Lewis Hamilton has emerged in recent weeks as a figurehead in the Black Lives Matter movement. In an eloquent, thoughtful essay for The Sunday Times last month, the Formula 1 driver wrote about his lifelong experience of racism in Britain; about the heart-breaking warnings that black fathers like his know that they need to give their sons; about his recognition that the murder of George Floyd, despite seeming a faraway occurrence in a foreign land, was in fact a moment that demanded a global awakening to the systemic racism, witnessed and experienced by every person of colour across the world.
He arrived at the Paddock for F1s resumption wearing a BLACK LIVES MATTER T-shirt. He also wore a chain locked in a padlock around his neck, a clear reference to the collars worn by generations of African slaves.
Heres the problem for Hamilton. Slavery is still with us. In fact, more people are thought to live enslaved today than at any point in recorded history. Most of them are still people of colour. And many are held in nations which happily host Grand Prix tournaments to celebrate their wealth. In 2016, one Lewis Hamilton notoriously voiced his appreciation for his hosts at the Bahrain Grand Prix, arriving in a thobe, the traditional dress of the Bahraini royal family, and tweeting: Nothing but love and respect for this culture, and Bahrain!! Feeling royal. In Bahrain, 1.9 people in every thousand is thought to be a slave. The royal family has been repeatedly accused of abusingslaves.
In Bahrain, as in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and most of the other Arab states in which Lewis Hamilton has happily raced, the overwhelming majority of these slaves are South Asian or South East Asian. The denial of their human rights is enabled by entrenched racism and colourism which preaches the natural servitude of inferior races. Bahrain, to its credit, nominally abolished the Kafala System (which effectively legalised slavery under the guise of bonded labour) in 2009, ahead of many of its Arab peers. Baby steps, eh?
How much does this matter? There are some commentators who would love nothing more than to suggest this negates every word of Lewis Hamiltons activism. Thats grotesquely unfair. Listen to Hamilton talk about his deep, lived experience of racism and its trauma, and you will know that there is no justification for dismissing his pain. While he may now have the advantage of talent and success something for which he has worked hard he is brave to make racism a story in the money-grubbing world of Formula 1, in which white men still own the corporate capital, and no sponsor or host is keen to draw attention to the sports blind spots on social justice. He will lose sponsors and money for taking this stand. He deserves our good faith.
One of the deepest, nastiest problems of todays polarised public conversation is the willingness of agitators on the alt-right or the hard-left, often masquerading as journalists, to try to catch out activists who have made the mistake of campaigning only against one issue instead of all of them, or campaigning now instead of years ago. Far too often, on this particular subject, the long history of slavery in the Arab world is used as a distraction from the Wests culpability for years of slavery.
To my particular horror, I frequently see bad actors trying to set up descendants of Holocaust survivors and of the transatlantic slave trade as competitors, as if to compete for the exceptionality of their trauma. (One could spot elements of this divisive trick when a columnist at a right-wing tabloid pointed out last week that Hamilton drives for Mercedes, a company which exploited Jewish slave labour during the Nazi regime.) That is not my intention here.
The better lesson is that we are all capable of being hypocrites. We have all, like Hamilton, espoused a social cause without necessarily checking that our historic actions and words have been consistent. I know I have. When it comes to modern slavery, its particularly easy to look away.
This week, were still seeing exposs about the slave-like conditions alleged in garment factories in Leicester factories which supply dirt-cheap clothes at prices many of us find far too convenient to question. There is a sensitive conversation to have here about race, which too easily risks being appropriated by the hate-mongers. (Most of the factories which have been the subject of these exposs are run by members of ethnic minority communities, but we should pause before we assume thats a complete picture.
Around the world, many victims of human trafficking are migrants who are most easily lured by those who share their home culture and language; on a global scale that doesnt make this crime the province of any particular race.)
Modern slavery is all around us but most of us dont look. Im too poor a driver failed my test twice to have Hamiltons chances of driving at the Bahrain GP. But Im sure, like him, Ive benefited from the labour of modern slaves without recognising it.
