Daily Times

Aha! You are coming from Islamabad? What is going on in Islamabad? How is that country? Is there lot of trouble? How long are you going to stay here?

On Thursday afternoon, two White men in light grey suits with contrasting reddish ties – not very shiny though – intercepted me at London’s Heathrow Airport as I reached my adopted home.

Both the men were trying to be polite. One was a bit taller than the other and he was also more successful in putting a smile on his face. His lips were thin, was he English? I don’t know, I can’t say. My rich imagination can be misleading about the ethnic origin and the size of my greeter’s lips.

Twenty five years ago, as a subdued coloured man, I would be very impressed by the English politeness and would feel obliged that the people of marshal race treated me with kindness, not now. It takes time for “barbarians” to understand subtleties of the English culture. Many aliens though remain impressed, all their lives, by the British Council and the BBC style linguistic curtsies and Victorian mannerism.

The two gentlemen were actually from the Special Branch Police. The Special Branch agents are now posted at all major British airports. Often they stop Muslim appearing passengers belonging to ethnic minorities.

The UK Border Agency officials at the immigration desk allowed me to enter as I hold a British passport but the Special Branch can still stop and question people, which they do all the time. In the current security environment extraordinary security measures are inevitable and therefore one should cooperate with security services but the selective use of the new powers by the police and security agencies is questionable.

The latest shooting of a Black man in the US city of Dallas by the Texas Police and the subsequent attack on the police in which a sniper killed five police officers and injured several others is an example of what happens when the police misuse their powers. The police in the US are accused of systematically targeting the Black people. The Dallas incident is an ugly manifestation of the racist attitude and misuse of powers.

Every day at US and Europeans land and sea ports hundreds and thousands of non-White and non-Europeans are humiliated and discriminated because of their faith or ethnic origin. They are led to believe that they are not trustworthy and also unwanted. This attitude of law enforcement agencies and security services is not helpful. The mainstream media side with security forces in pinpointing scapegoats. The media play on public’s perceived fears.

Great Britain’s breakup from the EU is the direct outcome of fear mongering. The mainstream British media and many politicians created fear of foreigners that led to worse divisions in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Only 25 years after the peaceful split of the Soviet Union, disorder and discrimination has spread across the Capitalists world. While Russia is stronger and united under President Vladimir Putin, Europeans are not. They are fighting among themselves and suspect their own citizens. In many European states communities and neighbourhoods are divided. During the London Mayoral election the British prime minister led a campaign of hatred and division against his own countrymen and women.

During the Cold War, the United States and Europe showcased their free and open societies and condemned the USSR and other socialist countries for being authoritarian and autocratic.

With Soviet Union gone, privacy and freedoms are compromised in the Buttonwood club countries. Most Western politicians, intellectuals and rights activists take pride in adopting and implementing John Mill’s idea on liberty and freedom in Western societies. However, the first two decades of the 21st Century have proved that the West no longer agrees with what John Stuart Mill had dreamed in “On the Liberty” in 1859.

Western societies are turning into police states where the latest IT and satellite technologies are used to contain and control freedoms. The 1942 Anglo-American Atlantic Charter had listed freedom of movement, freedom of faith, freedom of expression and freedom from want as core values of Western democratic system as opposed to the German and Soviet ‘repressive’ systems.

Ironically, the West is contradicting its own standards and benchmarks. European states are campaigning against freedom of movement as a right while the British public, too, has rejected the free movement of people.

In 1989 the fall of Berlin Wall was celebrated. Integration and multi-culture were popular ideas. In 2016, fortress Europe is emerging where building new walls and barriers is in high demand. At the same time, the EU and the US fully support the erection of Israeli wall of hate on the Palestinian land.

The US, Britain and France decided to rob Iraqi and Libyan oil. Tony Blair and George Bush deliberately planned death and destruction in Iraq on false pretexts. They are responsible for the murder of millions. As Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan bled; a new conflict was manufactured in Syria that gave birth to the Islamic State.

Post-Cold War criminal and murderous acts caused chaos in human history but Western states are into blame game. They have found new scapegoats. The police and security services have turned against the weak. They are playing with public’s minds by fear mongering, by sowing seeds of suspicion and division.

Coloured skin people with name Muhammad and the world poor are blamed for the crimes that actually men in suits have committed in peoples’ name. War criminals have names and identities such as George W Bush, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney, Ronald Rumsfeld and many more. Instead of going after known and identified war criminals, security services want to punish certain dis-empowered communities collectively.