This episode is not your average rundown. Today, we explain the geopolitical implications of the Black Lives Matter protests and the government’s response to them. We go over how the protesters’ message went global, how Trump’s response is eroding democratic norms, and how America’s enemies and allies alike are reacting.
Resources and Links:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
INTRO
RYAN:
Hey guys. So we know we promised you a three part series on the Indo-Pacific — which will still be coming, by the way — but we felt it was necessary to address the topic that has been dominating the headlines and has touched the hearts of millions across the globe.Its not a topic that we envisioned covering when we set out to make this podcast, but it’s too important to not cover such a seminal moment in history.
RAMYA:
We, as you probably already know, are talking about the impassioned Black Lives Matter protests happening across the United States, that have transcended borders and cultures and spread internationally. In this episode, we will delve into how the protests and the government response to them has gone global, and the geopolitical implications of it all. Also, we wanted to show our support for this movement.
HUNTER:
A few disclaimers: first, we are not experts on racial inequality in America. There are resources in the show description if you’re looking for education on that issue. Second: we are not a professional media organization. We are just people, like you, who feel that it’s important to speak out on this issue. To that end, this is not a complete–or unbiased–look at what’s going on. For that, please refer to trusted non-partisan media outlets.
HUNTER:
With that out of the way, let’s start with the protests themselves. What started them, and how are they faring now?
POLICE BRUTALITY BACKGROUND
RYAN:
It all started on May 25th, when an unarmed black man named George Floyd was suffocated to death by a white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck as he lay on the ground for nine minutes while onlookers implored Chauvin and the three surrounding officers to stop. His last words were “I can’t breathe”. Floyd’s killing was a tragedy befitting of protest, but there’s more context to this story.
RAMYA:
The unfortunate reality is that George Floyd isn’t the only black person who has been murdered at the hands of law enforcement in America. In fact, it’s the farthest thing from it.
Black Americans have always been and continue to be subjected to systemic racism in America, and police brutality is one of the most painful and destructive ways that this systemic racism manifests.
Since the origins of policing in America, there has been a racial component. From the days of slavery, to Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement the police system has carried with it the legacy of violence against Black people. Even today, in practically every county in the US, the rate at which black people are arrested and killed by the police is greater than any other demographic, despite making up only 17% of the country’s population.
HUNTER:
So what about the Black Lives Matter movement itself, which is more recent. Where did that start?
RYAN:
The Black Lives Matter movement started as a response to the killing of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, and the subsequent acquittal of his killer George Zimmerman in 2012.
That is the kind of injustice that black people face every day in America. It’s the kind of systemic racism that George Floyd faced, and it’s what the Black Lives Matter movement has fought against for almost a decade. So in the face of countless George Floyds and Trayvon Martins occurring every year, decade after decade, the Black American community could rightfully no longer stand by and live in fear of the very people who are supposed to protect their communities.
RAMYA:
George Floyd’s tragic death lit the tinderbox of injustices against Black Americans, and sparked thousands to protest in Minneapolis. This quickly spread to almost every major city in the United States, with protests happening in all 50 states.
The protests resonated with people across the globe — protests in support of George Floyd are happening on every continent (except Antarctica). The sad fact is, every country has experienced a scenario as tragic as George Floyd’s at some point because systemic racism in the police force is prevalent across the world. In many countries where Afro-descendants are minorities, the governments don’t do enough to protect them, and their institutions have enabled racist policies.
HUNTER:
So the government’s response to the protests has been totally against the standards the US usually upholds, but so our listeners understand: why are we talking about this on a foreign policy podcast?
RAMYA:
Well there are a couple of reasons. We’ve already talked about how the protests, while concentrated in the US, have evolved into a global movement that is trying to affect change in many countries all over the world.
Countless other publications are weighing in on the domestic implications of these protests, but we can certainly talk about how this affects international politics. There are two major foreign policy impacts of these protests and the response to them: it fits the pattern of democratic backslide that is occurring around the world, and it severely damages the US’s reputation on the world stage.
HUNTER:
Can you think of any examples from around the world?
GLOBAL PRESENCE OF POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE
RYAN:
Absolutely. Let’s start in the West and work our way East.
Recently, a video of Quebec police officers pulling a Black man out of a vehicle by his hair went viral. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have time and time again been accused of using excessive force in indigenous people and minorities.
In Brazil, which has a considerable Afro-Brazilian population, police brutality against them is shockingly prevalent. In the last decade, just one city — Rio De Janeiro– ‘s law enforcement has killed 7,000 black men.
In the UK, black people are twice as likely to die in custody as white people.
RAMYA:
China has come under fire this year for using the police to evict hundreds of African immigrants from the city of Guangzhou even though they had valid visas and paid their rent. Asia in general has a history of racism and violence against Black people.
