>>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>================================>>>ZNet Commentary
>>>A war in the American tradition October 16, 2001
>>>By John Pilger
>>>
>>>The Anglo-American attack on Afghanistan crosses new boundaries.
>>>It means that America's economic wars are now backed by the
>>>perpetual threat of military attack on any country, without legal
>>>pretence. It is also the first to endanger populations at home.
>>>The ultimate goal is not the capture of a fanatic, which would be
>>>no more than a media circus, but the acceleration of western
>>>imperial power. That is a truth the modern imperialists and their
>>>fellow travelers will not spell out, and which the public in the
>>>west, now exposed to a full-scale jihad, has the right to know.
>>>
>>>In his zeal, Tony Blair has come closer to an announcement of real
>>>intentions than any British leader since Anthony Eden. Not simply
>>>the handmaiden of Washington, Blair, in the Victorian verbosity of
>>>his extraordinary speech to the Labour Party conference, puts us
>>>on notice that imperialism's return journey to respectability is
>>>well under way. Hark, the Christian gentleman-bomber's vision of a
>>>better world for "the starving, the wretched, the dispossessed,
>>>the ignorant, those living in want and squalor from the deserts of
>>>northern Africa to the slums of Gaza to the mountain ranges of
>>>Afghanistan". Hark, his unctuous concern for the "human rights of
>>>the suffering women of Afghanistan" as he colludes in bombing them
>>>and preventing food reaching their starving children.
>>>
>>>Is all this a dark joke? Far from it; as Frank Furedi reminds us
>>>in the New Ideology of Imperialism, it is not long ago "that the
>>>moral claims of imperialism were seldom questioned in the west.
>>>Imperialism and the global expansion of the western powers were
>>>represented in unambiguously positive terms as a major contributor
>>>to human civilisation". The quest went wrong when it was clear
>>>that fascism, with all its ideas of racial and cultural
>>>superiority, was imperialism, too, and the word vanished from
>>>academic discourse. In the best Stalinist tradition, imperialism
>>>no longer existed.
>>>
>>>Since the end of the cold war, a new opportunity has arisen. The
>>>economic and political crises in the developing world, largely the
>>>result of imperialism, such as the blood-letting in the Middle
>>>East and the destruction of commodity markets in Africa, now serve
>>>as retrospective justification for imperialism. Although the word
>>>remains unspeakable, the western intelligentsia, conservatives and
>>>liberals alike, today boldly echo Bush and Blair's preferred
>>>euphemism, "civilisation". Italy's prime minister, Silvio
>>>Berlusconi, and the former liberal editor Harold Evans share a
>>>word whose true meaning relies on a comparison with those who are
>>>uncivilised, inferior and might challenge the "values"of the west,
>>>specifically its God-given right to control and plunder the
>>>uncivilised.
>>>
>>>If there was any doubt that the World Trade Center attacks were
>>>the direct result of the ravages of imperialism, Osama Bin Laden,
>>>a mutant of imperialism, dispelled it in his videotaped diatribe
>>>about Palestine, Iraq and the end of America's inviolacy. Alas, he
>>>said nothing about hating modernity and miniskirts, the
>>>explanation of those intoxicated and neutered by the supercult of
>>>Americanism. An accounting of the sheer scale and continuity and
>>>consequences of American imperial violence is our elite's most
>>>enduring taboo. Contrary to myth, even the homicidal invasion of
>>>Vietnam was regarded by its tactical critics as a "noble cause"
>>>into which the United States "stumbled" and became "bogged down".
>>>Hollywood has long purged the truth of that atrocity, just as it
>>>has shaped, for many of us, the way we perceive contemporary
>>>history and the rest of humanity. And now that much of the news
>>>itself is Hollywood-inspired, amplified by amazing technology and
>>>with its internalised mission to minimise western culpability
>>>How very appropriate that the bombing of Afghanistan is being
>>>conducted, in part, by the same B52 bombers that destroyed much of
>>>Indochina 30 years ago. In Cambodia alone, 600,000 people died
>>>beneath American bombs, providing the catalyst for the rise of Pol
>>>Pot, as CIA files make clear. Once again, newsreaders refer to
>>>Diego Garcia without explanation. It is where the B52s refuel.
>>>Thirty-five years ago, in high secrecy and in defiance of the
>>>United Nations, the British government of Harold Wilson expelled
>>>the entire population of the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian
>>>Ocean in order to hand it to the Americans in perpetuity as a
>>>nuclear arms dump and a base from which its long-range bombers
>>>could police the Middle East. Until the islanders finally won a
>>>high court action last year, almost nothing about their imperial
>>>dispossession appeared in the British media.
>>>
>>>How appropriate that John Negroponte is Bush's ambassador at the
>>>United Nations. This week, he delivered America's threat to the
>>>world that it may "require" to attack more and more countries. As
>>>US ambassador to Honduras in the early 1980s, Negroponte oversaw
>>>American funding of the regime's death squads, known as Battalion
>>>316, that wiped out the democratic opposition, while the CIA ran
>>>its "contra" war of terror against neighbouring Nicaragua.
