George Bush, head of the mighty Pax Americana, lynchpin of Neo-Conservatism and chief peddler of US Imperia, comes visiting to sovereign India. Anyone who has seen the miseries of the prisoners of Abu Ghraib, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the unrequited victims of Hurricane Katrina, the tribals of Baluchistan, the common targets of Afghanistan would squirm at the thought of Bush receiving a red carpet welcome in sovereign India, my country, which was born out of a struggle against imperialism, the kind peddled by Pax Britannica.
Soon, Manmohan Singh, the so called scholarly economist, who happens to be the only un-elected Prime Minister of my country, and who has still to be represented in the Lok Sabha, the person who went about the clandestine process of voting against Iran in the Vienna IAEA meeting, without consulting his cabinet, his allies or fellow legistlators, the man who called British rule benign (shaming the memory of the millions of victims of man-made famines in my country), would be holding his hands forth to receive the mass murderer George Bush.
It makes my blood boil. Every word of history, I read, I see the contradictions of capitalism bursting out in its attempt to look for newer markets for profits and bringing forth forms of colonialism. Colonialism was explicit in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was implicit for a great time, faced it was by a challenge, flawed in its own ways it might be, from Socialism. Today the Soviet Union is gone, because of a myriad reasons and you have neo-colonialism ravaging Iraq and Afghanistan, an impending invasion of Iran and Syria, simmering anger and growing fundamentalist responses in a handful of third world countries as well as tragic suicides and rising hunger in countries affected by the brunt of neoliberal policies. The fact that George Bush represents the worst face of this imperialism, which I now sincerely believe, still exists, is reason enough that we oppose, resist and protest him when he comes over to India.
US Imperialism today goes about threatening sovereignty of nations in the name of spreading democracy. Little do we remember that it was the US which killed Mossadeh and brought down his democratically elected government in Iran, it was the US which sponsored a coup and brought down Salvador Allende in Chile, later on subjugating Chile into living hell under the dictator, Augusto Pinochet. It was the US's policies through the Washington Consensus (the IMF-WB) which brought Argentina to a financial crisis, Malaysia and Indonesia to currency crisis and it was after all American Imperialism which lost the War against the valiant Vietnamese, but which devastated the lives of lakhs of Vietnamese. It was the Americans who dropped the deadly atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We cannot erase these memories. George Bush is doing the same ills to Iraq and Afghanistan and plans to do the same to Iran, Syria and North Korea.
In the memory of the great anti-imperialists, may it be the leaders of the domestic bourgeosie, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, or the voices of the working classes, legendary Communists and Revolutionary leaders, I hold forth my own little light to add to the incandescent glow of anti-imperialism. Let us protest Bush and his policies, show our wrath by shouting slogans against him when he comes over to New Delhi. Join "us" at Ram Lila Maidan in the march to Parliament in protest against Bush and the policies of Imperia.
An Alternative World is possible, but first for that to happen, Imperium must hear the voices of dissent, the voices of protest and the anger of the marginalized.
Soon, Manmohan Singh, the so called scholarly economist, who happens to be the only un-elected Prime Minister of my country, and who has still to be represented in the Lok Sabha, the person who went about the clandestine process of voting against Iran in the Vienna IAEA meeting, without consulting his cabinet, his allies or fellow legistlators, the man who called British rule benign (shaming the memory of the millions of victims of man-made famines in my country), would be holding his hands forth to receive the mass murderer George Bush.
It makes my blood boil. Every word of history, I read, I see the contradictions of capitalism bursting out in its attempt to look for newer markets for profits and bringing forth forms of colonialism. Colonialism was explicit in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was implicit for a great time, faced it was by a challenge, flawed in its own ways it might be, from Socialism. Today the Soviet Union is gone, because of a myriad reasons and you have neo-colonialism ravaging Iraq and Afghanistan, an impending invasion of Iran and Syria, simmering anger and growing fundamentalist responses in a handful of third world countries as well as tragic suicides and rising hunger in countries affected by the brunt of neoliberal policies. The fact that George Bush represents the worst face of this imperialism, which I now sincerely believe, still exists, is reason enough that we oppose, resist and protest him when he comes over to India.