In Australia the indigenous peoples are only 3% of the population, but make up 30% of all inmates. Since 1987, 400 indigenous Australians have died in Police custody and none of the officers were charged. Recently, an indigenous man named David Dungay was choked and killed in custody, and his last words were eerily reminiscent of George Floyd, “I can’t breathe”.
RYAN:
And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg, because these policies have been around for decades, if not hundreds of years. The protests in America have unearthed the rot that exists beneath the facade of a free and fair police force, and they’re encouraging people in other countries to do the same. The American protesters have the support of people everywhere, but the same cannot be said for the American government.
POLICE BRUTALITY IN US PROTESTS
HUNTER:
So let’s go back to the United States. What about the rioting and looting that have made headlines? How are those related to the protests?
RAMYA:
There is a line of distinction between the rioting and looting and the majority of protests, which have been peaceful. As in every protest, there have been fringe elements that have used the opportunity to loot storefronts, antagonize police officers, and generally wreak havoc. Those fringe elements have given the police the excuse to use every tool in their arsenal to disperse the crowds. Tear gas, rubber bullets, flash grenades, fire hoses— all in addition to unprovoked and unjustified beatings and arrests on peaceful protesters and looters alike.
Even black politicians like New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie are not safe from indiscriminate acts of violence committed by the police. Senator Myrie was beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested by his own district’s police officers.
RYAN:
We need to be abundantly clear about what is happening right now: the American police are committing acts of police brutality against protesters — who are protesting against police brutality. Reporters, both foreign and American, have been harassed and even arrested by American police, and many brave protesters have taken videos that are available for everyone to see.
HUNTER:
So why are the police responding this way? Who or what is influencing their decision making?
RAMYA:
A significant amount of the violence can be laid at the feet of President Donald Trump, who has been encouraging violent confrontations with the protesters since the day the protests began in Minnesota. In a tweet posted on May 29, Trump said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” voicing his support for violence against protestors, and emboldening law enforcement to escalate conflicts at their own discretion. Shooting looters, unless they are actively threatening another person’s life, is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
RYAN:
What’s more worrying is that in his rhetoric, Trump is using military terminology to refer to the protests. He is calling American cities a “battlespace that needs to be dominated” by law enforcement and local officials. To that end, he has deployed the national guard in DC and other major cities, and has even proposed sending active duty military personnel to quell the protests.
Most egregiously, Trump had a peaceful crowd tear gassed and flash grenaded so that he could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church and take a picture in front of it while holding a bible. And this came after days of Trump failing to address the protests on his doorstep. Under his watch, hundreds of Americans are being injured by the police, and 17 have even lost their lives at the hands of police in these protests.
DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDE
HUNTER:
How does the Trump administration’s actions fit into the pattern of democratic backslide?
RYAN:
Democratic backsliding is essentially the decline of democratic institutions and norms in a country over time. We’ve actually talked about this topic before in our episode called “the Palpatine Playbook”, so check it out for more information. The George Floyd protests have clearly demonstrated the decline of democratic norms in America, mainly the First Amendment. The rampant police brutality is definitely a large part in that, mostly with the police’s crackdown on members of the press.
RAMYA:
There have been multiple cases across the country of journalists being beaten, maced, and arrested even after showing their press credentials, which, in many cases, are issued by the police.
In DC, the police, on live TV, chased and beat down Australian reporters who were covering the protests. This is in addition to arrests of American reporters on live TV, like Omar Jimenez of CNN. The police know who these people are and they still assault and arrest journalists, who are protected from these circumstances by the First Amendment’s freedom of the press. Cracking down on the free press is a tactic used by dictators everywhere, including Viktor Orban in our episode on “Hungary for Power”, so it is a play out of the authoritarian playbook.
HUNTER:
What about the role that Trump plays in all this? I know he’s threatened to use the military to quell the unrest, and that seems like a very dangerous precedent.
RYAN:
President Trump is definitely contributing to the democratic backsliding going on in America. He is currently debating on whether or not to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 as a way to get active duty military personnel involved with resisting the protests.
On June 1st, he said if any state “refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
RAMYA:
That would involve implementing martial law in those states, which would effectively put the basic rights and safety of the American public in the hands of Donald Trump, as he is commander in chief.
Trump’s former Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke out on Wednesday against such a plan of action, stating that using the military in such a way would cross a line that would erode the military’s apolitical nature and destroy any trust that Americans may have in their military.
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
HUNTER:
That obviously has serious implications for American democratic norms. But I wanted to transition to the second geopolitical impact of this. During a press conference with George Floyd’s family on Wednesday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump repeatedly chanted “All The World is Watching”. And he was right: the world is watching. How the US responds to this directly affects how the world views it. So let’s dive into that–what does this mean for America’s reputation in the world?
RYAN:
If you’ve been following our episodes, you may have noticed a pattern, in which the final takeaway to a lot of our topics regarding the United States is that the US has been losing or giving up influence across the world since Trump took office.
