Anti-white racism

Not to be confused with Reverse racism.

Anti-white racism refers to discriminatory sentiments and acts of hostility of a racist nature toward people racialized as White. These notions and the use of the term "anti-white racism" are an object of study in sociology, philosophy, political science and law, as well as a current topic discussed in the media, by intellectuals and in the social sphere.

Concepts and study

In philosophy

According to Magali Bessone, professor of political philosophy at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, if the phenomenon of racism is considered in a "structural manner", then the notion of anti-white racism is not relevant "in societies where whites are in a position of domination. [Which] does not prevent the existence of individual behaviors that can be designated in this case as falling within the scope of racial hatred".

In social sciences

Sociology studies racism by taking into account specific socio-historical contexts and the prior existence, in Western societies, of ideologies and policies that have historically given whites the role of the "dominant race". Researchers distinguish between what is racist behavior—rejection, anger, insults, aggression, etc.—of an individual nature, and the existence of "systemic racism", i.e. racism that is embedded in the social organization.

Pooja Sawrikar, a psychologist, and Ilan Katz, a social work researcher at the University of New South Wales, challenge this definition of racism, which they summarize as "racism = prejudice + power". Finding this approach "reductionist", they refute definitions of racism based on social power, which they believe reduce racism to white supremacy in white-majority societies. Thus, the idea that "only white people can be racist" would be false and itself racist. Furthermore, they assert that this approach, which places white people at the center of any discourse on race, leads to impotence in the fight against racism. This helplessness would manifest itself in a feeling of guilt among white people, due to the fact that they cannot do anything individually against racism since they are oppressors through their skin color, and a feeling of helplessness among ethnic minorities, who would be forced to admit that racism is a condition that they cannot change. This approach would also encourage passivity, both among white people not participating in the anti-racist struggle, who would be content with their assigned role as dominant, and among people from racial minorities, who would reject any responsibility because of their minority status.

Close to this vision, the French political scientist, sociologist and historian Pierre-André Taguieff considers that the notions of "institutional racism", "structural racism" or "systemic racism" derive from the anti-racist definition of racism produced by revolutionary African-American activists at the end of the 1960s. According to him, these terms are not the expression of a conceptualization of racism, but "a symbolic weapon which consists of reducing racism to white racism supposed to be inherent to "white society" or to "white domination", the latter being the only form of racial domination recognized and denounced by neo-antiracists." White society being conceptualized as "intrinsically racist", "it follows that anti-white racism cannot exist. This is a fundamental article of faith of the new "anti-racist" catechism."

For Daniel Sabbagh, research director at the Center for International Research (CERI) in Paris, racism can be understood from three points of view. The first is ideological, based on the hierarchy of "races" defined by a racialization of humanity. The second, the subject of studies in social psychology in particular, conceives racism as a set of negative attitudes towards the racialized other ("attitudinal racism"). The third is systemic racism. The researcher believes that the use of the expression "anti-White racism" is not abusive to characterize, for example, the ideological or attitudinal racism inevitably produced in reaction to the racism suffered, without common measure, by "non-Whites". He cites as examples the ideological speech of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), likening whites to "demons", and the video of the French rapper Nick Conrad, entitled "Pendez les Blancs" (Hang the Whites). Daniel Sabbagh agrees that if we only consider systemic racism, as a conception of racism, then the expression "anti-white racism" is irrelevant. He believes, however, that racism must be studied in all its dimensions.

In the media

BBC News editor Mark Easton cites the Ross Parker murder case to argue that society has been forced to redefine racism and discard the definition of "prejudice plus power"—a definition which, in Easton's view, tends to only allow ethnic minorities to be victims and whites to be perpetrators. He states, "Describing an incident as racist may say as much about a victim's mindset as the offender. How else can one explain the British Crime Survey finding that 3,100 car thefts from Asians were deemed to be racially motivated?" Journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown argues that the case highlights double standards of racial equality campaigners, suggesting black activists should "march and remember victims like Ross Parker ... our values are worthless unless all victims of these senseless deaths matter equally". She writes, "to treat some victims as more worthy of condemnation than others is unforgivable and a betrayal of anti-racism itself".

