The racism meted out to Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, on the Channel 4 television programme Celebrity Big Brother has (at the time of writing) provoked 27,000 complaints to Ofcom, the British broadcasting regulator. Television viewers all over Britain - presumably from all ethnic backgrounds - have protested that purposefully mispronouncing the actress's name or implying that Indians are unhygienic is unacceptable.
They are right, and no amount of hand-wringing over the extremities of political correctness will change the fact that several of the inmates don't like Shilpa because she is dark-skinned, eats with her hands, and is basically "not one of us". The ubiquitous Germaine Greer, writing in the Guardian, argues that the behaviour of the "housemates" reflects "widespread bigotry in British society" ("Why does everyone hate me?", 17 January 2007). However, her comment that "Jackiey's inability to pronounce Shilpa's name had less to do with failure to conceal her own racism than the fact that she has no idea how to spell anything" also subscribes to the tired, self-serving belief that racism is the unique problem of the ignorant working class.
More significant is the reaction from both the private sector and government. In this context, Greer - whose own appearance on Big Brother in 2005, like that of other would-be "serious" people, can only be put down to desperation - is again a test-case of intellectual narrowcasting. Her remark that "every time someone sends in a complaint to Ofcom about racism in the Big Brother house, the profile of the show is raised and Shilpa earns a bit more of her huge fee" (translation all Shilpa cares about is her fame and her wallet - she is after all a veteran of the tough, misogynistic world of Hindi movies) rightly focuses on the cynical calculation of the show's organisers, but is also too reductive.
For the rejection of racism by the programme's sponsors, the Carphone Warehouse - leading on 18 January to its suspension of its contract with the show - is testimony to the belief that being labelled a racist is bad for business. The private sector sells an image of itself as diverse, multicultural and therefore cool. In the world of cars, mobile phones, sportswear and other luxuries, it's only the colour of your money that counts. If more dreams can be sold in cellophane wrapping by painting it in all the colours of the rainbow, no one at Carphone Warehouse will argue with that. In the 21st century, all can buy into the myth of success ... in three easy monthly instalments.
Alana Lentin is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Sussex. She is the author of Racism and Anti-racism in Europe (Pluto Press / University of Michigan Press, 2004) and (co-edited with Ronit Lentin) Race and State (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006). Her website is here
Also by Alana Lentin on openDemocracy:
" Multiculturalism or anti-racism?" (September 2004)
"The intifada of the banlieues"
(17 November 2005)
The uses of diversity
The British government has adapted equally well to the new market-driven realities. In its and much of the establishment's discourse, "diversity" is the buzzword of the day. It sounds so much more holistic than "multiculturalism", which has come to sound both aridly academic and (an astonishing reversal of initial impetus) socially separatist.
While multiculturalism seems evocative of a world of non-communicating ethnic enclaves, diversity - a catch-all that covers everyone from transsexuals to Pakistani grandmothers without attending to the pernickety details - is the chosen vehicle to raise enthusiasm for the relaxed, inclusive, post-everything society that New Labour would like Britain to become (or to appear).
The promotion of diversity is useful in a further way, as a replacement for fighting racism, which too has come to seem passé and negative: why be against something bad when you can be for something good? The idea that a cosy, tolerant society in which diversities coexist happily is evolving or has been created implies that those who deny or challenge this comforting portrait are letting the side down.
Hence Tony Blair's insistence, in reaction to the events on Celebrity Big Brother, that Britons "must oppose racism in all its forms". Any ugly shows of racist prejudice on TV are regrettable because they give the impression that British people are not playing their part in the "happy diversity" show. Blair's likely successor as British prime minister, Gordon Brown, made equally clear what is at stake; during his tour of India, in the eye of a media firestorm, the image of Britain abroad was his fundamental concern rather than what the programme revealed about the country's reality. Britain, Brown stated, "should be seen as a country of fairness and tolerance".