These protests are another example to fit the pattern, but they’re also much more than that. It comes down to the concept of American exceptionalism. What that means is that the US and its people view it as not just a powerful country, but the greatest country the world has ever seen with a duty to spread that greatness everywhere, and that comes with an inherent feeling of moral superiority. More than any other country, the US uses its own democratic values to lead by example, and to be able to speak from a moral high ground when denouncing others. Losing that superiority is a death sentence to the current US foreign policy.
RAMYA:
The reaction to the Black Lives Matter protests from the police and the government are fundamentally against what America promotes throughout the world, and goes against American exceptionalism.
In fact, they’re exactly what America condemns in other countries, like when Trump tweeted his support for Iranian and Hong Kong protesters, and implored their leaders to meet with the protesters and solve the problem peacefully.
Such words ring hollow when Trump, on May 31st, hid in the secret White House bunker while protests raged on outside and turned off the exterior lights of the White House — lights which have only ever gone out for the death of a president.
Blatant hypocrisy such as this is deadly for any nation’s reputation, but none more so than the United States. It makes a country and its leaders look untrustworthy and certainly not morally superior. So we need to be clear: the international ramifications for these protests will do huge and lasting damage to the US’s reputation and soft power, because nobody likes a hypocrite.
HUNTER:
So how have other world powers reacted to this?
RYAN:
You can see the international backlash already. China and Russia have been commenting on the state of the protests and the govt response. An editorial in the Global Times, a chinese state-sponsored paper, stated, “How ruthless these U.S. politicians are. They condemned Hong Kong police simply for the latter’s use of tear gas and water cannon against violent rioters. The U.S. unrest just began a few days ago, but police already fired shots at protesters before efforts for peaceful dialogue were even made.”
For more information on the Hong Kong protests, check out our most recent episode “Twilight in Hong Kong”.
Moving on, Russia, a frequent target of US human rights denouncements, made a statement through Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zhakharova, who said “it’s time for the U.S. to drop the mentor’s tone and look in the mirror.” The problem with these statements from Russia and China is that they are completely true, but it still stings to be chastised by the world’s two biggest problem children.
HUNTER:
I mean it’s to be expected that the US’s enemies would try to take advantage of this. But what about its allies?
RAMYA:
Even US allies are condemning the police and govt response to the protests. The Australian Prime Minister has called for formal complaints for the assault on the two Australian journalists in Washington DC.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when asked to comment on Trump’s tear gassing of protesters for a photo op, paused for over 20 seconds, and said that he looked upon the moment with “horror and consternation”.
The EU Foreign Policy Chief called the ongoing police brutality “an abuse of power that needs to be condemned”. These are some of the US’s strongest allies. To see them step up and decry the police brutality shows that the US may have lost much of the influence and moral authority that it worked for decades if not centuries to achieve.
RYAN:
More than just government officials, the people in countries across the globe are protesting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against the US government. That means that the US government has lost the hearts and minds of people abroad, a valuable resource for asserting US influence. No longer will people in Europe, Africa, Asia, or anywhere else look to the US as a safe place to live or work, and will no longer believe that US culture and values are worth emulating. In the past, they’ve looked to the US as a bastion of freedom and democracy, but that may no longer the case. Inevitably, this will have a bigger impact on US influence in the world than governments voicing complaints.
TAKEAWAYS
HUNTER:
So it’s time to transition into our final takes. Guys, what should our listeners take from this episode, if they remember nothing else?
RYAN:
These protests have spread across the US and the rest of the world. The killing of George Floyd has unearthed the deep history of racism in the American police force that has resonated in countries like Australia, UK, Brazil, and many others. What this is demonstrating is that Black Lives Matter is no longer a question of politics, so much as it is a call for human decency and fairness, a systemic change that needs to happen everywhere racism exists. And the protests are igniting change in their wake. America must come to grips with its past in order to adequately respond to the protests and really work to end systemic racism in America. Only then can the US be as exceptional as its government and people believe it to be.
RAMYA:
The rampant police brutality in the face of the protests has been nothing short of unjust. The crackdown on journalists and threats of martial law display a disturbing backslide in US democratic norms.
The hypocrisy of promoting freedom and equality in the world and simultaneously denying its citizens those freedoms has eroded American moral authority on an unprecedented scale. In the midst, while enemies like Russia and China are swooping in to self-promote, key US allies like Australia, Canada, and the EU are condemning the US. America is in a seminal moment in history: How President Trump and Black Lives Matter leaders resolve these protests will echo throughout the world. Resolve it peacefully, and we may see a new era of freedoms in the world. End it violently, however, and America, even the world as we know it, may forever cling to racism and the mistreatment of minorities and protesters everywhere.
HUNTER:
That’s it for our episode today. Next week we’ll dive into the Indo Pacific. Please remember to rate and subscribe on Itunes, Spotify, or however you’re listening. If you’re interested in learning more about the protests, we have links to some resources in the episode description. As always thank you for listening, this has been Geopolitics…Rundown.