Introduction
“Neo” generally means the new ways of doing things. Neoliberalism will therefore refer to new strategies which are used to improve the economic, political or social status. This paper examines how different women from different races are used to bring about an image perceived by the implementers to be positive and in line with improving the social and economic status of the society. The paper portrays an image of poor women from developing countries, how they are used as a tool in achieving neoliberalism and how most of them become passive victims of the circumstances. The paper also focuses on perception of other races towards the white society and most specifically the white women; and how the white superiority complex has influenced various policy decision makers.
A review of “Rabbit Proof Fence”
In the movie “Rabbit Proof Fence”, we observe a strategy which was used by the European colonists to come up with a new societal balance. The British had the belief that the indigenous Aboriginals possessed the quality that that is not substantial to keep in pace with the social and economic development. As a result, they forced the Aboriginal women to give birth with the whites so that the Aboriginal gene can be rendered extinct with time. Their believe was that cross breed between an Aboriginal and a white will result to a more complex human; the cross breed gives birth with another white man, the gene of Aboriginals will start to deplete along the same lineage until it reaches a point where all the Australians possessed the white genes (Wilson, 2011). Their belief was that, by having a population of whites alone, the country will become more efficient and as a result more liberal economically.
The “breeding out of the colour’’, as was the term used in the early 20th century Australia, was an effort to absorb the indigenous blood into the Europeans. They believe that the destiny of Australia lied on the total absorption of the native Aboriginals by the Commonwealth; hence all efforts had to be put to ensure that such end is achieved. The most fundamental part of the process involved the use of women. Women were the determinant of the future gene that the liberalists were aiming for. The first step was to absorb the native Aboriginals within the white settlement. This was a terrible history in Australia in the 20th century. Absorbing Aboriginals into the Europeans was a form of genocide that some scholars believed was a means to eradicate a given culture. One may view genocide as physical killing of a large number of people. Genocide can also mean a malicious method to wipe a given community within the face of earth (Wilson, 2011). One does not need to kill them; all you need is to prevent their men from siring more children while forcing their women to give birth with individuals of desired genes.
Australian state government came up with a law which they purported that was aimed at protecting children and women. Children were forcibly taken away from their families. Young ladies were made to copulate with the Europeans. As a result of these policies, some scholars called Aboriginal “the stolen generation”. Stolen in the sense that the men were not given the opportunity to sire children with their fellow Aboriginal women; and even if they did, the children were taken away from them. By taking the children away, the children were made to grow away from their families, detached from their culture. The children were assimilated into the European culture, and as a result, the Aboriginal culture was suffering from extinction. The new generation who could have spread the culture was all assimilated. Taking children by force was from their mothers was one important step which was used to enhance the white superiority (Wilson, 2011). Several legislations have been passed to allow for such assimilations.
In 1918 when the war in Europe was still on, the Australian government took the advantage of the gap to rescind the law that allowed for cross marriage among the Aboriginals and the Whites. It was made illegal for a white woman to be married by an aboriginal man; however, the law did not touch on a white man marrying aboriginal woman. The threat was that there was going to emerge two distinct races in Australia, the white, the Aboriginals and the cross breed. According to the policy makers, the third race was a threat to the harmony of the country; they were referred to as “the pathetic ones who are neither white nor black’. The other step was to take the Aboriginal children who were living among the whites to institutions where they were tortured and sexually molested. Aboriginals still believe that the number of children who suffered due to that cause was more than 30,000.
A new policy of “breeding out” an Aboriginal blood was adopted. The Aboriginal was dying anyway, something had to be done. By 1928, the population of pure Aboriginals had reduced by 80% (Wilson, 2011). The full blood Aboriginals were left to die out, but the half-casts, those with aboriginal mothers and white fathers were taken away from their mothers, as young as possible, so that they can be raised in a white environment. The half-casts were then married off to the white men and women to give birth to even pronounce white gene. This attempt to use women and children in bringing up a new race and pushing another into extinction was aimed at improving the sociocultural aspect of the Australian people. They believed that the white gene was more superior hence should be encouraged; while the Aboriginal genes were to be rendered extinct. This was a neoliberalism attempt to improve the cultural aspect of a society so that the society can become more efficient. The attempt was carried with an assumption that the white population is superior to other populations hence their dominance in a given society is a positive attempt towards liberalism.
