Foreign Policy 2017 07-08

Maíra Mutti Araújo at her parents’ home in Salvador, Bahia, in June. connotations depending on the con- BRAZIL’S MOST RECENT CENSUS came out in population between 2000 and 2010—a text. She hadn’t, in fact, used the quo- 2010. Over a three-month period, from shift for which birth and death records tas option to apply to college. August to October of that year, census alone cannot account. workers interviewed members of 67.6 “But I learned from that experience,” million households across all 5,565 of The demographic change became she says. “It doesn’t matter if I apply the country’s municipalities at the time, headline news. For the census depart- as an affirmative action candidate gathering data on marital status, living ment, and several academics, it sug- or not. People will assume that I’m a standards, education, employment, and gested that millions of Brazilians who cotista anyway, because they judge you racial identity, among other topics. The had previously gone to great lengths based on the color of your skin.” So she results revealed something remarkable: to be seen as white now took pride in heeded her friends’ advice. In 2015, she For the first time since the 19th cen- being pardo. “The sense among schol- applied to become a prosecutor at the tury, Brazil had more nonwhite citizens ars is that black identity went through Salvador municipal department. On than white ones. In no other racial cat- a process of destigmatization,” says her application form, she put her race egory was this surge more pronounced Verônica Toste Daflon, a sociologist down as pardo. than among pardos—those who think and the author of So Far, So Close: Iden- of themselves as brown or mixed-race. tity, Discrimination and Stereotypes of What Araújo did not anticipate While the numbers for white and preto Black and Brown Brazilians. was that specifying her racial identity people barely shifted, that of pardos would, within a year, see her disquali- swelled from 38.5 to 43.1 percent of the The uptick in pardo identification fied as a job candidate, facing the pos- coincided with heightened media and sibility of criminal charges for fraud, political attention to the Afro-Brazilian and vilified by the community of black experience. For years, conversations activists in her hometown. about black identity and pride, and the Photograph by EDGAR AZEVEDO FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 49

need for reparative measures to make up with indigenous and black slaves— what they argue are light-skinned par- up for historical injustices, had steadily usually by force. As the sociologist dos taking advantage of hard-won affir- become mainstream. In June 2010, just Edward Telles writes in Race in Another mative action policies that were not before census data collection began, Bra- America: The Significance of Skin Color fought for with them in mind. zil passed the Statute of Racial Equality. in Brazil, “[M]ixed-race Brazilians were Among other things, the statute added largely spawned through sexual vio- “I’VE ALWAYS SUSPECTED that it had to do an Afro-Brazilian history requirement lence throughout the period of slavery.” with my hair,” Araújo says, about what to the public school curriculum and she calls the “racial soap opera” that ordered government departments to Even before slavery was abolished, she has endured since applying to the come up with diversity-boosting ini- the mixed-race Brazilians who resulted prosecutor job. In the photograph she tiatives. Although it stopped short of from these unions enjoyed freedoms not submitted with her questionnaire—a setting up racial quotas, the statute laid available to those with darker skin tones. requirement for all candidates who iden- the groundwork for the monumental Many thrived as small-scale farmers, tified themselves as preto or pardo—her legal decisions that would eventually for instance, and a few reached strato- hair falls primly behind her shoulders lead to their establishment across pub- spheric heights: André Rebouças, whose in a fine, black sheet. But the flat style lic universities and the civil service. “I grandmother had been a slave, rose to is nothing like her natural hair. Photos don’t know if we can uncouple measures become one of Brazil’s most important from her teenage years reveal a thick like the racial quotas from the recent engineers in the late 19th century. By mane of densely packed ringlets. “I wear increased sense of worth felt by non- the turn of the century, a complex hier- my hair like this as a personal choice,” white Brazilians,” Daflon says. At their archy based on skin color, facial features, she says. “It’s just easier to deal with.” root, she explains, “quotas are an admis- hair texture, education, and elocution, sion of past injustice.” They engender among other qualities, came to domi- Araújo is now 28 years old. When she pride of specific struggles. nate the Brazilian social contract. was growing up, she could tell that she was one of the darker-skinned mem- Brazil is well known for its ethnic Unlike the United States, post-aboli- bers of her family. “My sister’s skin tone diversity, and people often speak about tion Brazil did not enact “anti-miscege- is slightly lighter than mine,” she says. its racially mixed population in celebra- nation” or “separate but equal” laws, so “Many of my cousins are blonde. And so tory terms. In a 2012 interview with Live race relations evolved with relative flu- I’ve always been seen as the pretinha of Science, Stephen Stearns, an evolution- idity. The end result was that, contrary the family.” (The Portuguese word pret- ary biologist at Yale University, sought to America, where even a single black inha translates loosely as “little black to illustrate how humanity will become ancestor several generations removed girl.” It is a term of endearment within a more genetically homogenous over time. marked a person as legally black, Brazil- tight kinship.) “I’ve always looked differ- A few centuries from now, we’re all going ians came to define blackness as a mat- ent,” Araújo says, “and so my mom raised to look like Brazilians, he said. In the ter of physical appearance. According me specifically in a way so that I never 1940s, some of Brazil’s leading sociolo- to the late sociologist Oracy Nogueira— felt inferior because of the color of skin.” gists advanced the theory that the coun- arguably the most influential scholar try was a “racial democracy”—truer to of Brazilian constructions of race—the Pregnant with her first child, she the melting pot ideal than the United American concept of “passing” as white lives with her fiancé, who is also a law- States was. But the national pride for is a moot one in Brazil, where simply yer, in a sparsely furnished apartment the country’s comparatively harmoni- looking white makes one so. in Santarém, in the state of Pará. They ous relations obscured the brutal his- both moved there recently after getting tory that forged its multiracial people. The quotas implemented in universi- jobs in the state’s justice department. ties and government departments were (Pará, unlike Bahia, does not have racial Brazil trafficked and enslaved 11 born of attempts to push back against quotas for state-level government jobs; times as many Africans as colonial this pervasive colorism—the privileging she got the job through the one and only North America. It was also the last of light skin over dark. Activists stress general admissions process.) country in the Western Hemisphere the importance of black representa- to abolish slavery, in 1888. Compared tion in positions of power—particularly The job she wanted, of course, was with the nearly 5 million Africans who by those who, on account of having a the one back in Salvador, in the munic- arrived on Brazilian shores as slaves, darker complexion or markedly black ipal department. She had thrown her- Portuguese settlers comprised a small features, do not benefit from a fluid self into the grueling first round of the fraction of the colonial population. The racial identity that could otherwise see application process, which consisted vast majority were men, who often took them classified as white. Which is why activists’ frustrations have grown over 50 JULY | AUGUST 2017

of three lengthy exams. In March, the Even among prominent black rights sternation since the Federal Supreme department posted online a list of can- activists who have led the discussion Court ruled racial quotas constitutional didates who had scored high enough to about the need for verification panels, in 2012. Justice Gilmar Mendes, who qualify for the second round—résumé views diverge over the most appropri- delivered a favorable vote in the 2012 assessment. ate methods for implementing them. decision, nonetheless called verifica- Lívia Sant’Anna Vaz, a prosecutor and tion systems “hard to justify” and “far She knew that a race check would the coordinator of a human rights and from being fool-proof.” come next. The official document detail- anti-discrimination group operating ing the application process specified out of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, “We appear to have granted this sup- that quota candidates who got through objects to the questionnaire Araújo had posedly enlightened group a power that the first round would be submitted to a to fill out. “Having black idols doesn’t tell nobody wants to possess,” Mendes verification exam, “which may take the you whether a person is black,” she says. wrote in his opinion, “to determine who form of a photo examination or some For Vaz, the primary test should be the is white and who is black in a highly other means,” it read. The instructions candidates’ phenotypical characteris- mixed society.” He warned that such mirrored similar verification require- tics: their facial features, hair type, and an approach could lend itself to “even- ments in place in government depart- skin tone. “What prevails in Brazil is the tual involuntary distortions,” but also ments across the country and have kind of racism based on physical traits, “entirely voluntary distortions of char- steadily gained legitimacy in the eyes not ancestry,” Vaz says. acter,” and concluded by writing that of the Brazilian judiciary. In August 2016, “the idea of a racial tribunal evokes the the Civil Service Department, stressing For Friar David Santos, the head of memory of sinister things.” the urgent need to combat race fraud, the nonprofit Educafro and arguably issued monitoring instructions to all the country’s most prominent black Shocked at the panel’s decision, governmental bodies, recommending rights activist, admissions committees Araújo filed an appeal. “Perhaps the the implementation of “verification should adopt a gradient-based elimina- ‘racial rigor’ utilized by the panel takes committees comprised of members tion process for nonwhite candidates. inspiration from the standards of Nazi distributed by gender, race, and geo- “Pretos should gain immediate admis- Germany’s Aryan racial courts!” she graphic origin.” But these directives are sion, followed by darker-hued pardos,” wrote. The anonymous panelists revis- not standardized, and individual verifi- he told me. “Mid-range pardos? Only ited their decision and issued a new rul- cation strategies vary across the country. if there are spaces left. And under no ing: She qualified for the quota system circumstances are light-skinned par- after all. “After careful consideration In the case of the prosecutor position dos to gain admission through quotas.” of the photograph at hand,” wrote one in the Salvador municipal department, panelist, “I am of the opinion that the this comprised a photo submission and a The anonymous three-person verifi- candidate is negro (preto or pardo).” one-page questionnaire. “Back then, the cation committee that assessed Araújo’s idea of a verification process made sense questionnaire answers and scrutinized Araújo was back in the running for a to me,” Araújo says. But the questions— her photograph delivered its verdict Salvador municipal department prose- like “Are you currently dating or have you in May: Araújo did not display the cutor position. On May 18, 2016, almost previously dated a black or brown per- required “Afro-descendant phenotype” nine months after she started applying son?” and “Are most of your idols black or to qualify as pardo. The panel did not for the job, the department posted the brown?”—took her by surprise. “I found elaborate any further. final results online: She had placed third them offensive,” she says. “I don’t think out of more than 1,000 lawyers who had they have any bearing on how a person Nor was it required to. The secrecy initially signed up as quota candidates. defines their racial identity.” under which these committees tend to operate has been a source of con- The candidates, who had applied for the job from all over the country, had By the turn of the century, a complex five days from the electronic summons hierarchy based on skin color, facial to arrive in Salvador. Araújo lived in features, hair texture, education, the state of Amazonas at the time and and elocution, among other qualities, says she had no choice but to pay for came to dominate the Brazilian an “extremely expensive last-minute social contract. flight.” Erick Magalhães Santos, a dark- skinned candidate who lived in Brasília, more than 600 miles away from Salvador, chose not to incur the cost. “I didn’t think I scored high enough on the FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 51

