Whole world unites against Trump’s dangerous, irresponsible xenophobia

THE global condemnation of Donald Trump’s racist comments concerning his rotten attitude towards countries such as Haiti, El Salvador and African countries is a welcome reaction.

Trump’s behaviour has been rightly condemned across the globe.

The USA must issue an apology for offending perhaps the entire world.

“This isn’t just a story about vulgar language. It’s about opening a door to humanity’s worst side.

“It’s about validating and encouraging racism and xenophobia that will potentially disrupt and even destroy the lives of many people.

“And that’s perhaps the single most damaging and dangerous consequence of this type of comment by a major political figure.”

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Coville, who described the comments as shocking and shameful, at least seemed to grasp the damage of such irresponsible, racist and insensitive utterances when he said these words.

“This is even more hurtful given the historical reality of just how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves and also terribly surprising, as the United States remains a massively positive example as to just how migration can give birth to a nation,” the African Union chair, Alpha Conde, reportedly said.

It is very easy to dismiss Trump as a bumbling buffoon who is way out of his depth in an office which was recently held by a man who epitomised hope for mankind.

For all his shortcomings while in that office, Barack Obama represented hope that perhaps mankind could rise above such toxic and outdated attitudes as racism.

However, it would be a mistake – a mistake we may all pay for, to continue looking at Trump simply as a buffoon. In actual fact we are looking at a man who is holding an office with enormous power – enough power to wreak havoc around the globe if exercised recklessly.

However the widespread condemnation of Trump’s comments shows that much of the world has been offended by his racist remarks.

Far from ignoring them and ascribing them to the madness and buffoonery of Donald Trump, the world is taking the USA and Donald Trump to task. It would be best if the USA, for once, realised the error of its elected president and demonstrated such realisation clearly for the whole world to see.

On the home front, the massive miscalculation of H & M in flighting an advert which rekindles an old derogatory association between Africans and monkeys has angered South Africans.

While it is conceivable that H & M may not have set out to intentionally make such an association, it was still incumbent upon H & M to be as sensitive as possible when it comes to adverts with racial undertones.

In South Africa and perhaps elsewhere, the widest consultation is always necessary when dealing with anything that may touch on the issue of race. Our deliberately racially divided past requires that we always tread carefully.

It is the price we have to pay for the errors of the past – that is, if we want to have a better future.

The truth of the matter is that racial offence cannot and must never be trivialised. It is for this reason that the trashing of H & M stores by EFF members is such a terrible idea.

This action trivialises, muddles and confuses the issue of racial offence. When such actions are taken in response to racial offence, they close off the necessary discourse which needs to take place to explain clearly to those who may not appreciate the significance of racial harmony. In actual fact, the use of this incident by the EFF for political gain is reckless, irresponsible and self-defeating.

Racism must be eliminated from human society. Along with that, the attitude of looking down on those who control less of the planet’s resources – often for reasons brought about by those who now control most of those resources – must likewise be eliminated.

These are outdated attitudes that are holding us back.

Our status as a civilised species lies in our ability to recognise that each of us holds the same significance as the other.

It is not and has never been about how much resources some of us control more than the other.

Even less so has it ever been about the colour of one’s skin.

It is therefore encouraging to see the whole world condemning the USA’s ignoramus of a president over his unconsidered moronic remarks.