The Origin, Current Situation and Trends of Racism in the West

ABSTRACT

After World War II, and especially following the Civil Rights Movement, racism was generally rejected in the West, but the root of racism—capitalist private ownership—still exists. Since the Great Recession of 2008, racial problems have become increasingly serious. The living conditions of blacks and other minority groups have not improved, while ethnic and migrant conflicts are widening. At the same time, white supremacism has gone on the offensive, “neo-racism” has emerged, and far-right parties and organizations are on the rise. The anti-racist movement faces bleak prospects in the “post-ideological” era. The initiative of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” proposed by China advocates that all civilizations should draw on each other’s strong points, make common progress, and promote a higher level of liberation for the masses, including colored people. In this way, we can create better conditions for a transition to a more advanced social system.

KEYWORDS:

• Private ownership
• racism
• a community with a shared future for mankind

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interests was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See “Racism.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism.

2 See “Systemic racism.” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/systemic-racism.

3 The world’s ten richest people are in the West. In 2022 their wealth was six times that of the poorest 3.1 billion people (Oxfam 2022).

4 Hate crime is defined as “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic” (GOV.UK 2022).

5 See “Los Angeles Riots of 1992.” https://www.britannica.com/event/Los-Angeles-Riots-of-1992. Accessed October 17, 2023.

6 “2022 Police Violence Report.” https://policeviolencereport.org/.

7 See “White Supremacy.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy.

8 See “White Supremacy.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy.

9 See “Black Panther Party.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party.

10 See “New Black Panther Party.” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/new-black-panther-party.

11 See “BLM’s 7 Demands.” https://blacklivesmatter.com/blm-demands/.

12 See “COINTELPRO.” https://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is the result of research conducted as part of the project “Study on the Chaos of the West and the Resurgence of Racism” (no. 20BKS164), funded by the National Social Science Fund of China.

Notes on contributors

Lidan Song

Lidan Song is an associate researcher at the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She holds a PhD in Marxist theory, and her main interests lie in Marxist class theory and the construction of a new socialist rural area. Her representative works in Chinese include: The “Middle Class” and the Historical Fate of Capitalism (China Social Sciences Press, 2017); Focusing on Big Things: A Survey of 100 Villages Targeted for Poverty Alleviation: On Pinga Village (Social Sciences Academic Press [China], 2020); “Global Youth Protest in the Era of Capitalist Economic Crisis” (in Studies on Marxism, 2014); “The History, Present Situation and Fate of the Middle Class in Western Rural Areas” (in Studies on Marxism, 2018); “The Decline of the Urban Middle Class in the West in the Context of Polarization” (in Scientific Socialism, 2019).