Anti-Imperialism 101 Re: Hitchens quits Nation

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sat Sep 28 13:03:21 PDT 2002


At 1:26 PM -0400 9/28/02, Nathan Newman wrote:
> > 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

Most of Africa has "democratic institutions," even by limited standards of capitalism? A number of African nations, plunged in civil wars, etc., are surely in worse shape, politically and economically, than China and Iraq. For instance, we witnessed US and French troops evacuate Americans and other foreigners from Côte d'Ivoire just yesterday. Outside the circle of rich nations in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia, economic conditions are very fragile, which in turn makes political conditions undemocratic (by any standard) or subject to upheavals or both. Even the nations that do have democratic institutions, like India and Venezuela, cannot escape domestic unrest, regional instability, and/or foreign intervention. Just wait until deflation hits the USA hard and brings the world economy down further, and see what "democratic institutions" will survive. It's in this precarious context that the Bush Doctrine gets developed. -- Yoshie

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