- We of the privileged *Caucasian race
have been dancing without paying for centuries. And the piper is seriously
pissed.
-
- Rudyard Kipling encouraged America's
fledgling empire when he wrote The White Man's Burden. However, by that
time the Unites States had already committed genocide against the Native
Americans, engulfed half of Mexico and turned Hawaii over to a handful
of wealthy White plantation owners. White Americans were already "bearing
the burden" of ruling those who were "half-devil and half-child".
-
- In the early 20th Century, confidence
in their moral superiority and Manifest Destiny spurred Americans to slaughter
tens of thousands of civilians in the Philippines, prevent a sovereign
nation from emerging in Cuba, and negate Puerto Rico the autonomy it had
negotiated with Spain.
-
- As one of the most brutal European imperialists,
Spain played a significant role in the ongoing oppression of the Filipinos,
Cubans and Puerto Ricans. When the United States defeated them in the Spanish-American
War, they essentially sold the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico to their
new masters in Washington.
-
- Taking off the rose-colored glasses
-
- Casting aside the history books written
by the "superior" White race and viewing history through the
lens of reality, one readily sees that European nations like Spain, Great
Britain, France, and Portugal committed unspeakable atrocities against
millions whose only "crime" was that they were born on the continents
of Africa, North America, or South America.
-
- "Brave and noble" pioneers
and explorers like Columbus and Cortez came to the "New World"
bearing gifts. Their hosts were "blessed" with "gifts"
like Small Pox, servitude, and genocide. As they convinced themselves they
were "civilizing the savages", the European invaders dehumanized
their "converts". Human beings became tools for empire building,
or if they impeded imperial expansion, little more than insects to be exterminated.
-
- In the area of North America which eventually
became the United States, one of the ultimate ironies occurred. Refugees
from oppression in Western Europe became ruthless oppressors themselves.
Victims became abusers as our ancestors nearly drove Native Americans to
extinction.
-
- Similar patterns emerged in Africa as
various European nations carved up the Dark Continent like a juicy Thanksgiving
Day bird. Humans and resources alike became subject to the will and whims
of their colonial rulers.
-
- Encountering a shortage of labor and
an over-abundance of economic opportunities in the "New World",
the "intrepid" imperialists were undaunted. They simply started
capturing indigenous people from various tribes in Africa, selling them
into slavery, and shipping them to the Americas. Valuable new commodity
emerges. Labor shortage problem solved. One can't help but admire their
ingenuity; that is if one suffers from anti-social personality disorder.
-
- To summarize, our European and American
ancestors raped, pillaged, plundered, enslaved, and nearly annihilated
the "lesser beings" they encountered on several continents in
their "glorious" bids to expand their empires.
-
- Barren desert never looked so good....
-
- After the invention of the internal combustion
engine led to wide-spread use of automobiles, the Middle East became an
area of particular interest to Europe and the United States. With the revelation
that vast quantities of black gold oozed from their sand, the heretofore
unappealing arid lands of the Arab and Persian "savages" suddenly
became indispensable commodities.
-
- Once again the "onus of domesticating
the barbarians" was thrust upon the West. In the process of sharing
their "enlightened values", the United States and their fellow
imperialists in Europe have derived the "ancillary benefit" of
exerting a great deal of control over the precious Middle Eastern oil.
Assuaging their guilt for the Holocaust, they also "found" a
homeland for the Jewish people. To this day we "noble" Americans
are enabling genocide against the Palestinians to make this homeland possible.
-
- The illusion of freedom and autonomy
-
- While virtually all of the former colonies
are now "autonomous" nations, Europe and the United States possess
many means to continue exploiting the people and resources of the "developing
world". Imperialism is alive and well in Africa, South America, Central
America, and the Middle East.
-
- So called free trade agreements perpetuate
US and European multi-national corporations' virtually unfettered access
to cheap labor and valuable raw materials. The World Bank and International
Monetary Fund ensure powerful Western influence by deeply indebting impoverished
nations. The debtors are then obliged to tailor their economic policies
to benefit their Neoliberal masters, leaving a majority of their citizens
miserably poor.