No one would question the aspiration. But if the Jackieys and Danielles of this world view non-whites in a racist manner, could this have anything to do with the prejudiced, ignorant, stereotyped and often downright racist messages they are exposed to from much of the broadcast and print media, and from politicians' more cleverly coded insinuations?
Blair and Brown's vision of cosy diversity, after all, stands at total odds with their policy of "managed migration", their denial of the right of asylum, and a security agenda mired in racial profiling. The message to non-whites (and especially Muslims) is: integrate or be cast out of society; side with us, embrace a British way of life (whatever that may be - watching Celebrity Big Brother, presumably), or go back to where you came from.
This is not rhetoric; it is policy. In reality, diversity is - as the saying goes - only skin-deep. It looks great on billboards but does little (as the new head of the government's Commission for Equality and Human Rights, Trevor Phillips, would say, for "social cohesion").
The sad fact emerging from this circus is that in post-multicultural Britain there is really only one way of being racist, or only one form of racism that deserves any attention. It is as if the crass comments made by three third-rate wannabes on a puerile television show have become the exclusive sum of what racism today can be associated with. The persistent discrimination against black and minority ethnic people in this country and the appalling treatment of migrants have been wiped clean of the taint of race. Too often these are attributed to "isolated incidents"; increasingly, would-be "commonsense" views that advocate closed borders or associate immigrants with terrorism are recycled without question.
The outrage may continue to mount over the treatment of Shilpa Shetty, and her own superior merits be proclaimed in a media-driven "backlash". Meanwhile, other less famous "Asians" continue to be stopped at airports, packed into detention centres and deported out of sight. Diversity, after all, has also to make good TV - and for that, Celebrity Big Brother wins hands down over a frank discussion about what racism is really about.
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Comments
Firstly, you are assuming that Shilpa "thinks" she is above the rest of them. Secondly, regardless of whether or not this personal viewpoint of yours is correct, making comments like "go back to your slum" (among many others) is RACIST. In case you need any proof;
1. The British Media is overwhelmingly referring to it as racist.
2.The sponsors of the show feel it is racist, which is why they just pulled the plug
3. Over 36,000 people in the UK have complained saying that it is racist
4. A few hundred million Indians across the world feel it's racist...and watch out for the LONG TERM repurcussions on this one. The UK needs India far more than the other way around... (and this isn't my viewpoint, but people within the UK Govt. according to the BBC 10 p.m. news!)
That's all the proof most people need to conclude that racism in "multi cultural" Britain has popped it's head up yet again, which goes to show it's always been here among a certain section of society.
What the doubters need to realise (today, not tomorrow) is that this century is and will continue to see a MASSIVE backlash to ignorance led racism and bullying in any form.
It's gone on for a couple of centuries too long (from colonialism to extremely biased and offensive Hollywood films to this crap) and there are a couple of billion people (if not more) around the world who have LESS than 0 tolerance for this horrendous and offensive bigotry that continues to come out from sections of the West.
As a result, if Jade's mindset and what she represents, is allowed to live on there will be serious repurcussions (ranging from media to political), some of which we are already witnessing.
PS...In case you're wondering, I'm an Indian who lives in London and yes I find it extremely racist.
Think about it like this, you work with someone who is dismissive and denigrating towards you and you find out that they are sensitive about their limp. So because they are insulting you, you attack them by making references to their limp.
Does this mean that you don't like people who limp? What is your motivation? It can be the same with racist attacks.
And remember if we make assumptions about another person we are as bad as the racists we condemn.
Does it trouble anyone else that the girl is in fear of her life? If attacking racism is an excuse for violence isn't the circle just turning back on itself?
I sure such a delicate soul as Jade must ask for a knife and fork every time she goes to her local fast food joint to gorge on slimy meat patties, safe in knowledge that unlike the desperate pre-teen bulemics who buy her video, she can afford to have the blubber hoovered out out before it even has the chance to reach her grotesque disgusting ignorant bigotted arsehole!