>>>Murdering teachers and slitting the throats of midwives were a
>>>speciality. This was typical of the terrorism that Latin America
>>>has long suffered, with its principal torturers and tyrants
>>>trained and financed by the great warrior against "global
>>>terrorism", which probably harbours more terrorists and assassins
>>>in Florida than any country on earth.
>>>
>>>The unread news today is that the "war against terrorism" is being
>>>exploited in order to achieve objectives that consolidate American
>>>power. These include: the bribing and subjugation of corrupt and
>>>vulnerable governments in former Soviet central Asia, crucial for
>>>American expansion in the region and exploitation of the last
>>>untapped reserves of oil and gas in the world; Nato's occupation
>>>of Macedonia, marking a final stage in its colonial odyssey in the
>>>Balkans; the expansion of the American arms industry; and the
>>>speeding up of trade liberalisation.
>>>
>>>What did Blair mean when, in Brighton, he offered the poor "access
>>>to our markets so that we practise the free trade that we are so
>>>fond of preaching"? He was feigning empathy for most of humanity's
>>>sense of grievance and anger: of "feeling left out". So, as the
>>>bombs fall, "more inclusion", as the World Trade Organisation puts
>>>it, is being offered the poor - that is, more privatisation, more
>>>structural adjustment, more theft of resources and markets, more
>>>destruction of tariffs. On Monday, the Secretary of State for
>>>Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, called a meeting of the
>>>voluntary aid agencies to tell them that, "since 11 September, the
>>>case is now overwhelming" for the poor to be given "more trade
>>>liberation". She might have used the example of those impoverished
>>>countries where her cabinet colleague Clare Short's ironically
>>>named Department for International Development backs rapacious
>>>privatisation campaigns on behalf of British multinational
>>>companies, such as those vying to make a killing in a reso
>>>Bush and Blair claim to have "world opinion with us". No, they
>>>have elites with them, each with their own agenda: such as
>>>Vladimir Putin's crushing of Chechnya, now permissible, and
>>>China's rounding up of its dissidents, now permissible. Moreover,
>>>with every bomb that falls on Afghanistan and perhaps Iraq to
>>>come, Islamic and Arab militancy will grow and draw the battle
>>>lines of "a clash of civilisations" that fanatics on both sides
>>>have long wanted. In societies represented to us only in
>>>caricature, the west's double standards are now understood so
>>>clearly that they overwhelm, tragically, the solidarity that
>>>ordinary people everywhere felt with the victims of 11 September.
>>>
>>>That, and his contribution to the re-emergence of xeno-racism in
>>>Britain, is the messianic Blair's singular achievement. His
>>>effete, bellicose certainties represent a political and media
>>>elite that has never known war. The public, in contrast, has given
>>>him no mandate to kill innocent people, such as those Afghans who
>>>risked their lives to clear landmines, killed in their beds by
>>>American bombs. These acts of murder place Bush and Blair on the
>>>same level as those who arranged and incited the twin towers
>>>murders. Perhaps never has a prime minister been so out of step
>>>with the public mood, which is uneasy, worried and measured about
>>>what should be done. Gallup finds that 82 per cent say "military
>>>action should only be taken after the identity of the perpetrators
>>>was clearly established, even if this process took several months
>>>to accomplish".
>>>
>>>Among those elite members paid and trusted to speak out, there is
>>>a lot of silence. Where are those in parliament who once made
>>>their names speaking out, and now shame themselves by saying
>>>nothing? Where are the voices of protest from "civil society",
>>>especially those who run the increasingly corporatised aid
>>>agencies and take the government's handouts and often its line,
>>>then declare their "non-political" status when their outspokenness
>>>on behalf of the impoverished and bombed might save lives? The
>>>tireless Chris Buckley of Christian Aid, and a few others, are
>>>honourably excepted. Where are those proponents of academic
>>>freedom and political independence, surely one of the jewels of
>>>western "civilisation"? Years of promoting the jargon of "liberal
>>>realism" and misrepresenting imperialism as crisis management,
>>>rather than the cause of the crisis, have taken their toll.
>>>Speaking up for international law and the proper pursuit of
>>>justice, even diplomacy, and against our terrorism might not be
>>>good for one's care
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Nils Christie
>>Institute of Criminology
>>Faculty of Law
>>University of Oslo
>>
>>Box 6872, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo
>>
>>Telephone: 47 22 85 01 22
>>Fax: 47 22 85 02 52
>>
>>E-mail: Nils.Christie@jus.uio.no
>>http://www.uio.no/~christie/
-- Eivind Hovig PhD email= ehovig@radium.uio.no Dept. of Tumor Biology S=EHOVIG; OU=radium; O=uio; ADMD= ; PRMD=no; Inst. for Cancer Research Phone:-47-22935416 The Norwegian Radium Hospital Fax: -47-22522421 0310 Oslo, Norway
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