White Supremacy Culture @ The United Nations
Yesterday a resolution (which was adopted after amendments were made in the negotiation process) led by the African Group at the United Nations Human Rights Council that would mandate an international independent commission of inquiry into systemic racism and police brutality in the United States lost support due to lobbying (read: bullying) from western governments — mainly the United States, European governments, Australia and Mexico.
An urgent debate at the Human Rights Council was called for by the African Group following requests from the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown and Philando Castile and over 600 civil rights and human rights organisations. The debate was held on the 17th and 18th of June at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council and was opened by an urgent call to action by the brother of George Floyd. In his video message Philonise Floyd stated:
“The way you saw my brother tortured and murdered on camera is the way black people are treated by police in America…I am my brother’s keeper. You in the United Nations are your brothers and sisters keepers in America and you have the power to help us get justice for my brother, George Floyd. I am asking you to help him, to help me, to help us — black people in America.”
It is critical to note the importance of the call for an Urgent Debate by the African Group at the UN. This is the first time in the United Nations that there has been an urgent debate on the issue of systemic racism and police brutality in the United States. It is the first time that a Global North member state is being held accountable for human rights violations by Global South countries.
And yet — Global North countries in the past three days displayed a level of white supremacy that displayed and preserves the white colonial power structure between the Global North and the Global South. The response from the EU group of member states was the most appalling of all. In true white supremacy fashion the EU group of member states ‘DARVOed’ their response to the multiple requests for accountability and justice for systemic racism and police brutality in the United States.
DARVO is a theory constructed by psychology researcher Jennifer J. Freyd. Freyd defines DARVO as the, “reaction perpetrators of wrong doing, particularly sexual offenders, may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior. DARVO stands for “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.” The perpetrator or offender may Deny the behavior, Attack the individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim — or the whistle blower — into an alleged offender. This occurs, for instance, when an actually guilty perpetrator assumes the role of “falsely accused” and attacks the accuser’s credibility and blames the accuser of being the perpetrator of a false accusation.”
Author and Activist, Rachel Cargle in her teachings at the Great Unlearn unpacked how white people used DARVO against the black community to gaslight and manipulate to maintain white supremacy.
Using this framework we can explore how the Global North Member States, Mexico and Australia utilised DARVO to maintain white supremacy in their response to the proposed resolution by the African Group.
Some arguments by Mexico and Global North member states in their dissent for not supporting the full proposed resolution by the African Group were: The lack of time in negotiating the text of the resolution, the lack of dialogue with the concerned member state (the United States), the singling out of one member state when racism is a global issue (the original resolution called for a commission of inquiry to investigate specifically the United States in their federal, state and local government responses to the recent protests that were triggered by the murder of George Floyd), that the High Commissioner of Human Rights should remain independent and that the negotiation process around the resolution didn’t follow good practices of transparency and openness.
D — DENY — We would have preferred more time and a wider scope and a more global horizontal approach (from the EU statement yesterday), we shouldn’t single out one member state over another (EU Statement), racism is a global issue (multiple member states said this), etc.
Member States denied the gravity of the deeply entrenched racism and police brutality in the United States by saying that racism is a global issue — akin to an ‘All Lives Matter’ statement thereby denying justice and accountability to the families of people of African descent who have been murdered by police brutality in the United States. The African Group resolution named the United States and asked for a commission of an inquiry because it is clear that accountability and justice is not accessible through proper channels (unless people march, protest, sign petitions, etc) in the United States when it comes to police brutality and racism.
A — ATTACK — The fight against racism is of enormous importance and concerns all of us…singling out of a specific country does not help recognising the larger scope of the issue (EU Statement). Was there any dialogue with the concerned state (the United States) (Mexico Statement).
Global North Member States (and Australia and Mexico) attacked the African Group for the rushed process and the failure to dialogue with the concerned member state (the US). By mandating the African Group dialogue with the United States in the process of seeking justice and accountability — it allowed not only the US but Global North member states to control the power dynamic and the flow of justice . By attacking the African Group for not seeking to engage in dialogue, Global North member states utilised white supremacy culture to impose a ‘standard of professionalism*’ — ie: to not seek dialogue is not professional and therefore not abiding by white supremacy culture standards. In many cases when dialogue is not held within the white supremacy culture context — those oppressed and seeking justice are most often vilified as unfair, angry, seeking retribution, or being too hasty.
RVO —REVERSE VICTIM OPPRESSOR — …Racism is a global issue…The European Union remains fully committed to continuing fighting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all other forms of intolerance. (EU Statement)
The oppressor (The Global North Member States) becomes the victim by stating: Of course we care about racism — but you don’t need to single out one country! Racism is a global issue and we are fully committed to X,Y, and Z and fighting racism.
Via the deliberate use of DARVO to lobby for the watering down of the Africa Group resolution, the Global North member states subverted justice and accountability on an international level for systemic racism and police brutality in the United States.
In adopting this watered down resolution Global North member states have made visible the white supremacy and the power dynamic within the United Nations. The response of the Global North member states (and Australia and Mexico) to calls for justice that were loud, clear and unflinching — by the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown and Philando Castile, by over 600 civil society organisations, by the African Group (in particular Burkina Faso, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia), by every single person who marched in a #BlackLivesMatter protest globally, by the Special Rapporteur’s and by the High Commissioner — showed the world the depth of the systems of white supremacy in the United Nations and the lengths oppressors will go to protect those systems and deny justice to those who seek it.
As the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of Racism, Tendayi Achiume, stated in her opening statement — “If the national and global uprisings we are witnessing are not sufficient evidence of the gravity of the issues before you, it’s difficult to imagine what it would take to convince you that the situation we are facing is very serious. It is difficult to imagine what might convince you to demonstrate the equal worth of people of African descent.”
Read
- *The Bias of ‘Professionalism’ Standards by Aysa Gray
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- White Dominant Culture & Something Different
- Being Antiracist by the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- What is DARVO by Jennifer Freyd
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