By country

France

Further information: Racism in France § Racism against white people

Anti-white graffito on a door in France. The text reads: "Here we are racists toward whites and not solidary".

In September 2018, French rapper Nick Conrad broadcast on the web a song and video called "Pendez les Blancs" (Hang the Whites), for which he was later prosecuted.

Public opinion

In a sociological survey conducted in 2008 by the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), which never uses the expression "anti-white racism", it appears that 16% of the majority population of France, i.e. the white population, say they have been the victim of a "racist situation", compared to 32% for immigrants and 36% for descendants of immigrants. 23% of the majority population say they "have not experienced a racist situation but feel exposed to it", compared to 29% for immigrants and 25% for descendants of immigrants. In addition, 10% of people of European origin say they have suffered racist discrimination in the last five years, compared to 26% for immigrants, 31% for descendants of two immigrant parents and 17% for descendants of one immigrant parent. The most reported grounds for discrimination by the majority population are 18% related to origin, compared to 70% for immigrants and 65% for descendants of immigrants.

In 2012, INED published a new survey conducted between September 2008 and February 2009 on people born between 1948 and 1990, which showed that 18% of people belonging to the "majority population" said they had been "the target of racist insults, remarks or attitudes" compared to 30% for immigrants and 37% for descendants of immigrants. However, a study by the same institute concluded in 2016 that the phenomenon was "not a mass experience": "Racism by minorities against majorities can be verbally offensive, or even physically aggressive, but it is not systematic and does not produce social inequalities." The same year, Jean-Luc Primon, a sociologist at the University of Nice and researcher at the Migrations and Society Research Unit (URMIS), participating in the TEO survey, the first INED database on origins, declared that a little more than one person in ten of those classified in the so-called "majority" population (neither immigrants, nor from immigration, nor from overseas) declared having experienced racism.

A 2022 survey found that 80% of French people believe that anti-white racism is present in some French communities.

Haiti

Further information: 1804 Haitian massacre

"Burning of the Plaine du Cap – Massacre of whites by the blacks." On 22 August 1791, slaves set fire to plantations, torched cities and massacred the white population.

The massacres of almost the entire white population in Haiti in 1804, also referred to as the Haitian genocide, which marked the end of the Haitian Revolution, have been partially explained in the context of anti-white racism. On 22 February 1804, revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines signed a decree ordering that all French people stil residing in the country should be put to death. Dessalines' secretary Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre complained that the declaration of independence was not aggressive enough, saying that "...we should have the skin of a white man for parchment, his skull for an inkwell, his blood for ink, and a bayonet for a pen!".

The people chosen to be killed were targeted primarily based on three criteria: "skin color, citizenship and vocation." While some whites, such as Poles and Germans who were granted citizenship and "a few non-French veterans and American merchants, along with some useful professionals such as priests and doctors" were spared, political affiliation was not considered. The white victims were almost entirely French, commensurate with their share in the white population of Haiti. About his targets of the massacre, Dessalines' slogan exemplified his mission to eradicate the white population with the saying "Break the eggs, take out the [sic] yoke [a pun on the word 'yellow' which means both yoke and mulatto] and eat the white." Upper class whites were not the only target; any white of any socioeconomic status was also to be killed, including the urban poor known as petits blancs (little whites). During the massacre, stabbing, beheading, and disemboweling were common.

Historian Philippe R. Girard also states that if, after 1804 and throughout the 19th century, the presence of whites in the country was negligible, they were perceived, in particular by Haitian nationalists, with an antipathy that amounted to racism, excluding alliances with countries with generally white populations such as the United States and European countries, or considered too light-skinned, such as the Dominican Republic. The black population, a large majority (90% at the beginning of the 19th century), tended to consider themselves the only true Haitian population, calling themselves "authentic", with the exception of the mulattos, who were viewed with great suspicion because of their French fathers as well as their frequent possession of slaves before independence. The word blan, meaning "white man", came to designate the foreigner, and carried a negative connotation that that of neg, literally "negro", did not have.

South Africa

Further information: Racism in South Africa § Racism against white Africans, and Shoot the Boer

Democratic Alliance MP Gwen Ngwenya states that racism aimed at white people in South Africa is often overlooked compared to racism aimed at black people, noting that racism aimed at white people elicits little reaction from the populace. According to a comparative study by the trade union Solidarity, South African media give more attention to white-on-black racism, and the South African Human Rights Commission is much more likely to self-initiate investigations into white-on-black racism and is more lenient in cases of black-on-white racism.