-
- Utilizing direct and indirect military
intervention, the Neocolonialists have long guaranteed the loyalty of their
"subjects" by ousting leaders elected by the people and installing
dictators friendly to Western interests.
-
- Close call for the wealthy ruling elite
-
- Consider one of many examples. With a
long-standing tradition of constitutional rule and leaders elected by the
vote of the people, Chileans made the "grave error" of electing
Salvador Allende as their president in the early 1970's.
-
- Allende suffered from the delusion that
it would be just to nationalize industries and end years of multi-national
corporate exploitation. In 1973, the zealous efforts of Richard Nixon,
Henry Kissinger, the CIA, and telecommunications giant ITT bore fruit.
Their three year campaign to destabilize the social, political, and economic
conditions of Chile softened the beach-head for a bloody coup, which included
the assasination of Allende. General Augusto Pinochet, America's man, took
the helm.
-
- Pinochet "rescued" the people
of Chile by abolishing the minimum wage, crushing labor unions, lowering
taxes and privatizing the pension system. It came as no great surprise
that American multi-nationals like ITT were able to continue their plunder.
-
- 2100 murders, 1100 disappearances, and
28,000 torture victims later, Pinochet resigned in 1990. Since his arrest
and detention in 1998, Pinochet has been stripped of his immunity as former
head of state and indicted for crimes against humanity. There is hope for
justice.
-
- One of the better articulations of the
indirect yet powerful Neocolonial rule imposed by the United States and
Western Europe comes from a speech Salvador Allende made before the United
Nations (as the Nixon Regime was covertly wreaking social, political, and
economic havoc under his very nose):
-
- Our economy could no longer tolerate
the subordination implied by having more than eighty percent of its exports
in the hands of a small group of large foreign companies that have always
put their interests ahead of those of the countries where they make their
profits
-
- These same firms exploited Chilean copper
for many years, made more than four billion dollars in profit in the last
forty-two years alone, while their initial investments were less than thirty
millionMy country, Chile would have been totally transformed by that four
billion dollars
-
- We find ourselves opposed by forces that
operate in the shadows, without a flag, with powerful weapons, from positions
of great influence.We are potentially rich countries, yet we live in poverty.
We go here and there, begging for credits and aid, yet we are great exporters
of capital. It is a classic paradox of the capitalist economic system.
-
- The coffee is brewing, can't you smell
it?
-
- Live in denial if you will, but we Caucasian
descendents of Western imperialists living in Neocolonial nations owe a
tremendous moral and fiscal debt to those whom our ancestors and governments
have egregiously wronged. Our wealth and power insulates us to an extent,
but those we have oppressed are beginning to extract their pound of flesh.
-
- Significant numbers of "illegal"
immigrants are evading detection and entering the United States. They are
passing through the grossly immoral border our ancestors created after
stealing the land comprising our nation from the Native Americans and from
Mexico. Xenophobia, paranoia, and racism are again rearing their ugly heads
as some White Americans clamor for the arrest and deportation of 11 million
immigrants and the creation of an American version of the Iron Curtain.
-
- Despite his assurances that he does not
intend to militarize the Mexican border, George Bush's latest agenda for
our southern boundary includes deploying 6,000 National Guard troops and
adding prison beds for "illegal" immigrants. Not a whiff of militarization
there.
-
- Bush's discourse made it quite clear
that despite the fact that he did not support mass deportation, the "illegals"
who had established themselves in the United States would only be eligible
for citizenship if they wrapped themselves in the American flag, steeped
themselves in the lore of the Empire, and became fluent in English, the
global language which is the key to self-actualizing and getting into heaven.
Once the "illegals" reaching for the brass ring of American citizenship
have sold their cultural souls, Bush wants to grace them with the opportunity
to "get in line" behind those who won the lottery in their country
of origin and obtained documents to enter the United States legally.
-
- While Congress struggles to create an
immigration bill to pacify the Decider, business interests hungry for cheap
labor, and racist forces eager to expel non-Anglo individuals, the deportation
sweep is already taking place. On 4/21, the federal government announced
that it would treat employers hiring "illegals" like criminal
organizations. They promptly arrested 1,000 undocumented immigrants at
IFCO, a German container manufacturer with locations around the United
States.
