Insainsbury's

The notion of being anti-capitalist is at risk of appearing anachronistic; however, there was a reason that a great number of popular figures throughout the 20th century were devoutly, and vehemently, against capitalism. From Malcolm to Fidel to Walter Rodney, all were explicit in the stances they took against what they saw as ‘evil’; while each of them resisted in their respective ways, they all had a clear understanding of what exactly needed to be overcome for the benefit of humankind. Although there has been a noticeable and much-needed resurgence in the politicisation of the masses, particularly amongst the youth, in the wake of the execution of George Floyd by United States Police, the anguish and angst that it has elicited throughout the UK seems, often, to be misplaced and confused.
 
All manner of corporations have been cashing in on the antiracist trend, most recently, Sainsbury’s have taken a punt at it in their latest ad; there is nothing particularly arresting about this advert unless, of course, you don’t like black people in which case it might not be for you. There has been a selection of people who have taken to social media to vent over the ‘angst and anguish’ which has been caused by the affront of seeing black people on their television; one person even went as far as describing the ordeal as ‘absolutely sickening’. Of course, in reaction to these outpourings, there have been corresponding outpourings from people on the other side of the spectrum. The Voice of Colour has released a post sharing the reactions to the advert, “for those people who say racism isn’t a problem in the UK anymore”. Even though there is merit to such activities, one can’t help but feel like we are missing the point; these are examples of individual racism and, though they are certainly a symptom that must be addressed, giving too much attention to such acts and indiscretions we risk obscuring the bigger picture.
 
This advert would have you believe that Sainsbury’s are, in fact, champions of diversity, crusading against white supremacy, fighting the heroes' fight by showing a multiethnic Britain which they are proud to be part of…What an inspiring notion! At this point, it is, perhaps, worth looking at Sainsbury’s board of directors to examine whether or not they live up to the lofty cosmopolitan and egalitarian ideals they would have us believe they uphold. Let’s play a game! Of the 18 people sitting on their board of directors and operating board, how many ethnic minorities do we think there will be? I will pause here to allow you to come up with an answer……….The answer is one. What is even more curious, is that when inspecting the date she was admitted to the board of directors, we notice that it was in July of this year, so if you had guessed none, as I did, you weren’t far wrong. Now, if you cast your minds back to July, you will remember that this was only the month after the BLM protests following the murder of George Floyd, and it was during this time that a myriad of companies and corporations were in very hot water due to their diversity or, rather, lack thereof. Suspicious? Me too.
 
With this knowledge, it's interesting to reframe the advert that has caused such controversy. A company, owned, and run by white people, exploits an antiracism trend by using black people to increase their profits. Using black people and black bodies to increase profits… It sounds uncomfortably similar to how other companies have used black bodies historically to increase profits.
 
Now, Sainsbury’s may not have engaged directly in human trafficking, they are a company based in a country that has directly engaged in slavery. Most of the banks they will have done business with will be directly implicated by the slave trade, take David and Alexander Barclay for example, who were engaged in the slave trade in 1756 and then went on to use the plunder to set up Barclays’ Bank, but let's stay on topic. Sainsbury’s Bank, a joint venture set up with Lloyds, a bank that participated in, and benefited from, shipping insurance in the 1700s. Now as some of you may know, the 1700s was a period where the enslaved would be thrown overboard when ships got into trouble, as onboard the Zong when 133 were executed in this manner. “Disposing of the enslaved people in this way meant that their ‘owners’ could claim the insurance on their property”, though in this case, the insurers didn’t have to pay up it is concerning to consider how many similar claims were approved, or, how many ships transporting slaves paid handsome fees to the fat cats down Lloyds. The hawks among you may be quick to point out that Lloyds has recently started paying reparations by investing “in positive programmes to attract, retain and develop black and minority ethnic talent”, as well as providing “financial support to charities and organisations promoting opportunity and inclusion for black and minority ethnic groups”. Whilst the above makes things slightly less bad, the only meaningful way for us to address the inequalities is going to be through making drastic structural changes aimed at removing the scars from hundreds of years of slavery and colonialism, which is in essence slavery under a different name, by taking a firm anti-capitalist stance.
 
The urgency to declare yourself an anticapitalist comes at a point when the ‘freedom-loving tories’ have recently banned schools from teaching about anti-capitalist groups and have even gone as far as to declare it an “extreme political stance” and identified it with opposition to freedom of speech and antisemitism, in a move that shows Boris is just as much Kim as he is Donald. As far as I’m aware the tories haven’t, yet, banned the teaching of irony, so perhaps we can give them a lesson on that now. As capitalism is a total system which includes an ideological characteristic, it is important to consider how hundreds of years of slavery, colonialism and imperialism will have affected the evolution of certain ideas and values that are demonstrated in some of our more racially intolerant peers.
 
“The simple fact is that no people can enslave another for centuries without coming out with a notion of superiority, and when the colour and other physical traits of those peoples were quite different it was inevitable that the prejudice should take a racist form.”
 
Capitalism, simply, can’t address such scars; this is why the median incomes for white households in the UK are 63% higher than black households, but hey according to the ‘freedom-loving tories’ being against a system which is skewed against ethnic minorities is considered to be as unethical as racism. Make sense? Absolutely not.

Capitalism and big business are ingredients that are incompatible in the recipe for an egalitarian and antiracist society, or rather, they are the crucial ingredients in the modern-day society that is so polarised and so unequal. So don’t get it twisted, it may seem like the individuals who use social media to post their bigoted views about a Sainsbury’s advert are the problem it’s Sainsbury’s, and other big business alike, that have participated in and profited from, the process of these views becoming endemic to our modern society.