After last week’s US elections result that shocked and shook the world lot of people decided to seek refuge to things they love in order to find comfort or even search for answers and a way to interpret the result and the vast ramifications it entails. Therefore as it was natural one of the things people love and turned to was Harry Potter. tweets drawing parallels and comparisons between events taking place in the Harry Potter universe and the muggle world. Witty Analyses of the events that had just transpired started emerging and most of them took the internet by storm. But were all those analogies and metaphors that were made valid? Or were they just false analogies and equivalencies that often occur when Apparating between the muggle and the wizard world? One of the most common and widely shared analogies that were made was that equating Slytherin with Tr*mp and his supporters. I ll attempt to deconstruct this analogy and articulate my objections as best as I can



THE WIZARD WORLD, THE EXAMPLE OF PETUNIA AND VERNON



A lot of people over the years have asserted that the existence of slytherin and its pure blood supremacy is a quite straightforward allusion to muggle world white supremacists racists and white segregationists, but is it safe to assume that? doesn’t the wizard world exist independently of the muggle world and subsequently notions of white supremacy, racism and nationally also exist parallelly to and independently of pure blood wizard supremacy?

Lets begin with the example of Petunia and Vernon the most prominently featured non wizards of the Universe. You d be sensible enough to assume, that as a white (mostly) heterosexual male, Harry would be at the top of the societal hierarchy and not exactly what you ‘d call unprivileged. However Harry is also the victim of bullying often incited by his cousin and his friends and most importantly the victim of constant domestic abuse and neglect by Petunia and Vernon. Where does Harry’s adoptive parents’ preternatural hatred of him stem from then? Someone could quite reasonably argue that they are nothing more than the proverbial evil step-parents, a classic literary trope, and that their hatred stems from the fact that he isn’t their biological son, hence why his abuse begins from the moment Dumbledore entrusts the Dursleys with his upbringing. Anyone who would assert that would unfortunately be quite wrong. The Dursley’s hate Harry because he “bore the mark” they abuse him because they are afraid he ll grow up to be just like his parents, they are afraid he ll become a wizard. The moment Dumbledore leaves Harry at their doorstep they know he is not a normal kid and they do everything in their power to alter his true nature. Their tortures and oppression are in reality preventive measures stemming from their fear and hatred of magic genes and the magic identity.



Vernon abusing Harry and then orders him to denounce magic

How the wizard world came to be

Wouldn’t it be an anecdotal fallacy to use the Dursleys’ example to extrapolate and draw conclusions about the majority of the muggle world? and most importantly how can muggles be oppressive and discriminate against people whose very existence is unknown to them? To answer this overtly complex question we have to regard muggles as the dominant majority whose culture permeates every aspect of every day life(we will leave this flagrant irrationality unchallenged for the moment). Therefore as the majority and part of the dominant culture of the world, compared to the wizard world, muggles cannot be oppressed(I m not considering muggles as something uniform where inequalities and vectors of oppression and dominance don’t exist. I ll explain later in my syllogism how magic identity intersects with other identities) or marginalized, on the contrary muggles can unconsciously oppress minorities just by exercising a privilege, even if they are unaware of the existence of a minority.

But it wasn’t always like this, wizard and muggle world weren’t always definitely segregated. Harry Potter books, the only source we can draw out information about the wizard world, is rife with instances where the magic and muggle world intersect. Whether it is through the historical existence of alchemists, witch burning or astrology we can safely assume that there was a point in history where muggles knew about the existence of magic and wizards, and they weren’t just deemed terrorists(like Sirius and Voldemort) to cover up the ministry of magic’s mishandlings.



The Salem witch trials, a poignant reminder of the tumultuous past

As we can tell by the aforementioned examples, animosity was always at the centre of interactions between muggles and wizards. Muggles were either afraid or downright hostile towards anyone with magic genes, wizards , witches, alchemists, were always the victims of discrimination oppression and persecution in muggle communities. Consistent evidence that incidents like these historically existed within the Harry Potter universe is found in the “prisoner of azkaban” book where professor Cuthbert Binns assigns his classroom with an essay about: “Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless — discuss”. Incidents similar to these prompted wizards to create safe spaces like diagon alley and Hogwarts to remain hidden from the muggle world and be able to practice magic in secret. We can also surmise that discrimination towards wizards and antimagic sentiment of the muggle populace culminated during the enlightenment years when renowned alchemists and astrologists lost any authority they had and were ostracised by the freshly minted “scientific community”. That was the decisive moment of history that led to wizards adopting some sort of self-imposed banishment, and completely severing any remaining ties with the muggle world. It was an attempt to prevent their kind from falling into definitive oblivion.

ANTI MAGIC SENTIMENT AS A BYPRODUCT OF WHITE SUPREMACY

I mentioned earlier that in the dipole wizards-muggles, muggles were at the top of the social hierarchy, exponents of the dominant culture, and therefore privileged in comparison to wizards who hold a minority status in society. Although it might seem as a valid argument at first it’s only ostensibly true. The fact that it provides a uniform, colorblind and genderblind view of the muggle world , that completely disregards hierarchy, the matrix of oppression and intersecting identities renders the argument completely inane and blatantly untrue.

