The White Establishment – Part II

By Vusi Moloi © 2008

The White Establishment - Part I
The White Establishment – Part III


This article is a sequel to the previous article The White Establishment which demonstrated that whiteness was invented as a dual apparatus to unplug the camaraderie of an English worker from revolutionary attempts of rebellion against the English master and also to extend and entrench the rights and privileges of an English worker in the overseas plantations. This narrow tent of English whiteness was later expanded to accommodate other non-English like the Dutch, the Scots, the Irish, and others in order to isolate and keep the African worker out in the cold of economic deprivation. Our current economy of English capitalism is a derivative of this previous economy of racial slavery.

The Canadian Context

We pursue this important topic of the white establishment with more specificity as experienced in the Canadian context. Comparing Canada with others is like chalk and cheese in that we gain a different appreciation of the white establishment through her unique and consistent use of finesse to exact gentle oppression upon the non-English.

Separatist Tendencies versus Revolutionary Tendencies

We see the contrarian results of this unusual phenomenon among the African descendents of Ottawa who exhibit a variety of separatist tendencies as opposed to revolutionary tendencies despite the fact that they comprise the most painfully oppressed and single largest visible minority group in the National Capital region as respectively confirmed by the inquiring Commission of the former United Nations Ambassador the Honourable Steven Lewis (sanctioned by the Government of Ontario) and Statistics Canada.

For some of you who may not know, some years ago the former Ontario Premier Bob Rae commissioned Steven Lewis to investigate the issues of visible minority people in Ontario and one of the places he visited was Ottawa and he was shocked to learn that the African descendents were a distinct group that suffered more from the indignity of racial discrimination than any other group. In his report this is what Stephen Lewis said:

“First, what we are dealing with, at root, and fundamentally, is anti-Black racism. While it is obviously true that every visible minority community experiences the indignities and wounds of systemic discrimination throughout Southern Ontario, it is the Black community which is the focus. It is Blacks who are being shot, it is Black youth that is unemployed in excessive numbers, it is Black students who are being inappropriately streamed in schools, it is Black kids who are disproportionately dropping-out, it is housing communities with large concentrations of Black residents where the sense of vulnerability and disadvantage is most acute, it is Black employees, professional and non-professional, on whom the doors of upward equity slam shut. Just as the soothing balm of 'multiculturalism` cannot mask racism, so racism cannot mask its primary target. It is important, I believe, to acknowledge not only that racism is pervasive, but that at different times in different places, it violates certain minority communities more than others.” Stephen Lewis, Report on Race Relations in Ontario (Toronto: 1992).

Commemoration of the Abolition of the Slave Trade


Many thanks to Jaku Konbit of Ottawa, Canada for this Youtube video.

Injecting the Vibes of Rebellion

A sense of political or economic oppression, like any other form of social control, has a way of injecting the vibes of rebellion against a perceived system of oppression with the result that an oppressed individual loses fear of reprisal in a daring attempt to break and shake off the chains of oppression. The reason for the rebellion is that when an organism is restrained by some oppressive force, the organism feels deprived of important freedoms and this engenders a sense of being cornered or contained. As a naturally free organism, you are biologically programmed to resist captivity because any form of captivity (veiled or otherwise) curtails your freedom and poses a threat to your survival. For this reason, curtailment of your political or economic freedoms is a survival reducing experience which you must resist in order to maximize your survival as well as that of others.

The unintended revolutionizing effect of being politically or economically disenfranchised is analogous to a powerful African yeast which injects potent vibes of rebellion into the receptive dough causing the dough to rise against those that seek to cover it inside a steel cage of a restraining pot. The more they cover the dough, the faster it rises and sometimes explodes like a canister that refuses to bow to the routine of unquestioning obedience and unanswering acceptance. The dough is so serious about this state of affairs that it will rather go down as a fighting bread than live like a docile dough.

The dough finds it unacceptable to be muzzled and will resist in spite of the stringent consequences associated with refusing to toe the line of docility. Even when the dough has been overpowered and compelled to stay put inside a pot, the dough continues to make its presence felt by causing the pot to seethe with froth in frustration at not being able to prevail against the dough.

Interestingly, this agitated attempt at gaining freedom is not replicated in my lengthy observation of the African descendents of Ottawa who apparently disavow the trajectory of revolutionary uprising as observed in our agitated dough. Instead, the gentle oppressive system of Ottawa has, on the face of it, inculcated a sense of unquestioning obedience or at best a repressed sense of rebellion that is atypical of the African dough which agitates for change. It’s as if the architects of the Ottawa establishment have synthesized some arresting powers of sorcery which reliably spook the African descendents so that they back away from attempting to revolt against their own oppression.