Interracial Intimacies in East Africa
Zoe Gross worked in Africa for almost a decade. During her stay in Kenya and Tanzania, she realized that the affinity towards white women by black men was very strong. Every black man’s dream was to one day find a white woman whom they will marry. They couldn’t resist the urge to strive for an opportunity that will make them find their way to the western countries. Gross realized that eve children knew the goodness behind being with a white woman. This was an indication that the black culture was wired in a way that they always feel inferior and think that anything good can only come from the whites (Gross, 2015). Gross realized that the white women drew more attention of black men than their counterpart black women. The black believed that the American and the European countries are some utopian paradise where they can easily access wealth and status.
Most black men view women as source of wealth and an improvement in the social class. The most vivid reason why the African women are perceived as source of wealth is their kind of flashy lifestyle. Many whites in Africa are seen to be rich because of where they stay, what they eat and the kind of cars they drive in. You can never find a white person living in slums of Nairobi like Kibera; all the whites live in posh estates such as Kileleshwa and Lavington. In a Kenyan perspective, anyone leaving in Kilileshwa or Lavington is perceived to be rich anybody will want to associate with them. The whites are also perceived by Kenyans and Tanzanians as welcoming people. They can easily interact with the black locals thereby giving the black men the chance and desire to woo the white women. Kenya is also referred to as “African-lite” due to their ability to adopt westernization quite faster than other East African countries (Gross, 2015).
There have been influxes of many non-governmental organizations which have emerged in Africa over the resent years. Compared to the colonial period, Africa has more whites that there was. They have socialized with the Africans so freely that the barrier between the white and the blacks which used to exist is now becoming thin. However, there are some countries and individuals who still cling to the enmity between the two races, they cannot let go of the thoughts of agony and oppression they underwent during the colonial period. However, there is a global narrative that upholds the white man with dignity and superiority. Most of other races believe that the white are always associated with wealth; that the direct medium o becoming rich is by associating with the white. The only easy way that the African believe that they can use to get into the white man’s life and hence marriage is through intimate relationships.
The Kenyan culture abhors marriages between individuals with wide age differences. However, such difference is evidenced in marriages between the white and Africans. There are many instances where a black man will marry a white woman who is decades older than him; or you find a Kenyan lady marrying a white man who is decades older than her father (Salmon, 2011). The main reason for these marriages and intimate relationships is to share the butter which the apparently the white men enjoy. The simple way to get into the white culture and wealth is through the soft part of their emotion. Africans therefore are perceived to be using intimacy and emotional attachment with the white women so as to achieve neoliberalism.
Remixing the Burden
In his article, David J. Leonard examines the African behaviour towards the white when it comes to humanitarian issues. The focus of this article is Joseph Kony who is a leader of the Lord Resistant Army, a militia which has conquered the southern part of Uganda for decades. “Mixing the Burden” was a campaign by African charity group to lobby for help from the white. They wanted the white to intervene in the war of ousting Kong and apprehending him for justice. The only way thy thought of was by the use of the social media to lobby for help from the western countries (Leonard, 2015). The Facebook campaign was not just an endeavor to foster a global movement meant for ousting Kony, but was also meant to acknowledge the white participation in neoliberalism of other racial groups.
The Facebook campaign was an imminent indicator on the African’s inability to believe on their capabilities. It was an inferiority complex that the Africans have believing that all their major problems can only be solved by the intervention of the white men. Kony is no longer in Uganda; the villain is posing no threat to anyone (Leonard, 2015). There are important issues such as democracy and corruption which are more villain than Kony himself, but the Africans still need an intervention what should not be a priority. America and other western countries have for many times participated in humanitarian activities, ranging from earthquake in Haiti, stampede in Mecca and even the political revolution in Libya (Cornwall, Gideon, & Wilson, 2008).
Conclusion
References
Cornwall, A., Gideon, J., & Wilson, K. (2008). Introduction: Reclaiming feminism: gender and neoliberalism. IDS Bulletin, 39(6), 1-9.
Gross, Z. (2015). Critical Race and Whiteness Studies.
Leonard, D. J. (2015). Critical Race and Whiteness Studies.
Salmon, A. (2011). Aboriginal mothering, FASD prevention and the contestations of neoliberal citizenship. Critical Public Health, 21(2), 165-178.
Wilson, K. (2011). ‘Race’, Gender and Neoliberalism: changing visual representations in development. Third World Quarterly, 32(2), 315-331.
