"If you go out dressed like a lamb, you are bound to attract wolves"
A colleague of mine once commenting on a host nation observed that they are very nationalistic; there is a tendency to stick with their own kind when it comes to choices. He was referring to an issue of software outsourcing at the time.
Since then, this has been an issue bothering me. Is it nationalism we are talking about, or a form of discrimination? Where does one draw the line?
What is discrimination? I ask myself. In the wider sense, can we not define it in the same terms as my colleague had used?
Look up a dictionary, you find numerous synonyms for this phenomenon: separateness (=apartheid), preferential treatment, selection procedures of all sorts, …
But, the moment we utter the term "discrimination", specially in a foreign country, or even in the same country, we immediately picture a scene of rejection based on nationality, ethnicity or colour of skin.
We may psychologically tolerate all other forms of negative impacts of selection procedures applied in other ways rather than when apparently applied within a "race" context.
Let us discuss this phenomenon of discrimination in bit more depth.
Can you put a finger on it?
Is it there?
A native British friend of mine once said that he cannot recognise/understand discrimination.
Do we read into things more than what meets the eye?
What about discrimination in your own countries?
What sort of discrimination do we talk about?Let us look at issues closer to the surface, like social discrimination. People may not realise, or even admit to the existence of other forms of discrimination in society. For example: posh accents, dress codes, class distinctions, intellectual, one's pedigree, are all well-known boundaries or barriers which keep the respective flocks in line.
The mention of the term "racial discrimination" is sufficient to raise anger, when you are, factually or imagined, at the receiving end of it. When this subject surfaces, the first thing that comes to mind is the racial discrimination practiced in the white-dominated countries. The history of racial discrimination, and the struggle to eradicate it, is full of sad memories. I need not go into that. In the dazzle of the limelight of these visible struggles, many other parts of the world, where racial discrimination is still prevalent, go unnoticed. One only has to look around the third world for examples of its practice. Why are people discriminated on racial grounds? I would like to look at this separately, below.
Economic discrimination is all too visible - those who have and those who have not.
Discrimination in employment is a very contentious point. We hear practically everyday cases of sex discrimination at work. Only the other week (first week of February 2009) did the new US president Obama signed into law equality of pay for women. Well that one is out of the way, but is that all at work? There are rankings which keep employee strata apart. I can remember in UK, in the 1970's, at SKF in Luton, there were separate canteens for "workers", "white collar staff", and for "management". The hilarious thing was that the food for all the three restaurants came from the same kitchen! The influence of old-boy networks in selections is far too well known.
Then there is the "age related" discrimination. This brand of discrimination is, as it happens, is legal!! Employees are legally obliged to retire at a certain age. Pensioners are judged, in the eyes of the law, to turn incapable, unproductive or senile or whatever, the moment they reach the retirement age!!!
A far more insidious form of discrimination exists in the form of religious discrimination. Historical clashes among religions that had prevailed during their formative years still persist today. The same wars still continue to flare up all over the world even today. When one realises the fact that the struggle of the religions are to deliver humanity to a better place on the "other side", can you stop asking "what insanity?"
What are the reasons?
Consider the following situations:
* You arrive at an airport, and head for a toilette. What do you see? A foreigner cleaning the toilets.
* Use a bus, taxi, or whatever. Who do you meet? A foreign driver, especially if it is at night.
* You book into a hotel. Who do you find? Foreign cleaners and chambermaids. If it is at night, most likely, hotels are manned by foreigners.
What is the message? The foreigners are there to do the "unsocial" work, the work the natives would rather not do.
Not only the tourists see these, the natives too see them. Their children see them.
The message is once again only too clear, and the impressions last for ever.
Is racial discrimination rooted in stigma and stereotyping?
I think it is. It will also remain so as long as the west continue to import illiterate, destitute citizens from foreign countries and treating them like some expendable resource - to be used and forgotten.
What incentive, one might ask, is there for the immigrants to look forward to building normal lives when there is a lack of sense of permanency, inclusiveness, respect and belonging? Their status remains "temporary" - temporary passports, visas, permits, housing, jobs, but not the stigma - which lasts for generations.
Given the slow changes in social attitudes, even when offered equal opportunities in the eyes of the law, immigrants still face an uphill task when it comes competing for jobs and promotions. This seems to be the general consensus among immigrants.
Is there something the immigrants could do to help the situation? I think there is a lot they have to do for themselves. First of all, they must, in my opinion, take positive steps to blend with the host society. Also, respect the cultural and social norms of the host. One could argue that where immigrants have been enticed by the host nation, it is the responsibility of the host to make the visitors' lives better and comfortable.
But there is a sizable section of the immigrant population who have, for one reason or another, have invited themselves in. They, I think, have a very heavy burden of responsibility to assimilate into the host society, rather than try to mould it in the image of their own home societies.
Are there any solutions?
The recent election of Barak Obama for presidency in the US is an eye opener. His motto has always been: anything is possible!
Isn't acquiring a positive mindset the starting point for change?