This gentle version of the white establishment, as observed in the great and beautiful society of Ottawa, is like a beautiful tapestry whose thread follows a path of flawless execution.

The poem The Gentle Exclusion from the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles tackles this esoteric subject:

“They invite to participate
To offer assistance necessary
Yet sabotage behind the scene
Leaves no trace yet to be seen
The gentle exclusion
Impossible to prove sabotage
Subjecting them to more disadvantage” Vusi Moloi, The Gentle Exclusion (Arizona: 2007)

In a contextual commentary of The Gentle Exclusion we read these lines:

“The great and beautiful society of Ottawa has perfected the gentle art of genuine friendliness towards her natives and the non-natives alike. Credit goes to the unbeatable English tradition which places a premium on social optics. Unlike other societies that use a hard and straight stick of ruthlessness towards non-natives, Ottawa uses a gentle and curvaceous carrot stick. Since a carrot stick is sweet, despite being hard enough, it can never be unambiguously determined whether it is there as a nurturing or punitive apparatus” Vusi Moloi, The Gentle Exclusion(Arizona: 2007)

The fact that it’s a formidable task to analyze and disambiguate the Canadian experience in terms of the white establishment speaks to the sophistication of gentle oppression. The impact of such a woolly system of apparent compassion (perhaps to pull wool over our face?) is further explored in The Gentle Exclusion:

“It’s interesting that even when the carrot stick has been applied punitively, though randomly, the victim is still left with the aftermath of sweetness oozing from the carrot stick effectively preempting any revolutionary uprising on the part of the oppressed.” Vusi Moloi, The Gentle Exclusion (Arizona: 2007)

The Central Starting Point

The White establishment has entrenched itself as a central starting point of acceptance, recognition and validation of self, ideas and culture. It defines the standards of beauty, etiquette, fashion, cuisine, as well as the analysis, formulation and dissemination of ideas. A person’s master motive must be transparent and reflective of an instinctive hero worship of the English to facilitate a trouble-free acceptance by the establishment.

This modus operandi is a trade off system whereby the non-English degrade their cultural identity in exchange for gaining acceptance as "civilized" members of the lily white English. This precondition of acceptance determines the degree of connectedness or lack thereof in terms of the establishment. Those who refuse to shed their cultural identity by disowning their authentic traditions and expressing an unthinking adoption of the ways of the English will be passed over for opportunities of advancement in favour of the more conformist kind even though they may be less worthy of what is presented to them. The non-English must be willing to make an emotional sacrifice by reproducing and affirming the ways of the English.

The French Canadians

The African descendents neglect to appreciate the fact that racial discrimination is not exclusive to them. Other groups like the French have suffered and continue to suffer under the Anglo Saxon majority. As already discussed in the previous article of The White Establishment, the operational strategy behind the White establishment is not about hate but rather economic and political control. If you challenge the establishment on these fronts then you shall be damned in the same way when you stir up a hornet’s nest. A horde of determined wasp forces of reaction will swarm around you (no pun intended!) .

The Great Canadian Robert Campeau

A specific example, which illustrates a case in point, pertains to the great Canadian Robert Campeau who tasted the ferocity of the English establishment when he suddenly found himself on a collision course with the English heavyweights in his daring attempts to acquire Royal Trustco which was under the leadership of the highly regarded Canadian military hero Kenneth White.

Campeau was born in what is affectionately referred to as the "rough and tumble" City of Sudbury in the Northern part of Ontario. I first learnt about Sudbury from a French-Canadian lady who schooled with me in Ottawa. Although she was French-Canadian, she spoke no word of French and even the way she pronounced her French name was suspect. This was typical of some French-Canadian families who abandoned their French language in the hopes of gaining acceptance into the English establishment. The family of Robert Campeau were different in that they proudly embraced their French language regardless of the risks associated with it.