tests to get the job in the end,” he told “Many of my cousins are blonde. And me. Candidates like Santos who did not so I’ve always been seen as the pretinha show up were disqualified. of the family.” (The Portuguese word The group verification session, held pretinha translates loosely as “little on a Wednesday during regular work black girl.” It is a term of endearment hours, was open to the public. A few peo- ple came to observe the proceedings, but within a tight kinship.) most of those present were the candi- dates about to be inspected. “We all just announced the prosecutor job opening, the negro umbrella. As such, the defi- kept looking around, sizing each other Bahia’s justice department granted Araú- nition in the job application mirrors the up,” Araújo says. “Everyone seemed jo’s injunction. definition of the negro identity estab- incredibly embarrassed to be there.” lished in the landmark Statute of Racial One by one, they were called to the front, Notably, in a 40-page counterinjunc- Equality from 2010, as well as all race- where five experts—“all of them preto, tion seeking to block Araújo’s re-entry based affirmative action legislation that none of them pardo”—sat in a row on a into the quotas list, the Salvador munic- has since passed in Brazil. raised platform. Araújo, like those who ipal department acknowledged that went before and after her, handed the Araújo was, in fact, pardo—but argued Like IBGE, black rights activist panelists her ID and took her place on that her skin color was not dark enough groups’ definition of negros includes a chair in front of them. “I felt like a zoo to subject her to discrimination. “It is both pretos and pardos, and they count animal,” she says, as they examined her undeniable: When it comes to affirma- the two groups as one when discuss- appearance while whispering among tive action policies whose principal aim ing inequality rates between whites and themselves. According to Araújo, the is to achieve equality, the slots reserved nonwhites. “Brazil’s racial equality laws session took no more than three min- for racial quota candidates should not have been designed with this very siz- utes. The only time they addressed her be taken up indiscriminately by any and able group in mind,” says Daflon, the directly was to confirm her last name. all pardos,” the text read. “There should, sociologist who has written extensively indeed, be a consideration of the candi- about pardo identity. “Now with the laws The results were posted on the job dates’ skin tone and phenotypical char- being put into practice, who gets to ben- application website: Thirteen candi- acteristics.” The counterinjunction also efit from them?” dates were officially recognized as black stated that in addition to not possessing or brown, while nine had their racial the appropriate skin tone, Araújo did not IN WHAT BECAME a yearlong journey self-identification rejected. Araújo display the “aesthetic and cultural ingre- through the Kafkaesque bureaucracy featured among the latter group. The dients” characteristic of negro Brazilians. of race verification in Salvador, ulti- result meant that this time, Araújo had It concluded that it would otherwise be mately Araújo’s experience exposes not only been excluded from applying inappropriate for “individuals without a an unresolved conflict at the heart of through the quotas system but disqual- true identification with the racial cause” Brazilian identity, raising difficult ques- ified as a job candidate altogether. to assume positions of leadership within tions about blackness, belonging, and the Salvador municipal department. discrimination in a country famous for Of the nine who had their racial its ethnic diversity. identities rejected, eight appealed the The original job application, posted decision. The Salvador municipal depart- in August 2015, never made a distinc- On April 27, 2017, Araújo’s injunc- ment not only rejected these appeals tion between all pardos and pardos tion—to overturn the in-person verifi- but also referred the cases to the Public most likely to suffer discrimination. cation panel’s decision that she did not Prosecutor’s Office so it could determine Rather, it instructed prospective quota qualify as negro—went on trial (along whether or not to file criminal charges candidates to indicate their race by with another candidate’s injunction of fraud against all eight candidates on identifying themselves as either preto filed for the same reason). The court the grounds that they had purposefully or pardo, in accordance with the defi- session attracted dozens of protesters, misrepresented their identities, which nitions provided by the Brazilian cen- including college professors and even is against the law. Six of the eight candi- sus department. IBGE, the acronym a city councilman. The lawsuit against dates—Araújo among them—then filed by which the department is most com- the department has drawn sit-ins and preliminary injunctions to have their monly known, defines preto and pardo names back on the list of quota candi- as the two nonwhite categories under dates. On Aug. 15, 2016, almost a year to the day that the municipal department 52 JULY | AUGUST 2017

Activists demonstrate against race fraud in the quota system at the Court of Justice in Salvador, Bahia, on March 23. MAURO AKIN NASSOR PHOTOS CORREIO BA protests by black rights activists who Araújo’s removal from the quota can- that Araújo is removed from the gen- oppose Araújo—a race fraud in their didates list but allowed her name back eral admissions list, as well as the list eyes—and her legal attempt to reclaim into the general admissions category. for quota candidates, “as anticipated in a pardo identity. Araújo’s lawyer, Vivian She would also not face criminal fraud the original job announcement.” (The Vasconcelos, recommended that she charges. But Araújo does not consider announcement, from August 2015, stip- not show up, since her presence was this a victory. She is, once again, appeal- ulated that “candidates found to have not required in court, so as not to risk ing the decision, even if she no longer committed fraud will be disqualified an ugly confrontation with the crowd. has any desire to work at the Salvador from the running.”) The department Araújo decided not to attend. municipal department. “It’s a matter of plans to lodge “the same appeal against personal dignity,” she says. “I have to all other candidates who declared them- “I want to protect myself,” she says, take back my professional reputation.” selves afrodescendants, but who were “especially since I’m pregnant.” Vascon- For as long as the rejection of her pardo found to be ineligible for racial quotas celos, who is black, had come under fire identity stands, she will have officially following a verification by committee.” for taking on Araújo’s case. “They’ve said committed race fraud. to me, ‘You’re black. How can you defend “I spent my entire life seeing myself a someone who isn’t?’” she tells me. “But The Salvador municipal depart- certain way,” Araújo says, “and now I’ve [Araújo] is pardo. She is entitled to make ment, meanwhile, does not consider been told that that’s not who I am.” Q use of affirmative action measures.” the verdict a victory either. In an email to FOREIGN POLICY, the department said CLEUCI DE OLIVEIRA (@CLEUCI) is a The verdict came that same after- it would appeal the decision to ensure journalist based in Brasília, Brazil. noon: The presiding judge maintained FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 53

Santa ƻƪƷƼƪƫƪƺƫƪƺƪƾƸƺƯƬƪ SANTA BAR Barbara Forevah! BARA FOREVAH! was stenciled boldly in tall purple-chalk lettering on the How an American soap side of my parents’ apartment build- opera became a safe haven ing in the southwestern part of St. for Russians during the Petersburg, Russia, when I returned chaotic 1990s—and why to the re-renamed city of my child- it explains how they feel hood and youth—Leningrad, USSR— about the United States now. in 1993. It was the first time I’d been back since immigrating to the United BY MIKHAIL IOSSEL States seven years earlier. There were other signs of Santa Barbara’s pres- PHOTOGRAPHS BY MISHA FRIEDMAN ence in the city—improvised tributes to the American soap opera in the his- toric downtown area: a hole-in-the- wall café called Santa Barbara here, a Santa Barbara strip joint there. On sev- eral occasions I was asked, typically by women, whether I’d been to Santa Bar- bara myself and, if so, what it was like. I hadn’t, unfortunately. “You should go. That’d be the first place I would go if I could ever make it to America,” a mid- dle-aged salesclerk at the grocery store said to me with mild reproach. Santa Barbara certainly sounded nice. In Santa Barbara, people had man- ners. They had their self-respect about them. The men didn’t urinate in hall- ways or write obscene words on the walls of elevator cabins. They didn’t smash lightbulbs in entryways or drink cheap eau de Cologne first thing in the morn- ing. They didn’t occupy the only toilet in the communal apartment for a good half-hour or keep their dirty combat 54 JULY | AUGUST 2017

the culture clash issue A boy runs through an abandoned construction site next to a Russian Orthodox church in Santa Barbara, Lviv. FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 55

RIGHT: An unfinished luxury home sits idle in a gated community in the Santa Barbara neighborhood of Kaliningrad, Russia. Arches similar to this one are a favorite architectural flourish from the show recreated in neighborhoods like this. The original Santa Barbara site in Kaliningrad expanded beyond the early plans for the development. Now there are three side-by-side neighborhoods—all called Santa Barbara. FAR RIGHT: An ad featuring a woman in a fur coat in Santa Barbara, Crimea. boots and homemade barrels of pick- reform was one of its main components. close on April 17, 2002, with episode led mushrooms in the communal bath- You are, to put it bluntly, destitute, and 2,040. For the first several years, the room. And they certainly did not, out you are thoroughly disoriented. What new episodes ran three evenings per of pure malice, slip slivers of tar soap happened here? What’s happening with week. Later on, the show’s broadcasts in other people’s pans with soup boil- you and your country? What’s going to became fewer and further between. ing on communal kitchen stoves. Nor happen tomorrow? did they come home dead drunk past For 10 long years—all through the midnight and plop down on the couch The food store shelves are emptier crime-ridden, chaotic 1990s, the early face first with their shoes on and imme- now than they have ever been before, post-Soviet years of timelessness and diately start snoring. In Santa Barbara, even at the lowest points of Leonid Bre- hardship—life in large cities, small men were men, real men, handsome and zhnev’s stagnation. “Goodbye, America, towns, industrial settlements, and gallant, even if they were not necessarily oh / where I’ve never been,” Vyacheslav snowbound villages across Russia’s very good people in all other respects. Butusov, the charismatic lead singer of 11 time zones would come to a stand- They didn’t go through their entire lives the popular rock band Nautilus Pompi- still as the remarkably cheery sounds without saying “I love you” once to their lius, croons periodically on the radio. of Santa Barbara’s intro issued from women, especially to their wives—on America, my foot. What’s it really like? millions of TV sets. “Run on home—you whom, admittedly, they cheated merci- No one has much of an idea. Hope- don’t want to miss Santa Barbara,” the lessly nonstop, but … well, men would be fully, those brilliant, internationally kindly pharmacist from a TV commer- men, wouldn’t they? In Santa Barbara, renowned American economists will cial would say to the old woman at the men didn’t die of cirrhosis of the liver show us right here, in Russia, what life counter. It was that big a deal. Missing barely past their mid-50s, and there did in America is like. Because everyone an episode was considered to be a per- not appear to be millions more women knows that life in America is unimag- sonal mini-tragedy. than men there, in Santa Barbara, or in inably good. It’s drafty and cold in your America on the whole. room—central heating defunct again. Santa Barbara’s imprint was every- Outside, in the streets and squares of where. It entered the Russian vernacu- Early 1990s in Russia. It’s a tough your city, glum-looking people with a lar, as a denotation for any hopelessly slog out there. The world has gone top- dangerous glint to their slitted eyes are tortuous, excessively dramatic kind of sy-turvy, completely. The eternally sitting on their haunches around make- relationship. (“Oh, I can’t stand those indestructible, matchlessly mighty shift bonfires in the dark. two, with their endless Santa Barbara!”) Soviet Union is no more. It’s Russia A well-known pop band, Mona Lisa, once again, unimaginably enough, You feel as if you are suspended released a super-hit, “Santa Barbara,” for the first time in more than seven in midair above a roiling ocean of in which young women proclaim their decades, and to say that it is falling dark entropy. (Do you know the word undying love for the character Mason apart would be the understatement of entropy? That’s not the point.) There Capwell (played by Lane Davies). Count- the century. If you are an ordinary cit- are precious few certainties in your less Russian dogs and cats bore the izen whose time on Earth is closer to life anymore. Santa Barbara is one of exotic names Mason, Eden, Cruz, and its end than to its beginning, strong them, and it is the prettiest and most C.C. Capwell. A trickle of former Santa chances are your lifetime savings have optimistic of all. Barbara stars—Jed Allan, Lane Davies, been wiped out completely overnight Nicolas Coster, and others—visited Rus- as a result of the so-called “shock ther- SANTA BARBARA was the first American sia at different times in the 1990s and apy” implemented by Boris Yeltsin’s soap opera to be broadcast on Russian 2000s, appearing on numerous TV government on the advice of several television. It started airing on Jan. 2, channels, giving a plethora of print renowned American economists, and 1992, with episode 217, and came to a interviews, gushing about the beauty the stealthy, lightning-quick monetary of Russia and its men and women—and generally, one would imagine, feeling 56 JULY | AUGUST 2017

