The Atlanta tragedy, hate train and leadership

As reports of shootings in Atlanta, targeting Asian-American women, made headlines, we were wondering on the role of leadership in stemming the tide of xenophobia and hate crime. Having done some research on the issue, we had penned an Op-ed titled, “Lone Wolves and Right-wing Terrorism in the West”, which was published by The Express Tribune on December 29, 2020.

As pointed out in the article, right-wing politics is not a new phenomenon. Combined with populism, it has been on the rise in many Western countries. Looking around, Europe is now under influence of right-wing political parties in almost every country. Gradually, but surely, the phenomenon of right-wing terrorism has permeated America; however, the largest democracy has remained in a state of denial for the past decade. President Biden has identified the phenomenon and even included it in his recently promulgated policy paper issued by the White House on March 3. Biden’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance has been issued to convey his vision on how America will engage with the world.

Threats or challenge to American interests include the global pandemic, growing rivalry with China and Russia, terrorism, cyberspace, climate emergency, rising nationalism, a battered economy, racial justice, receding democracy at home and abroad, authoritarian states and technological competition. Domestically, three of the areas of concern identified by the Biden administration include rising nationalism, racial justice and receding democracy, at home and abroad.

Again referring back to our piece under discussion, we had raised the question of the rise of the far-right and stated that despite the fact that Trump’s election success in 2016 had massive support from far-right groups in the US, and that Brexit was triggered by the same ideology, few questions are raised about the rise of neo-Nazism in the West. The reason for the rise of right-wing political parties include frustration with the political establishment, globalisation, immigration, Islamophobia, a dilution of national identity and the EU’s poor performance.

After the initial review of broad contours of the rise of the far-right in the West, we think it is important to discuss the role of leadership in stemming or fomenting hate in nations and societies. The role of leadership has become pivotal, especially in the post-truth era. Post-truth politics has become a serious challenge to leadership because of the following reasons:

Weaponising of information and the leadership’s ability to connect to millions of followers through social and digital media has divided societies and nations, bringing in tribal tendencies. Populist leaders like Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro have become cult shepherds, with the ability to rally and persuade their followers, blindfolded by cult sentiments, to achieve their political objectives. No wonder, when Modi uses the communal Bakht card, the BJP followers fan out in the streets as lynch mobs, marauding the countryside and terrorising the minorities, thinking they are fulfilling the leader’s agenda through their own narrow nationalism.

Populist leaders thrive on divisive politics and create virtual ‘in and out groups’ to monopolise power; this can create syndicates and cabals of followers, who, instead of following democratic norms, use majoritarian power to brow beat ‘out-groups’ and opponents.

In post-truth politics, the cabals and syndicates disregard principles, policies, facts and humanity; as actually, post-truth politics thrives on exploitation of emotions, sentiments and biases. Since the leader assumes the role of a tribal chief, who should be blindly followed in letter and spirit, the element of morality no longer affects choices and decision making. The Western model of ‘winner takes all’ economy has become the panacea for ‘winner takes all’ politics.

During Trump’s stint in the past four years, China was considered a serious threat to American national interests. Unfortunately, Trump adopted hate mongering against China as the mainstay of his public discourse. The Covid pandemic provided Trump an opportunity to criticise China by repeatedly using words like ‘Chinese virus’. Although sane commentators advised Trump on the fallout of the words, it fell on deaf ears. This resulted in an increase in attacks on Chinese Americans within the US.

As reported by the VOA, in Brooklyn, New York, a white man catcalled an Asian-American woman and aggressively followed her down the block, yelling a racial obscenity and a sexually derogatory term. In Washington DC, a man punched an Asian woman in the back in a Metro subway station, repeatedly shouting racial expletives and physically threatening her and her boyfriend. In Las Vegas, a ride-sharing service driver told his Asian passenger, “Damn, another Asian riding with me today. I hope you don’t have any Covid.”

The three incidents are among nearly 3,800 first-hand accounts of anti-Asian hate and abuse an advocacy coalition has recorded since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic a year ago.

In response the Asian-American community has created an advocacy group, Stop AAPI Hate where AAPI denotes Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. A point to note is that AAPI represents people who look Chinese. Stop AAPI Hate recently stated that it recorded 3,795 anti-Asian hate incidents between March 19, 2020 — shortly after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic — and February 28, 2021. More than 500 of the incidents were recorded in 2021.

As reported by The Guardian, at least eight people have been killed in a series of shootings at three Atlanta area massage parlours, with a number of the victims described by authorities as women of Asian descent. The suspected shooter, a 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, has been taken into custody. Although Robert Long’s social media accounts have been take down by Facebook and other platforms, his profile clearly reflects that he was motivated by the words “Chinese virus”, where he regarded the Asian-American community as a threat to white Americans.

To conclude, the populist leaders, thriving on xenophobia and hate politics in the post-truth era, have become a nuisance for societies and nations. While xenophobia and divisive politics may fetch them votes and power, they are creating a new society where humanity is dying on a daily basis. The world needs to stop this hate train by discarding the likes of Modi and Trump, this is writing on the wall.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2021.

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