Fernando
Cervantes. The Devil in the New World. 1994
States like these and their terrorist
allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.
By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing
danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to
match their hatred.
George W. Bush. State of the Union Address. 2002
‘Manifest destiny,’ the once honored
expansionist slogan, expressed a dogma of supreme self-assurance and ambition –
that America’s incorporation of all adjacent lands was the virtually inevitable
fulfillment of a moral mission delegated to the nation by Providence itself.
Albert
K. Weinberger. Manifest Destiny. A Study of Nationalist Expansionism in
American History. 1935
Imperialism is a depraved choice of
national life, imposed by self-seeking interests which appeal to the lusts of
quantitative acquisitiveness and of forceful domination surviving in a nation
from early centuries of animal struggle for existence.
J.
A. Hobson. Imperialism. 1902
Het westers imperialisme schendt meer dan vijf eeuwen de universele rechten van de mens. Ook al in het jaar 1492 beschouwden de Europese kolonisten het christendom, in zijn protestantse en katholieke vorm, als de universele waarheid waaraan ieder mens op aarde zich moest onderwerpen. Goedschiks dan wel kwaadschiks. En zo werden talloze culturen vernietigd dan wel vervormd, want de agressieve interpretatie van het Europese christendom week fundamenteel af van de geloofsbeleving van die van niet-christenen. In haar boek The White Men. The first reponse of aboriginal peoples to the white man stelt de schrijfster Julia Blackburn over de eerste decennia van de vierde eeuw dat:
Christianity was a religion for those who felt
themselves to be lost or oppressed. Christ’s words spoke to those whose need
for salvation was most urgent, who longed for the moment when God’s power would
be demonstrated on earth and the predictions of the Book of Revelation would be
fulfilled, ‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea… and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away.’
Het is zeker niet verbazingwekkend dat uit dit deprimerende
mens- en wereldbeeld een al even deprimerende agressieve politiek voortvloeide,
die als ‘a huge psychic shock’ werd ervaren door volkeren die voor het eerst
met christenen werden geconfronteerd. ‘the impact of Western civilization deprived
them of the world as they had known it,’ aldus Blackburn. Immers,
Before they were confronted by Western civilization, the
people had myths and rituals which structured the rhythm of their daily lives
and gave them a place within their own world. But the presence of the white men
destroyed the traditional hierarchy and broke the continuity between the present
and the past. A time of chaos was abruptly forced into being… No matter how
strong their traditions or how firm their faith in their own intrinsic worth,
the people are now exposed and vulnerable and they must enter a new age if they
are to survive in the future.
It is not possible simply to adapt to the white man; he is a cataclysmic event which threatens the spiritual survival of each group he encounters. Their past is invalidated, or at least it is made into a limited aspect of a much larger past; their present is uncertain and chaotic and yet, somehow, with no clear guidelines to follow, there must be a change and a movement. Because the strength of the community as a whole has been undermined and scattered, each individual member finds himself defenceless and isolated. In order to rediscover some sense of personal dignity and right there must be quest for salvation, an attempt to redefine those moral qualities that distinguish the human world from the world of the beasts.
It is not possible simply to adapt to the white man; he is a cataclysmic event which threatens the spiritual survival of each group he encounters. Their past is invalidated, or at least it is made into a limited aspect of a much larger past; their present is uncertain and chaotic and yet, somehow, with no clear guidelines to follow, there must be a change and a movement. Because the strength of the community as a whole has been undermined and scattered, each individual member finds himself defenceless and isolated. In order to rediscover some sense of personal dignity and right there must be quest for salvation, an attempt to redefine those moral qualities that distinguish the human world from the world of the beasts.