like the Beatles during their first tour inable food products they couldn’t in In Santa Barbara, of the United States. their wildest dreams afford on their old babushkas miserable pensions: foreign cheeses are not bent at the It was a national obsession of bor- and sausage, fresh meat, smoked fish. waist—they’re not derline-insane magnitude. In Santa Barbara, old babushkas are even babushkas not bent at the waist—they’re not even at all, and they IN SANTA BARBARA, it never snows. No babushkas at all, and they certainly certainly don’t one even thinks about snow there, ever. don’t live from month to month feed- live from month It never gets to be minus 30 degrees in ing themselves on nothing but black to month feeding Santa Barbara, regardless of whether bread, rough, gray military-caliber mac- themselves on the temperature is measured in Celsius aroni and potatoes, and perhaps a few nothing but black or Fahrenheit. Santa Barbarians know hard lumps of sugar to suck on while bread. no privations. For instance, they have drinking their weak Krasnodar tea from no idea what it feels like when the heat chipped faience cups. When old people radiators in your room go ice-cold in the in Santa Barbara get sick, they are not middle of January. In Santa Barbara, told by bored-looking paramedics that people don’t ever go hungry, either. they’ve already lived quite long enough Tiny black-clad babushkas, bent at for an ordinary human being, so there the waist like dwarf trees on the Arc- really would be no moral rationale for tic Ocean shore, don’t go to newly wasting the extremely limited hospital restocked and expanded post-shock, space on the likes of them. true capitalist food stores just to feast their purblind eyes on all those unimag- In Santa Barbara, people never once, even in passing, mention Russia. That makes sense: Why would they ever give FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 57

Russia a second thought? Tens of mil- void of the 1990s. You may never have TOP: An unfinished McMansion- lions of Russian people, however, think been anywhere outside your small town style house in Santa Barbara, about Santa Barbara quite an awful somewhere in central Russia or Sibe- Kaliningrad. ABOVE: A horse lot. If you don’t watch Santa Barbara, ria, or outside the streetless concrete statue outside one of the homes where do you get your fashion sense block-box microdistricts surrounding in Santa Barbara, Crimea. or crucial lifestyle tips? How would the downtown of every large Russian you know how to decorate your pala- city, but you still have a feeling you tial mansion and generally what kind know the people of Santa Barbara bet- of life to wish for on the very remote ter than your own friends and relatives. outside chance you ever manage to get You have a clear sense that if perchance to America? you ever were to find yourself in Santa Barbara—which could happen, sure, It’s true—not everyone is a fan of why not, if only in another lifetime— Santa Barbara. As some of the show’s you would feel right at home. mostly male detractors like to grum- ble, no one ever sees a single book or But since the stubborn fact of your even a single bookshelf in Santa Bar- life happens to be that, at this particular bara’s stately mansions or large non- juncture, you are still on your Russian communal apartments. In Russia, that lifetime, the next best thing is to create would be inconceivable—and that your own Santa Barbara right where might, indeed, to some extent, denote you are. Saturate the space around you a certain measure of Santa Barbarians’ with those little archways that pop up on inner emptiness. Fair enough. But, then the TV screen to usher the viewer into again, everyone already knows that the imaginary realm of Santa Barbara Americans are kind of a little empty in the serial’s intro: Let every space of inside. So what? Not everyone can be your life—be it your apartment or your as innately superspiritual as the Rus- dolorous microdistrict—be a symbolic sian people, you know. That’s the one passageway to a desperate, impossible thing that Russians have other peo- ple elsewhere in the world don’t: their extreme spirituality. Well, OK, fine— so they don’t read books in Santa Bar- bara and probably don’t even know the names of Tolstoy or Pushkin or Chek- hov. So what? Who cares, really, if truth to be told. Dostoyevsky and Lermontov never told you anything about places like Santa Barbara! And what good did having every Soviet child and grown-up read these great geniuses ever do for your country? Compare your ordinary Russian life with the way the nonbook- ish people of Santa Barbara live. Thank God for Santa Barbara! At least it doesn’t make you morbidly depressed; instead, it makes your life a little easier, more bearable and less depressing, by filling your head with beautiful, if ipso facto impossible, dreams. Santa Barbara, in the full entirety of its irreality, is your lifeline to the reality of your life in the Russia of the timeless 58 JULY | AUGUST 2017

dream. And those antique columns sup- Donald Trump is the first American porting nothing but air in Santa Bar- president that Russian audiences of bara? You want those, too, be it on your the show can identify with as one of the windowsill or just outside your apart- serial’s characters—and thus, one of the ment building, towering amid piles of very few categories of Americans with post-industrial rubbish. And let the pri- which they are familiar. mary colors of your life, instead of the fearsome Soviet crimson red, be Santa was one of the precious few elements of to catch the last episode, no great heart- Barbara’s purple and gold. a common denominator shared among break. Everything is taken in stride in them. In that regard, Santa Barbara— Russia. IN THE MID 1990S, there sprang to life a in both the narrow TV-specific sense series of mini-Santa Barbaras—gated and the broader cultural aspect—has It was a beautiful thing while it communities, microdistricts, bars, served as a unifying factor. In post-to- lasted. Over the years, for tens of mil- restaurants, hotels, clothing stores— talitarian places, spiritual kitsch—that lions of Russians, Santa Barbara was all across the vast country. The name untranslatable Russian poshlost (what their parallel life, their One Thousand communicated exclusivity (one of the Vladimir Nabokov attempted to explain, and One Nights in nearly 2,000 epi- favorite Russian concepts and neolo- with his characteristic genius impreci- sodes—week after week, month after gisms to emerge in the 1990s), mysteri- sion, as “posh lust”)—generally is what month, year after year of daily grind, ous foreignness, classiness, and extreme brings newly separate spaces together, through thick and thin, all through the and timeless fashionability. What’s in visually and conceptually. troubled post-Soviet 1990s and up until a name? Everything, if, like everyone the dull onset of the Putin-era stability, else, you would like to live the life of a Just as you can wander around a with its serendipitously high oil prices. Santa Barbara character but happen microdistrict, or bedroom community, in to have been born and are still residing Moscow or St. Petersburg without having What followed is well-known: Rus- in a depressingly unlovely place as far any idea which city you’re in (the tremen- sians rapidly rising and entirely unin- removed on every possible count from dously popular Soviet TV film The Irony ured to prosperity, the growing degree the actual (if thoroughly unreal) Santa of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, which aired of their contentment with life, and, as Barbara as the distance between you and every New Year’s Eve for several decades, a result, their silent consent to Putin’s the moon. Nothing bad can happen to or had that circumstance as its premise), methodical dismantling of one demo- in a place called Santa Barbara: In your you can travel through disparate post-So- cratic gain of the 1990s after another imagination, it is the genius loci of your viet geographic areas—from Kaliningrad and the continuous injections of ever immediate world. to the Moscow region, from Moscow to larger doses of anti-Western, and Ukrainian Lviv and annexed Crimea— anti-American, poison into the coun- And so mobsters from Kaliningrad, and see the sameness of architectural try’s bloodstream. Santa Barbara had in the country’s extreme west—German decisions based on identical taste-form- done its duty; Santa Barbara had to go. Königsberg, occupied and annexed by ing experiences and cultural influences, Russia’s quiet farewell to Santa Barbara the Soviet Union in 1945, birthplace of such as Santa Barbara’s name attached was, in some small but tangible way, a Immanuel Kant and Vladimir Putin’s to a variety of establishments or locations farewell to post-Soviet innocence, to ex-wife—travel to the United States to and its unique attributes—a prevalence the naivety and beautifully impossi- take a good firsthand look at the archi- of gilded gates, the signature archways, ble dreams of the 1990s. “Goodbye, tecture of Santa Barbara-like gated com- and intensely blue oceanic vistas painted America, oh / where I will never be,” munities, or at least that’s the rumor. on walls of concrete-block buildings and Vyacheslav Butusov still crooned from They return to Russia—and bring a bit children’s playground equipment. time to time on TV. of Santa Barbara with them. (They like the arches in one place, the pillars and ON APRIL 17, 2002, Russia watched its What was it about the soap opera the soap’s signature gold coloristic spec- final episode of Santa Barbara—num- Santa Barbara that for an entire trum in another.) ber 2,040. By that time, viewers’ interest decade—during which people were had faded. There were no block parties born and died, got older, got married These architectural accents could be and divorced—drove tens of millions found in very different parts of the for- of Russians to utter distraction? It is mer Soviet Union, but Santa Barbara indeed an interesting question, and the short answer to it would be: freedom. FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 59

