Critical Analysis #2
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Critical Analysis
The Continued Oppression of Minorities by the Western World using:
Global South & Indigenous Perspectives of IR
On December 12, 2016, the new Secretary-General of the United Nations made the following
remarks in front of the General Assembly (GA) during his oath of office speech. “We want the
world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the UN Charter: peace,
justice, respect, human rights, tolerance and solidarity” (
Secretary-General-Designate António
Guterres’ Remarks to the General Assembly on Taking the Oath of Office | United Nations
Secretary-General
, 2016). It was a commendable goal that Antonio Guterres had put in front of
all participating countries of the GA at a time when there was a relative upheaval of the current
world order and “history came back with a vengeance”(
Secretary-General-Designate António
Guterres’ Remarks to the General Assembly on Taking the Oath of Office | United Nations
Secretary-General
, 2016) . For some, history hadn’t come back, it more or less stayed the same;
this is to say that the people outside of the periphery of the Western World were still facing the
same problems and inequalities that had plagued them for so many years. The idea that the
“West” is a civilized and tolerant society could not be further from the truth. The implementation
of their different policies across the world to create prosperity and freedom, not only failed, but
they have ironically continued the cycle of oppression that many people outside the Western
World have been experiencing for decades. This is seen through the outside perspectives such as
the Global South & Indigenous.
One of the methods that has been used to oppress minorities is the constant rewriting of history
in which key parts are missing (Adetula, 2017). The statement “history is written by the victors”
is routinely shown to be true as the “West” continued to perpetuate false accounts of historical
events to suit their means (Dominic, 2014). The Cold War is a good example of how historical
events can be shaped by differing parties. Realist scholars believe that this period in time was
very stable as “no major war was fought between the two superpowers, the United States and the
Soviet Union” (Adetula, 2017). With the sheer amount of proxy wars/international incidences
that affected the Global South which ranged from the Vietnam War to the Cuban Missile Crisis
that occurred during this time, it discontinues the theory that there was peace and stability in the
world (Editors of Council on Foreign Relations, 2023). This is because even though the Western
superpowers of Russia and the U.S. weren’t directly affected by their actions; their indirect
actions led to an estimated 2 million deaths in the Vietnam War (Editors of Encyclopaedia
Britannica, n.d.) and the threat of nuclear annihilation in the Cuban Missile Crisis (Editors of
Council on Foreign Relations, 2023). The same ignorance of historical events can also be seen in
indigenous perspectives. Even though the Canadian government had given formal apologies to
the First Nations of Canada for the detrimental harm of residential schools (Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2016), the voices of the oppressed were still being lost in
the abyss as seen with the uncovering of mass graves at residential schools. For decades
survivors had stated that many of their peers never returned home from residential schools and
possibly died (
2022-NCTR-REPORT-LAYOUTS-FIN-WEBrev.Pdf
, 2021). The Canadian
government left these claims unfounded and were never added to the history of residential
schools until 2021. With the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation revealing it had located a
large, unmarked burial site at the former Kamloops Residential School, it retraumatized
survivors, their families, and their communities as it showed the real truth of residential school
history (
2022-NCTR-REPORT-LAYOUTS-FIN-WEBrev.Pdf
, 2021).
Another method that is used to subjugate oppression onto minorities is making them dependent
on the Western World so that do not have their autonomy (Adetula, 2017) (Woons, 2018). This is
seen with the adoption of policies and programmes in the final years of colonialism to make the
“Global South” dependent on states/organisations (Adetula, 2017). This is demonstrated in the
Banana Trade Wars in which the WTO eliminated the ACP countries' exclusive access to export
bananas to Europe (Editors of Oxfam, 2007). This was created to facilitate free trade with other
countries/corporations such as the US-based Chiquita (Editors of Oxfam, 2007). This allowed the
EU to have a strong bargaining position over the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP)
countries as Chiquita could produce large quantities of bananas at a cheaper price as they are a
multinational company (Editors of Oxfam, 2007). This forced the ACP countries to sell their
goods at a discount rate showing that the Western World could
manipulate international rules to
suit their own interests
(Editors of Oxfam, 2007)
. In addition, the ability of First Nations people
not being able to properly have self-determination
(Woons, 2018)
can be attributed to the fact
that the reserves that they live on are subject to control by the government. This shows that even
when Indigenous people began to have the right to self-administration in the 1960’s; they still
had to not only rely on the Canadian government for the distribution of their lands but also when
they needed financial assistance for any problems that occurred on the reserves.
The
examples of the elimination of history and the continued reliance of the Western World for
different affairs perpetuate oppression that these minority groups have faced already for decades.
For the world that Antonio Guterres described to the general assembly, the Western World needs
to take in outside perspectives to realize their shortcoming and how they are continuing the same
problems that they are trying to resolve. By embracing the perspectives of the Global South and
Indigenous, it is only then we’ll be able to live in a world that is defined by peace, justice,
respect, human rights, tolerance, and solidarity.
REFERENCES
2022-NCTR-REPORT-LAYOUTS-FIN-WEBrev.pdf
. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2023, from
https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-NCTR-REPORT-
LAYOUTS-FIN-WEBrev.pdf
Adetula, L. B., Carlos Murillo-Zamora, and Victor. (2017, November 19). Global South
Perspectives on International Relations Theory.
E-International Relations
. https://www.e-
ir.info/2017/11/19/global-south-perspectives-on-international-relations-theory/
Dominic. (2014, September 10). Is history really written by the victors?
Vox Historia - History
Learning Blog
. http://historylearning.com/blog/is-history-really-written-by-the-victors/
Editors of Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, May 25).
Eight “Hot Wars” During the Cold
War
. World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations.
https://world101.cfr.org/understanding-international-system/conflict/eight-hot-wars-
during-cold-war
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.).
Why did the Vietnam War start? | Britannica
.
Eycclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 14, 2023, from
https://www.britannica.com/question/How-many-people-died-in-the-Vietnam-War
Editors of Oxfam. (2007, April 14).
Oxfam—Trade—A Future for Caribbean Bananas
.
Oxfam.Org.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070414231254/http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issu
es/trade/wto_bananas.htm#regime
Secretary-General-designate António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly on taking the
oath of office | United Nations Secretary-General
. (2016, December 12). United Nations.
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https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2016-12-12/secretary-general-designate-
ant%C3%B3nio-guterres-oath-office-speech
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2016).
Canada’s Residential Schools: The
History, Part 2, 1939 to 2000: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada, Volume I
. MQUP. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt19rm9wn
Woons, J. C. and M. (2018, January 23). Indigenous Perspectives on International Relations
Theory.
E-International Relations
. https://www.e-ir.info/2018/01/23/indigenous-
perspectives-on-international-relations-theory/