Nu de hele wereld is geglobaliseerd onder dwang van
eerst Europa en daarna de Verenigde Staten dreigt een massaal conflict over de
mogelijkheden om als soort te kunnen overleven. Niemand op aarde kan daaraan
ontsnappen. De beroemde Britse historicus Tony Judt maakte vlak voor zijn dood
in 2010 in zijn boek Ill Fares The Wind
de balans op:
Something is profoundly wrong with the way we have made a
virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit
now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know
what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a
judicial ruling or a legislative act: is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it
right? Will it bring about a better society or a better world?
the true sources of insecurity
in decades to come will be those that most of us cannot define: dramatic
climate change and its social and environmental effects; imperial decline and
its attendant ‘small wars’; collective political impotence in the face of
distant upheavals with disruptive local impact. These are the threats that
chauvinist politicians will be best placed to exploit, precisely because they
lead so readily to anger and humiliation…
for most people, most of the time, the legitimacy and credibility of a political system rests not on liberal practices or democratic forms but upon order and predictability. A stable authoritarian regime is a lot more desirable for most of its citizens than a failed democratic state. Even justice probably counts for less than administrative competence and order in the streets. If we can have democracy, we will. But above all, we want to be safe. As global threats mount, so the attractions of order will only grow… Outsiders, however defined, will be seen as threats, foes and challenges. As in the past, the promise of stability risks merging with the comforts of protection...
for most people, most of the time, the legitimacy and credibility of a political system rests not on liberal practices or democratic forms but upon order and predictability. A stable authoritarian regime is a lot more desirable for most of its citizens than a failed democratic state. Even justice probably counts for less than administrative competence and order in the streets. If we can have democracy, we will. But above all, we want to be safe. As global threats mount, so the attractions of order will only grow… Outsiders, however defined, will be seen as threats, foes and challenges. As in the past, the promise of stability risks merging with the comforts of protection...
Few in the West today can conceive of a complete breakdown of
liberal institutions, an utter disintegration of the democratic consensus. But
what we know of World War II – or the former Yugoslavia – illustrates the ease
with which any society can descend into Hobbesian nightmares of unrestrained
atrocity and violence. If we are going to build a better future, it must begin
with a deeper appreciation of the ease with which even solidly-grounded liberal
democracies can founder. To put the point quite bluntly, if social democracy
has a future, it will be as a social democracy of fear.
Bij gebrek aan verbeeldingskracht dringt dit inzicht niet door tot
onze opiniemakers. Integendeel zelfs, het neoliberalisme blijft voor hen de
enig levensvatbare ideologie:
Amerika staat er over een halve eeuw beter voor dan Europa… Het gevoel
dat ze uitzonderlijk zijn, drijft ze voort. Als je invloed en macht wilt
hebben, moet je groots zijn. Dat is iets wat we in Europa van ze kunnen leren.
Geert
Mak. Nu.nl. 22 augustus 2012
Al 77 jaar geleden voorzag F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Jazz Age de door Judt beschreven ontwikkeling
toen hij over de psyche van de Roaring Twenties schreef:
In this silence there was a vast irresponsibility toward
every obligation, a deflation of all my values. A passionate belief in order, a
disregard of motives or consequences in favor of guess work and prophecy, a
feeling that craft and industry would have a place in any world – one by one,
these and other convictions were swept away. I saw that the novel, which at my
maturity was the strongest and supplest medium for conveying thought and
emotion from one human being to another, was becoming subordinated to a
mechanical and communal art that, whether in the hands of Hollywood merchants
or Russian idealists, was capable of reflecting only the tritest thought, the
most obvious emotion. It was an art in which words were subordinated to images,
where personality was worn down to the inevitable low gear of collaboration…
there was a rankling indignity, that to me had become almost an obsession, in
seeing the power of the written word subordinated to another power, a more
glittering, a grosser power…
in handen van degenen die het grote publiek willen behagen. En
zo bedienen de massa en de
opiniemaker elkaar voortdurend in hun gefragmenteerde en gesegregeerde clichéwereld.
In 1998 concludeerde de Amerikaanse hoogleraar Engels Bettina Drew in haar
reisboek Crossing the Expendable
Landscape:
That so many Americans are willing to live under such
conditions in order to protect their property values speaks volumes about the
economic insecurity of even fairly fortunate people. It also speaks volumes for
how willingly people have give up their democratic rights, and how acceptable
autocratic rule really is to large numbers of Americans… Former labor secratary
Robert Reich has lamented that ‘in many cities and towns, the wealthy have in
effect withdrawn their dollars from the support of public spaces and
institutions shared by all and dedicated the savings to their own private
services… The continuing debate over whether the wealthy are paying their fair
share of taxes obscures a larger issue, with more profound implications for
American: the fortunate fifth is quietly seceding from the rest of the nation.’
