Integritus Prime

Ethnic tensions consist of emotional baggage that has survived many centuries and is still used by politicians, people in power and even the common people to feel superior. In our Beyond Medicine series called Baggage Claim, we highlight some very common forms of discrimination and animosity between various ethnicities.

In India, there is discrimination between castes even prior to the British rule, then the discrimination and divide that was left behind by the British rulers before India’s independence between Hindus and Muslims. In some areas, such as Kashmir,  the tension still escalates periodically.

In Fiji and other countries where the British used the indentured labor system to take Indians to work on farms and other projects, a divide was created between the natives and the indentured laborers. Indentured labor was a fancy term for slavery. 

In many countries, existing tribes or ethnic groups fought amongst themselves due to some differences or other. This was common in the Pacific islands as well as other larger countries.

A vivid example that comes to mind is Germans and Jews – the Holocaust is an example we can never forget. Nazis described Jews as non-humans, paving the way for unimaginably terrifying acts, including concentration camps and mass graves. Other examples include apartheid, where whites enslaved black people, as well as the Native American tribes versus the migrant Europeans in America, and later the enslavement of blacks there too. This discrimination is still evident in a number of countries, with racism rampant and hate crimes common.

Divide and rule was a common catch phrase during British rule. Even after 100 years of Indian descendants in Fiji, after the first coup d’etat in 1987, the powers that be wanted to deport Indians (called Indo-Fijians) to India. Racism became a norm during that time of tension. In the 2000 coup, looting and burning of Indo-Fijian owned businesses was common. It took many years to change the constitution of Fiji to recognize all citizens as equal. Despite this, racism still exists in many obvious and subtle ways at many levels in Fiji.

Slavery, black birding (tricking and coercing workers into indentured labor), genocide, and human trafficking are examples that don’t seem to go away. These atrocities are based on a huge prejudice and aggression between castes or ethnicities.  Many descendants of indentured laborers still carry this emotional baggage of not belonging to the country where they were born. This baggage is a difficult one to carry as it creates confusion and lowers self esteem.

Share with us your experience on ethnic differences and the emotional baggage that you’ve experienced or witnessed.