Put an End to "Anti-Americanism" Re: Michael Hardt

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>  > Who in the global waves of protests against the war on Iraq -- the
>>  subject of Hardt's article -- was actually being "Anti-American" in
>>  the sense of condemning "America" -- the entire country -- in a
>>  blanket fashion without explaining "what it means or how it might be
>>  at fault"?  Peoples in the world -- including Americans -- were
>>  protesting _the USG_ -- rather than all Americans -- for planning an
>>  illegal and immoral preventive war and/or their own national
>>  government for joining the USG in the planning.  The aim of the
>>  protests couldn't have been clearer.  By calling them "Anti-American"
>>  demagogically, Hardt is engaging in libel and slander.
>
>Well, my son over my shoulder just said "Hell I'm anti-American. I'm 
>anti any imperialist nation that aims to control others for its own 
>benefit". Now this is a slightly less kneejerk version of 
>anti-Americanism than I meant -- it does have *some* reference to 
>"how it might be at fault", but it's still "blanket" enough to be 
>called anti-Americanism, and signs like "Fuck Bush, Fuck America" 
>(and there were a lot of that genre) suggest to me that, at least in 
>Sydney, numerous protestors were ok with even more expansive 
>dismissals.
>
>The real question, I think, is whether the evident elements of 
>anti-Americanism are in fact something the movement can handle well.
>
>Catherine

Well, you have your parental responsibility to educate your son, but 
there is no evidence that hatred of imperialism or the Bush junta in 
particular translates into hatred of all Americans or even all things 
American, as the term "Anti-American" insinuates.  I don't see any 
evident elements of "Anti-Americanism" in the 2/15 global protests. 
I ask Hardt to quit libeling and slandering anti-war protesters.
-- 
Yoshie

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