Ook binnen het Westen vindt nu de segregatie plaats tussen rijk en arm. Vandaag de dag maken de westerlingen elkaar duidelijk dat er geen universele rechten bestaan. Maar door hun
onverschilligheid en algehele lethargie sanctioneren de meesten nog steeds het massale
westerse geweld dat uit naam van de niet gerespecteerde universele waarden van democratie en
mensenrechten wordt gepleegd. De Noord-Amerikaanse hoogleraren Daniel Fischlein
en Martha Nandorfy komen tot de slotsom in hun studie Eduardo Galeano. Through the Looking Glass:
As Chomsky states:
‘It is hard to improve upon the formulation by Woodrow
Wilson’s Secretary of State. Robert Lansing, which the President found…
‘impolitic’ to state openly: ‘In its advocacy of the Monroe Doctrine the United
States considers its own interests. The integrity of other American nations is an
incident, not an end.’ (Year 501. 157-58)
The doctrine of universal self-interest as a justifiable
sovereign disposition… is grounded in some of the worst aspects of Western
political philosophy… Galeano is emphatic on this sort of logic as the basis
for systemic self-interest, which takes its most catastrophic form in
militarization, while offering the following sort of counter-analysis:
‘I have spent five minutes searching for words as I gaze at a
blank sheet of paper. In those five minutes, the world spent $10 million on
armaments and 160 children starved to death or died of curable illness. That is
to say, during my five minutes of reflection, the world spent $10 million on
armaments in order that 160 children could be murdered with utter impunity in
the war of wars, the most silent, the most undeclared war, the war that goes by
the name of peace.' (We Say No. 250-251)
This perspective coincides with Chomsky’s argument that points
to ‘evidence that “democracy” and “human rights” are regarded [by imperial
interests] purely as power instruments, of no intrinsic value, even dangerous
and objectionable; precisely as any rational person with some knowledge of
history and institutions would expect’ (Year 501. 211).
Maar opnieuw, als gevolg van een gebrek aan intellectuele
integriteit weigeren de westerse opiniemakers in de mainstream hierover te
berichten, of in de woorden van de Zweedse journalist/auteur Sven Lindqvist: ‘Het is
geen kennis die ons ontbreekt. Wat gemist wordt is de moed om te begrijpen wat
we weten en daaruit conclusies te trekken.’
‘De crisis van de
intelligentsia? Het is eerder het einde van een bepaalde rol die de
intelligentsia in onze maatschappij heeft gespeeld, de rol van de dragers van
belangrijke ethische waarden, de rol van de opinievormende laag, de mensen
wachtten op hun mening over iets en hielden er gewoonlijk rekening mee. In dat
milieu ontstond de reflectie over de aard van ons collectieve gedrag, de zin
van ons handelen.’
Maar de tijden zijn
veranderd en de plaats van de intelligentsia is veranderd, en ook de
verwachtingen ten aanzien van haar. Haar betekenis, haar waarde is vandaag:
competentie, zakenlijkheid, kennis. De moralist heeft plaatsgemaakt voor de
specialist, iemand die op een of ander gebied van de kennis of kunst iets
betekent.
Het communisme bestreed
elke vorm van onafhankelijkheid. Het Westen marginaliseert deze.
