On Mar 1, 2008, at 1:31 PM, Angelus Novus wrote:
> Doug Henwood:
>
>> So how would you describe the U.S. relation to, say,
>
>> Latin America?
>
> It depends on whether you would want a moral
> description or an analytical one. I think an
> analytical, empirical study of a history of economic
> relationships between the U.S. and Latin America *and*
> military interventions could be conducted without
> using the empty phrase "imperialism."
I don't mean it in Lenin's sense, which is obsolete, but a more colloquial sense, in which a rich and powerful country dominates poorer, weaker ones through economic, political, and military means. The U.S. has overthrown, gave a big helping hand to the overthrow, of countless governments in Latin America, and exercises constant constraints on those it doesn't topple. Why not call that imperialism? It's a nice blunt word that's an antidote to all the gibberish that circulates in American discourse.
Doug