Demise of British empire not white man's ascendancy

The history of the demise of the British empire is well documented, but the ability of the white Englishman to maintain his hold on the education and cultural growth of his ex-colonial subjects has no place in the history books. The genius of the white man is that he saw the advantages of the Catholic Church's method of evangelizing by setting up missionary schools whose students eventually entered the fold of the church.
The British colonial rulers laid down the rules for graduating by making the Cambridge university responsible for granting the school leaving certificates that opened the doors to a university education in Britain. Although they had relinquished their political clout, they still held a decisive role over the minds and future of the young. It was only in the sixties that West African ex-colonies began to throw off the educational yoke by creating the West African examinations council.
The same method prevailed when the colonies began to create their own universities. They could not grant degrees except through academic ties to a British university. Even the appointment of staff was done through a inter-university office in London.
So, when I decided to try to find an academic appointment the dice was loaded against me.
I will never forget my first interview in this office in London. The most voluble interviewer seemede to think that reading the Peloponnesian wars of Thucydides was more important than my expertise in Greek tragedy. Of course, his object was to give the appointment to one of his white young students. Today, I would know how to answer him, but then I was just a green young man.

Surviving in a racist society

I was born in a British colony. As a child I was led to believe that the white man was superior to the non-white. At least, everything that I saw convinced me that this was true. The white man enjoyed wealth, position in society, the best paying jobs, was among the ruling class and lived in bigger houses with servants to tend to his needs. If you were born white you did not have to struggle to get a good education, you did not have to get good grades at school, but you had the pick of the best jobs in government and industry. This is what the colonial system was about,jobs for the boys.
When I went to Ireland and England to further my education in universities, I discovered that non-whites in these societies were not considered any different. The only difference was that it was not thought to be in good taste to openly vaunt the white man's superiority. Even in academic circles you were not given an open door to relations between students. You could go so far but no further especially in friendships with female students.
After I completed my first degree, and decided to change universities, and go to London, I discovered that although I had graduated first in my class, I had been denied a post-graduate scholarship on the grounds that I was not an Irish citizen.I do not remember ever meeting a non-white Irish citizen. On completing my post-graduate degree, the dissertation for which was awarded the distinction of being permitted to be published under the name of the university, I began my search for
a position on the teaching staff of a university. I was hopeful that I could lecture in the University College of the West Indies in Jamaica, since I was born on one of these islands. I soon realized that the white man had a decisive role even there.
I will continue my tale about my search for an academic position in my next blog.

The Religious right in Canadian politics

The July, 2010, issue of the Quebec French magazine, l'Actualite, published an article reviewing the book, The Armageddon factor, written by the journalist, Marci McDonald. The title of the article is Stephen Harper and the religious right. This article is written in French by Chantal Hebert. I am a subscriber to this magazine, and what the reviewer said about the contents of the book piqued my interest.
We have heard a great deal about the religious right's hold on the Republican party and its influence on the policies of George W. Bush. What I didn't realize was that it also controls so many of the decisions of the federal Conservative party in Ottawa. However, I wanted first to test the truth of the statements made by Marci McDonald.
I found articles in Canpalnet Ottawa showing that since 2006 the Government of Canada has "deliberately set out to silence the voices of organizations or individuals who raise concerns about government policies or disagree with government positions." There has been a definite pro-Israel policy in the attitude of this government in its silence about the actions of the Israeli army in its bombing of a UN school and other UN locations in Gaza, its recent attack on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, actions condemned by other UN representatives but not by Canada. In his recent visit Mr. Netanyahu described Canada as Israel's friend.
Most recently, at the G20 meeting in Toronto, Canada was foremost in its aid to developing countries for maternal health, but the power of the religious right was demonstrated by the proviso that no portion of this aid was to be used for abortions. Is the Prime Minister becoming more and more the hostage of the religious militants in his party?
It seems that the author is correct in stating that the "Canadian religious right has never been so well placed to influence the political federal life".