From Humble Beginnings

Although he came from humble beginnings, the self-made Campeau rose like a high speed rocket to become the most powerful real estate builder in the National Capital Region of Ottawa and to some extent in Toronto as well as a force to be reckoned with in the USA where he acquired the Federated Department Stores now Macy’s (parent company of Bloomingdale, the American gemstone of Calvin Klein’s high calibre fashion). The media tycoon Conrad Black helped Campeau to gain a foothold in Toronto. Iconic places like Place de Ville, Baseline, Billings Bridge, Elmvale Acres, Harbourfront Castle Hotel, Scotia Plaza (second tallest skyscraper in Toronto), Hull Quebec, Skyline Hotel (now Crown Plaza Hotel), among others, were built by Robert Campeau. One of my first jobs in Canada was with Transport Canada at Place deVille and there was one particular building named Campeau.

Campeau was the most impressive individual as I learnt more about him but the English Canadians had not given him his well deserved credit. I had gained my admiration of Campeau as a result of perusing the Ottawa Citizen Newspaper for accommodation upon my arrival in Canada. I had been blown away by the fact that the best listed houses had “Campeau built” in their advertising. I wanted to know the meaning of this. I found out that Campeau had transformed himself into such a high calibre builder that his name had become associated with high quality. He had accomplished what was not easy to accomplish and that was to build a Campeau brand.

The Ottawa Jewish family of Irving Greenberg (founders of Minto; former Mayor Larry Greenberg belongs to the same family) were green with envy towards Campeau development projects to an extent that they used spies to gather intelligence and steal secrets of how Campeau built his homes in order to copy his successful model. We know today that Minto failed dismally at that because many Minto houses leak, are riddled with rats and their occupants are among the most unhappy people I have ever seen. I lived in some Minto buildings and became traumatized one evening when a rat, which came out of nowhere, fixed its irritable eyes on me when I entered the apartment as if I was the intruder in the building. We called Minto to take care of the problem and all that they did was to suggest that we get mousetraps and put peanut butter on them. That is Minto for you in a nutshell and people of Ottawa generally have no high regard for Minto because all that they did was put butter on our face.

The French Oppressed by the English

The impressive Canadian writers Catherine Mulroney together with Michael Babad in Campeau: The Building of an Empire and Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos in The Voices From French Ontario, among others, recount Campeau’s abrasive impressions about his humble beginnings. We learn from these great writers that the French people of Sudbury had to fight for two things (1) to defend and preserve their French heritage and (2) to press hard to get ahead in the world that treated them as second class citizens.

Campeau was irked by the fact that life was made easier for the Finns and Ukrainians while the French retrogressed. This instilled, inside him, a stubborn will to succeed against impossible odds. His determination, like a steamroller, was ready to beat the uncharted path for a new way of attaining his dream of success. Campeau’s irked voice is intrinsic in his narration of those experiences as recorded by Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos:

“Everyone resented us because we wouldn’t give up our language. That was why we had more trouble getting ahead in the mines and other places.” Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, The Voices From French Ontario (McGill-Queens University Press: 1982).

Sheila further refers to other harsh experiences whereby a French-Canadian felt like a Black person in an English classroom. This fact resonates with my personal experiences. Most of the time I was the only Black student in a Canadian classroom during my College and University studies and I vividly recollect the punitive experiences of being put down, ignored, suppressed, or degraded by an English professor for challenging some instances of stereotyped portrayal of Africa and her people. I am, however, proud that one gutsy stance I took at Carleton University resulted in a course of African History being subsequently taught by a more qualified African scholar with passion about Africa as opposed to an English professor who, despite good intentions, showed no qualms in perpetuating the falsification of African civilization. I would not allow that because I didn’t want my children or those of other people to be miseducated under a racially prejudiced and sexist education system.


Ottawa O-Trains at Carleton University


Thanks to Condorcounter for this Youtube video.


The Invariant of the English Establishment

The English establishment invariably expects two things of the non-English (1) unquestioning obedience towards the English and (2) unanswering acceptance of the ways of the English. Any departure from this mode of existence is likely to be met with some stringent consequences. This is what happened to Robert Campeau. He provoked an unbridled fervour of the English establishment by staging a takeover of one of the jewels of the English financial institutions Royal Trustco and by so doing he inadvertently dislodged a raw nerve of the English at the core and the White establishment would not let him get away unscathed.

Royal Trustco CEO Kenneth White

Kenneth White was a military hero who became the CEO of Royal Trustco. He had made Royal Trustco a success and this was his baby he had worked so hard to nurture and grow. Despite his Jewish ancestry, Kenneth White was very much a lily White English man in every sense of the word. How can one be Jewish and English at the same time? The answer lies in the fact that since the end of the Second World War; after the English colonizers departed from Palestine, the Jewish and the English have formed an inseparable alliance for better or for worse.