Ook al neemt het wantrouwen
tegen de westerse democratie toe toch weigert de mainstream in de masamedia dit
wijd verspreide verschijnsel structureel
te onderzoeken. De oorzaken worden beperkt tot het politieke theater, terwijl
ook in de VS het probleem veel complexer is, nu ‘we have begun to lose trust in
our institutions,’ en het cynisme ‘about elections is growing. The heritage of
trust… is eroding,’ zo constateerden al in 1992 vier academici die aan Amerikaanse
universiteiten doceren in hun studie The Good Society. In het hoofdstuk Institutions As
Patterned Ways of Living Together stellen de auteurs:
In the midst of affluence…
we pass homeless men or, often, women with children asking money for food and
shelter… We may experience the difficulty of helping the plight of homeless
people as a painful individual moral dilemma, but the difficulty actually comes
from failures of the larger institutions on which our common life depends. The
problem of homelessness, like many of our problems, was created by social
choices… as with many others, we tend to feel helpless to shape the institutional
order that made these choices meaningful – or meaningless…
It is tempting to think
that the problems that we face today, from the homeless in our streets and
poverty in the Third World to ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect, can be
solved by technology or technical expertise alone. But even to begin to solve
these daunting problems, let alone problems of emptiness and meaninglessness in
our personal lives, requires that we greatly improve our capacity to think
about our institutions… One of the greatest challenges, especially for
individualistic Americans, is to understand what institutions are – how we form
them and how they in turn form us – and to imagine that we can actually alter
them for the better.
Het moet toch duidelijk
zijn dat de mainstream opvatting, zoals verwoord door Geert Mak, dat 'het beter [is] voor Nederland en de
internationale gemeenschap dat Obama de verkiezingen wint,' klinkklare nonsens is zolang het opkomstcijfer
tijdens presidentsverkiezingen slechts rond de 60 procent schommelt en bij de
herverkiezing van Obama naar 57,5 procent was gedaald, omdat een aanzienlijk
deel van de Amerikaanse bevolking geen vertrouwen meer heeft in de Amerikaanse
democratie. Waarom zouden ‘Nederland en de internationale gemeenschap’ dan wel vertrouwen moeten hebben in de
Amerikaanse democratie? Die uitspraak is niet meer dan propaganda van
gecorrumpeerde spreekbuizen van de gecorrumpeerde macht voor een gecorrumpeerd
systeem. In een eerdere veel geprezen studie van dezelfde academici, getiteld: Habits of the Heart lieten de auteurs weten:
We described a lanuguage of individualistic achievement and
self-fulfillment that often seems to make it difficult for people to sustain
their commitments to others, either in intimate relationships or in the public
sphere. We held up older traditions, biblical and civic republican, that had a
better grasp on the truth that the individual is realized only in and through
community; but we showed that contemporary Americans have difficulty
understanding those traditions today or seeing how they apply to their lives.
We called for a deeper understanding of the moral ecology that sustains the
lives of all of us, even when we think we are making it on our own.
Het ver doorgevoerde individualisme heeft een
egoistische mentaliteit geschapen die vijandig staat tegenover het begrip
gemeenschap. Om dit goed duidelijk te maken dient de Amerikaanse en Europese
geschiedenis van kolonialisme en imperialisme ook vanuit de context van de
slachtoffers te worden belicht. Kapuściński
merkte daarover op:
Overal moet de geschiedenis van voren af aan herschreven worden,
bijvoorbeeld in Amerika. Ten eerste: de historici van indiaanse afkomst (Native
Americans) willen dat ze zeggen dat de verovering van Amerika door de blanken
zich heeft voltrokken gedurende vijf eeuwen van massale etnische zuiveringen,
bloedbaden en verdelging van de plaatselijke heersers in dit land, de indianen.
Ten tweede: de historici van Afrikaanse afkomst (Afro-Americans) willen
dat men benadrukt dat de rijkdom en democratie van Amerika werden opgebouwd
dankzij de zwarte slaven die gedurende driehonderd jaar massaal en onder dwang
uit Afrika werden aangevoerd.
Nu nemen de vertrapten en vernederden van de wereld het woord en ze
beginnen hun plaats in de geschiedenis op te eisen. Al was het maar omdat ze
voor zichzelf de vraag willen beantwoorden of de achterstand en status van
paria waartoe ze waren veroordeeld, uit de hun aangeprate luiheid,
onbevattelijkheid en een genetisch gebrek voortkomen, of dat ze het gevolg zijn
van het feit dat ze eeuwenlang kort werden gehouden, uitgebuit en als onkruid
verdelgd.
Morgen
meer.
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