Best of times...

Byline: I.A. Rehman

JUNE 2020. What a wonderful time to be living in! How glorious the wave of resistance - to one of the worst forms of discrimination - that has swept the West, from America to Europe.

Scores of black Americans have been brutally murdered by white policemen in the US over the past many years. There have been protests and flashes of anger among the victims on each occasion and then the ugly occurrences have been consigned to oblivion. But when on May 25 last a white Minneapolis policeman put his heavy boot on the neck of George Floyd and squeezed the life out of his body, he also unleashed a mini revolution.

For several weeks, the people of the US bared their wounded conscience in 140 cities. At least six people were killed in attacks on protesters across the US and curfew had to be imposed in several cities.

Young black Americans were not only pouring out their anger, they were also vowing to fight racism. They painted their new slogan, 'Black Lives Matter', across wide surfaces. It was great to find them speaking in the language the world had not heard since Martin Luther King had spoken of his dream.

It's good to be living in times when black Americans and white allies are challenging arrogant rulers.

Donald Trump threatened to use troops to target the demonstrators. He was shouted down by his own defence experts. Even the Republican worm turned. Former secretary of state Colin Powell said he would vote for Trump's Democratic rival. Former president George W. Bush declared he won't support Trump. The black protesters were joined by a sizeable number of their white compatriots.

The op-ed editor of The New York Times' resigned his post following internal protests against the publication of an article in support of Trump's call to arms. In the US and elsewhere, many journalists took heart that the world had not become devoid of defenders of the dignity of their calling.

The call against racism crossed the US frontiers and spread to Canada and European countries. Britons woke up to their own contribution to racist politics. They pulled down the statue of a slave trader in Bristol and didn't leave Churchill's statue untouched. The statues of Columbus and Leopold have been damaged, and the murder of Lumumba recalled. George Floyd has been buried, but the demonstrations have continued.

It seems some things have changed forever. At least many cities will have fewer statues in their boulevards. However, the anti-racism wave might...