Critical Analysis: Civilized World?

Statue commemorating Don Salvador Allende, president of Chile. On 9/11/1973, US-sponsored military terrorists began a right-wing coup that toppled the lawful Chilean government, and murdered their leader, drowning in violence the country’s effort to advance toward a more egalitarian society. The tragedy of Chile is all too typical of countries dominated by the hypocritical West.

All too frequently I hear or read phrasing about “the freedom of the civilized world” when it comes to arguing for more war efforts (“Job Not Done”, Sunday, November 22, 2015.)

Certainly our civilization is rich and wealthy and we have a fair degree of freedom, so obviously we must be more civilized than others. It is a nice homily and platitude but in the course of our ‘civilized’ history it is rather meaningless.

Our civilization is rich and wealthy because of its colonial military/cultural wars that have ranged across the globe and as our own Canadian history attests. The European empires of the middle centuries fought their way around the world against each other and against the indigenous peoples of various areas who reacted to occupation, slavery, resource extraction (or theft) as any subjugated people would: by fighting back and working towards their freedom.

WW I was essentially the empires of Europe fighting each other for dominance. WW II was the last battle of WW I because the Versailles peace was highly flawed and did not deliver on the Wilsonian ideal of all nationalities being able to choose their own governance. After WW II the U.S. was the supreme power, most colonies received their freedom – not because of the U.S.

Unfortunately freedom was not truly free, as many countries that did not follow the U.S./western way of thinking were attacked covertly or overtly by western forces. Most were re-colonized in a new way with the imposed programs of the World Bank, IMF and other financial arrangements that once again stole their resources and impoverished their nations. Farmers have been kicked off their land for western extractive resources, or forced to grow cash crops (coffee, tea, cocoa), rather than food crops for their families. Education, health, and the environment have all suffered under these new regimes of western ‘civilization.’

Add to this the war factors. Ever since WW II, the U.S. has created a military empire with well over 750 bases in over 150 countries. Using both direct military intervention and covert CIA operations, the U.S. began overthrowing democratically elected governments ranging from the Mossadegh Iranian government and the Arbenz Guatemala government (1953) on through Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Zaire/Congo, Yemen, Chile, and many others. 

Are we, the royal western we, more civilized because we have a more sophisticated military technology using smart bombs, Hellfire missiles, cluster bombs, white phosphorous, dense inert metal explosives (DIME), depleted uranium (DU) weapons, cruise missiles, attack drones, all delivered remotely from some fancy computerized control room?

Millions have died around the world, directly or indirectly from the attacks and invasions of the western ‘civilized’ world, not because they attacked us first, but because they have been subjugated by centuries of ‘civilization’ that treated them as less than human and stole the wealth of their countries. Some call it blowback. 

By all means attack ISIS. They are the spawn of al-Qaeda, who are the spawn of the Taliban, who are the spawn of Ronald Reagan’s mujahideen “freedom fighters.” It’s called blowback. But please drop the pretense about the “civilized world.” Our ’civilization’ is but a thin veneer over our history of invasion and killing to harness the world’s wealth for ourselves. 

Here is the response to Jim’s letter from a fellow Vernon Morning Star reader (excerpts, name withheld by Axis of Logic):

As a regular reader of your publication, I was very pleased to see the editorial courage displayed by printing the submitted comments in [the] article “Civilized World?”

In today’s often politically obsessed world, it is a rarity to encounter the blunt honesty which the writer of that submission offered, and it very much is the truth about what has been going on.

Conversely, it is also not an every day event that such honesty is given the attention it very much deserves as that is not taught in any school.

… As such, I very much appreciate the point blank honesty which illuminates this issue as well as it was presented and then made available to those who care to expand their horizons of understanding and comprehension.

… If any nation is to ever rise above its former mistakes, that degree of honesty “must survive” and live to separate the hogwash, from the verifiable truth.