For many of us, that exploitation lies in the supply chains of favourite products. A few months ago, a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute made clear that Chinese concentration camps, in which genocide is being perpetrated against the Muslim Uighur population, have been supplying Western brands with components made by Uighur slave labour. Many of these enslaved people, like African American slaves before them, work in the production of cotton. Cotton produced in the Xinjiang region ends up in clothing made by some of the largest companies around. (Naturally, all of these companies deny using slave labour.)
The supply chain taints the cheapest products bought by the poorest among us, and luxury goods marketed at the super-rich.
This week, calls for a boycott of Chinese products are growing louder, due both to national security concerns about the surveillance capabilities of the tech company Huawei, and the atrocious wrecking of Hong Kongs former democratic freedoms. Boris Johnson has announced that Huawei components must be removed from British 5G networks by 2027.
But global supply chains are always hard to disentangle and theres always a cost: Philip Jansen, head of BT, warned before the announcement that this would be almost impossible without major outages and new security vulnerabilities. Cutting out Chinese-owned labour from the consumer market on items like fashion would be as complex.
What can we do? Like Hamilton in Bahrain, most of us could use some self-examination: Ive been unimpressed recently to see white friends who regularly holiday in Dubai posting social media statements about racism and the toxic legacy of the slave trade. If you want to shop ethically, one option is to check out TISCReport.org, which publishes registers of companies that have declared their supply chains under the Modern Slavery Act. But in an era of complex global supply chains, weve all been tainted at some point by unethical consumption. By acknowledging that mass hypocrisy, we can begin to do better together.
Read more:
When it comes to modern slavery, many of us turn a blind eye - iNews
- Neighborly discord in the Galwan Valley - Observer Research Foundation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Why human beings are so irrational, and never learn podcasts of the week - The Guardian [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Canceling Joe Rogan Would be the Left's Worst Nightmare - Here's Why - CCN.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Down with symbols - The News International [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Neil Gorsuch Stuns the Nation, Does the Right Thing - The Nation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- The Voice of America Will Sound Like Trump - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- License to Analyze Media - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- New Boss May Test Voice of Americas Credibility - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Destroying the Statues of Slavers to Rewrite History - Morocco World News [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What to Cook Right Now - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- The Voice Of America Is Not The Voice Of Trump - The Pavlovic Today [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Philly residents call for Taney Street to be renamed - PhillyVoice.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Wizards Ends Their Relationship with Terese Nielsen - Hipsters of the Coast [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Magic: The Gathering Ends Relationship With Controversial Artist - We Got This Covered [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- How game theory not chaos rules the Trump White House - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What we know about the 'Boogaloo Bois,' the far-right group tied to killings in Santa Cruz and Oakland - San Francisco Chronicle [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Four Years Embedded With the Alt-Right - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Influence of COVID-19 Crisis on Global Right-Wing Agenda - Valdai Discussion Club [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Approves Issuance of Fines for Refusing to Wear Facial Coverings - Redheaded Blackbelt [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Far Right Reading List Shows Link Between Its Literature and Real-World Violence - Truthout [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- New Zealand police warned of another mosque threat before Christchurch shooting massacre - Reuters [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- The saffron swastika - The Express Tribune [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Banned by PayPal and YouTube, this alt-right comedian is back on PayPal and YouTube (updated) - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Why White House Catholics are concerned about Trumps Catholic tweets - Catholic News Agency [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- GAA's tiresome culture war insults and ignores players - RTE.ie [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Review: Rabbit Hole hops into the Internets greatest failures and successes - The Charlatan [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Colleges are flimflamming college students and parents about reopening in the fall (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- New Conservatives defend Western culture as 'greatest in the world', warn NZ 'sliding toward socialism' - Newshub [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island Partier Who Flouted COVID Rules Says He's Not Sorry, Reveals Himself to Be QAnon Follower: WATCH - Towleroad [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- 'Draining the swamp' and other metaphors - Idaho State Journal [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island partier who flouted coronavirus rules refuses to apologise: 'I'm not going to fall for the lab-made virus' - PinkNews [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valleys War Against the Media - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Alt-Weeklies Face Total Annihilation. But Theyre Thriving in the Chaos. - The Ringer [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Dana Canedy, the New Head of Simon & Schuster, on Facts, Diversity, and the Future of Publishing - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- The fallacy of white privilege and how it's corroding society - New York Post [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Facing America's History of Racism Requires Facing the Origins of 'Race' as a Concept - TIME [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Stone Shares Meme With Roots In Alt-Right To Attack Judge - TPM [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- How to add alt text to images on Twitter so that they can be read with screen readers - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A decade of emoji: How aubergines and crying faces connected us all online - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A Dreyfusard from the Right - Twilight of Democracy - Visegrad Insight [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Man in the Antifa Mask: Who he is and why he regrets showing up at a Coeur d'Alene protest with a crowbar - Pacific Northwest Inlander [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Best of Philly: Heres to the People Who Protested - Philadelphia magazine [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Lincoln the Emancipator: The Civil War & the Continuous Battle against Northern Negrophobia (Part 1 of a two-part series) - Milwaukee Courier... [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Fascist Messaging of the Trump Campaign Eagle - Hyperallergic [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- AOC on League of Legends: Right-wing Twitter is childs play compared to inting 13-year-olds - VG247 [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBC's Joy Reid Makes Cable Network History With the Debut of "The ReidOut" - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- NY: Hundreds of free Uber e-bikes coming to WNY for proposed 'transportation libraries' - MassTransitMag.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is alt text on Instagram? How to add alt text - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is the deal with 'woke' culture and writing letters? - The National [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- The Return of the Cooch - Bacon's Rebellion [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-Greta and the challenges faced by young activists | Forge - ForgeToday [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-maskers bring their misinformation to Halifax - Halifax Examiner [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBCs Joy Reid Makes Cable-Network History With the Debut of The ReidOut - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Is This Roger Stone and Proud Boys Flashing a White Power Symbol? - Snopes.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Trump's pick to head Office of Personnel Management spread 'satanic' conspiracy theory, called Democrats party of 'Islam' and 'gender-bending' -... [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Joe Rogan Is Spreading Transphobic Hate Speech and It's Putting Lives in Danger - Men's Health [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- 'Pure Invention': How Japan's pop culture became the 'lingua franca' of the internet - The Japan Times [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Redefine Meat wants to disrupt meat industry with 3D printed Alt-Steak - Food Dive [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How it feels to survive Silicon Valley and a pandemic - Engadget [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- New Mexico's thin blurred line (The thin blurred line) High Country News Know the West - High Country News [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Artist Canyon Castator Is Making The Apocalypse Palatable - Interview [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Does Tucker Carlson hate America? - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How to add alt text in Excel to make images accessible - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trumps Secret Police - The Nation [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What IS your point? - The Bear Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add image descriptions on your web page to improve accessibility and web - Business Insider India [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Herman Mashaba: Why he might draw the crowds at election time Chuck Stephens - BizNews [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- How Brooks Brothers Became a Symbol of What Not to Wear to the Revolution - TownandCountrymag.com [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Hillsdale Must Join the National Reckoning on Race - The Bulwark [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add the accessibility feature - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Pittsburgh-based Steelers reporter quits PennLive in protest of site calling a Nazi rally "peaceful" - PGH City Paper [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- 'You Do the Right Things, and Still You Get It' - The New York Times [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Who wants to cancel cancel culture? The voiceless or the privileged? - Coconuts [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Amazon compared to heroin dealer as Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook and Google CEO accused of squeezing out com - The Sun [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Courtney Love hopes Jeffrey Epstein burns in hell after her name appeared in his address book - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Elon Musk has finally confirmed whether his take the red pill tweet was a Trump endorsement - indy100 [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Lakers Hold On to Beat the Clippers in Thriller - The New York Times [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Fight review: A jubilant look at changing the world for the better - Evening Standard [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- Mike Foltynewicz clears waivers, sent to Braves alternate site - Sports and Weather Right Now [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]