US Imperialism today goes about threatening sovereignty of nations in the name of spreading democracy. Little do we remember that it was the US which killed Mossadeh and brought down his democratically elected government in Iran, it was the US which sponsored a coup and brought down Salvador Allende in Chile, later on subjugating Chile into living hell under the dictator, Augusto Pinochet. It was the US's policies through the Washington Consensus (the IMF-WB) which brought Argentina to a financial crisis, Malaysia and Indonesia to currency crisis and it was after all American Imperialism which lost the War against the valiant Vietnamese, but which devastated the lives of lakhs of Vietnamese. It was the Americans who dropped the deadly atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We cannot erase these memories. George Bush is doing the same ills to Iraq and Afghanistan and plans to do the same to Iran, Syria and North Korea.
In the memory of the great anti-imperialists, may it be the leaders of the domestic bourgeosie, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, or the voices of the working classes, legendary Communists and Revolutionary leaders, I hold forth my own little light to add to the incandescent glow of anti-imperialism. Let us protest Bush and his policies, show our wrath by shouting slogans against him when he comes over to New Delhi. Join "us" at Ram Lila Maidan in the march to Parliament in protest against Bush and the policies of Imperia.
An Alternative World is possible, but first for that to happen, Imperium must hear the voices of dissent, the voices of protest and the anger of the marginalized.
"Fire Bush, Not Missiles"!!!
"Imperialism, Down, Down"!!!
When Bush comes to Shove, Resist !!!
Samrajyawaad ka ek jawab, Inquilaab Zindabaad!!!
Socialism is the Future!!!
Protest, Resist and Oppose American Imperialism!!!
"Imperialism, Down, Down"!!!
When Bush comes to Shove, Resist !!!
Samrajyawaad ka ek jawab, Inquilaab Zindabaad!!!
Socialism is the Future!!!
Protest, Resist and Oppose American Imperialism!!!
5 comments:
Imperialism of this kind must be stopped by any means necessary.
Virus,
I accept the present system will fail and fall, mainly due to its own internal contradictions, if it continues the same way.
But it is difficult to beleive that Commies can give alternative clean way.....
Regards,
Surjeet
Dear Jinnah,
Its not as deterministic as you put it to be. There is something called a historical agent to processes too. Might might win, but it aint right.
> TO decide not to decide.
Actually Post-modernists or post-structuralists also think the same way. The point is that without an objective, it makes achieving any substantial change an almost impossible task. Which is why, I dont agree with Post-modernism as a way of thinking.
Whats next can be understood not just "empirically" but by understanding using a proper methodology..As they say, epistemology itself. So, you have to understand history, political theory, economics and even sociology to understand the processes that are around you to be good enough to make a prediction of whats ahead.
The point is not about who is the next superpower, but the concept of power. Pax Romana is different from Pax Americana, in the sense of the way of living and the way of imperialism followed.
I agree with your analysis of developed nations though! You are on the money.
Regards,
VRS
To Simhan:
I think practicality is when, you use the very benefits out of the system to bring about changes in the same. As Lenin & Marx talk about bringing out the best of capitalism (huge productive resource mobilization and generation) to go ahead to the next stage of socialism, while overthrowing the earlier system.
Let me extend this very same argument. There have been tremendous literateurs, scientists, scholars and academicians who have contributed to their respective fields in the United States, despite being from other countries. And many among them have opposed American imperialism too. I see no contradiction in this.Einstein talked about "Why Socialism" when he was well ensconced at Princeton University.
Even within the US, there are schools of thought that are prevalent which critique the existing system in the US, the mode of production, the mode of appropriation and the way multiple US governments propped up by corporate Americans, have subverted democratic processes across the world, overthrown nations' sovereignty for simple pursuit of profit and so on.
The funda again is to view this dialectically. Protest against Bush is symbolically a solidarity with those protesting against Bush in the US of A itself. Ralph Nader would agree with me when I say, "Bush, Go Back" and thus I would be in solidarity with an American. In this way, I am symbolically linking up with the poor guy who has been harassed by the undeserving rich man in his own village, when he visits my village.