The F.W. de Klerk Foundation reported that there are social media posts inciting extreme violence against white South Africans, and these posts come mostly from black South Africans. It appealed to the South African Human Rights Commission to intervene on the issue of racism and hate speech against white South Africans. Its complaint to the commission detailed "45 social media postings that incite extreme violence against White South Africans." The foundation also said "an analysis of Facebook and Twitter messages shows that by far the most virulent and dangerous racism – expressed in the most extreme and violent language – has come from disaffected Black South Africans. The messages are replete with threats to kill all whites – including children; to rape white women or to expel all whites from South Africa."

After a black person was allegedly killed by two white people, businesses and properties owned by white people and other minorities in Coligny were targeted for destruction by members of the black community.

Anti-white hate-speech

On 12 September 2011, Julius Malema, the youth leader of South Africa's ruling ANC, was found guilty of hate speech for singing "Shoot the Boer" at a number of public events.

A Gauteng government official, Velaphi Khumalo, stated on Facebook "White people in South Africa deserve to be hacked and killed like Jews. [You] have the same venom. Look at Palestine. [You] must be [burnt] alive and skinned and your [offspring] used as garden fertiliser". A complaint was lodged at the Human Rights Commission, and a charge of crimen injuria was laid at the Equality Court. In October 2018, he was found guilty of hate speech by the court, for which he was ordered to issue an apology.

In March 2018, a screenshot depicting EFF Ekurhuleni leader Mampuru Mampuru calling for racial violence on Facebook began to circulate on social media. The post read, "We need to unite as black People, there are less than 5 million whites in South Africa vs 45 million of us. We can kill all this white within two weeks. We have the army and the police. If those who are killing farmers can do it what are you waiting for. Shoot the boer, kill the farmer." [sic]. Mampuru claims the screenshot was fabricated in an attempt to discredit the EFF, further adding that "Without white people in the country‚ we are not going to have a Rainbow Nation."

After 76-year-old white professor Cobus Naude was murdered in 2018, black senior SANDF officer Major M.V. Mohlala posted a comment on Facebook in reaction to Naude's murder, stating "It is your turn now, white people… [he] should have had his eyes and tongue cut out so that the faces of his attackers would be the last thing he sees". Mohlala received a warning of potential future disciplinary action by the SANDF. Subsequently, Ernst Roets of AfriForum contrasted Mohlala's punishment against that of convicted white racist Vicki Momberg, stating, "The inconsistency being applied in this country regarding minorities has reached the level of absurdity... The reality in South Africa is that a white person who insults a black person goes to prison, while a senior officer in the defence force who says white people's eyes and tongues must be stabbed out is simply asked nicely not to repeat it."

A photograph emerged of a University of Cape Town student who wore a shirt that read "Kill All Whites" in a residence dining hall during early 2016. The university later identified the wearer as Slovo Magida and reported the matter to SAPS and HRC. During a parliamentary debate on racism, Pieter Mulder of the FF+ read out the contents of the shirt, to which some MPs shouted "Yes! Yes!". As of 2018, no further action against Magida has been taken.

In April 2018, a Judicial Services Commission tribunal found that Nkola Motala's racist comments could justify his removal as a judge. Motala crashed into a wall while driving under the influence of alcohol in 2007. After the accident, Motala swore at a white onlooker, Richard Baird, and referred to him as a "boer".

Julius Malema, leader of the third-largest party, Economic Freedom Fighters, stated at a political rally in 2016 that "we [the EFF] are not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now". When asked for comment by a news agency, the ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, stated that there would be no comment from the ANC, as "[h]e [Malema] was addressing his own party supporters." This received backlash from many South Africans of all races. While still the ANCYL leader, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by AfriForum for repeatedly singing "dubul' ibhunu", which literally translates as "shoot the boer [white farmer]." In context, this was sung as a struggle (against apartheid) song. At another political rally in 2018, he stated, "Go after a white Man... We are cutting the throat of whiteness." This was in reference to the removal of Athol Trollip, a white mayor, from office in Port Elizabeth. The opposition Democratic Alliance has accused the EFF leader of racism.

