Politics & Current Affairs
What Am I?
It has taken me a good few years of my adult life to decide what my political orientation is other than vague left-of-the-middle leanings I inherited from my mum. I don't believe voting/politics should be shoved down young people's throats like some people think it should be - this is, as usual, a stupid attitude towards the younger generation. Instead, young people should be educated where possible, then left to experience life and make their own decisions.
I think that I'm a humanitarian, mostly-pacifistic, socialist libertarian. In fact I think I'm pretty liberal with a lot of things, but my general leaning is towards socialist philosophies and freedom of life, thought and expression. The idea of 1984 appalls me, though I certainly don't accept that totalitarianism can only occur under communist-type governments. I also reject the common western spin that free trade = free people.
9/11, The War Against Terror and Iraq
Instead of writing yet another article on "what I think is right", I ended up summarising my thoughts and feelings on this subject with a load of questions. Obviously it's not hard to see where I'm coming from, and how I know that I don't know a lot about this - hence the questions, really. It's so easy to form opinions (like assholes - everyone has one..), and I try to avoid armchair politics like I've avoided armchair psychology in the past, but sometimes events grip you and you find you simply cannot remain silent. I actively pursue more information on these incredibly complex and world-spanning issues and find I am in somewhat of a moral dilemma on the subject of 'regime changes' and the like -- just as most people should be if they tried to avoid knee-jerk reactions and actually took the time to really think about it all objectively. (Objectivity: an impossible dream...) So here goes...
- Invasion of another country is:
- Violation of International Law?
- Bad - why?
- Kills our soldiers
- Kills civilians
- Justified - how?
- Morally? Religiously even?
- "Revenge" for 9/11?
- "Appeasement"?
- Why is the US so pro-war compared to non-US allies? Do people really believe other governments think it is wrong just because they are "cowards" or because "it didn't happen to them"?
- Who is being more rational?
- Are pre-emptive strikes on the scale of invasion justified? Are they justified on conjecture and circumstantial evidence? Is it morally right to invade a distant country because you think they might be planning something?
- Historical precedents:
- Vietnam?
- Afghanistan?
- WWII argument: valid? Is the situation really similiar? Do Americans believe invading Iraq would be like when they stepped in in WWII?
- What do historic lessons on warfare teach us?
- How will conventional warfare effect anti-US sentiment in the Middle-East & elsewhere? Does not 9/11 teach us anything? What are the terrorists reasons? It is easy to pass them off as insane fundamentalists, but every effect has a cause. Why are motives left on the sidelines, while the "evilness" of bin Laden, Hussein & his regime is pumped into our heads 24/7 as if this is the only thing that matters?
- Is "Regime-change" in a country as large as Iraq really practical/feasible? How stable is Afghanistan now? How comparable are allied efforts in Afghanistan to an invasion of Iraq? The US has said it is not concerned with "nation-building". Yet they wish to invade a country and topple its head of state and government. What are the consequences? Do people truly believe "we taught al'Qaeda a lesson, they won't dare do that again!", and that this also applies to the Iraqi nation?
- How have we come so close to invading another country (with the inevitability of "collateral damage", what a sick, sick term...) based on conjecture, rhetoric and emotion? Does this farcical escapade show us the future of our much-vaunted "democratic" countries' political process - "we don't need evidence to justify openly feeding propaganda to our people until they believe we are right when we break International Law and invade another country!"
I advocate:
- Reconciliation and education on a global scale
- Fair trade before free trade, being more careful with who we sell guns and bombs to so it doesn't empower "evil" regimes and dictatorships in the future... fair foreign policies with all
- Dropping of useless sanctions - are we really that naive? Or is it an accepted strategy to slowly starve the civilian population to score a few points against the government, increasing its power and decreasing that of the people who, with food & medicine, would be more likely to support revolution & revolt against their oppressive state?
- Less follow-my-leader posturing, bravado and spin, more honesty, integrity, intelligence. Common sense instead of least-path-of-resistance politics. Serving your country's best interests first & worrying about economic/trade implications second - if there is no oil left because the Middle-East is a smouldering ruin full of disillusioned, angry people looking for a cause against the war-makers, what will have been achieved?
Think!!
If it is a matter of principle to invade any country you feel may threaten you, possibly because the society you love made money off giving them the means to do so, you need to re-evaluate your principles. You should also take time out from tabloids and spin doctors to think about when you voice support for your government's aggressive foreign policies, are their ideals really anything like yours, or do they have their own political agenda? Do they care about the car bombs that kill commuters? Or is it, perhaps, the price of oil that lines their pockets that really matters? Politicians are notorious for lies, deceit, manipulation and spin-doctoring in peacetime; what is different now? Think for yourself. Read between the lines. You don't always need to be told what is the "real truth" - sometimes using your own faculties of thought and reason are enough and no amount of hype can rob you of that. Of course, sometimes it can...
Use your own judgement. Resist apathy and indifference. We truly are a "global village", and what happens on the other side of the planet affects you more and more with every passing day.
Further reading
http://www.urban75.org/terror/
Urban75.org War on Terror website. Also see their forums.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/oneyearon/story/0,12361,789978,00.html
"The Dead and the guilty" - 9/11 anniversary article by the Guardian.