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The first two weeks
of Sept. 2002 witnessed a 9/11 hysteria, not only in the Western media, but also
here in India. The people have been fed with: nauseating and boring accounts of
what ordinary citizens were doing one year back at that date/time; interviews of
weeping relatives who lost their near-and-dear ones in the falling towers;
repeated images of the event re-played; and finally the much played up function
at ‘Ground Zero’ (site of the WTC), conveniently organised to coincide with the
inauguration of the annual session of the UN General Assembly. All this was
orchestrated to whip up sympathy for US imperialism (not the genuinely aggrieved
families) to justify all its perfidy throughout the world, including the US, in
the name of the war on terrorism.
It is said the world
has changed a lot after September 11, 2001. A Year ago the day was described as
cataclysmic, after which the world would never be the same again. Many parallels
have been drawn and thrust aside as rubbish. The very immediate parallel that
was drawn was that of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. That after Pearl
Harbour the US went to war against Japan and Germany and now it would go to war
against every kind of opponent. No doubt, the US declared a worldwide war on
"terrorism" and against "the enemies of America." But there were no enemies like
Germany, Japan and Italy against whom the US could go to war. None of them, or
the likes of them, had launched September 11. So, the Pearl Harbour thesis was
drowned.
Though the current
war is declared to be a worldwide war, yet it is not a world war. All the major
players, the contending imperialist powers, of the world are out of it. Rather,
they are standing aloof and watching, or for the present, on the same side of
the fence. But, the US says that it is a worldwide war, an open-ended war, and a
war without an end.
Leave aside the
contention that whether there is an end to a particular war or not, yet the
contours of the present war are really worldwide. But the direct targets are the
poor countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle Eastern and Central Asian
countries, East Asia, the Central and Latin American countries, and their
people; or various movements that are going on in various countries and threaten
imperialism or big power interests in one way or the other. On the whole, it is
more like one power conquering the poor and the oppressed world. The poor
countries are not rivals of the US, though they may be its opponents. They are
the real victims.
Today, none of the
imperialist rivals, are as yet ready to confront the US super power, which would
have led to a world war in the present turbulent circumstances. Many eyebrows
are raised in Europe. Germany, France and Russia feel pushed to the corner.
Bound in the throes of Globalisation and the world institutions of the US led
New World Order they are yet to devise means and build power to confront the
increasing violent behavior of the US. Where Britain has, for the present,
decided to go along as a junior partner of the US, the right-wing governments of
Italy, Austria, Spain and Japan feel it wise to keep a low profile. The possible
alternative to the US that could have emerged, in the EU, is still in its early
stage of development and is ridden with disagreements. The potential rivals to
the US are in fact, still far from having a solid formation. Yet, the US policy
makers keep into account these potential rivals when they devise means to
continue their domination over the world, as, in their contention for world
markets the main competitor is the EU.
It is better,
therefore, to not go into historical parallels to describe the current
relationships in the world.
Has The World Really
Changed After 9/11?
In essence, there has
been little change, in as much as the offensive of globalisation which started
in the early 1990s continues unabated. What has changed though, is the
aggressive war-mongering of the US administration itself. Using the pretext of
9/11 it has gone on a frenzied war drive against countries of the world, and
fascist attacks against the people in their own country. It has increased its
military budget to an all-time high. While globalisation itself meant the
offensive of big capital, that goes back 12 years when the Soviet rivals to the
western imperialist world collapsed; today’s offensive of US imperialism has
taken a quantitative leap forward.
NATO really became
redundant as a rival war block after the disappearance of the opposite pole of
the Warsaw pact, and the seeds of exclusive US domination over the world were
laid then. Here also the seeds of Europe’s emergence as a rival block to the US
were sown. But history has not yet reached a point in time where a pre-WW1 or
pre-WW2 immediate situation can be compared to the present one. Taking account
of this fact is necessary to understand the attitude of the European powers, and
the EU as a whole, towards the current US war against the people of the poor
countries of the world.
The collapse of the
Soviet Union saw the exit of Russia first from the Middle East, then from
Africa. The US pushed it back on the defensive in Central Asia, much of which
Russia ultimately lost in the wake of the US war on Afghanistan. Then came the
Balkans and Russia suffered anther setback. The loss of Eastern Europe was
complete. The US attitude towards the Balkan strife, the split-up of Yugoslavia
into various states, and its attempt to retain a strong presence in Central
Europe, in opposition to the German and French interests, is also well known.
All through these years, the US has tried and succeeded to greatly increase its
influence in all these trouble spots, and now it has adopted the policy to go it
alone if other imperialist powers don’t accept its conditions and leadership.
The other imperialist
powers, though upset over the US blitzkrieg of the past ten or so years, and
particularly of the last one year, have had no alternative, for the present,
than to accept US domination of the world.
The post 9/11
situation has only increased the pace of US efforts that were already going on.
It is the severe crisis in the US economy since the last two years, that is
pushing it is war. 9/11 was convenient excuse to put it in the war-mode. If 9/11
had not occurred some other pretext would have been found. It is acting as an
enemy of one and all, including also its very friends and rivals, to further
ensure and consolidate its top position in the world through achieving
unhindered access to the natural resources and markets around the planet. After
all: The US has only interests, not friends.
It is in the poor
countries that the US sees as the "enemies of America," because herein lie the
main resources it can lay its hands upon. Gradually it has found out that the
people of the whole oppressed and backward world hate it, which is just a
natural reaction to its lording over them. To eliminate every kind of
opposition, it has told the leaders of these countries to cooperate as per its
demands or face the consequences. The declaration that "if timid nations don’t
act, we will" made Musharraf tumble down and cringe before it, and he was left
with no choice but to yield to the US to "save Pakistan." And those leaders who
are not "timid" or stand up to face the US in any way are bound to be destroyed.
As a grim reminder, it is going to translate into action its aggressive
behaviour by launching aggression on Iraq for a regime change. It wants
governors in all the poor and backward countries accountable to the US, leaving
only a few for its rivals to lord over. And most of them (the governments) are
falling flat and the rivals, at present, too have no option than to "fall in
line."
The unprecedented
propaganda around 9/11 is only to project the US as a victim and its current
worldwide offensive as a justified retribution. One would be easily tempted to
ask the question: If the US is the victim then who is the oppressor? Is it the
Palestinians, or Iraqis, or Nepalese, or Filipinos, or Colombians, or the
Basques? These are some of the fighting people the US wants crush, and have us
believe as the enemies of the US. Or was it the Vietnamese who lost 30,00,000
men, women and children at US hands or the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
The US imperialists made enemies everywhere and now it has suddenly discovered
this. The anger is directed at the US imperialists, not the US people, who
themselves have been victims of their masters.
The onus to oppose
the US juggernaut is left on the people at large in all lands, including the US.
Here lies the truth why it is the people that have to take things in their own
hands and take on their own failing governments and the US imperialists to stop
their crimes against humanity.
September 11, 2002
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