As for George Bush's visit to India, the verdict is very clear. No one protested Bill Clinton at this level despite his weaknesses and despite his pursuing neoliberal policies when he visited India. Why is so much hue and cry raised over Bush? The simple reason is Bush's image as the head of the neocon regime in the US, responsible for Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and the Iraqi quagmire (you might not agree, I have a detailed response upcoming to your reply in your blog about Iraq), the upcoming Iran quagmire. Even Americans affected in Hurricane Katrina, those who have lost social security benefits and those who have lost jobs, those who have lost out due to the spiralling fiscal deficit complain and protest against Bush. It is only apt that progressive people all across the world therefore join hands in solidarity with the suffering people ,who have borne the brunt of Bush's havoc creating regime.
You haven't sufficiently de"class"ified yourself to empathise with those who have borne the brunt of Bush's bludgeon. You belong to the cloistered lucky few (in fact Me too, until I thought it was time for me to empathise) who benefitted from neoliberal globalization. It is therefore easy for you to take a "comprador" class position. I see the same tendencies in Jaithirth Rao when he writes in the IE praising Bush.
Nobody is asking to storm 7 Race Course Road here or anything like that when Bush comes visiting. It is merely showing up with black flags at public places such as Ramlila Maidan to sensitize the public about the opposition to Bush's policies, in parallel to the Red Carpets, Bouquets and hosannas that would accorded to him courtesy respect that is due to a visiting head of state from our state. The protestors are not going to spoil that show at all. They will only be occupying public attention parallely at the same time but at a different place.
Again, make no mistake about Bush's neocon thinking when he comes to India. The visit to India is a culmination of that same world view that Bush and his administration share. The entire Indo-US nuclear deal was proposed by Condi Rice just when we were talking about the Iran-pipeline. Sidd Varadarajan yesterday reports about how a note was circulated by the US Embassy about the ONGC exploration in Syria. Check his blog. David Mulford already was given sort of a censure for his remarks about the link up between the Iran vote and the Nuclear Deal. Make no mistake, these and more are all part and parcel of the same "neocon strategy" and world view that is percolating from the likes of Bush and Cheney. You only have to read the State Department's documents about the World Future and the US role in it to see the hegemonic interests that Bush and his administration have in mind.
>Everything is blatant when one asks >Bush to go back - and the actual >rational views for which you are >opposing him are lost in the >cacophony of protests.
How else do you ask us to build public opinion. How else do we tell the people about imperialism? Those, who realize that the "trope" that runs world politics is Imperialism, have to make it clear to the public that its running their lives too, in a roundabout indirect way, but in a objective manner indeed. Imperialism is not a feature that should be restricted to academic discussions and campus meetings, the issue must come out in the open. Only yesterday, Prof Prabhat Patnaik gave an excellent small speech about the link or rather integration between Imperialism and Communalism. I would write about that in a separate blog. How do I bring out these ideas in the open? By the means of protesting Bush's visit in a vast public place, which is exactly what is planned. At the same time, you are very right, that certain voices who don't think the same way jump into the anti-Bush bandwagon. I sincerely agree with you here. Yet, thats where you can score a point against dangerous elements too!. You bring out a mass campaign and sensitize people about the real issue, and you can very well divert channelized anger into the right path, that of peaceful protest on the right basis.
>My point is that as a guest from a >nation where Indians aspire to go, >he deserves good treatment. Those >who go may be the cloistered lucky >- but one needs to remember a >majority of the Indians want to be >part of that cloistered lucky.
Make no mistake, the ruling classes in India would ensure that Bush gets a royal welcome and a special treatment.
You have hit the very issue now. The point is very clear: Anti-Imperialists are very sure about one thing: The policies of integration with Imperialism will perpetuate inequality and widen the distance between the cloistered few and the loitering many. There are examples galore. Latin America, East Asia, etc..etc..India deserves its autonomous economic path of development, with an integration with the global economy according to its own interests. We need globalization, yes, but not imperialist globalization. Enough literature from James Petras, Samir Amin, Prabhat Patnaik, Harry Magdoff, John Bellamy Foster are available to elaborate this thinking and kind of argument. As for India specific arguments, the Patnaiks (Utsa and Prabhat) for economics' understanding, a host of former diplomats such as M.K.Bhadrakumar for the international relations' understanding can be studied to elaborate this viewpoint.
8:21 AM
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