Canadian PM Trudeau accused of racism
A photo showing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing brownface makeup and dressed as Aladdin has compromised the liberal politician in the midst of an election campaign. The picture was taken in 2001 at a costume party with the theme of the Arabian Nights. Trudeau apologised for the makeup, saying he didn't think it was racist at the time. Is too much being made of the story?
We need new fairytales
Commenting on Kommersant FM Dmitry Drize says he can't understand all the fuss over Trudeau:
“He's in favour of gender equality, tolerance and forbearance. He has fully legalised marijuana in Canada. Justin Trudeau was the first leading Canadian politician to attend the annual gay parade in Toronto. ... Hotels are often named after Aladdin. The Arabian Nights - stylised performances with flying carpets, genies and Princess Budur. But now it turns out that all this is racism. Poor Trudeau didn't know that 18 years ago. It couldn't even have occurred to him. They were just having fun. So today new fairytales are needed. And who will be the main hero? A sexless person without any skin colour. Without a religion, or ethnic origins. It's all very sad.”
Even the politically correct are inconsistent
Trudeau is now at risk of being undone by his own system of political correctness, smirks Johannes Boie, editor-in-chief of Die Welt am Sonntag:
“The Canadians are wondering not only whether Trudeau liked to dress up as a young man, but also whether the 'most politically correct prime minister ever' isn't just another role that the talented actor adopted. 'The harshest critics of the elks / were once themselves elks', as F. W. Bernstein once said in a poem, and I think that applies to far more people than just Trudeau, be it the climate activists whose long-haul flights one can admire on their Instagram accounts, or politicians who are as liberal as can be but prefer to send their kids to private schools far removed from the challenges posed by migration.”
Schizophrenic anti-racisim
The fight against racism only fuels racism, writes Alain Destexhe, former Belgian senator and founder of the right-wing party Liste Destexhe, in Causeur:
“While white people are increasingly banned from disguising themselves as blacks, the number of films, series and programmes that criticise or make fun of whites, like Dear White People on Netflix and the verbal attacks of the popular comedian and star of the Daily Show Trevor Noah, is growing. According to Le Monde this is actually the latest online trend in the US. Our society is becoming increasingly schizophrenic. It condemns all forms of racism. At the same time, as President Macron would say, it projects onto us identities that are increasingly defined according to racial criteria, in a process that only exacerbates the racial tensions it claims to fight. Militant anti-racism is like a pyromaniac fireman.”