When I first went abroad, there was tremendous pressure on how I must act, to be able to cut into the new culture and while I understood “when in Rome do what the Ro-mans do” held great significance, I was not exactly prepared to be scrutinized for my way of living. The general feeling of being an outcaste if you did not act a certain way was a handicap for me.
The thing about the western world is the unacceptance towards the cultural aspects of other ethnicities – and while I do not entirely blame them, it would be a completely different world if they widened their horizons and showed compassion towards the minorities of their country. It is one thing for the ethnicities to happily adapt to the western norms and standards of your country, but quite another to do it out of fear of being left isolated.
Shakira from Manchester UK mentions, “I have found that all diverse communities form small pockets of their own society within the West, almost a defence mechanism against adversity and from the fear of rejection more importantly”.
“As a visible Muslim I’ve felt on edge in every country, whether that be due to the classism and internalized inferiority complexes of my own country, or the more obvi-ous racism in the West. I find myself drawn to other children of immigrants, our shared experience is unspoken but, palpable, we form communities and look out for each other. As a third generation immigrant this has always been a part of me and I’ve never thought anything of it. It wasn’t until the recent anti- immigrant riots in the UK that I really reflected on this. The algorithm has perpetuated this extremist society where every faction is fed more and more propaganda bringing it to a boil”, says T Iqbal from Birmingham UK.
Hira from Calgary Canada says, “As a young Muslim girl, growing up in a western society wearing the hijab was not an easy task. Many of them, thinking I couldn’t hear would enunciate their words or speak loudly. With the younger generation, it wasn’t always so direct. You weren’t first choice when teams were being selected, boys would roll their eyes if they were partnered with you, and some of the girls would look at you with both pity and superiority”.
Above are some of the few I got a chance to interview on the subject, and what is common is the sense of prejudice each one feels from their respective countries they are living in. It is not always so direct and can often seem camouflaged to an extent but the white supremacy is something you can simply not ignore. The whole idea of expecting others to comply, because you simply do not understand their mannerism well enough, is quite bizarre. While there are many who would happily adapt to the new way of living, there remains a good proportion of those who would only succumb to it, out of the fear of not being accepted and that is not the world we should be living in 2024.
—The writer is contributing columnist based in Islamabad.