Not America, per se, and not primar- States; we are at an interesting moment case, he was constantly talking about ily the intricate interconnections of between these two countries. It could his love for his wife, which of course infinitely multiplying storylines or the also be suggested that, gleaned through was a highly commendable character sheer otherworldly visuals of paradisi- the lens of Santa Barbara, Russia’s trait, but it also rendered him more acal palm trees swaying in the gentle fascination with Donald Trump may than a little boring, someone hard to breeze, and the incomprehensibly lux- be explained. He is the first American organize an adequately convoluted urious sprawling mansions with their president that Russian audiences of plotline around. Trump, on the other impossibly, almost ludicrously, beau- the show can identify with as one of the hand, fits in nicely with the image of tiful and handsome inhabitants—but serial’s characters—and thus, one of the a typical fat-cat American capitalist rather, one might argue, the sense of very few categories of Americans with as etched forever into the collective absolute, unfettered freedom that filled which they are familiar. Bill Clinton Soviet mind by countless newspaper the very air of Santa Barbara. Freedom was too folksy and excessively good- cartoons: big, crude-featured, wears a was the dizzyingly exciting new thing natured for a leading man or a man with tux all the time, has gold everywhere for the people of Russia, that giant iso- the requisite aura of sinister mystery, in his giant New York apartment, has lated and largely un-self-aware world and his relationships with women lots of luxurious estates, had all kinds unto itself, while for the Santa Barbara were sordid and low-class. George of glamorous romances in the past, characters, it was the most natural, tak- W. Bush just didn’t seem sufficiently is cruel and unthinkingly decisive. en-for-granted thing in the world: the sophisticated to qualify as a major Yes, if you are someone who used to unthinking freedom to be just who you Santa Barbara character. Besides, live in the Soviet Union, that was the are, to feel being free, bold and self-as- the newspapers said he wasn’t really American you knew, willy-nilly. But sertive, independent, unashamed of bright at all, and he appeared generally also, counterintuitively, paradoxically, yourself, uninterested in politics, pas- uninterested in gorgeous women, so he likes Putin, which means he has to sionately happy and unhappy, success- he was not mysterious in any way. like Russia on some level. ful and unsuccessful; the freedom to Barack Obama, admittedly, looked come and go at will, appear and disap- very good in a tux and also was elegant In general, Russians seem to be tir- pear, travel anywhere and at any time and handsome, but again, as in Bush’s ing of being told constantly it is their without asking anyone’s permission; patriotic duty to dislike and loathe the the freedom to live without having once to stand in a long line in front of a food or clothing store and to be not just a citizen of Santa Barbara or America but also one of the entire world writ large. Which is why, perhaps, the collective Russian nostalgia for Santa Barbara is still alive. News outlets run lengthy arti- cles reflecting on the show’s legacy and influence, and it continues to be men- tioned fondly on television and online. It is, in some certain sense, a self-di- rected nostalgia, people missing their own younger, less world-weary selves; they miss the way they used to be back when Santa Barbara gathered tens of millions of them all across Russia in front of their TV sets. People used to like themselves more back when they weren’t told and didn’t have to dislike America. It could be suggested that Russia is newly fascinated with the United 60 JULY | AUGUST 2017

LEFT: A Virgin Mary statue looks Western world and the United States in regime, are now actively and ever more out toward the street in the particular. Russia has no alternative Santa Barbara neighborhood of model of societal development to offer vociferously protesting against him. Lviv, Ukraine. According to one the democratic world, except vague resident, the statue dates back references to traditional conservative They are tired of being held back—and to a citywide cleanup campaign values steeped in a deep resentment in preparation for Pope John Paul of modernity. being pushed back forcibly into Rus- II’s visit in 2001. ABOVE: Tourists write their names and where they Putin remains highly popular with sia’s retrograde past. They want to live are from onto the rocks along a the majority of older Russians, although cliff overlooking Santa Barbara, their dissatisfaction with the stagnating at the same time in Russia and in the Crimea. (and that means steadily worsening) economic situation in the country is world writ large. more palpable now than it has been in many years, almost dating as far back Santa Barbara lives on. as the early 2000s. But those of the younger generation, whose entire lives But the “Santa Barbara Forevah” have been spent under Putin’s ossified graffiti on the side of the apartment building where my parents used to live back in 1993 in St. Petersburg—it no longer is there. Q MIKHAIL IOSSEL (@Mikhail_Iossel) is the Leningrad-born author of the story collection Every Hunter Wants to Know. FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 61



the culture clash issue Out of India A wave of brutal violence against visiting college students from Africa has forced India to examine its racism problem. BY PAMPOSH RAINA PHOTOGRAPHS BY MAHESH SHANTARAM FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 63

THICK WHITE CURTAINS with a colorful PREVIOUS PAGE: a group of young men from Gabon and zigzag pattern only partially block Photojournalist Mahesh Shantaram Burkina Faso in New Delhi—an attack the scorching sun from the living began his project on Africans posted on YouTube. In January 2016, room of Sandra Adaora Okoyeegbe’s and racism in 2016 following an Indians and Africans alike were appalled rented apartment on the outskirts attack on a Tanzanian woman in again when a Tanzanian student was of New Delhi. An episode of BKChat the Indian city of Bangalore. The pulled out of a car, beaten, and partially LDN streaming on YouTube flashes on incident moved many people, stripped in the southern Indian city of a modest flat-screen TV mounted on a both Indians and foreigners, to Bangalore. She was allegedly targeted wall. The 21-year-old African student respond. One of them was Amina by an irate mob after an intoxicated calls the recently launched British web Abubakar (right), from Ghana, a Sudanese student ran his car over a series a “chat show,” each episode fea- mass communications student in couple, killing the woman and injur- turing a group of mostly black, young Hyderabad. In February 2016, she ing the man. The Tanzanian student participants who exchange their views posted a video on Facebook in which didn’t even know the Sudanese driver. on issues including the racism they she called out Indians for their She and her friends had only driven contend with in the U.K. Okoyeegbe racism. “Africans are not beggars, we through the accident site and inquired has faced it in India, too. are human beings,” she said under about the earlier incident. The police the social media alias “Wumbey confirmed that she was presumed to A Nigerian from the southern state of Mina.” The video went viral. Hokar have been involved with the crime, sim- Anambra, she left her home to pursue Ahmed, from Kurdistan, is her fellow ply because she was African. (Five men an undergraduate degree in pharmacy mass communications student. He were arrested for their assault on her.) at one of the private universities that and Abubakar have become so close The recent violence in Greater Noida have mushroomed in recent years in that they’re nearly inseparable. has only driven a deeper wedge between Greater Noida, a suburb about 25 miles Africans and their host country. south of New Delhi’s center. “Indians he died. Soon unsubstantiated reports have racism in them, even the educated surfaced that he’d overdosed on drugs Whether there has been an actual ones,” she says, with a trace of sarcasm. provided by some Nigerian men living escalation in attacks on Africans or sim- “They think because of the color of our in the area. After the teenager’s parents ply more news coverage of such events skin, we are lesser than them. We face filed a complaint, the police detained is debatable. But the conflict suggests racism here every day.” the alleged culprits, but there wasn’t that street-level Indo-African relations sufficient evidence to hold them, and are dangerously unmoored from dip- In March, not far from her neighbor- the men were released. The African link lomatic policy and the historic cama- hood, a roving mob beat up a number to the episode refused to die, and anger raderie that has long existed between of African students in multiple attacks. toward the community boiled over. India and Africa. Some of the violence was captured on a widely circulated video of Indian men That tension is connected, in part, MANY INDIANS MAY BE UNAWARE that Afri- storming into a local shopping mall, to a widespread belief about Nige- cans have long lived among them— kicking and punching a black man, and rians in Indian society—that they their descendants, known as the Siddis, thrashing him with metal trashcans all sell drugs or are a social menace. inhabit India’s west coast and parts of and stools. The severely injured vic- Respected Indian publications have its south. Their ancestors are believed tim, a young Nigerian, survived, but indeed reported on Nigerians’ dispro- to have been cavalrymen and slaves Okoyeegbe and many other Africans in portionate involvement in drug traf- who came with Muslim invaders in the the area feared enough for their safety ficking in some Indian cities, and many medieval era. Some of them ascended to remain indoors for several days, in Africans, irrespective of their nation- to powerful military positions and even some cases weeks. Even now, Okoy- alities, have been subjected to a pre- became provincial rulers in western eegbe says, “I cry seeing that video.” sumption of criminality. And there is India. The Siddis have retained ele- minimal social exchange between the ments of their musical and artistic The rampage followed the death of Indian and African communities to heritage even as they have assimilated an Indian teenager. A few days earlier, help dispel these stereotypes. into Indian society. A smaller wave of when the young man was reported Africans also came to India as slaves missing, rumors buzzed that Nige- The past few years have seen sev- with the European colonizers, and rian men had kidnapped him, and lurid eral clashes between the locals and an tales of cannibalism ensued—until he expatriate African population of about came back home in a dazed state. He 40,000 by some estimates, many of was rushed to a nearby hospital, where them students. In 2013, a minister in the state government of Goa was criti- cized for referring to Nigerians as a “can- cer.” The following year, a mob assaulted 64 JULY | AUGUST 2017

Mika’ilu Yahaya “Hudu” (left), an some 60,000 people of African origin undergraduate business major, and live in India today, scholars estimate. Abubakar Garba, working toward a degree as a medical technician, are both In modern times, a natural affinity Nigerians studying at NIMS University, in has existed among the once colonized Jaipur. Like many other African students, lands of the global south. India took to they live in Achrol, a village an hour and a international forums to champion Afri- half from the city center by public transit. ca’s liberation from imperialism and Hudu and Garba were involved in two sought an end to apartheid in South separate violent incidents in March 2017 Africa. Mohandas K. Gandhi once said, and have been lying low ever since. They “India’s freedom will remain incom- heard of each other’s experiences through plete so long as Africa remains in bond- the grapevine and met for the first time age.” That moral solidarity underpinned only when this portrait was taken. Hudu India’s decision to extend diplomatic, was mugged and beaten with a cricket bat, financial, and material assistance to and Garba was harassed by a gang of boys African nations from the time it formed in a market. In both cases, the police acted its first independent government under swiftly in rounding up the suspects. the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. It was in South Africa that a young Gandhi developed satyagraha, the philosophy of nonviolent resistance that served as an important tool in India’s fight against the British. That ideology deeply influenced the anti- colonial struggles of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, and Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, among others. The intercontinental ties, strengthened during the Cold War, brought scholars from Africa: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has noted that many African heads of state, past and present, have received some form of education or training in India. In 1971, the foundation of the pres- tigious Symbiosis International Uni- versity was laid in the western city of Pune with the aim to accommodate international students—which it did with not a fraction of the violence that has become all too common. Today, the school enrolls 3,000 foreign students, primarily from Africa. “The tears of a for- eign student was the turning point in my life,” says S.B. Mujumdar, the university’s octogenarian founder. The plight of a homesick Mauritian with jaundice led to Mujumdar’s zealous efforts to promote dialogue between the local and foreign students. Even today, reports FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 65

