Racial Profiling- Blow to Democratic Pedestals?

Racial Profiling- Blow to Democratic Pedestals?

US government has introduced very strict norms for full body scans at airports. US $ one billion is being invested to upgrade airports with the scanning facilities. US administration is accused of targeting visitors from 14 select countries from where they suspect jihadi terrorists are getting support. They have been accused of racial profiling of visitors from select countries as it is creating unnecessary hassles for citizens of these countries. Obviously a few rotten eggs spoil all good eggs also. Just because jihadis are from Islamic countries it does not mean that anyone & every one of them is a terror suspect.

There have been considerable protests from all over about intrusive full body scans or alternate full body pat down checks on suspects. But that is the price to be paid for the act of the on board failed bomber. If the bomber had succeeded, the loss of human lives would have been far more outrageous. However, this has resulted in a cry against assault on personal freedom & liberty and democratic norms.

But then what does a country facing threat from terrorists do? Is that a knee jerk action of the US government making travel more cumbersome? Removing shoes, belts, lap tops, liquids & fluids and now body scan all are permanent remnants of past failures of potential terrorists. They will not be eased and will remain as most unpleasant part of travel.

It is interesting to note that invariably the terrorists have used either extremely simple ways to circumvent the security apparatus or very technologically sophisticated approaches as in 9/11 for getting across their message. But just because shoes were thrown at George W. Bush they have not been banned. In spite of best of security, there were gate crashers at White house dinner hosted by President Obama for Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh. Obvious alternative is more effective intelligence and global sharing of information on terror activities.

Flawed Model for War Against Terror:

While the whole world knows by now the real epicenters of terror, the sad part is that the countries identified as epicenters are the partners in fight against terrorism and are being equipped with weapons and materials along with development aid. The very model of war front against terror is faulty. Who is the enemy and who is the partner? Enemy within friends or friends within the enemies? It is very complex web indeed. It is rather a self defeating war! Whenever, US pulls out of the Af-Pak region, they will not be sure if they are winners or vanquished. Unless this complexity is broken & simplified with lines drawn clearly, the strategy can not be effective for winning the war on terror. Until then, the world has to live with full body scans, and undesirable, uncomfortable & possibly undemocratic practices of breach of personal freedom. That is a small price to pay for national and international security.

Alternatively, the select group of 14 countries being targeted must come forward to address the issues of root cause of terrorism and come to negotiating tables to sort out the larger issues. When at war, it is fair for any country to resort to unusual practices like profiling of potential targets albeit with discretion. If a country wants to be out of that list better they do something about it and tighten measures to check direct or indirect support to terrorists.

Autocracies v/s Democracies:

If we look at larger picture of terrorism or confrontation emanating out of Islamic countries against the western countries in general and USA in specific, we will find that it is by & large the issue of autocracies v/s democracies. It is not just about economic haves and have-nots because there are stinking rich autocracies and also extremely poor democracies. The global challenge is to reconcile the differences between these two streams of thoughts and practices. Pakistan is a cat on the wall with mixed records of autocracy and democracy and the internal strife is also due to this divide. The future of terrorism is inextricably linked to the path Pakistan chooses to bring about stability and growth. If Pakistan can sustain democracy with growth & prosperity for its people, the region would find peaceful coexistence of all races. Autocracy will lead to further anarchy and disparity among people even of same religion, because the power mongers would further segment people to corner economic power. They must abandon the narrow path and join the expressway for growth & prosperity for its people.

Australia & Racial Bias:

Racialism is rearing its head prominently in Australia with attacks against Indian students. These are not usual mugging or robbing incidents which are common in large cities as well as poor countries of Africa. These are very well planned attacks on clearly targeted Indian community. These are very much racial in nature as other students or foreigners are not subject to such attacks. Denials of Australian government representatives, every time an attack takes place, do not hold water because of clearly established pattern. In last few years racial bias of Australians has been visible in sports as well as education arena. Even illegal branding of an Indian Muslim as a terrorist smacked of racial bias.

Indian government should work on diplomatic front to diffuse the situation. Due to continued attacks there has been a considerable drop of almost 50% in number of Indian applicants to Australian Universities. Australian education industry is around dollar fifteen billion and they should know it better on which side of bread lies butter. They must reassure Indian students of prompt actions and justice by punishing the guilty.

Treat Root Cause & Not Symptoms:

It is not enough to address the symptoms of racial problems. The root causes of racial bias may be relating to terrorism, economic disparity, denial of job opportunities or any other such inequalities. They have to be addressed by the nations involved. Democracies are inclusive of all races and the countries swearing by democracies have to know how to stand up to the expectations of people. But the autocracies, which are not necessarily tolerant of other races, religions, or freedom of speech, are not likely to be inclusive societies and therefore there is a possibility of such a backlash. Democracies must resist temptations of autocratic behaviour as that would be a retrograde step.

Vijay M. Deshpande

Corporate Advisor,

Strategic Management Initiative,

Pune

January 08, 2010

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