IN THE NEWS
Extreme prejudices
VIKRAM KAPUR
|
"Celebrity Big Brother" has exposed Indians to a side of Britain that is very foreign to the one we know.
|
The best way for her to get back at her oppressors is to stay on the show and, hopefully, win it.
Photo: PTI and AP
Fitting response: A video grab from "Celebrity Big Brother".
FOR me, Shilpa Shetty's experience on "Celebrity Big Brother" brings back painful memories. On the night of June 5, 2005, while walking back to my room from the computer lab on the University of East Anglia campus in Norwich, United Kingdom, I was waylaid and beaten up by two white men. There was no attempt at robbery, although I had my wallet and mobile phone with me. I had never seen the men before; so it wasn't as if we were sworn enemies. In fact, the only grudge those men could have had with me was that I was Indian.
What happened to me was only one of 1,79,000 instances of racially motivated crimes reported by the British Crime Survey for 2005. Not all the victims were non-white. But the size of the figure is a telling commentary on the sorry state of race relations in Britain, especially when you consider the racial diversity of the country is by no means extensive. According to the last census, conducted in 2001, the entire non-white population of Britain is a mere 4.5 million and accounts for less than 10 per cent of the total population. And the figure of 1,79,000 does not even reflect the more benign forms of racism, such as verbal abuse.
Race is a problem
It is clear that race is a problem in Britain. Yet it is a problem that Britons are loath to admit. After my attack, several people in Norwich went to great lengths to say that it was not racial, although all evidence pointed in that direction. Similarly, Channel 4, the TV channel that runs "Celebrity Big Brother", despite receiving thousands of complaints from viewers and having a major sponsor drop out due to the racism on the show, has, until the time of writing, steadfastly maintained that Shilpa Shetty is not the target of racism. And to top it all, while this soap opera unfolds in Britain, Britain's Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown, has been extolling his country's virtues as a truly multicultural society in India.
"Celebrity Big Brother" has, for the first time, exposed Indians to the loutish face of Britain. That side of Britain is very foreign to the Britain we know. In books and movies, we encounter a Britain that is cosmopolitan. On TV, we see Monty Panesar, turban and all, playing cricket in English colours. The few Britons, we actually rub shoulders with, men with names like Tully and Dalrymple, tend to be genteel and well educated. They not only live in our midst, but also exhibit a genuine interest in our culture.
All of that is certainly one part of Britain, but only a small part. The larger Britain, which most of us know nothing about, is very different. It has still to come to terms with some of the darker manifestations of its past.
Reactions among the media in the U.K.
To this day, its children grow up believing that the British Empire was a great achievement. Episodes, such as the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, if mentioned at all in British classrooms, are dismissed as mere aberrations.
Outside big cities
Far from being multicultural, outside the big cities, Britain is almost completely white and provincial. Where minorities are present, race relations remain tense. The British Government has not helped matters by trying to impose a brand of multiculturalism that, rather than seeking to create an inclusive society, throws up exclusive enclaves in the name of protecting culture. British whites resent the sops the government hands out to the minorities. And the minorities, in turn, resent being typecast and excluded from the mainstream of British life. So you have, in effect, a rainbow country, where all colours exist, but rarely mix.
Against such a backdrop, it is not surprising that racism persists. Most Britons have no meaningful relationships with anyone from another race. Their interactions with them, if at all, are limited to the workplace. Consequently, their interpretation of the other is based on popularly held stereotypes, most of them negative. What is happening on "Celebrity Big Brother" is a prime illustration. Shilpa Shetty has been told to go back to the slums, a reference that clearly stems from the stereotype that all Indians are poor. Her accent has been ridiculed; there is a widespread belief in Britain that Indians can't speak English. When she served a slightly undercooked dish of chicken curry to her housemates, she spawned all kinds of comments about the ill health of Indians, which directly reflects another stereotype — Indians are malnourished.
What does one do in the face of such racism? Well, for starters, let's stop beating up on the victim. Yes, Shilpa Shetty is making three crores for her appearance on the show. Yes, she probably joined the show in the hope of kick-starting an acting career in the West. At 31, she must have felt that her days as an actress were numbered in an industry that prizes youth in its female stars. So when the chance to get exposure on British television cropped up, she jumped at it, hoping it would land her a second innings in the West. But then, what is wrong with that? Don't we all do various things to further our prospects in life? Does that mean that we should be subjected to racism? The what-is-she-doing-there line of discussion, going on in some sections of the media, is not only disingenuous, but suspiciously close to the mindset that targets a rape victim for wearing revealing clothes or venturing out in the dark.
It has also been suggested in some quarters that Shilpa Shetty should quit the show in protest. Well, after what happened to me in 2005, I, too, was advised to give up on my Ph.D. at the University of East Anglia. I did not, because I figured that would be bowing to racism. Through hard work and talent, I had earned a place at one of the finest creative writing universities in the world. To give it all up amounted to a sheer waste of effort. By the same token, if Shilpa Shetty walks out now she will be admitting defeat. If she is evicted, then it is a different matter altogether.