of assaults on Africans living there are disbelief. The 25-year-old Nigerian stu- there are the dietary taboos. “Many rare, perhaps due to early, deliberate dent came to India from the state of Ebo- Hindus don’t eat meat. In Africa, eat- efforts to sensitize Indians. nyi in 2013. Since arriving, he has been ing meat is considered normal. But here mocked, stared at, and called racial slurs if you eat meat, they portray that Afri- Indian government agencies provide like kalu, a Hindi word that translates to cans eat human flesh,” Alagba says. “We little useful data on the African student “blacky,” and habshi, a derogatory term are not cannibals,” he adds, alluding to population currently in the country as for people of African origin, which has a racist myth that, incredibly, persists a whole. But the Association of African its roots in Arabic. among some Indians. Students in India estimates that some 25,000 Africans are currently studying Alagba attributes all of this to a He has run through eight houses in in India, a substantial portion of them deep cultural misunderstanding—the the last four years. “I pay my bills and in Greater Noida. The area is one of the assumption that all African men are rent on time. I keep my house clean.” newest developments on the outskirts of drug peddlers and all the women prosti- When he asked the owner of an apart- the Indian capital, representing a slice of tutes. “In Africa, women wear skirts. In ment why he suddenly had to vacate, the new, aspirational India on the cusp of India, women wear pants. Is wearing a Alagba says the landlord told him that urbanization. Most of the original inhab- skirt wrong?” he asks. “Does wearing a “tenants complained that their culture itants are rural Indians; even those newly skirt make my sister a prostitute?” Then forbade them from living with blacks.” enriched by the real estate boom have had limited exposure to foreign cultures. They jostle against a young, upwardly mobile population, including African students of engineering, nursing, and finance, among other specializations. Private universities have proliferated in India over the past decade. While catering to local demand, their promoters hard sell their instruction and facilities to international markets. “The world is here @ Sharda University,” promises a television ad for a privately funded school in Greater Noida. Many of these campuses are located in areas where rural insularity lingers. As foreigners, African students have become a source of revenue, often paying more in tuition than their Indian counterparts. Others are drawn by scholarships to Indian government- funded educational institutions—part of a diplomatic platform to promote regional trade and cooperation. Yet this show of amity has failed to bridge the cultural chasm. “When there is a diplomatic connec- tion between India and Africa, why is there no connection between the peo- ple?” Tochukwu Alagba asks. On his campus in Greater Noida, the lanky, mild-mannered young man with closely cropped hair, a pencil-thin moustache, and a goatee narrates his experiences in India with a measure of amusement and 66 JULY | AUGUST 2017

Nigerian Abdul-Kareem African students and residents in India says, with visible exasperation. Saboabdullahi will graduate this “have always been victims of gawking Other African students who arrived in year from NIMS in Jaipur, with a and staring,” says Siddharth Varadarajan, degree in computer information a founding editor of the Wire news India full of hope are subjected to curious technology. He has taken leave website in New Delhi. “Landlords have stares bordering on suspicion. Joseline from his government job in always overcharged them. What is new, Umurerwa, 22, arrived from the Rwan- Nigeria’s Adamawa state to study and especially disturbing, is, first, the dan capital of Kigali in 2016 to study in India, but he’s still paid a full level of police harassment, of which physiotherapy in Greater Noida. Outside monthly salary. His main regret, there is anecdotal evidence, on the her campus library, where she has been one echoed by other Africans, pretext of combating drug peddling and preparing for an upcoming exam, she is that he has found it virtually prostitution and, second, the increasing carefully monitors the time on her black impossible to make friends tendency for some Indians to resort to sports watch. Of the outright violence in with his Indian colleagues. violence.” Failures of civil society account the news, she believes that “the people Indians treat Africans as social for part of the problem, he believes. behind it are illiterates who don’t know outcasts, almost embarrassed “Our public spaces have become more that there are people of different colors to be seen with them, he says. brittle, though I am not sure there is data in the world.” She adds that “there are Saboabdullahi’s companions to suggest India is more prone to mob good and bad people in every country.” are his fellow Africans and the violence,” he says. people at the local mosque where T.K. Oommen, a prominent Indian he prays in the evenings. A veteran newspaper editor and sociologist, says light skin has always author, Varadarajan notes that the been associated with superiority and Indian government does not statisti- beauty in India. The caste system that cally track race-based crimes, even as has traditionally dictated social hierar- they are increasingly being covered by chies in the Hindu-majority country has the domestic and international press. tried to establish that upper-caste peo- He believes that the presence of African ple are lighter-skinned than the lower students stirs “the usual resentment castes. Notably, varna, the archaic San- that we see in host societies around skrit term for the Indian caste system, is the world to migrants and foreigners.” synonymous with “shade” or “color.” It is no coincidence that India’s “fairness Even on college grounds, that resent- cream” industry is estimated to be worth ment is sometimes expressed in the some $467 million and that Fair & Lovely basest terms. is perhaps its oldest and most popular product. If racism is deep-rooted among Okoyeegbe, the Nigerian pharmacy Indians, there is denial and defensive- student, was confronted by an Indian ness surrounding it—which isn’t sur- student in a common restroom on prising given India’s triumphant political campus. “Monkey! Monkey!” shouted narrative of darker-skinned people lib- the Indian freshman, expressing hor- erating themselves from fairer-skinned ror at the very sight of an African. Not oppressors and founding the world’s too long after that, the two bumped most populous democracy. Still, in into each other in an elevator. The northern parts of the country, “wheatish” same words greeted Okoyeegbe, who skin color is considered more desirable reported the incident to the universi- than the darker tones predominant in ty’s disciplinary committee. In a written the southern regions. Facial features are apology, the Indian student stated that similarly rated: Populations from India’s she was sorry for her behavior. Okoy- northeastern states, despite being light- eegbe says they’ve both put the incident skinned, are commonly referred to with behind them and are friends now. But slurs such as “chinky” because of their still she often feels belittled off campus. distinct features, akin to those of peo- One evening, she was mistaken for a ple from farther east. Africans, it seems, prostitute while standing outside her are not the spurs for Indian racism, but residential complex. “I am not a sex they certainly cannot avoid it. They have slave. I am here for an education,” she FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 67

stepped into a long and complicated his- population led him to remark on their “Mobs of angry tory of prejudices that run deep and don’t cruelty: Some Indians asked him to young men distinguish among nationalities or indi- scrub the dark color off his hands. Yet mercilessly viduals. “What we are showing to Afri- despite such insults, de Souza says, vio- kicking and cans in India is very much an extension lence toward Africans of the kind seen beating African of what we show to our own people in today was virtually unheard of. guests has sent India,” Oommen says. exactly the wrong IN RECENT YEARS, intolerance and message about Hartman de Souza, 67, is a writer and lawlessness have been on the upswing in Indian solidarity third-generation Kenyan of Indian ori- India, with spasms of brutality erupting with Africa—in gin. In the 1960s, he returned with his over dietary politics and other cultural fact, it totally family to his ancestral home in the flash points. The rise of the right wing undermines it.” western state of Goa. As far back as globally—not just in India—has eroded the 1980s, when racist incidents were restraint and civility and made minority less well covered in the Indian press, populations vulnerable. In many he was reporting on discrimination countries, the idea of the nation-state against Africans in India. He recalls a is being reassessed, part of a growing young man from Sierra Leone telling backlash against globalization. In India, him that he had the option to study in the fault lines of caste and religion are Europe but chose India because it was the land of Mahatma Gandhi. However, the student’s experiences with the local 68 JULY | AUGUST 2017

Takudzwa Averlon Kapfunde (left), who goes by international rights bodies to seek a Averlon, and Kudzai Petra Phiri, who goes by Petra, were probe into violence against their people classmates back in Zimbabwe. Both from Harare, they that they believe is “[x]enophobic and influenced each other to study dentistry in Jaipur, where racial in nature.” India’s External Affairs they have a busy academic schedule six days a week. Ministry responded, “The Government Both women are Christian, and on Sundays they catch a is committed to ensuring safety and bus to the city center from their campus and spend the security of all foreign nationals in India, day in church. Sometimes they are invited to a Christian including African nationals, who remain Indian’s home for lunch. When Averlon needed an our valued partners.” Indian institutions, operation, an Indian church family helped her through it insisted, “are adequate to deal with recovery at no cost. The church community is the only aberrations that represent act of a few semblance of family life for them so far from home. But, criminals.” living on campus, the women have experienced little of the kind of racism faced by those who live off grounds. Yet Indian university students have felt compelled to stage protests in soli- becoming more pronounced under a “Mobs of angry young men mercilessly darity with the African visitors among Hindu nationalist government that kicking and beating African guests has them. College administrators have also fosters a culture of intolerance. sent exactly the wrong message about intervened: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Indian solidarity with Africa—in fact, it Technical University in Lucknow issued “A country like India where ignorance totally undermines it.” a release regarding its partner colleges in and prejudice are rampant will always be Greater Noida. “We have asked the man- prone to violence,” says Varadarajan, the In 2016, a Congolese man was blud- agements of all our affiliated institutes Wire editor. The changing political econ- geoned to death in New Delhi’s south to ensure that these students are safe omy offers, at best, “a partial explanation after getting into a brawl with a group on campus and outside,” said the vice for mob violence,” such as that against of Indian men, purportedly in a dis- chancellor. And on popular TV debate Africans. “A failure of political leader- pute over an auto rickshaw. This inci- shows, such as NDTV’s The Big Fight, ship—evidenced by the refusal of the dent occurred days before the annual Indians are emerging from a long phase government to even acknowledge that Africa Day celebrations that the capital of denial. Segments of that program there is a problem—and the absence of hosts every May to mark the formation have asked: “Are Indians racist?” and effective rule of law, by which I mean of the African Union, a confederation “Are we becoming an intolerant nation?” professional policing and an efficient created in 2001 to represent the inter- Based on the experiences of Africans in judicial system, lie at the root of these ests of African nations. Greater Noida, the answer is yes. ugly incidents,” he says. The killing prompted a rare rebuke Today, Okoyeegbe regrets her jour- Paradoxically, the penetration of from African diplomats in India: The ney eastward. “My dream was to study social media both compounds this heads of 42 African missions indicated medicine. In Africa, India is known for problem and helps raise awareness of that they would recommend to their medicine,” she says. “Many Africans it, contributing to the spread of infor- governments back home not to send travel abroad for medical treatment. mation—and misinformation. In May, any new students to India’s universities I thought, ‘Why not go to India, get seven men—both Hindu and Muslim— until such time as their safety in the the knowledge and a correlation with were killed in vigilante mob attacks in country could be guaranteed. India’s Indian doctors so that Nigerians don’t eastern India over rumors on social external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, have to travel to get basic health care?’” media that they were child abductors. attempted to allay their fears by assuring The month before that, a Muslim man them that the police were working swiftly Now, the only thing keeping her in was lynched in the Indian state of Rajas- to apprehend the murderers of the Greater Noida is her coursework, which than by Hindu vigilantes who believed Congolese national. (Police later arrested she is on schedule to complete by next he was transporting cows for slaughter. three suspects.) She emphasized that it year, and her tenure abroad is tinged (Hindus consider the cow a holy ani- was a criminal act that should not be with bitterness. “I can never let any- mal.) But African victims of racial preju- misconstrued as a racist one. But the one I love take a flight to India and live dice are, at last, more visible to India and violence in Greater Noida has yet again here,” she laments. “I wouldn’t even the world because of the media. Aside upset African emissaries. In a written advise my enemy to live here.” Q from human rights, India’s bonds with statement issued on March 31, the African nations are at stake. As Alyssa heads of African diplomatic missions PAMPOSH RAINA (@PamposhR) is a Ayres, a South Asia specialist at the in India collectively threatened to New Delhi-based journalist. Council on Foreign Relations, puts it, call on the United Nations and other FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 69

