Anti-Imperialism 101 Re: Hitchens quits Nation

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org
Sat Sep 28 10:26:19 PDT 2002


----- Original Message ----- From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>


> At 11:36 AM -0400 9/28/02, Nathan Newman wrote:
> >Iraq lacks even a hint of democratic institutions and I find the
> >"let them settle it themselves" argument ridiculous, when one side
> >dominates the state and military apparatus and butchers those who
> >dissent.
>
> That basically boils down to an argument that the power elites of the
> nations that have developed capitalism and its political
> superstructure -- "democratic institutions" -- earlier than others
> have the right and obligation to govern underdeveloped nations: the
> classic white man's burden.

Nice rhetoric from a generation ago-- largely irrelevant now that most of Africa, Asia and South America have democratic institutions. The Chinas and Iraqs of the world are outliers in the world-- strange how the Workers World types are so enamored of those dicatorial outliers.

Frankly, it was the "undeveloped" nations that finally taught the developed world lessons in democracy, since the European empires were completely undemocratic until the Gandhis and other liberation leaders forced those European societies to understand what democracy entailed.

-- Nathan Newman



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