The Jewish people have hinged their permanent survival on a symbiotic relationship with the English. Any ally of the English must mirror the fears and hopes of the English so that he or she can instinctively defend the English establishment with unqualified loyalty. The Englishness of White should be seen in that context. White had no use for the non-English like the French Canadian Campeau. Moreover, he had a basis of discontent against the French and along with other English business establishments, White had moved the headquarters of Royal Trustco from Montreal to Toronto in protest of the Quebecois people asserting their self-determination. The English saw the Quebec revolutionary movement as a threat to their business interests. As mentioned in the previous article, the fundamental premise of racial capitalism is the economic and political control for the benefit of the English interests.

When Campeau visited him on his farm in Montreal on August 27, 1980 White was excited as he thought that Campeau had come to bring more business to Royal Trustco and this seemed reasonable since Royal Trustco had a successful real estate business arm. Conversely, Robert Campeau had come to courteously communicate his intentions of acquiring Royal Trustco. White was taken aback and couldn’t believe his ears. One of the most shocking comments White made was when he reportedly said that the acquisition of Royal Trustco by Campeau was not good for the French and English relations something which puzzled Campeau since he was merely making a business statement and not a racial statement but for White it was about protecting the interests of the English race.

White went on to mobilize his friends including the present day Toronto Dominion Bank, Royal Bank (future owner of Royal Trustco), some powerful Jewish families and others to ward off a take-over by a French Canadian. This battle of the titans can be better described by a South African Sesotho expression “lerole la dikatse” which means “a fierce feline dust” as a result of the clash of ferocious cats on the African dry ground where the dust gets so intense that it’s impossible to tell the cats apart. By the time the dust settled, Campeau had lost that bid and thirteen years later the Royal Bank acquired Royal Trustco. The overzealous White broke the laws of insider trading in the Province of Ontario as a result of the Campeau affair and the Ontario Securities Commission banned White from trading in the Toronto Stock Exchange for a period of two months. In the meanwhile this had had a damaging impact on the business interests of Campeau. It’s worth noting that White and his friends had launched a variety of court cases in both Canada and USA including a complaint in the OSC against Campeau’s bid but all those efforts fell flat. It was then that White and friends used brute force to thwart Campeau’s takeover which resulted in the OSC rules being violated.

Catherine Mulroney tells us that this was the most bruising experience which Robert Campeau had ever encountered and for which he had no foresight. This harsh experience stained Campeau towards the English establishment and he would never recover from such a deep hurt. When he got into trouble with his American businesses, the Canadian English establishment was gloating. The most respected Canadian Journalist of Jewish descent and a distinguished member of the English press Paul Newman had some castigating and uncomplimentary things to say about his fellow Canadian. As a disenfranchised outsider in the Canadian milieu, I found it regrettable for an enterprising Canadian of the stature of Campeau to be backstabbed by his fellow countrymen in what is otherwise the great and beautiful country of Canada.

In 2006 I met the Italian Mayor of Ottawa Bob Chiarelli along with his Chief Protocol Officer. Mayor Chiarelli was the most beloved Mayor of the City of Ottawa. I proposed to the Chief Protocol Officer that I wanted to do a documentary project based on the life of Robert Campeau. He referred me to the appropriate people to communicate with, which I did. My goal was to do this as part of the 150th celebration of the City of Ottawa. Moreover, Campeau built Ottawa and it was only fitting to pay tribute to him. I waited for a couple of weeks until I got a rejection notification by email that there was no budget to support my initiative even though I had not been invited to submit my proposal. On what basis was my proposition rejected? Needless to say I was disappointed by that.

It’s incredible that a great Canadian who built most of Ottawa, befriended Canada’s most famous Prime Ministers Elliott Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien and others and yet there is no monument that honours him. It’s not hard to find the English monuments which honour the English but not much for this great individual. Why is that? Because he refused to be subservient to the English? Because he threatened the economic interests of the English? There is more to it than that and this remains a baffling mystery.

Conclusion

We have shown that the economic interests of racial capitalism disenfranchise the non-English while advancing the strategic interests of the English. The African descendents suffer more under this system than anyone else and yet the African descendents continue to be hampered by separatist tendencies and fear of a revolutionary uprising. Will there be a change of heart which will lead the African descendents towards reclaiming their rightful place? Or has the establishment succeeded in muzzling the discussion (it’s taboo in Ottawa to talk about the harsh experience of oppression unless it pertains to some foreign people in some far away land)?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, "Zulumathabo" on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.