At the EFF's 10th anniversary rally in 2023, Malema again sang the song to an estimated 90,000 supporters at the FNB Stadium. The incident received international coverage with Elon Musk criticizing Malema on Twitter for singing the song, accusing him of "openly pushing for the genocide of white people in South Africa".

In September 2018, Black First Land First (BLF) Spokesperson Lyndsay Maasdorp told The Citizen reporter Daniel Friedman that, as a white person, his existence is "a crime". Maasdorp also posted on his now-suspended Twitter account in 2018: "I have aspirations to kill white people, and this must be achieved!".

In December 2018, in response to comments made by Johann Rupert in support of the South African taxi industry, Mngxitama asserted at a BLF rally that "For each one person that is being killed by the taxi industry, we will kill five white people", giving rise to the BLF slogan "1:5". Mngxitama went on to say, "You kill one of us, we will kill five of you. We will kill their children, we will kill their women, we will kill anything that we find on our way." The comments were criticized by many, including the African National Congress, with an ANC spokesperson claiming that "[Mngxitama's] comments clearly incite violence in South Africa" and urging the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate. The Congress of the People and Democratic Alliance also criticized the statements and filed criminal charges against Mngxitama for incitement of violence. Mngxitama's Twitter account was also suspended as a result. In response, the BLF’s deputy president, Zanele Lwana, responded that Mngxitama's comments were made in the context of self-defense and that "The only sin committed by BLF president is defending black people. President Mngxitama correctly stated that for every one black life taken, five whites would be taken!"

In March 2022, the Equality Court of South Africa ordered BLF members Lindsay Maasdorp and Zwelakhe Dubasi to pay R200,000 in damages and make a public apology for "celebrat[ing] the tragic deaths" of four children on social media in statements that were judged to be hate speech. The four children, all of whom were white, died when a walkway collapsed at Hoërskool Driehoek in Vanderbijlpark.

The Black First Land First party does not allow white people in the party.

United Kingdom

Further information: Racism in the United Kingdom § White

Racially motivated violence

In August 1994, Richard Norman Everitt, a 15-year-old white English teenager, was stabbed to death in London. After ethnic tensions in his neighbourhood, Somers Town, Everitt was murdered by a gang of British Bangladeshis who were seeking revenge against another white boy. A judge described the killing as "an unprovoked racial attack".

In September 2001, Ross Parker, a 17-year-old white English teenager was murdered in Peterborough, in what has been described as an unprovoked racially motivated crime. He bled to death after being stabbed, beaten with a hammer and repeatedly kicked by a gang of British Pakistani men. The 2002 trial judge concluded that they had planned to find "a white male to attack simply because he was white" in the context of "hostility on the part of some of the younger white residents of the city against the Asian community".

In March 2004, Kriss Donald, a 15-year-old white Scottish teenager was kidnapped, abused and murdered in Glasgow on the grounds of ethnicity. Four British Pakistani men were sentenced to life in prison for the crime, and admitted to choosing him because he was white.

Public opinion

In 2019, a British government inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into racism in universities found that 9% of white British students reported experiencing racial harassment, including anti-English, anti-Welsh and anti-Scottish sentiments (compared to 29% of black students, 27% of Asian students and 22% of other non-white or mixed race students). Academics of color have criticized the Commission for including harassment against white students in the statistics, which they say shows a worrying misunderstanding of racism as it "minimises the racism by including groups who do not experience racial prejudice". Prominent academics and student leaders have criticized the Commission for "drawing a false equivalence between what it described as racial harassment against white British students and staff and the racism suffered by their black and minority ethnic peers". The EHRC did not respond to requests to remove anti-white harassment from the report, explaining that "its report made clear that racial harassment predominantly affects black and Asian students".

United States

Further information: Racism in the United States § European Americans, and Black supremacy

The speeches of Elijah Muhammad (pictured left) and Louis Farrakhan (right), both leaders of the Nation of Islam (NOI), often emphasized hatred of whites.