Pop Goes German Philosophy 70 JULY | AUGUST 2017

the culture clash issue

With their TED Talks, TV shows, and runaway best-sellers, a new generation of celebrity philosophers has made German philosophy more popular than ever. But are they ruining it in the process? BY STUART JEFFRIES ILLUSTRATION BY OLAF HAJEK IN MAY, A CELEBRITY CONTESTANT appeared after—figures in a new wave of German Magazin, a bimonthly glossy publica- on the German version of Who Wants to philosophy, he has argued that in order tion distributed around Germany that Be a Millionaire. In a sharply cut dark for the discipline to remain relevant, it hit the newsstands in 2011. The edi- blue jacket and a black open-necked must come down from the ivory tower tor in chief, Wolfram Eilenberger, out- shirt, with designer stubble and flow- and commune with the masses. As a lined its mission in an editorial: “It’s ing locks, philosopher Richard David student in Cologne in the early 1990s, a magazine that takes its questions to Precht had no trouble answering ques- Precht envisioned a world in which phi- the marketplace, letting the public help tion after question until the host asked: losophers would be seen as fascinating feel them out.” “Which of the following was a headline people living exhilarating and uncom- in a British newspaper in February? Was promising lives. His generation of ideal- Philosophie Magazin now has a cir- it A) Darwin Becomes Foreign Secre- ized contemporaries would forge their culation of 100,000, proof that Eilen- tary, B) Dickens Takes Over the BBC, own path, and their ideas would bear berger’s approach paid off. Indeed it C) Shakespeare Trains Champions, or little similarity to the “ineffectual aca- would appear there is a new demand D) Tolkien Wins a BRIT Award?” demic philosophy” of his professors, for ideas in Germany, one ripe for the who were “boring middle-aged gentle- plumbing. In 2017, philosophy in Ger- Precht, understandably, decided to men in pedestrian brown or navy suits.” many is booming. Student enrollment quit while he was ahead rather than risk in philosophy courses has increased by losing the 64,000 euros he’d already There’s no doubt that Precht has one-third over the past three years. Its amassed. The correct answer was C made good on this dream, cultivat- leading practitioners are giving TED (Craig Shakespeare is the manager of ing a much wider audience for his Talks and producing best-selling books, the football club Leicester City, which field. Dubbed the “Mick Jagger of the top-ranking TV shows, and festivals won the English Premier League title non-fiction book,” a reference presum- such as phil.cologne, which attracts in 2016). ably intended as a compliment, Precht more than 10,000 visitors to the Ger- has sold more than 1 million copies man city each June. Though he raised a significant sum worldwide of his most popular book— for charity, for some, Precht’s appear- Who Am I?: And If So, How Many?— Such has German philosophy ance on the show was just another in 32 languages. His TV show, called changed: Words like “delightful,” signal that something has gone quite simply Precht, boasts a viewership of “beguiling,” and “easily consumable” wrong with German philosophy. nearly 1 million. would never have been used when Other German philosophers have speaking of Immanuel Kant or Georg certainly been sniffy about Precht’s German philosophy today is not Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. At its best, media-friendliness. Markus Gabriel so much the kind of intellectual dis- the trend indicates German philosophy calls Precht a “philosophy performer,” cipline that Martin Heidegger would is engaging a mass audience as never while Peter Sloterdijk calls Precht a practice, hermitlike, in his Black before. At its worst, this means philos- “popularizer by profession.” Forest hut but rather a successful ophy is becoming an item of conspic- service industry competing for cus- uous consumption designed to flatter But Precht is unrepentant. As one tomers. Take, for instance, Philosophie users’ intellectual self-images. of the most prominent—and sought 72 JULY | AUGUST 2017

More than 70 years ago, two of Ger- ON APRIL 22, 1969, Theodor Adorno was different. The grand German tradition many’s most renowned philosophers, just about to begin his lecture series, “An of philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Introduction to Dialectical Thinking,” at Friedrich Nietzsche, and Heidegger has leaders of the Frankfurt School of criti- Goethe University Frankfurt when he was been a source of national pride. But the cal theory, described what they called interrupted by student protesters. One Busenaktion was a devastating attack “the culture industry.” For them, wrote on the blackboard: “If Adorno is on the otherwise constant deference to the industry—rife with a stupefying left in peace, capitalism will never cease.” German philosophers. parade of celebrities and brain-rotting Then three female protesters surrounded TV shows—was effectively a means of him, bared their breasts, and scattered This unchallenged culture of respect mass deception and subjugation. In rose and tulip petals over him. had come about in part because Ger- Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and man philosophy and German national Horkheimer posited that products of Adorno grabbed his hat and coat, ran identity have been yoked together ever this culture industry would only stunt from the hall, and later canceled the lec- since Hegel, who, writing in the shadow the consumer’s powers of imagination ture series. He plunged into a depres- of the defeat of Napoleonic France and and spontaneity and was “so designed sion and a few months later, during an filled with the nationalism inspired by that quickness, powers of observation, Alpine holiday, died at the age of 66. Prussia’s late military victory, dreamed and experience are undeniably needed of a united Germany. Hegel imagined to apprehend them at all; yet sustained This so-called Busenaktion (“breast that such world peace entailed the emer- thought is out of the question.” In 2017, action”) was later described by Peter gence of a vanguard state that would you would be forgiven for supposing, Sloterdijk in his 1983 tome, Critique of overcome others as human history pro- this new wave of German philosophers Cynical Reason: “Here, on the one side, gressed to its fulfillment. And as far as has become part of what their prede- stood naked flesh, exercising ‘critique’; Hegel was concerned, Prussia (and then, cessors had warned against. there, on the other side, stood the bit- fingers crossed, the united Germany) terly disappointed man without whom was uniquely positioned to satisfy that The pivotal question then is: Can scarcely any of those present would have historic role. No other country’s philoso- German philosophy be consumed at known what critique meant.… It was not phers have quite so assiduously built the a common, everyday level without naked force that reduced the philosopher concept of national identity into their being dumbed down or having its to muteness, but the force of the naked.” intellectual systems; no other philoso- ideas stripped of their complexity? phers have burdened their homelands Moreover, German philosophy was In another culture, it would not have with such a destiny. supposed to critique everyday life mattered quite as much that student rather than provide the intellectual protesters had thwarted a philosopher’s Of course, Adorno, who came to tools to sustain it. The greatest German lecture. But German philosophy is prominence more than a century later, philosophers, including Hegel, Arthur was writing in the shadow not of Prus- Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Karl Marx, If it is indeed sian military victory like Hegel but of and the Frankfurt School, gave us declining, German Auschwitz, a singular obscenity that eviscerating analyses of the forces philosophy has eternally put an end to, among other underpinning everyday life. In their made the kind of things, philosophical justifications for struggle to keep German philosophy Faustian pact German nationalism. Adorno, further- relevant, have its current champions German literary more, was a Jew who loathed Hegel’s forgotten what German philosophy giant Johann Protestant notion of progress. And after once excelled at doing? Wolfgang von Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, German Goethe would philosophy could no longer posture as And if that’s the case, this new con- have appreciated— marching toward some grand denoue- sumerist version of philosophy is not exchanging ment at the end of human history. a signal of its modern importance but profundity for is actually just masking the field’s popularity. Adorno was certainly no nation- decline. And if it is indeed declining, alist, but, despite everything, he was German philosophy has made the profoundly connected to the German kind of Faustian pact German literary language and the culture in which he giant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was raised. On his return from Califor- would have appreciated—exchanging nian exile he posited that the German profundity for popularity. language has a particular affinity for phi- losophy. “Historically speaking,” Adorno FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 73

wrote, “the German language, as part If philosophy were to mean anything municative Action, published in 1981, of a process that still requires proper in Germany after Adorno’s death, it he envisioned an “unlimited commu- analysis, has become capable of express- would have to become something dif- nication community” in which people, ing something about phenomena that ferent from that. through discourse and argument, would goes beyond their mere essence, posi- learn from one another as well as from tivity and givenness.” In other words, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED to Ger- themselves and question beliefs typi- Adorno seems to say: If you wanted to man philosophy since Adorno’s death— cally taken for granted. do philosophy properly, forget English, and what eventually led to its new French, Arabic, and Greek. To get to the media-friendly enfants terribles—we Essentially, Habermas’s work heart of philosophy, you need to do it need to consider the grand old man of became the bridge between Adorno’s in German. After the Holocaust, more- German intellectual life, the 88-year- pessimistic, elitist style of philosophy over, Adorno became something like old Jürgen Habermas. It was Habermas, and the new consumerist revival of the the conscience of a nation (at least the a repentant Hitler Youth who became discipline. Instead of despairing about West German nation; the ideologues Adorno’s assistant and, in the early the fate of humanity, the discourse of the new East German state detested 1970s, his anointed successor as head of now theorized on how to change its his and the Frankfurt School’s heretical the Frankfurt School, who would change course. And though Habermas didn’t neo-Marxism). It was Adorno who, in the direction of German philosophy. attempt to obliterate Adorno’s leading Negative Dialectics, wrote: “A new cat- injunction—avoiding forever another egorical imperative has been imposed He did so in a kind of Oedipal rebel- Hitler—his more optimistic philoso- by Hitler upon unfree mankind: to lion against his intellectual father figure. phy was premised on trying to theo- arrange their thoughts and actions so “I do not share the basic premise of crit- rize ways to prevent Auschwitz from that Auschwitz will not repeat itself, so ical theory, the premise that instrumen- occurring again. And to do so, Haber- that nothing similar will happen.” Here tal reason has gained such dominance mas believed philosophers like him- was the German philosopher speaking to that there is really no way out of a total self had to work on improving the Germans about their moral duties and system of delusion, in which insight conditions in which life is lived rather expecting to be listened to. is achieved only in flashes by isolated than issuing, as Adorno tended to do, individuals,” Habermas said in a 1979 despairing jeremiads about the fate of For some Germans, merely listen- interview. For him, that kind of insight human beings. That’s to say, he took ing seemed beside the point. In 1969, was limited—both elitist and hopeless. his mentor’s leading injunction more those student protesters targeted Adorno seriously than Adorno did. because he was, ostensibly, a Marxist but Instead, Habermas has spent his one who disdained their call to action. career building an intellectual system But what also made Habermas rev- In their view, he had retreated into the- that, spanning philosophy, political olutionary is how he has dared to look ory when the revolutionary need was for theory, sociology, and legal theory, is beyond it to the hitherto anathema- action. As Karl Marx wrote in 1845, “The infused with the optimistic hope that tized thinking of American and British philosophers have only interpreted the humans can thrive under market cap- philosophers. For Adorno, Anglophone world, in various ways; the point is to italism with something like auton- philosophy was a mere handmaiden change it.” In this light, the intellectu- omy and self-mastery—precisely what to technocratic capitalism, when he, als of the Frankfurt School, and Adorno Adorno and the earlier Frankfurt School and the rest of the neo-Marxist Frank- in particular, dramatized how German had denied was possible. In Habermas’s furt School, thought philosophy should philosophy had failed at its moment of culminating work The Theory of Com- be critiquing the powers that be rather reckoning. than providing their intellectual jus- tification. Instead, Habermas found But while Habermas used public inspiration in the writings of Ameri- platforms to examine Germany’s can pragmatist George Mead, Har- wartimeshame, criticsofthenewwave vard justice theorist John Rawls, and of philosophers would argue their TV Oxford’s J.L. Austin, as much as with shows and New Age books are hardly Kant, Hegel, and Marx. Though Adorno so virtuous. spent years at Oxford and more than a decade in the United States, he never treated the philosophers of Britain or America with anything other than contempt. And with this radical shift, 74 JULY | AUGUST 2017

