A Biased BBC reader notes..
“The BBC has a tendency to attack the spread of the English language as cultural imperialism much like the spread of coca cola and Hollywood films, or democracy and capitalism…..history programmes and reports from foreign lands all manage to imply that English is destroying the local culture and society. For example this recent comment from From Our Own Correspondent:
‘English has become the tawdry ganglord of these Johannesburg streets, the key to survival and to thriving, but underneath there are deep currents of pain, joy and rage forced into silence we can neither hear nor understand.’
There is open dismissal and distrust of a ‘white, European narrative’ that the BBC feels it needs to ‘correct’ by giving voice to the ‘hidden’ voices of societies crushed by our imperialism. English language is of course the tool of imperialism…in the Marxists world which is naturally the breeding ground for many in the BBC.
‘Here in the Marxist TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) group we believe English, in itself, is not imperialism and that learning another language can and should be an option for all. Not surprisingly, however, as the dominant ideas in every epoch are the dominant ideas of the ruling class, TEFL has become an instrument of subjugation and inequality. A justification for class society and imperial conquest”