Success of 'PITO' principle and the fear it has sparked in Europe and United States

Former USA president, Barrack Obama and former president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta.[File, Standard]

In the 21st Century, three forces that were at times in conflict with each other emerged that affected geopolitical dynamics. First was the outburst of technological wonders like de-bordering cyber forces, which undermine old notions of national sovereignty and a sense of national security. Second was the success of post-World War Two world liberal architecture that tried to bury the forces that had reportedly led to the big war. Such forces included belief in white superiority and the right of white races to colonise others. The success of the liberal agenda, however, paved the way for migrants from former colonies to switch into becoming ‘citizens’ in the imperial headquarters.

Third was the negative reaction, mainly in the Conceptual West, to the perceived success of the post-World War Two liberal world order, which tried to accommodate different peoples into the mind-frame of the Conceptual West. The former colonial subjects appear to penetrate and integrate into the imperial centres so well that they appear to erode the sense of safety and confidence that the supposed imperial masterminds used to have, sparking fear. This partly explains the recent political developments associated with the rise of the New Right movement mainly in the Conceptual West, and the global damage that it causes by whipping up racist anti-migration emotions in an effort to preserve perceived ‘gardens’.

The New Right is essentially a reactionary movement that harks back to some mythical past when national and ethnic purity were not contaminated by the infusion of supposed non-white foreigners into their body politics or geopolitical gardens. Its members would like to return to the pre-World War Two world order when white supremacy over the globe was the norm, colonial subjects accepted their ‘natural’ subordinate positions and, in settler colonies like Kenya, natives were happy serving bwana. They would like to reverse the trend of ‘foreigners’ migrating and integrating so well in the Conceptual West that they seem to replace the original architects of the system. Fear of what Charlie Kirk had termed ‘replacement’ is therefore the driving force behind the New Right. It is an exclusionist belief that is tantamount to a new religion.

The origins of this fear are in the systematic application of the PITO principle comprising three processes of Penetration, Integration, and Take Over in which those perceived to be ‘foreigners’ get accepted, penetrate and integrate into the system so well as ‘citizens’ that they end up controlling institutions in the host country. The penetration, often subtle, occurs gradually rather than rapidly as migrants humble themselves to the goodwill of the host. It is generational in the sense that immigrants' children graduate from being guests into being ‘citizens’. As citizens, mastering the rules of the game, they penetrate and integrate into the governing system and often succeed because they constantly struggle to prove loyalty to their new homes while those they found complacently show little interest. Their success is pronounced more in democratically inclined states than in others because of comparative openness and accountability.

Success of the PITO Principle abounds in Europe and the United States, which tend to suffer demographic decline while unwanted migrants increase populations. A Kenyan colonial subject, Barack Hussein Obama, took advantage of American opening to Africans, went to Hawaii in 1959, and sired future US President Barack Obama. The fact that the son of a Kenyan became president partly explains Donald Trump’s New Right ferocity against previous US ‘liberal’ policies. He accepts white and European immigrants while rejecting other people. In Britain, an Indian from East Africa, Rishi Sunak, became prime minister and tried to prove his Britishness by restricting non-European migrants. Kemi Badenoch leads the British ‘Conservative Party’ and, despite her efforts to be ‘British’, her Nigerian skin is enough for British Britons to flock to the Nigel Farage New Right movement. She symbolises PITO success and fears.