Habermas opened up an intellec- because of rather than despite his con- out by Ludwig Wittgenstein, namely that tual pathway that today’s young guns troversial ideas, was co-host of Das Phil- of German philosophy have eagerly osophische Quartett, a talk show on the “whatever can be said at all can be said followed. German channel ZDF. The show fos- tered the kind of discussion program clearly.” What’s more, like his new book, Indeed, current stars like Precht and scarcely imaginable on American or Gabriel also took Habermas’s lead when British TV; Sloterdijk and historian of I Am Not a Brain: Philosophy of Mind for it came to operating in the wilds of the German philosophy Rüdiger Safranski media. Habermas was a tireless fighter would debate issues of the day with two the 21st Century, it serves as a rebuke to in the 1980s op-ed feuds known as His- invited guests. But after a decade, ZDF torikerstreit (“historians’ conflict”). worried about the show’s ratings and those earlier philosophers who imag- Time after time he took to the pages of replaced the hosts with none other than German newspapers to lambaste revi- Richard David Precht. ine that the masses cannot and should sionist German historians who sought to exculpate the Nazis for the singu- As if to clinch the point about Ger- not read philosophy. Only 37, Gabriel is lar evil of the Holocaust. In 1999, Peter man philosophy falling prey to the Sloterdijk, known as something of a populist cult of personality, the show demonstrating that German philoso- one-man philosophical provocation, changed its name from Das Philoso- stirred a scandalous controversy when phische Quartett to Precht. Though phers can find a wide audience—without he broke a taboo that had existed in Ger- the new presenter doesn’t quite wear man intellectual life since the end of the his shirt open to the navel, Precht— being merely slick or superficial. Third Reich. During a speech, Sloterdijk with his good looks and media-friendly invoked the word Selektion rather than charm—bears a striking resemblance to And philosophers like Precht and the more contemporary word Auswahl his French counterpart, Bernard-Henri to suggest how human procreation by Lévy. Sloterdijk, in what reads like sour Gabriel are not simply meeting a means of genetic reproduction might grapes, told the German press that his be not just possible but defensible. An replacement’s “clientele is more like native demand. While German philos- outraged Habermas promptly wrote an that of [the popular violinist] André editorial in which he called Sloterdijk a Rieu, to whom ladies, especially those ophy is hardly as lucrative an interna- fascist. Habermas’s role in this quarrel over 50, listen in a late-idealistic mood.” was resonant. Here was a German phi- tional brand as BMW, Deutsche Bank, losopher compelling his countrymen But the truth about German philos- and women to engage with their nation’s ophy’s current predicament is actually or Adidas, its new media-savvy, con- shameful past and thereby revolution- more nuanced than Precht’s on-screen izing their sensibilities. A reflection of performances—or his deriders—would sumer-friendly exponents are giving that transformation can be seen in the suggest. Consider Markus Gabriel, moral leadership of the current chan- whose 2015 international best-seller, it a global reach. That’s significant cellor, Angela Merkel, who just a couple Why the World Does Not Exist, is confir- of years ago made Germany, above all mation, just possibly, that modern works since, while Germany’s industrial and other countries in the world, welcom- of German philosophy can be both pro- ing to refugees. found and successful. financial prowess is widely acknowl- But while Habermas used public plat- The cover of Gabriel’s book features edged, the country is hardly noted for forms to examine Germany’s wartime a unicorn, which is fitting for a text that shame, as well as to extol a new brand of offers an easily digestible explanation for soft power. German cinema and litera- German constitutional patriotism and a why all sorts of improbable entities—not utopian vision of what he called “com- just unicorns but elves, fairies, or even ture, for instance, all too rarely have an municative rationality,” critics of the new President Hillary Clinton and Prime Min- wave of philosophers that followed in his ister Jeremy Corbyn—really do exist. international profile in this millennium. wake would argue their TV shows and Gabriel’s work proved such a hit not only New Age books are hardly so virtuous. because it is an attack on the arrogance German philosophy, by contrast, does of science and the relativistic black hole From 2002 to 2012, Sloterdijk, who of post-modernism but because it was seem to have an export market, thanks remains a popular figure in Germany written according to the principle set precisely to its young peddlers. Perhaps we should not be as cynical as Sloterdijk when he disparages Precht. Maybe if philosophers want to be heard in 2017, they need to perform as well as think. In the culture war over the destiny of German philosophy, for some like Sloter- dijk, accessibility and relevance mask its degradation; for others like Precht, those qualities are vital to keeping the discipline alive and resonant. In 1934, the French-German theologian Albert Schweitzer told fellow philosopher Ernst Cassirer that their colleagues must address what most concerned everyone, in a style that is not only accessible to an educational elite. This, he believed, was essential. That, at least, is what Germa- ny’s new media-friendly philosophers are attempting to do. Q STUART JEFFRIES is the author of Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School. FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 75



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best defense by THOMAS E. RICKS We Are (Still) Living in an Orwellian World Surveillance, drones, and never-ending wars have given new global resonance to the works of George Orwell. 80 JULY | AUGUST 2017 In 2014, 1984 became such a popular symbol among anti-govern- ment protesters in Thailand that the in-flight magazine of Phil- ippine Airlines, according to reports, took to warning passengers that carrying a copy of the novel could cause trouble with cus- toms officials and other authorities. Since the year 1984, at least 13 Chinese translations of 1984 have been published. Both it and Orwell’s Animal Farm also have been translated into Tibetan. Explaining the relevance of Orwell to China, one of his translators, Dong Leshan, wrote, “The twentieth century will soon be over, but political terror still survives and this is why Nineteen Eighty-four remains valid today.” Orwell’s earlier meditations on the abuses of political power also found unexpected audiences. While imprisoned in Egypt, then-Is- lamic radical Maajid Nawaz realized that Animal Farm spoke to his private doubts. “I began to join the dots and think, ‘My God, if these guys that I’m here with ever came to power, they would be Illustration by MATTHEW HOLLISTER

the Islamist equivalent of Animal Farm,’” on the vague frontiers whose where- erty means anything at all, it means the he said. In Zimbabwe, an opposition news- abouts the average man can only guess paper ran a serialized version of Animal at.… In the centres of civilization war right to tell people what they do not want Farm—after someone destroyed the news- means no more than … the occasional paper’s press with an anti-tank mine—with crash of a rocket bomb which may to hear.” In that vein, it is significant that illustrations showing Napoleon the pig cause a few scores of deaths. wearing the big-rimmed eyeglasses favored the greatest threat to freedom that Orwell’s by Zimbabwe’s president-for-life, Robert The second driver of the current Orwell Mugabe. A Cuban artist was jailed with- boom is the post-9/11 rise of the intelligence Winston sees in 1984 is not from overseas, out trial for planning to stage a version of state. We live in an intrusive, overweening Animal Farm in 2014. To make sure the state in both the East and the West. In the but from his own government. authorities got the point, he had painted early 2000s, the U.S. government regularly the names “Fidel” and “Raul” on two pigs. killed people in nations with which it was Third, and perhaps most shocking, is not officially at war by using remote-con- But 1984 in particular is experiencing trolled aircraft. This tactic became known the way the use of torture in 1984 foreshad- a new relevance among Western readers as “signature strikes,” which target men of because of three interlocking aspects. military age showing a threatening pattern ows how today’s state uses it in an endless of behavior associated with terrorists, such For present-day Americans, 1984’s as talking to known terrorists by telephone “war on terror.” After 9/11, for the first time background of permanent warfare car- or attending a meeting with them. Several ries a chilling warning. In the book, as in hundred of these strikes have been carried in American history, torture became offi- life in the United States today, the con- out in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. And flict is offstage, heard only as occasional now metadata collection—the gathering of cial policy. (Before then it had been used rocket impacts. “Winston could not defi- trillions of bits of information that the intel- nitely remember a time when his country ligence community analyzes in order to rec- occasionally but always in disregard of the has not been at war,” Orwell wrote in 1984. ognize previously unseen patterns—allows (The same is true of all Americans now in governments to quietly compile dossiers law, and sometimes it was prosecuted.) their late teens or younger.) on the behavior of millions of individuals. To better understand 2017, return to In an era when U.S. wars are waged with Of course, the American government drones firing precision-guided missiles, acted in those lethal and intrusive ways in Orwell’s three best books. First, Homage and with small numbers of special opera- response to the 9/11 attacks. Orwell proba- tions forces on the ground in remote parts bly would have roundly denounced those to Catalonia, in which he shows that of the Middle East, with infrequent attacks assaults as well as the panicky response of in cities such as London, Paris, Madrid, and the U.S. government. His guiding light was the left can lie just as much as the right, New York, this passage from the novel is freedom of conscience—both from govern- eerily prescient: ment control and from extremists, whether and becomes skeptical of all exercise of religious or ideological. As he put it, “If lib- It is a warfare of limited aims between power. Second, Animal Farm, which he combatants who are unable to destroy one another, [and] have no material called a fairy tale—an adult version of a cause for fighting.… [It] involves very small numbers of people, mostly tale of disenchantment. Finally, 1984, in highly trained specialists, and causes comparatively few casualties. The which Orwell updates the horror story. fighting, when there is any, takes place His monster is not Frankenstein, but the modern state. Q THOMAS E. RICKS (@tomricks1) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of FOREIGN POLICY’s Best Defense blog. This column was adapted from his most recent book, Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. INSTEAD OF FADING AWAY, ORWELL HAS ENJOYED A NEW SURGE OF GLOBAL POPULARITY. THE PASSING OF THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF 1984 SEEMS TO HAVE LIBERATED THE NOVEL, ITS MESSAGE SPEAKING TO A UNIVERSAL PROBLEM OF MODERN HUMANKIND. FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 81

