May 31, 2019 10:43 PM
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/m...gela-saini
EXCERPT: . . . Things ceased to be normal. Far-right and anti-immigrant groups have once more become visible and powerful across Europe and the US. In Poland, nationalists march under the slogan “Pure Poland, white Poland”. In Italy, a rightwing leader rises to popularity on the promise to deport illegal immigrants and turn his back on refugees. White nationalists look to Russia under Vladimir Putin as a defender of “traditional” values.
[...] Since leaving the White House in 2017, Steve Bannon has become a key figure for European far-right movements, and is now hoping to open an “alt-right” academy in an Italian monastery. This echoes “scientific racists” after the second world war, who, when they failed to find avenues in mainstream academia, simply created their own spaces and publications. The difference now is that, partly because of the internet, it’s so much easier for them to attract funding and support. In France in 2018, Bannon told far-right nationalists: “Let them call you racist, let them call you xenophobes, let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honour.”
I have spent the last few years investigating the tumorous growth of this brand of intellectual racism. Not the racist thugs who confront us in plain sight, but the well-educated ones in smart suits, the ones with power. And like Barry Mehler, I’ve encountered tight networks, including academics at the world’s leading universities, who have sought to shape public debates around race and immigration, gently nudging into acceptability the view that “foreigners” are by their very nature a threat because we are fundamentally different.
Within this cabal are those who look to science to shore up their political views. Some describe themselves as “race realists”, reflecting how they see the scientific truth as being on their side (and because calling yourself a racist is still unpalatable, even to most racists). For them, there are innate biological differences between population groups, making entire nations, for instance, naturally smarter than others. These “biological facts” neatly explain the course of history and modern day inequality.
These so-called scholars are slippery – they use euphemisms, scientific-looking charts and arcane arguments. Riding the wave of populism around the world and harnessing the internet to communicate and publish, they have also become bolder. But as Mehler reminds me, they are not new. This is a story that goes back to the birth of modern science. Race feels so tangible to us now, we have forgotten that racial classification was always quite arbitrary... (MORE)
EXCERPT: . . . Things ceased to be normal. Far-right and anti-immigrant groups have once more become visible and powerful across Europe and the US. In Poland, nationalists march under the slogan “Pure Poland, white Poland”. In Italy, a rightwing leader rises to popularity on the promise to deport illegal immigrants and turn his back on refugees. White nationalists look to Russia under Vladimir Putin as a defender of “traditional” values.
[...] Since leaving the White House in 2017, Steve Bannon has become a key figure for European far-right movements, and is now hoping to open an “alt-right” academy in an Italian monastery. This echoes “scientific racists” after the second world war, who, when they failed to find avenues in mainstream academia, simply created their own spaces and publications. The difference now is that, partly because of the internet, it’s so much easier for them to attract funding and support. In France in 2018, Bannon told far-right nationalists: “Let them call you racist, let them call you xenophobes, let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honour.”
I have spent the last few years investigating the tumorous growth of this brand of intellectual racism. Not the racist thugs who confront us in plain sight, but the well-educated ones in smart suits, the ones with power. And like Barry Mehler, I’ve encountered tight networks, including academics at the world’s leading universities, who have sought to shape public debates around race and immigration, gently nudging into acceptability the view that “foreigners” are by their very nature a threat because we are fundamentally different.
Within this cabal are those who look to science to shore up their political views. Some describe themselves as “race realists”, reflecting how they see the scientific truth as being on their side (and because calling yourself a racist is still unpalatable, even to most racists). For them, there are innate biological differences between population groups, making entire nations, for instance, naturally smarter than others. These “biological facts” neatly explain the course of history and modern day inequality.
These so-called scholars are slippery – they use euphemisms, scientific-looking charts and arcane arguments. Riding the wave of populism around the world and harnessing the internet to communicate and publish, they have also become bolder. But as Mehler reminds me, they are not new. This is a story that goes back to the birth of modern science. Race feels so tangible to us now, we have forgotten that racial classification was always quite arbitrary... (MORE)
