Thread Reader
ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩

ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩
@kunley_drukpa

Mar 14, 2023
19 tweets
Twitter

DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORIES: A Compilation Compilation Thread of posts about Countries in which Diversity, of different kinds, has led to general social decline, ethnic displacement and conflict. The aim is to show that there are very few Countries which ‘Diversity’ has improved

Broadly, extreme levels of Diversity in Societies tend to produce out-group animosities as different groups inevitably compete for physical and cultural space - Imagining that groups will be indifferent to fluctuating demographics, historical vendettas etc. is mostly Utopian
LEBANON Lebanon was one of the wealthiest Countries in the Middle East when it had strict laws on representation in Government. When Demographics changed due to an influx of Palestinian refugees, it fell into Civil War and today suffers corruption, hyperinflation, blackouts etc
LEBANON: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY A diverse region home to different groups who had progressive low level ethnic conflicts for centuries, Lebanon’s diversity is so strong that when thousands of refugee Muslims fled there and changed its demographics it had an Ethnic Civil War!
TIBET Tibet, (as well Regions like XinJiang and Hong Kong,) has been subjected to top-down change to bring it into the Chinese Whole. This includes marginalisation of Tibet Culture and Language as well as artificial Demographic change through mass migration of Han settlers
TIBET: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY Once non-diverse, Tibet was lifted out of its backwardness by the Chinese Communist Party - who helped diversify Tibet by sending ethnic Han settlers. Tibet now shares its culture and demography with Chinese peasant migrants. What an improvement!
YUGOSLAVIA Like many Hyper-Diverse Societies, Yugoslavia was kept together by Political Force that obscured the Ethnic Animosities its constituent groups held. When it collapsed (lit. Balkanised in The Balkans) these animosities and ethnic chauvinisms led to conflict
YUGOSLAVIA: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY A Country very progressively created with Ethnicities with centuries of historical grievances towards each other, when Strongman Rule collapsed Yugoslavia DID NOT fall apart and those Ethnic Resentments DID NOT devolve into War and Genocide!
SOUTH AFRICA South Africa has no fewer than 10-15 major Ethnic Groups. After Apartheid power fell to mostly incompetent, corrupt officials who, among other failures, excused many systemic problems on the grounds of legacy inequalities. Crime and dysfunctionality continue to grow
SOUTH AFRICA: A DIVERSITY SUCESS STORY Historically the World’s least prosperous Country, thankfully once Mandela was released from prison and Apartheid ended everybody lived happily ever after and South Africa is now not obsessed with race as its infrastructure doesn’t crumble
IRAQ Iraq as a post-Empire creation encompassed three major, disparate Groups - and it almost inevitably fell into sectarian animosities. Saddam may have obscured this, as Ottoman Hegemony had historically, but the collapse of centralised power deepened and emboldened them
IRAQ: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY When creating a new country, why not just stick loads of different groups in it? In fact, the more groups in it the better. If Iraq *does* have a problem it’s that it only has 3 major groups when it should have at least 10. Iraq is very successful
PAPUA NEW GUINEA Papua is the most linguistically and culturally diverse Country on the Planet and also one of the most violent. Low-level tribal warfare is common and corruption in Governance has seen little infrastructure built. There are no roads between major cities
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY The most linguistically and culturally diverse country on the Planet, still tribal Papua also has one of the World’s highest crime rates and cities lack roads between them. With 840 languages spoken presumably it’s otherwise functional
BRAZIL Hyper-Diverse Brazil suffers from near-intractable corruption, crime and inequality and Bipartisan Politics. In some respects, Countries like Brazil are a model for Western Countries insofar as these problems, unaddressed, can lead to sub-First World ‘Standards of Living’
BRAZIL: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY The World’s most racially diverse nation, Brazil is categorically not beset with intractable corruption, crime or inequality or polarised politics. The word ‘Brazilification’ describes a Country becoming more successful because of its Diversity
ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe is an example of a Country where purported Moral Concerns, RE in this case Ethnic Rights, have lead to a complete collapse in the competency, and other basic social codes of self-conduct generally, that are needed to run a (former) First World Country
ZIMBABWE: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY Once the failed state Rhodesia, Zimbabwe won Independence after being aided by every Western Country. As Whites left and so as Zimbabwe became more Diverse, it beat back hyperinflation, failed land reform and corruption and is now a Superpower
ZANZIBAR On Zanzibar, a racial caste system had long distinguished African Slaves from Occupying Arabs. When conditions for liberation came about, this Historical Vendetta did not translate into Racial Equality - instead it erupted into ethnic violence and horrific massacres
ZANZIBAR: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY Super-diverse Zanzibar had all the recipes for success: East Africa’s biggest slave trade, a racial caste system, Black communist groups - and then, somehow, there was a Revolution in which thousands of people were massacred along ethnic lines
LIBERIA Freedom from Slavery did not make African Americans more sympathetic to the plight of Africans. On their return to Africa, they instituted a caste system between themselves and the natives - building the resentment for a century which led to their overthrow and Civil War
LIBERIA: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY After freed African-American Slaves were encouraged to move back to Africa to create ‘their own Country for Coloreds’, they created their own Apartheid too - segregating themselves from Native Africans living there. Liberia soon became a Utopia
BURMA Burma is a Country where anxieties about Demographic and Cultural displacement, as well as the conduct of incoming Groups posing that threat, have resulted in conflict and political consequences which seem alien to outsiders wanting the Country to develop in a certain way
BURMA: A DIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY Burma is a Buddhist Country with a long history - but what if Muslim, non-ethnic Burmese Rohingya were introduced in increasing numbers and the Country was told to become a pluralistic power-sharing Democracy by the UN? Surely nobody would object
BHUTAN (Thread) - As a contrast, Bhutan is an example of a Country which began to see many of the problems inherent in ‘Diversity’ developing - and took action to resolve them before they established themselves too deeply. As a consequence, Bhutan no longer faces these issues
🇧🇹 WHY BHUTAN FORCIBLY EVICTED ITS ETHNIC MINORITIES In the 1990s, Bhutan underwent a rapid demographic change: In 1985, Ethnic Minorities had been 25-45% of Bhutan’s Population. By 1996, over 100,000 of those Minorities, 1/6th of the Population, had been forced out of Bhutan 🧵
The Above are only some Examples of ‘Diversity’ creating Conflict. See also Countries like: Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Fiji, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, The Central African Republic, Rwanda, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mali, Israel, Indonesia, Chechnya and The Caucuses, Northern Ireland etc.
As Qualifier, some Proponents of Diversity may point to Countries like Singapore or Switzerland, or eg Canada, France, the US, the UK, Germany etc as places where ‘it works’. There are reasons for this -
In the later examples, ‘Diversity’ so introduced is a relatively new phenomenon in Historical Terms - capitalising on high existing levels of Social Trust and Institutional Stability. You can expect that as time goes on that Social Trust and Institutional Stability will decline
Switzerland is federalised, had close to a homogenous population ethnically and formed in particular historical circumstances. Singapore is an artificial, authoritarian construct with stable demographics that forces integration and removes liberties to achieve social cohesiveness
In All, while ‘Kinds of Diversity’ are possible, generally the greater the Diversity in categories like Ethnicity, Religion, Intelligence, Historical Attachments etc., the more Authoritarian the types of interventions needed in a Society to sustain a ‘High-Level’ of Functionality
ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩
ʟᴇᴠᴇʟ-ʜᴇᴀᴅᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʀᴇᴅɪʙʟᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ || 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 for the ℝ𝕖𝕡𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕔 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕕 འབྲུག་
Follow on Twitter
Missing some tweets in this thread? Or failed to load images or videos? You can try to .