to massive foreign investment, that has placed China seemingly in the passing lane with consequences so immense for imperialism, white supremacy and global development generally that they have yet to be fully assessed...
A nation weaned on the poison of white supremacy as the US has been will have difficulty, in any event, in forging closer ties with a nation like India comprised overwhelmingly of the darker-skinned. Just ask Neelima Tirumalasetti, a US national of Indian origin, who has just filed suit in a federal court in Texas against a US firm. She was subjected allegedly to repeated racial harassment and discrimination after the company for which she worked, Caremark, decided to outsource work to India. Already a pressing problem in India is the abusive and racist outpourings by US customers who phone Indian call centers for technical assistance with computers and other items.
Thus, Tirumalasetti was called a “brown-skinned bitch” and “dirty Indian” by her coworkers in Texas. Before that, the Indian-born president of Pepsico, Indra Nooyi, one of the most powerful businesswomen in the US, was subjected to even more racially tinged harassment after she gave a speech in Manhattan criticizing US global policies. Web sites can be found that teach US nationals the choicest words in the Indian language of Hindi that can be used against Indian workers during calls to service centers.

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