SENTINEL WATCH August 17, 2009 Issue

THE POWER OF RESPECT

JANE LAMPMAN

In recent weeks, the world has witnessed violent clashes in western China between the Uighur people and the Han Chinese. It looks like a case of ethnic conflict, sparked by a Uighur protest. But those close to the scene point also to decades of government policies aimed at suppressing Uighur identity, language, and religion. Many Uighurs speak of longstanding humiliation (see The Washington Post, July 9, and The Christian Science Monitor, July 8).

A deep sense of humiliation or being treated with disrespect has spurred violence in situations across the globe. Such cases, researchers say, include Muslim outrage after Abu Ghraib and the Danish cartoons crisis, the Rwandan genocide, Palestinian suicide bombers, and the rise of Hitler in Germany after a humiliating treaty at the end of World War I. Many see humiliation as a significant factor in the spread of terrorism.

The struggle for recognition and respect plays out in the United States as well. Several American cities have experienced a pattern of killings that law enforcement officials say involve people who feel they've been "disrespected." A new verb—to "dis" someone, meaning to treat with disrespect, put down, belittle—first came into use in street culture, which some say can often revolve around a desperate search for respect.