Dismantling Global White Privilege, by Chandran Nair

Review by Dave Gamrath

One-liner:  In his book Dismantling Global White Privilege, Malaysian businessman Chandran Nair equates White privilege with Western privilege and superiority, and delivers a biting attack regarding the abuses of the developed world against the non-developed world.

Book Review: 

Much has been written recently regarding White privilege and the systemic racism that is rooted in American society and our legal system.  This has resulted in a Republican backlash and their attempts to severely limit public schools from teaching about America’s history of racism.  As America moves to a non-White majority by the 2040s, many conservative Whites are feeling that their top-rung status is under threat.  This perceived threat has been a key driver of The Big Lie and the Republican attack on American Democracy.

The Oxford dictionary defines White privilege as “inherent advantages possessed by a White person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice.”  In Dismantling Global White Privilege, Malaysian businessman Chandran Nair equates White privilege with Western privilege and superiority, and delivers a biting attack regarding the abuses of the developed world against non-developed societies.  In expanding White privilege to include all of the Western/developed world, Nair reports how racism has been a key factor in colonialism over the centuries, and how this same racism drives globalization today.  Nair states that White privilege shapes “not only economics and politics but even culture, ideas, and both White and non-White people’s sense of identity.”

Nair is trying to “connect the dots between White privilege, global structural racism and Western economic power.”  Global White privilege is expressed through military and economic power, as well as through soft power (culture and norms).  Nair states that White privilege “influences almost every aspect of contemporary life”, including business, media, education (including the rewriting of history), environmental actions and more.

Nair writes that in business, Western businesses and organizations establish the rules of business to ensure most benefits flow to the West.  The result of this exploitation often includes environmental degradation, labor exploitation and other externalities.  The harms typically fall on the local communities, and global White privilege ensures there is no accountability. 

Regarding media, Nair writes that main media outlets are all based in the West and run by White people.  They operate in English.  There editorials mainly represent those of the Western elite.  Nair writes that Western media operates in an imperialistic way.  White journalists, emboldened by White privilege, believe they have the right to an immediate visa, as well as to write any story that they wish in a non-Western country.  Non-western media, such as Al Jazeera, are not considered as “serious” media. 

Nair sees Western education as “an incredible potent tool for maintaining global White privilege.”  Western education “captures people’s way of thinking”, and this is then turned into economic dominance for the West.  Nair writes that Western curriculum is crafted to “instill the notions of White superiority into young people.”  Western education provides access to employment, which Nair calls the definition of global White privilege.  A key element of education is the telling of history, and Nair writes that Westerners have whitewashed history to ensure that Westerners are the heroes, and non-Westerners the villains.  Western education tends to celebrate the achievements of colonialism while ignoring many of the atrocities committed.  Nair writes that history is rewritten to promote Western people and culture, and to inspire non-Western people to aspire to be Westerners. 

Nair includes chapters describing Western bias in culture, entertainment, sports and even fashion.  Nair writes that “cultural imperialism” is “perhaps the most seductive and powerful tool of Western design.”  He describes the global domination of Western music, film, sports and fashion, and provides many examples.  He writes that “modern fashion is perhaps one of the biggest culprits in reinforcing” White privilege across the world, and that White beauty standards are destroying cultural heritage.  All of these areas are promoting White culture for economic gain. 

Nair formerly ran a global environmental consultancy, and continues his scathing assessment of the West when describing environmental activism.  Nair writes that “White people, their organizations, and governments seek to control how” environmental issues are addressed to keep them on “moral high ground” and to deflect responsibility.  He states that the key purpose of the West is to avoid having to admit that Western lifestyles are not sustainable, and that West cannot make needed changes “because it would require Western societies to sacrifice the standards of privilege they have become used to.”  Nair claims that only White activists are put forward as the faces of fighting climate change (his prime example:  Greta Thunberg), to show that only White people care, which is another form of racism. 

Some may consider Nair’s directly tying White privilege to centuries of Western abuse of non-Western countries a stretch, but Nair does provide strong arguments.  Racial superiority and strongly held religious convictions are unmistakably woven into the fabric of globalization.  Power and privilege must be preserved, and Western economic superiority must be maintained, with violence if necessary.  I agree with Nair that corporations, media and leading international institutions, such as the UN, the IMF and World Bank, are all structured to advantage the West.  But I struggled with Nair’s strong defense of China.  Nair states that the West’s “coordinated attack on China is rooted in racism and White superiority to preserve global White privilege”, but fails to mention China’s own human rights abuses, their attack on democracy, or their continued technological espionage.  Nair’s book only attacks the abuses of White/Western privilege, but Westerners are not alone in abusing their neighbors. 

Nair’s prescription to remedy global White privilege calls for a major societal shake-up.  He calls for restructuring global organizations, the goods and services they offer, and the positions they take.  Nair provides a list of challenges for Western societies, such as giving up their sense of superiority, their entitlement and the idea that Westerners are more civilized.  He calls for parents to educate their children “to detect and reject White privilege.” 

To dismantle global White privilege, Nair provides a six-step plan.  Clearly, each of Nair’s steps will be extraordinarily difficult to achieve.  Nair admits this, and states that the needed transformations of current power structures “will likely cause a pitched battle in the United States”, as they will in the rest of Western society. 

Dismantling Global White Privilege is not an easy read.  Nor should it be.  Nair’s book provides a robust Discussion Guide to promote deep discussions of Nair’s arguments.  As global population passes 8 billion people later this year, and with most of these billions living in the non-developed world, these discussions are long overdue. 

Reviewer Opinion: 

Hard to read, but glad I did.

Reviewer Rating of Book: 

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