Buckingham Palace and an insidious notion that the colonized should stay colonized

benfell

This edition has been updated since it was first published to add a Guardian story[1] and further commentary under the Royalty section, for which I have not set up a permanent entry.

Royalty

The transcript Ngozi Fulani (“Sistah Space”) offers here[2] is remarkable both for “Lady SH’s” sheer aggression and as an example of a certain entitlement to interrogate “the other.” “Lady SH” appears to refer to Lady Susan Hussey. This incident certainly will make it more difficult for Buckingham Palace to deny that Megan Markle faced racism.[3]


Philip Zimbardo’s idea of “the power of the situation”[4] offers a frame for wondering what sort of situation that entitlement arises in. I very much suspect that Hussey was likely only one person in a context where bigotry was and likely remains the norm, where, as Kohinoor Sahota explains,

It all reminded me of the pervasive feeling of not belonging. That is why “where are you from” is such a politically loaded question. The answer should be simple, but it is a way for people – white people – to rank you on the social ladder. I know what I am actually being asked: why is the colour of your skin different? Why are you brown? Why aren’t you white? Why are you here? Should you be here?[5]

This is where Hussey’s aggression stood out to me, because implicit with her interrogation is an assertion that Fulani belongs back “where she came from” and should “go back.” It’s classic.

Since I am brown-skinned and Indian, time and time again I have to prove my Britishness. When people ask me where I’m from, saying “Oxford” never meets their expectations. I’ve had enough. If I don’t call out the question, I allow the problem to persist; if I do call out the question, I make white people uncomfortable.[6]

Note here that Hussey had absolutely no problem making Fulani feel uncomfortable. Pretty sure that’s called “privilege.”

Kohinoor Sahota, “In Buckingham Palace and outside it, we know what it means when people ask ‘where are you from,’ Guardian, November 30, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-where-are-you-from-black-british

Sistah Space [Ngozi Fulani], “Mixed feelings about yesterday's visit to Buckingham Palace. . . .” Twitter, November 30, 2022, https://twitter.com/Sistah_Space/status/1597854380115767296

Sean Coughlan, “Buckingham Palace race row raises awkward questions,” British Broadcasting Corporation, December 1, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63808613

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[7] fair use.

There are actually two reasons I am now categorizing Twitter under Gilead. First, the saga appears to me to have begun with the January 6 coup attempt and Twitter’s subsequent decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account;[8] hence the emphasis Elon Musk has placed on restoring that account.[9] Second, the entire so-called “free speech” tone of Musk’s takeover has seemed increasingly about favoring disinformation even when it may have electoral consequences[10] and even at the risk of providing one rationale (out of a few) for reversing the deal on national security grounds.[11] Now,

Several prominent antifascist organizers and journalists have had their accounts suspended in the past week, after right-wing operatives appealed directly to Musk to ban them and far-right internet trolls flooded Twitter’s complaints system with false reports about terms of service violations.

As the Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin noted on Twitter, the suspended users include Chad Loder, an antifascist researcher whose open-source investigation of the U.S. Capitol riot led to the identification and arrest of a masked Proud Boy who attacked police officers. The account of video journalist Vishal Pratap Singh, who reports on far-right protests in Southern California, has also been suspended. . . .

Among the other prominent accounts suspended were the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club, an antifascist group that provides armed security for LGBTQ+ events in North Texas, and CrimethInc, an anarchist collective that has published and distributed anarchist and anti-authoritarian zines, books, posters, and podcasts since the mid-1990s.

All four accounts had been singled out for criticism by Andy Ngo, a far-right writer whose conspiratorial, error-riddled reporting on left-wing protests and social movements fuels the mass delusion that a handful of small antifascist groups are part of an imaginary shadow army called “antifa.” In a public exchange on Twitter on Friday, Musk invited Ngo to report “Antifa accounts” that should be suspended directly to him.[12]

Reuters, “Twitter CEO Musk says user signups at all-time high, touts features of ‘everything app,’” November 27, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-ceo-musk-says-user-signups-all-time-high-touts-features-everything-app-2022-11-27/

Philip Bump, “Hey, Elon Musk? Twitter polls are not the ‘voice of the people,’” Washington Post, November 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/28/hey-elon-musk-twitter-polls-are-not-voice-people/

David Frum, “It’s apparently pro free speech when Elon Musk charges you $8 for access to his platform, but anti free speech if Apple charges him $2 for access to theirs,” Twitter, November 28, 2022, https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1597332772687085569

Sarah E. Needleman and Tim Higgins, “Elon Musk Claims Apple Is Threatening to Remove Twitter From App Store,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-attacks-apple-tim-cook-over-advertising-and-censorship-11669662024

Sheila Dang and Katie Paul, “Twitter not safer under Elon Musk, says former head of trust and safety,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-not-safer-under-elon-musk-says-former-head-trust-safety-conference-2022-11-29/

Robert Mackey and Micah Lee, “Left-Wing Voices Are Silenced on Twitter as Far-Right Trolls Advise Elon Musk,” Intercept, November 29, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/

Reuters, “Twitter rolls back COVID misinformation policy,” November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-rolls-back-covid-misinformation-policy-2022-11-29/

Naomi Nix, “Twitter needs Apple more than Apple needs Twitter,” Washington Post, November 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/30/apple-musk-tim-cook/

  1. [1]Kohinoor Sahota, “In Buckingham Palace and outside it, we know what it means when people ask ‘where are you from,’ Guardian, November 30, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-where-are-you-from-black-british↩
  2. [2]Sistah Space [Ngozi Fulani], “Mixed feelings about yesterday's visit to Buckingham Palace. . . .” Twitter, November 30, 2022, https://twitter.com/Sistah_Space/status/1597854380115767296↩
  3. [3]Sean Coughlan, “Buckingham Palace race row raises awkward questions,” British Broadcasting Corporation, December 1, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63808613↩
  4. [4]Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (New York: Random House, 2008).↩
  5. [5]Kohinoor Sahota, “In Buckingham Palace and outside it, we know what it means when people ask ‘where are you from,’ Guardian, November 30, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-where-are-you-from-black-british↩
  6. [6]Kohinoor Sahota, “In Buckingham Palace and outside it, we know what it means when people ask ‘where are you from,’ Guardian, November 30, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-where-are-you-from-black-british↩
  7. [7]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  8. [8]Margi Murphy, “Facebook, Instagram and Twitter lock Donald Trump’s accounts after praise for Capitol Hill rioters,” Telegraph, January 7, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2021/01/06/calls-twitter-facebook-mute-donald-trump-violence-breaks-capitol/; Nitasha Tiku, Tony Romm, and Craig Timberg, “Twitter bans Trump’s account, citing risk of further violence,” Washington Post, January 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/08/twitter-trump-dorsey/↩
  9. [9]Faiz Siddiqui, Drew Harwell and Isaac Arnsdorf , “Elon Musk restores Trump’s Twitter account,” Washington Post, November 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/19/trump-musk-twitter/↩
  10. [10]Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, “Twitter layoffs gutted election information teams days before midterms,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/05/twitter-layoffs-election-impact/↩
  11. [11]Sanjay Patnaik, Robert E. Litan, and James Kunhardt, “The national security grounds for investigating Musk’s Twitter acquisition,” Brookings, November 4, 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-biden-would-be-justified-in-blocking-or-modifying-musks-twitter-acquisition-on-national-security-grounds/↩
  12. [12]Robert Mackey and Micah Lee, “Left-Wing Voices Are Silenced on Twitter as Far-Right Trolls Advise Elon Musk,” Intercept, November 29, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/↩

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