A tipping point has been reached, even if it has hardly been discussed within societies and by political leaders. Across the non-Western world, there is growing awareness and rejection of the hypocrisy, insincerity and insecurity embedded in the Western world with regard to its relations with the global majority.
Western narratives and propaganda took hold across the world over the last 200 years as a result of colonisation and imperialism. Mind capture was a necessary tool of oppression to subjugate people. And despite decolonisation, mental colonisation became the new frontier and remains a key strategy of postcolonial imperialism. Citizens of former colonies remained receptive to Western ideas, having been indoctrinated for so long, and this influence is still actively cultivated via Western soft power as well as through Western education and its global media.
Today, much of the Western world retains the mentality that their nations and “white people” are superior, with the singular goal of retaining global economic dominance. This, even though the rest of the world is acutely aware of the dangers of extreme forms of “White People First”, as manifested in Donald Trump and his tumultuous presidency. Yet we still see efforts to actively preserve white privilege, which goes well beyond egregious acts of racism against people of colour.
What has changed, though, is that for the first time in hundreds of years, there is no longer a shared view – as misplaced as it might have been or carefully manufactured – of the wisdom of the West and its right to lead. This change is a seismic global shift.
Several contemporary examples have blown the cover off liberal narratives used to hide deep animosity towards others rooted in the fear of being treated as equals and sharing power without entrenched privileges.