Indeed, the term 'white-trash' is racist. It's the modern snobbish equivalent of saying that a person somehow 'lacks correct breeding or etiquette' - an earlier form of racism that is rapidly becoming extremely popular amongst the 'anti-racist' chattering classes, who wouldn't even be seen dead watching Celebrity Big Brother anyway.
I agree with Terry, Jade is not a racist - indeed, Mals has just ripped Jade's words completely out of context. When Jade told Shetty that she should go 'back to the slums', it was precisely because Jade, unlike Shetty, actually knows what it's like to live in very poor housing conditions - it was a suggestion on the part of Jade, that Shetty should enlighten herself as to how the underprivileged in her own country live.
As for the idea that a 'few hundred million Indians across the world feel it's racist', well... all I can say to that is 'where's the evidence'? All I've ever seen is a few hotheads burning effigies of Channel 4 producers - a 'few million Indians' is just pure wishful thinking.
As for the British prime minister, and the prime minister in waiting (Gordon Brown), do you think it is right and proper that they should be making serious comments about a TV programme they don't even watch?
If anything, what I find 'offensive' is the assaults being made on Jade, a powerless individual. Jade might be an idiot, but she represents no one but herself and her family. Now even openDemocracy is joining in orgy of abuse that has been unleashed against Jade.
What exactly do you mean Mals when you talk about 'Jade's mindset and what she represents'? What does Jade represent exactly? Is it the whole of the south London white working class community? An entire swathe of people that number in the millions?
Your certainly right about one thing Mals, there is indeed plenty of bias and 'crap' regarding Jade Goody, but that 'crap' seems to be coming from your direction.
I'd like to point out that I do not like Jade Goody. This is not, however, because of the hate campaign purpetrated by the media and such. I don't like Jade simply because she is extremely annoying, a complete idiot, and only became famous through a show that people watch sitting in their house, watching some strangers sit in a house (how unbelievably pointless is that?). If anything, this hate campaign has made me feel slightly sorry for her.
However, one thing that I dislike more than Jade Goody are the people that go round saying "Britain is a racist country". I dislike it when foreigners say that, but I'm verging on outrage when a British citizen says that.
Britain is not racist. There are racist people in Britain, don't get me wrong. Some of these are racist out of jealousy, or fear, or a sense of superiority. Some are racist because they are spoon fed racist crap.
But some people develop racist tendencies, however slight, because of the Governments appeasement policy.
Day in and day out you hear or read or see things where British traditions, British beliefs, the foundations of one of the greatest nations in history being swept aside in the fear that it will offend someone who doesn't follow them. And whats worse, anyone that questions this is instantly labelled a racist.
I have written an article myself on the subject, and this can be seen at http://washiwashi.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/a-nation-cowed/
And now I'll sit back and wait for the typical exclamations of "Racist!" from those that cannot refuse to see things from someone elses view.
Do take this into consideration as I believe I have a point here!....
Yes there is racism, and unfair descrimination of certain individuals. However, people who point blank refuse to blend in
1 She does think she is above the rest of them as she has said so, several times in the house and out.
2 Secondly that remark wasn�t made. Jade said she should visit the slums ie stop being so snobbish, which she was being
3 The tabloids in the UK referring to it as racist are just those that trivialise real racist incidents and aren�t above drumming up a incident to increase their sales.
4 Since the show isn�t broadcast to a few 100 million Asians how would they know if it is racist? There have been a lot of comments about the �racist incidents� from people who didn�t even watch the show or only tuned in to see the bullying
5 I�d like to see the person here who wouldn�t object to someone reaching with their hands into their plate while they are sitting down to a meal and I would call them very unhygienic no matter what their race.
Racism exists worldwide everywhere including Britain. It is whether it is acknowledged and how it is dealt with that distinguishes various places. I find it astonishing that people would rather it hidden ie of our screens than admit it exists. However, that doesn�t make every quarrel between people of different races based on race and I�m not sure it was in the case of all the bullies. I am black and the idea of making a spoilt snotty diva the spokesperson for racism in the UK is ridiculous.
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