Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
I’m not going to try to compete with the horrifying news that is coming out this week, with all its implications, and new facets being examined at least daily. In fact, I’m not going to comment on anything going on in the United States at all. I picked up a story regarding Australia – certainly not wanting to pick on Lona or Animae – but it’s been going on for five years now, very few people outside Australia are aware of it, and it hasn’t been picked up by any other place I go for news, although it’s an AP story, so one would think they would all have received it.
It appears that Australia is having its own issues with refugees and other unexpected immigrants. Now, unlike the US, Australia does not share a land border with any other nation. Oz is therefore unable to set up border checkpoints and keep people from crossing the border.
So, instead, to prevent people coming in boats from staying, they re-boat them.
Australia drew a line in the sand on July 19, 2013, to stem a rising tide of asylum seekers brought by people smugglers on long and treacherous ocean voyages. No refugees who attempted to reach its shores by boat from that date forward would ever be allowed to make Australia their home.
Five years later, the polarizing policy — both lauded as a template for other countries and condemned as a cruel abrogation of Australia’s international obligations — appears to have succeeded as a deterrent. The rickety fishing boats that were arriving from Indonesian ports at a rate of more than one a day have virtually stopped. 
Not that there aren’t other immigration detention facilities, including some operated by the government and some by contractors (in other words, “private prisons.”) But facilities on Australian land (even if that land is an island) are easier to see. People confined in Papua New Guinea are easier to forget. Some have been forgotten for five years.
I am not trying to badmouth the Australian people – just as in the US, there are Australians who are outraged by this situation. In fact, our own Animae has posted a petition to the government to end this suffering – a petition which is close to 30,000 signatures but of course still needs more. On the other hand, many Australians, like Americans, DO approve of this tough refugee policy. which makes it difficult to make changes without repercussions. One expert says of the government “They’ve really painted themselves into a corner.”
Megaera, I assume that, however you all parcel this out, you will be on this situation,since it really exemplifies “grudging” (and stubbornness.) Good luck. You and whoever works with you will need to be creative.
But I don’t want to just stay in Australia – there is a trend surfacing in Ghana which has worldwide implications – and scary ones at that.
We pink (“white”) people are generally aware that our group demonstrates bias against people of color, and that that bias on our part, even if unconscious (or maybe expecially if unconscious) negatively affects their lives. Some of us are also aware that, among people of color, there exists a cultural preference for lighter sking over darker skin – but not every pink person knows even that. We who do tend to just accept it as a fact and not think about it much. But I’m going to make you think about it now.
Products to whiten or lighten the skin have become a multiBillion-dollar market. The cosmetics market in West Africa is dominated by products like these. The use of such products has spread to, and taken hold in, the Caribbean countries and even parts of Asia (as well as throughout the so-called “African diaspora,” which most certainly includes the United States.) Estimates are that 70% of West African women use some kind of bleaching cream, as well as about 35% in South Africa. Some of these products contain hydroquinone, a topical ingredient that disrupts the synthesis and production of melanin, leaving the skin less protected from West Africa’s intense sunshine. Last year Ghana banned such products – but I have no information on this particular black market, so I have no way to know how much may still be getting used in Ghana. Nor do I know how many or which countries have NOT banned hydroquinone. I’m guessing that it’s not banned everywhere.
Per Lafayette College Professor Yaba Blay:
While it’s true that skin bleaching represents a multifaceted phenomenon, with a complexity of historical, cultural, sociopolitical, and psychological forces motivating the practice, the large majority of scholars who examine skin bleaching at the very least acknowledge the institutions of colonialism and enslavement historically, and global White supremacy contemporarily, as dominant and culpable instigators of the penchant for skin bleaching.
But so far I have only discussed people, primarily women, endangering their own skin, that is not the trend which most concerns me. Rather, it’s this:
A disturbing skin bleaching trend in Ghana has officials worried for the health of pregnant women and their unborn babies….
Ghana’s Food and Drug Authority (FDA) said using Glutathione tablets for skin bleaching purposes is “dangerous” and emphasized that “… no product has been approved by the FDA in the form of a tablet to lighten the skin of the unborn child,” BBC Africa reported. The trend continues to grow, however, with pills being smuggled into the country inside airport luggage, oftentimes in large quantities.
Anyone besides me remember thalidomide?
Of course it is only natural that any woman would want only the best for her child. If cultural preferences for lighter skin over darker are that strong, it is natural that a mother might want to lighten the skin color of her child, if possible.
But it isn’t.
Earlier this year, health officials issued a stern warning against women taking pills during pregnancy to lighten the skin of their unborn children while still in utero. Health experts warned that the illegal drugs could lead to birth defects, as well as cause damage to the baby’s limbs and internal organs.
This makes me want to cry … not that crying will do any good. Alecto and Tisiphone, maybe you can figure out a way, or ways, to do some good.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 HERE.