There are black supremacists in the United States who advocate the superiority of the "black race", including organized groups such as the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the New Black Panther Party (NBPP). These groups have repeatedly been accused of stirring up racial hatred against whites. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the NBPP as a black separatist hate group and says that its leaders "have advocated the killing of Jews and white people", while it describes the NOI as having a "theology of innate black superiority over whites". The NOI was notably represented by Malcolm X and Khalid Abdul Muhammad, who made anti-white speeches and called for the murder of white Americans and white South Africans. The speeches of Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan also often emphasized hatred of whites.

The United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, a black supremasist group, founded and led by Dwight York, has been described by the SPLC as advocating the belief that black people are superior to white people. The SPLC reported that York's teachings included the belief that "whites are 'devils', devoid of both heart and soul, their color the result of leprosy and genetic inferiority". The SPLC described the Nuwaubianism belief system as "mix[ing] black supremacist ideas with worship of the Egyptians and their pyramids, a belief in UFOs and various conspiracy theories related to the Illuminati and the Bilderbergers".

Another black supremacist group, the Nation of Yahweh, founded by Hulon Mitchell Jr., also known as Yahweh ben Yahweh, has been described by the SPLC as racist, stating that the group believes that Black people are the true Israelites and whites hold "wicked powers". The SPLC also claims that the group believes that Yahweh ben Yahweh had a Messianic mission to vanquish whites and that it held views similar to those of the Christian Identity movement, which believes that "Aryans" are the true Israelites and non-whites are devils. By 2007, the Nation of Yahweh had eliminated calls for violence and toned down its anti-white rhetoric, but remained Black supremacist and antisemitic in its ideology.

Proponents of the pseudoscientific "melanin theory" argue that whites suffer from a melanin deficiency that makes them inferior to blacks in athletic, intellectual and spiritual terms. This theory has been popular with some proponents of Afrocentrism and black supremacists, including professor of black studies Leonard Jeffries and psychologist Frances Cress Welsing.

Public opinion

A 2017 poll found that 55% of white Americans believe that white people face discrimination. A 2022 poll found that 64% of Republicans polled said white people experience a fair amount of hate or discrimination in society. A 2023 YouGov poll found that of Trump 2020 voters, 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem.

Zimbabwe

Further information: Racism in Zimbabwe § Racism in Zimbabwe (post–1980), and Land reform in Zimbabwe

Under Robert Mugabe's regime (pictured in 1979), discrimination and violence were perpetrated against the country's white community, with the participation and encouragement of the state.

Following the dissolution of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe's independence from British rule in 1980, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) party came to power. At the time, most agricultural land was owned by white Zimbabweans. The party, led by Robert Mugabe, implemented racist policies through land reform, confiscating land from whites and evicting them from their farms. Under President Robert Mugabe's regime, discrimination and violence were perpetrated against the country's white community, with the participation and encouragement of the state. Most white farmers were dispossessed and several were murdered. Mugabe was regularly accused of stoking hostility towards Zimbabwe's white farmers and blaming them for the failure of his land reform to save his power. A racist ideology developed, with ZANU and ZAPU emphasizing the "sons and daughters of the soil" as genuine citizens as opposed to white aliens by nature (amabhunu). On several occasions, Mugabe also made statements deemed racist towards whites.

Since then, Zimbabwe's white population has continued to decline, from 260,000 in 1975 to around 30,000 in 2014. While whites provided 80% of the national income, this agrarian policy is fostering famine in the former corn basket of Africa. From an exporter, the country became an importer. In December 2008, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, in the case of Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd v Zimbabwe, accused Mugabe and his government of waging a racist political campaign in which land confiscations were carried out in a discriminatory manner. The government and the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe contested the tribunal's decision. However, in 2016, noting the harmful impact of his measures on agricultural production, Mugabe called for the return to the country of white farmers forced into exile.

In 2017, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa's inaugural speech promised to pay compensation to the white farmers whose land was seized during the land reform programme. Rob Smart became the first white farmer whose land was returned after President Mnangagwa was sworn in to office; he returned to his farm in Manicaland province by military escort. During the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, Mnangagwa also stated that his new government believes thinking about racial lines in farming and land ownership is "outdated", and should be a "philosophy of the past."

See also

• Cracker (anti-white term)
• White trash (anti-white term)
• Anti-Europeanism
• Anti-Western sentiment

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