Fight back
The best way for her to get back at her oppressors is to stay on the show and, hopefully, win it. She should take her cue from S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old Indian-American, who volunteered to work for Democrat James Webb in his bid to get elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006.
Sidarth's job was to follow Webb's opponent, Republican Senator George Allen, on the campaign trail and videotape his speeches. During one of those speeches, Allen pointed out Sidarth in the crowd and called him a macaca — a genus that includes several species of monkeys found in Asia. Rather than react to Allen, Sidarth coolly videotaped the entire episode, which aired on American national television. Allen was condemned for his racist remark and forced to apologise. That, however, could not save his election bid. Thanks to the racial slur, he ended up losing an election that he was favoured to win.
So Sidarth not only had the last laugh, he hit his tormentor where it hurt the most. That is, by far, the most fitting response to racism.
* * *
The show continues
How the Big Brother fracas happened.
THREE weeks ago when a nervous Shilpa Shetty walked into the "Celebrity Big Brother" house lugging her suitcase to participate in what has been branded as Britain's most grotesquely "freak" TV show, she was met with quizzical "Shilpa-who" looks from other contestants.
"I am from India. I am an actress," she introduced herself hesitantly to a disinterested gaggle of `C' and `D' list celebrities, her fellow housemates for the next 25 days. Since then two dropped out in sheer disgust and two — the mother and daughter team of Jackiey Budden and Jade Goody — have been evicted from the house by viewers.
Household name
Three weeks later and following an international row over her racially tinged ordeal on CBB, Shetty is a household name across Britain. From a non-entity here in Britain, she has become a poster girl for anti-racist activists who even launched a "Save Shilpa" campaign when she was being bullied by Jackiey and Jade, a semi-literate, loud-mouthed pair who thought mocking her Indian accent and calling her "Shilpa poppadom" was funny.
Given the wall-to-wall media coverage of Shetty's "CBB" experience anyone who has not heard of her by now may well have spent the last couple of weeks on another planet. And more fame is on the way if, as seems possible, she wins the CBB contest. "Then she would become a truly international celebrity, and it could just be her ticket to Hollywood," said an excited Shilpa fan.
At the other, contrasting, end is Goody, her tormentor-in-chief on the show. Shetty's rise to fame has been in direct proportion to the collapse of Goody's fortunes. The 25-year-old mother of two came to "CBB" as a mini-celebrity. She became known as a "reality television star" after she won a Big Brother contest in 2002 and, on the back of that dramatic victory, went on to earn an estimated £8 million through fitness DVDs, TV shows, magazine deals, a ghost-written autobiography and a perfume sold under her name.
But thanks to her insulting behaviour towards Shetty, which most people believe has damaged Britain's image, Goody is reported to be facing financial ruin with her career in "tatters", as one newspaper put it. Her perfume has already been removed from the shelves and a number of other deals are said to be in trouble. "Jade lurches from hero to zero", said The Times after she was unceremoniously evicted from the "CBB" house on January 19. A whopping 82 per cent of viewers voted against her in a head-to-head clash with Shetty in what was seen as a collective protest against her conduct. According to an opinion poll in The Guardian 55 per cent people believe that her behaviour was "not typical of modern Britain".
The really bad news for Goody is that the tabloid press, which had built her up, is now baying for her. The Sun, in an editorial, called her previous image a "meticulously manufactured lie". Britain's PR "guru" Max Clifford said she faced an "uphill struggle" to save her career after being accused of racism despite her belated contrition and public apology for behaving the way she did. She was "born on Big Brother" and "maybe she will die on Big Brother," he warned.
The backlash has also affected Danielle Lloyd, a former Ms Great Britain, and a cheerleader for Goody on the show. She lost a lucrative modelling contract for joining Goody in hurling racial abuse at Shetty.
Channel 4's own reputation has been badly damaged by allowing the show to go on despite nationwide protests and a near-diplomatic row with New Delhi. The media regulator Ofcom received an unprecedented 40,000 complaints and government ministers accused the channel of presenting "racism as entertainment". Buoyed by a dramatic boost in viewership figures as a result of the controversy, Channel 4 initially adopted a defiant stand but the penny dropped when Carphone Warehouse, which runs Britain's biggest chain of mobile phone stores, suddenly suspended its £3million-a-year sponsorship of the Big Brother series.
The backlash
Within hours of this bombshell and amid reports that other advertisers were also reconsidering their position, Channel 4 swung into damage-limitation. But by then damage was done and the sudden bonhomie in the house looked as manufactured as the show itself. And Channel 4's chief executive Andy Duncan 's claim that, despite its "uncomfortable" moments, the programme had raised issues that needed to be debated is clearly disingenuous.
The only issue raised by the show is: whether we really need such crass and vulgar television in the name of entertainment. And the answer is "no", as reflected in the growing pressure to scrap the series which, in the words of a former Channel 4 chairman Vanni Treves is a "grotesque travesty" of the channel's public service remit.
Meanwhile, the eviction of Goody is not the end of the story. At the time of writing, the show is still on, and the "Big Brother" has a habit of throwing up nasty surprises when you least expect it. So, don't hold your breath yet.
HASAN SUROOR
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