While race, gender and sexuality is not the basis of discrimination towards wizards, as we showcased earlier, such discriminations exist parallelly to the wizard world and since the Harry Potter universe is an alternate version of Great britain the dominant social group are white males (e.g Vernon Dursley) and the dominant culture is that of the majority of white male population. White supremacy is expressed unconsciously or consciously, through the existing frame of privilege and oppression, whenever a member of the dominant social group exercises a privilege and takes advantage of the differences that exist among people, further intensifying existing inequalities. Therefore whether unbeknownst to the existence of wizards or not white non wizards oppress them as they would anyone that belongs to an outgroup, lower than them in the social hierarchy.

Wizards are by definition an unprivileged minority even if they pretend to belong to the white demographic, they feel impelled to suppress their true identity (influenced by the dominant white culture) otherwise that would result in a throwback to the years prior to the decisive segregation of the muggle and the wizard world, a past filled with sorrow, hatred and oppression. The similarities and comparisons that can be drawn between closeted LGBTQ members, white passing people of colour and wizards abound, and further accentuate the theory that wizards are an oppressed minority, discriminated against by the dominant white male demographic based on their magic genes.

If we were to regard enlightenment and colonialism as the basis of the modern western world and subsequently the organization of populations into nation-states we d notice that the historical turning point in the relations between the wizard and the muggle world and the emergence of a proto western culture, which was based upon slavery and colonialism, hence white supremacy, coincide. The same period saw the emergence of an important idea that might have shaped the way white muggles view magic and might have fueled their anti magic sentiment, the idea of Disenchantment. Although it was formulated by Max Webber towards the end of 19th century its roots can be traced in the writings of Friedrich Schiller a philosopher and prominent figure of the late enlightenment movement. Disenchantment is used to describe the cultural rationalization and devaluation of mysticism apparent in western world and is the reason why scientific understanding and reasoning is more highly valued than belief, magic and the metaphysical in the western world. Disenchanment accurately describes the changes that occurred in the world and which led disenfranchised wizards to disappear and leave no trace of their existence behind. But while disenchantment can be evidenced in the western world it also limited to that world. Countries and cultures that were fortunate enough to not be affected or crushed under the boot of whiteness and the greed of colonial period still regard witchcraft, witch doctors, shamans highly, they cherish and practice their folk traditions. Therefore anti magic sentiment and denial of the existence of magic genes is limited to the western, predominantly white, world where white privilege and supremacy that stems from it exists.

PURE-BLOOD SUPREMACY AND COLORISM

Contrary to his status in the muggle world Harry is a privileged individual his parents were rich, both were wizards, he is only 1/4 unpure from his mother’s side and a celebrity. If he wasn’t the “boy who lived” he ‘d have the utmost respect of slytherin (although there are many instances throughout the books where Harry receives that respect as an eminent powerful wizard). On the other hand Hermione who is a 100% muggleborn is revered by pro inclusivity, need-blind faculty members and her parents, but is despised by pure-blood supremacists. And then there are squibs who are often the object of ridicule and often despised by their parents, even if they are pure-blood moderates. So similarly to colorism in african slaves Wizards are stratified not based on the complexion of their skin but their genealogical background. Therefore Wizards who are muggleborn, either 1/2 or 2/2, are at the top of the hierarchy and are not misfits in the muggle world but are despised by pure blood supremacists in the wizard societies in the same way light-skinned slaves were treated more favorably by white people and less favorably by other slaves. Harry a pure blood who was raised by muggles is despised by them but revered in the wizard world. And finally squibs are similar to african Albinos who are often persecuted due to the resemblance they bear to white colonialists who once roamed and savaged those lands. Based on those premises we can safely reach the deduction that pure blood politics in the wizard world are a form of colorism.



An expression of colorism in the modern muggle world (pic Beyonce)

But what is pure-blood supremacy? Well, pure blood supremacy in the wizard world is nothing more than the justifiable reaction and anger to the oppression, persecution and murders, wizards had to endure in the past at the hands of muggles and how these experiences were embodied either personally or via the narrations of older wizards. Pure-blood supremacy is nothing more than the unhinged chaotic reaction of the oppressed who want to preserve their culture instead of seeing it getting crushed under the boot of a dominant culture that exercises its violent privilege.( In the muggle world the equivalent of pure-blood extremists would be the black panthers, PLO and in fiction works the brotherhood of mutants Mu societies in Terra he e.t.c.) Then why is Voldemort and pure blood supremacists considered evil? The answer is once again simple, it’s because attacking innocent people who just happened to bear magic genes despite them being mudblood has nothing to do with restoring equality or combating white privilege. The road to equality is not paved with classism tribalism and nepotism, which dominate pure blood supremacists’ thinking. Aiming to replace someone at the top of the hierarchy and reap benefits for your in-group won’t bring equality

In conclusion, Tr*mp (i wont type his name cause I don’t want to normalise him or justify his existence) and his army of ruffian acolytes have in no way anything to do with slytherin and pure blood supremacists.If black panthers had won the elections then yeah, that would be a valid comparison(and a remarkable step towards the right direction in my honest opinion) In the Harry Potter universe Tr*mp would still be a white supremacist of the muggle world and nothing more. As someone who identifies as a slytherin witch I m not willing to take responsibility for the transformation of these frogs. I really wish i could somehow siphon all of my last week’s memories into a pensieve and let every white experience my agony and what being oppressed and underpriviliged really means, but im not sure the ‘d understand that way either.

P.S: I intentionally didn’t mention anything about the comparisons between Dolores and Tr*mp, I dismissed them as laughable. Dolores (along with Fudge) is a kafkaesque symbol of the daunting bureaucracy seen in big centralized governments poking fun at tories.

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