Bomb Throwing Pacifist
If you took that happy, smiling guy from the box of Quaker Oats, handed him a bottle of gin and a rifle, and pissed him off to a point where he decided he wasn't going to take it anymore, you'd get a little something like this.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Lazy post day
Yeah, its a Tuesday. So instead of coming up with something original for you all to read, I have decided to emulate the conservative model of journalism and plagarize until my little eyes fall out. However, in a decidedly unconservative, intellectually honest and morally fibrous move, I have decided to actually source the document in question. The following if from Retardo Montalban at Sadly, No and is probably one of the finest expositions of the neoconservative agendas I have ever seen.
On a side note, while most of us on the left have always been keenly aware of the fact that the neocons, despite all the sweet sweet ideology and idealistic claims of freedom and democracy for all humans, are actually nationalistic, quasi-fascist theocrats bent on Pax Americana, its rare to find a piece that so lucidly gives an overview of the situtaion as it stands today. In this piece, Montalban exposes the neoconservative ideology for what it really is: a love for all things pro-American and a hatred of all things "authoritarian" (either communistic or Islamic) or supposedly tainted by such an association.
Thus while the neocons talk a good game about freedom and democracy, such rules only apply when it is freedom and democracy on American terms. In their view, it is perfectly legitimate to defend and support dictatorships when they suit our interests, as was the case with apartheid South Africa, Iraq in the 1980s, the Iranian Shah, the Taliban, Pinochet and legions of similar dictators in Latin America and Samuel Doh and his ilk in Africa. Sure, these people were bad, cruel, and anti-democratic, but they were "anti-communist" and so backed by us and representing an inherently good force in the world, that of American democracy. No matter what horrors they perpetrated, no matter how many dissidents they killed and tortured with the U.S. stamp of approval (or at the very worst, the stamp of American indifference), the fact remained that American was GOOD. So, by acting on behalf of America, they were by extension agents of GOOD, even if their actions and regimes were evil.
Conversely, the GOOD/EVIL dichotomy is the defining operating principle behind the American subversion of inherently pro-democratic, people-empowering liberation movements. While places such as Zaire under Lumumba, Angola in the 1970s, South Vietnam, Rhodesia, and more recently Iraq, Palestine, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia have enjoyed organic pro-democracy movements, the Neocons have taken extreme measures to oppose, undermine, and destabilize such regimes. Why, you ask? Simply put, these movements represent the taint of the EVIL enemy, be it communistic or Islamic. As part of the "with us or against us" recently put forward by the neocons and famously articulated in Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, there can be no room for compromise. Any pro-democracy movement which does not actively embrace the American government and American geopolitical ambitions is open to association with either communist or Islamiscism.
And using the same logic mentioned above, the neocons flip the coin. These movements, no matter how peaceful, non-violent, and pro-freedom they may be, are tainted with the mark of the OTHER. As such, just as we prop up dictators because they are pro-U.S., we undermine democracies that are anti-U.S. or even morally ambivalent. Thus America under the neocons has come to this: propping up dictators in third world countries who pay lip service to freedom and democracy while alternatively crushing and undermining democratic movements which do not toe the line of Pax Americana. And it all happens under the veil of the rhetoric of freedom and democracy for all. Disgussting.
Well, I didn't actually mean to write a post, but my my my, I seem to have lost my way. In any case, do take the time to look up Montalban's post when you have a chance. It really is worth the read.
On a side note, while most of us on the left have always been keenly aware of the fact that the neocons, despite all the sweet sweet ideology and idealistic claims of freedom and democracy for all humans, are actually nationalistic, quasi-fascist theocrats bent on Pax Americana, its rare to find a piece that so lucidly gives an overview of the situtaion as it stands today. In this piece, Montalban exposes the neoconservative ideology for what it really is: a love for all things pro-American and a hatred of all things "authoritarian" (either communistic or Islamic) or supposedly tainted by such an association.
Thus while the neocons talk a good game about freedom and democracy, such rules only apply when it is freedom and democracy on American terms. In their view, it is perfectly legitimate to defend and support dictatorships when they suit our interests, as was the case with apartheid South Africa, Iraq in the 1980s, the Iranian Shah, the Taliban, Pinochet and legions of similar dictators in Latin America and Samuel Doh and his ilk in Africa. Sure, these people were bad, cruel, and anti-democratic, but they were "anti-communist" and so backed by us and representing an inherently good force in the world, that of American democracy. No matter what horrors they perpetrated, no matter how many dissidents they killed and tortured with the U.S. stamp of approval (or at the very worst, the stamp of American indifference), the fact remained that American was GOOD. So, by acting on behalf of America, they were by extension agents of GOOD, even if their actions and regimes were evil.
Conversely, the GOOD/EVIL dichotomy is the defining operating principle behind the American subversion of inherently pro-democratic, people-empowering liberation movements. While places such as Zaire under Lumumba, Angola in the 1970s, South Vietnam, Rhodesia, and more recently Iraq, Palestine, Venezuela, Chile, and Bolivia have enjoyed organic pro-democracy movements, the Neocons have taken extreme measures to oppose, undermine, and destabilize such regimes. Why, you ask? Simply put, these movements represent the taint of the EVIL enemy, be it communistic or Islamic. As part of the "with us or against us" recently put forward by the neocons and famously articulated in Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, there can be no room for compromise. Any pro-democracy movement which does not actively embrace the American government and American geopolitical ambitions is open to association with either communist or Islamiscism.
And using the same logic mentioned above, the neocons flip the coin. These movements, no matter how peaceful, non-violent, and pro-freedom they may be, are tainted with the mark of the OTHER. As such, just as we prop up dictators because they are pro-U.S., we undermine democracies that are anti-U.S. or even morally ambivalent. Thus America under the neocons has come to this: propping up dictators in third world countries who pay lip service to freedom and democracy while alternatively crushing and undermining democratic movements which do not toe the line of Pax Americana. And it all happens under the veil of the rhetoric of freedom and democracy for all. Disgussting.
Well, I didn't actually mean to write a post, but my my my, I seem to have lost my way. In any case, do take the time to look up Montalban's post when you have a chance. It really is worth the read.
Marc with a C, 10:14 AM
3 Comments:
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