-
- Here in the Kansas City area, immigration
officials are tenaciously pursuing the deportation of a 31 year old Mexican
named Myrna Dick. Myrna is married to an American and has a child with
him.
-
- Also in Kansas City, a law abiding 38
year old father of two has been victimized by anti-immigrant laws. Adam
Hernandez lived in the United States for 26 years and is married to an
American citizen. Last week our federal government deported him to his
native Honduras because he stole a car when he was a teenager. Human compassion
in action.
-
- On 4/24 Missouri state senators voted
to empower state troopers to enforce federal immigration laws. If you have
brown skin and are in Missouri, you better be able to prove you are a "real
American" or you may find yourself "south of the border".
-
- Unabashed imperialists that they were,
the Romans at least granted limited citizenship, and ultimately full citizenship,
to those they conquered. America is content to simply exploit its foreign
subjects as it bleeds its colonies dry of wealth and resources.
-
- Interestingly, our fellow imperialists
across the Atlantic are coping with their own influx of people they have
abused for centuries.
-
- Each year, tens of thousands of desperately
poor Africans make a perilous journey of 2,000 miles or more to seek better
lives in Western Europe. However, Europe is also in the throes of xenophobia.
4,000 victims of the fallout from the colonization of Africa have been
detained by Spain so far in 2006. With increasingly zealous enforcement
of immigration laws, Africans are forced to take more dangerous routes
to enter Europe. At least 1300 have died at sea so far this year.
-
- Many of the African migrants attempt
to gain entrance to Europe through Morocco in North Africa. To counter
what it claims to be a tide of millions of African immigrants, Morocco
has militarized its border, built high fences and dug deep trenches. Despite
these measures, tens of thousands of African migrants make it into Morocco.
Many of them are unable to make it to Spain, their ultimate goal. They
remain stranded in Morocco where most live in abject poverty.
-
- Like their counterpart in the United
States, the French National Assembly is now debating immigration legislation.
They are considering severe restrictions on the entry of unskilled laborers
from African nations. Several French human rights groups and churches have
denounced this measure. They recognize that such laws would lead to a flood
of educated African professionals immigrating to France. Those left behind
in Africa would find their situations even more dire as their doctors and
engineers left for greener pastures in France.
-
- In South America, two indigenous leaders
have risen to power through legitimate popular election. Following the
lead of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales are boldly defying their
Neocolonial masters. Much to the chagrin of Western imperialists in Washington
and in the European Union, Chavez is committing such heinous acts as utilizing
Venezuelan oil revenues to provide education, housing, medical care, and
food to the poor. Morales recently nationalized Bolivia's vast fields of
natural gas. Perhaps Allende has been given a second chance through a double
reincarnation.
-
- In a Homeric tragedy, the Middle East
has been the epicenter of a maelstrom of venomous hatred, brutality, subjugation
and war dating back to the Crusades. While instability and conflict have
plagued the region for many years, the demand for oil has taken the unrest
to new heights. Western support for brutal, tyrannical regimes, like that
of the Shah, Saddam Hussein and a continuous parade of Israeli leaders,
has fueled an intense and understandable hatred amongst many of the indigenous
people in various Middle Eastern nations.
-
- Committing egregious acts of terrorism
and murder "justified" by the warped notion that military personnel
simply cause "collateral damage" when they kill innocent civilians,
the United States, Israel, and their European allies have triggered a violent
backlash from the denizens of the Middle East. While the violence committed
by both sides is abhorrent, the violent reprisals of the Iraqi Resistance
and groups like Hamas represent a rational response to invasion, terrorism,
murder of civilians, and acts of genocide committed by avaricious and powerful
invaders.
-
- Aside from the obvious moral imperatives,
we have several pragmatic impetuses to change our malevolent ways and redeem
ourselves. Our victims out-number us. They possess both the will and the
means to do us grievous harm, both militarily and economically. The days
of their meek submission are long past. Iraq, Iran, nuclear proliferation,
oil addiction, a notable increase in the percentage of minorities in American
and European populations, and fears of "homeland" attacks are
painful reminders of the increasing inability of the Caucasian-dominated
West to dominate the world as it once did.
-
- How do we in the United States finally
shoulder the real White man's burden?