shadow government by DEREK CHOLLET AND JULIANNE SMITH What Would America Do? The days of other countries looking to the United States for leadership are coming to an end. 82 JULY | AUGUST 2017 in the world also hinges on the culture of U.S. foreign policy that is propagated—and embodied—by the sitting president. Most presidents understand this intuitively. “A platoon leader doesn’t get his platoon to go that way by getting up and saying, ‘I am smarter, I am bigger, I am stronger, I am the leader,’” President Dwight Eisenhower said in 1954. “He gets men to go with him because they want to do it for him, because they believe in him.” For decades, American presidents of both parties have sought to enhance this pull of attraction by the policies they promote as well as how they act in office. They have understood that this is much more than being charitable or well liked. It is about com- manding respect, maintaining other countries’ faith in U.S. insti- tutions and values, and inspiring others to take action. It is also about coming to the table with ideas and getting things done. This is never easy. Whether Republican or Democrat, presidents often struggle with getting others to believe in them and follow Illustration by MATTHEW HOLLISTER

along. President George W. Bush was often aims to succeed in a democratic system of dent who will be more contentious and dis- derided as a callow cowboy, and President government and steer the free world, but tracted while less reliable and predictable. Barack Obama was seen as too aloof. Yet as someone who is more familiar with the (That’s why leaders in Germany and Canada each was able to operate within the broad norms of autocracy. By considering him in are openly questioning whether the United consensus that has embodied U.S. foreign the mold of strongman—more Zimbabwean States still has their back, and why Asian policy for decades. But President Donald President Robert Mugabe than U.S. Presi- partners are trying to revive the Trans-Pa- Trump is something altogether different. dent James Madison—his choices make cific Partnership without the United States.) Because he prides himself on breaking with more sense. Worse, instead of being admired, Trump is tradition and doing things his own way, he becoming a laughingstock, mocked by lead- risks tearing down the culture of U.S. for- The result is a profound shift in the cul- ers from Australia to France. With allies dis- eign policy. This is one of the reasons many ture of U.S. foreign-policy leadership, in illusioned, America is diminished. Republican national security professionals which traditional democratic allies see the are uncomfortable working for him. president not as a problem-solver but more Already, fewer leaders are asking what as a challenge to be managed or worked America will do to fix global security prob- As a president, Trump leads by insult, around. At the same time, U.S. foreign pol- lems. So we’re left with the simple fact that intimidation, bluster, and boast. His pol- icy under Trump is more recognizable to in Trump’s effort to make America great, icies are deeply troubling in many areas, illiberal leaders in China, Russia, Saudi Ara- he has made it less exceptional. Trump’s whether it is pulling out of international bia, and Egypt. It’s no wonder that they are base might rejoice in pulling inward and agreements, threatening trade wars, or confident in improved relations, because in disrupting the culture of the presidency, slashing the budget for diplomacy or devel- Trump they see someone like themselves. but as he has already started to witness opment. Though some of his chief advi- firsthand, the world isn’t rejoicing. Damag- sors—the so-called adults like Defense Irrespective of how they view the Trump ing America’s image to lead will have last- Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of presidency, many foreign leaders are won- ing consequences for our security. Q State Rex Tillerson—are more technocrats dering if he will get things done. When than ideologues, they are working on many all eyes turn to him at the next interna- DEREK CHOLLET (@derekchollet) served in the issues (such as Taiwan, Middle East peace, tional summit or emergency session in Obama administration for six years. He is and NATO) to bring Trump’s policies into the wake of some tragedy, will he be able currently the executive vice president at the the mainstream. But what they can’t fix to restore faith in America’s capacity to German Marshall Fund of the United States. is Trump’s leadership style and the cul- lead and compel others to follow? Trump JULIANNE SMITH (@Julie_C_Smith) is director tural shift it represents—here in the United certainly thinks so. Yet based on how few of the strategy and statecraft program at States as well as abroad. of his campaign promises he’s delivered the Center for a New American Security. on in the first six months of his presidency She served as the deputy national security For America’s global partners, especially (no Muslim ban, no health care bill, no tax advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from in Europe, Trump is wholly different from reform, no moving of the U.S. Embassy to 2012 to 2013. any U.S. president they have encountered. Jerusalem), many have their doubts. He is instinctually more autocratic than democratic, so it’s not surprising that he’s To be sure, the United States remains more at ease with monarchs and autocrats, too powerful to ignore, and there will still as they are with him. Massive gilded pal- be many policies where close cooperation aces, family courtiers, oligarchic friends, will thrive. But as leaders grapple with the and rule by decree make up the environ- reality of Trump, they expect a U.S. presi- ment in which he is more comfortable, and fawning crowds and a pliant press are WHEN ALL EYES TURN TO TRUMP AT what’s desirable. Trump’s behavior is less THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT OR confounding if he’s seen not as a leader who EMERGENCY SESSION IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY, WILL HE BE ABLE TO RESTORE FAITH IN AMERICA’S CAPACITY TO LEAD AND COMPEL OTHERS TO FOLLOW? FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 83

personal note by CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN For the Love of Welsh Rarebit In a politically correct era, is it OK to honor some remnants of imperialism? 84 JULY | AUGUST 2017 British trading foothold in 1819 and, except for its occupation by the Japanese empire from 1942 to 1945, remained a British colony until shortly before gaining independence in 1965. My nostalgia isn’t just outdated—it can sometimes come across as politically incorrect. But I’m not alone in cherishing certain cultural holdovers of colonialism. Today, some vestiges of British rule are among Singapore’s most lovingly preserved landmarks— from lavish Victorian hotels to 19th-century government buildings that are now national treasures. And, though it’s true that Singaporeans prize their indigenous cuisine blending Indian, Chinese, and Malay flavors, many feel historic kinship with bangers and mash and scones with clotted cream, which were as much a part of my gastronomic education as fish-head curry and chili crab. Many Singaporeans tend to think back with warmth on the country’s relatively benign subjugation. Landmarks throughout Illustration by MATTHEW HOLLISTER

closely what we eat, wear, and dance to. Pop stars Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani have been criticized for lifting from Japanese civilization—the former for a geisha-in- spired performance in 2013 and the latter the city are named for Sir Stamford Raffles, for her Harajuku Girls phase in 2004. This applause subsided, I asked, “Where did you who founded Singapore as a British col- year, nonwhite women on a California col- learn that?” His answer: “Madras. Where ony. School history books essentially laud lege campus faced a backlash when they else?” He then explained the influence the him, along with the good ol’ East India Co., demanded that white girls refrain from Scots had in his native Madras during colo- for transforming the island nation from a wearing the hoop earrings said to be part nial times and the cultural breadcrumbs speck of a trading post along the Malay of a non-Anglo aesthetic. And on a nation- that lingered. Archipelago to a prosperous port city that alistic note, I still bristle whenever I spot When I asked an English friend what he is one of the most expensive stretches of “Singapore noodles” on any U.S. (or Scot- thought of my nostalgia for British food, he real estate on Earth. In Singapore, some tish) menu. This spicy noodle dish is a pure shrugged. “All nostalgia is for something of the best secondary schools are named invention of the West—it simply does not bygone.” And, on a recent Saturday, I tested “Raffles.” The court system is based on Brit- exist in my homeland. his theory. I picked up some Scotch eggs I’d ish law, and the cricket club plays regularly In light of such tensions, a longing for been eyeing at I.J. Mellis, my favorite cheese on the Padang, an expansive green in the colonial relics can feel indefensible, or at monger in Edinburgh: a traditional version heart of downtown. On Saturdays, pubs least subversive. And in these hyperat- and two unconventional variations, one veg- fill up with the English Premier League tuned times, we are forced to ask whether etarian and one featuring chorizo. I invited a faithful. Singlish, the local patois, brims our yearning should be indulged—and Scottish and an English friend to taste them. with Britishisms. One of the most common divulged—in public. After one bite of the spicy vegetarian ver- terms—to “talk cock,” which can refer to But my nostalgia isn’t some form of cul- sion, the Scot ran to the sink to wash out either shooting the breeze or bullshitting— tural appropriation, an attachment to prod- her mouth. “Oh, that’s vile,” she said. Both is derived from the British phrase “cock ucts, TV shows, and cuisines that are both friends agreed: The boring old traditional and bull story.” tainted and not my own. Aspects of British Scotch egg tasted the best. The reason? “It’s Even at an intimate level, outmoded culture are, in fact, part of my personal and the way to make a Scotch egg—it’s just the influences and relationships linger. In national history. And perhaps this feeling is way to make it.” researching my recent novel, Sarong Party more akin to the nostalgia in China for 1960s Perhaps sometimes we just want what Girls, I investigated the term “SPGs,” said Albanian films or propaganda collectibles. we want, whether it’s steak and kidney pie to have been coined when British colonial This dates back to an alliance between the or an old Scottish anthem. Everyone has armed forces would invite local women, two countries that thrived during China’s an individual history for which they can- often clad in sarongs, to their parties. These Cultural Revolution, resulting in transcul- not be entirely answerable. And no one days, it has taken on a derogatory mean- tural exchanges through film. should expect otherwise. Q ing as a reference to Singaporean women At a dinner I attended in Lasswade, Scot- who seek out expat white (often British) land, an Indian-American offered to enter- CHERYL LU LIEN TAN (@cheryltan88) is a New men, whom they view as being of a higher tain with a song. This man, who grew up York-based journalist and author of Sarong status than locals. Jane Austen’s world is, in India, delivered, by heart, a stirring ren- Party Girls and A Tiger in the Kitchen: A in some ways, alive and well in the night- dition of “Scotland the Brave.” When the Memoir of Food & Family. clubs of Singapore. In countries with bloodier colonial his- tories than Singapore’s, discourse about MY AMBIVALENCE IS SHARED WITH the structural legacies of imperialism has OTHERS WHOSE NOSTALGIA FOR A justifiably gained traction. An Indian MP BYGONE CUISINE, ARCHITECTURE, has called for the dissolution of India’s OR LITERATURE WAS SHAPED BY Westminster parliamentary system, for IMPERIALISM. example. And, in Western democracies, we are compelled to interrogate ever more FOREIGNPOLICY.COM 85

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