-
- If we implemented the following social
and political policies/strategies, much of our debt would be repaid to
those we have abused and exploited, our creditors whom we victimized would
leave us alone, and humanity would no longer be on a path to self-destruction:
-
- 1. Slashing insanely bloated military
budgets by at least 2/3 and using the savings to balance the budget, fund
domestic social programs and to increase foreign aid. (It is delusional
to believe that the US needs to account for over 50% of world military
expenditures per year to protect 5% of the world's population).
-
- 2. Forgiving World Bank debt and closing
the doors to both the World Bank and the IMF
-
- 3. Withdrawing US forces from the Middle
East and closing many of the US military bases around the globe
-
- 4. Ceasing US military and financial
aid to Israel
-
- 5. Ending the Cuban Embargo
-
- 6. Adhering to the Geneva Conventions
by ending torture, rendition, and wars of aggression.
-
- 7. Adhering to decisions rendered by
the UN
-
- 8. Banning the use of depleted uranium
-
- 9. Allowing the millions of "illegal"
immigrants who have established stable residence the opportunity to earn
citizenship
-
- 10. Putting a stop to our support of
murderous tyrants like Pinochet, Marcos, Suharto, and Saddam Hussein
-
- 11. Placing severe restriction on the
powers and rights of corporations
-
- 12. Summarily removing the members of
the Bush Regime from office, arresting them, and extraditing them to the
Hague for war crimes trials
-
- 13. Implementing tax increases on the
wealthy and on corporate giants while eliminating the loopholes which often
enable them to shift the tax burden onto the poor and middle class
-
- 14. Amending the US Constitution with
a Separation of Business and State clause to stop the revolving door between
corporate America and the government and to stop corporations from buying
our leaders
-
- 15. Holding internationally-monitored
elections to replace the current criminal regime. The elections would need
to be publicly funded, include a Populist party to represent the middle
class and poor (since Democrats and Republicans are de facto representatives
of the rich), and ban the use of electronic voting machines.
-
- 16. Repealing the Patriot Act and restoring
the Bill of Rights
-
- 17. Closing Guantanamo Bay, the torture
facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the CIA's network of secret prisons
-
- 18. Ending the "separate and unequal"
public education system by infusing more public money into predominately
Black and Hispanic school districts
-
- 19. Creating a system of national health
care which charges premiums based on financial capacity
-
- 20. Ending the "War on Drugs"
which has failed miserably, has filled our prisons with non-violent offenders
who committed the "crime" of self-destructive hedonism, and has
been used as a tool of military intervention in Central and South America
-
- 21. Focusing more law enforcement resources
on rehabilitation and education and less on punitive measures
-
- 22. Facilitating an equitable distribution
of resources, land, and power between Jews and Palestinians in Israel
-
- After enduring years of Caucasian hubris,
arrogance, abuse, invasion, exploitation, state terrorism, and genocide,
it is small wonder that some non-Anglos are enraged enough to commit acts
of terror and many others are desperate enough to risk death by attempting
entry into the US or Europe.
-
- Odds are the de facto ruling class of
the United States will not rush to implement my suggestions to satisfy
our moral debt and inject more humanity into the world. Property, power
and money move their worlds. Surrender of their precious imperial, racist,
and plutocratic system is out of the question until they feel some serious
pain. Given prevailing conditions in the world, that time may be closer
than these Masters of the Earth believe.
-
- I recently wrote that some Whites believe
that we Caucasians represent the pinnacle of human evolution. A reader
emailed me to ask what proof I had that we do not represent the pinnacle
of human evolution. The answer is intuitively obvious to the casual observer.
Highly evolved human beings registering at the top of humanity's scale
would have willingly forged a sociopolitical system based on peace, economic
justice, social justice, and universal human rights long ago.
-
- I rest my case.
-
- Now let's get to work on repaying our
seriously past due balance.
-
- *including the Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean
sub-categories of the Caucasian race, loosely referred to as Whites
-
- Jason Miller is a 39 year old sociopolitical
essayist with a degree in liberal arts and an extensive self-education
(derived from an insatiable appetite for reading). He is a member of Amnesty
International and an avid supporter of Oxfam International and Human Rights
Watch. He welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com or comments on
his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner, at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.
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