I miss the old days when sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of states meant something. Those were the good days when state actors were treated as equals in the international system. Those were the days of straight talk and action; everyone knew the intent behind everyone else’s actions.
I miss the old days of a bipolar international system. Looking back on those times, I realize how much the present system has put upon us, the people of the world, a spoiled and arrogant super power that roams around the world tinkering with our lives routinely without us doing nothing to avert the situation. That makes me angry and bitter about the current state of things. Yes, I have been told the world is a multi-polar system now with numerous regional super powers reigning over their spheres of influence but they barely handle the provocation of the one real bully in the world let alone form a regional block of tangible strength.
The reality, therefore, is that the world is run by a very powerful and morally corrupt super power with an intent of disowning everyone of their resources while reigning supreme not even as a nation but as a class of a select few rich people. That does remind me of another very powerful state that set out to subjugate the whole world under its feet through its immense military power a short while ago – Natzi Germany.
The analysis that the fate of the American hegemony will not be any different from that of its Natzi counterparts has taken center stage especially in the twenty-first century. The book entitled “Nemesis: The last days of the American republic” by Chalmers Johnson that was published in 2006 stated that the U.S. owned 737 military bases around the world by then, effectively becoming an empire with numerous outposts to ensure its further expansion. As indicated in the title, the book argues that it is already the beginning of the end for the American empire.
The argument is actually very sound. As the militarism of the United States would lead to secrecy and undemocratic behavior internally and imperialistic exploitation in countries across the world, the strain on its existence from internal and external forces would get so immense that the empire would eventually collapse. For the majority of the world population, those days do not seem to come soon enough.
Until that day comes though, we need to stand together against American bullying of the entire planet. It is becoming increasingly difficult for states to adopt a national strategy that strictly caters to the needs of their own people without promoting the neo-liberal policies advocated by the western world along with the social and political changes they prescribe. Despite the repeated worldwide ill-effects of the free market system that derives national wealth into the hands of a handful of individuals, non-adherence to it still results in a systematic or violent regime change.
Human rights, multi-party politics and freedom of expression are at the forefront of accusations that are frequently associated with regimes that strive towards the advancement of the interests of their own people leaving the hegemonic interests at the backburner. This fact is accentuated by the constant neglect of transgressions against human rights, narrowing of the political platform and freedom of expression committed by allies of the superpower.
Saudi Arabia and Israel are just two instances. Despite its over one and half year of assault of Yemen and the authoritarian rule of its own people, Saudi Arabia has recently, rather ironically, been elected to chair the UN Human Rights Commission. With no regard to the ever expanding illegal capture of Palestinian land, the killing of innocent people and policy of apartheid against its Arab citizens, Israel is portrayed by the western media and international organizations as a democratic country.
As far as human rights are concerned, the U.S. itself has a ‘terrible’ record. The Wall Street Journal reported in June, 2015 that China has issued annual scorecards on human rights in the U.S. since the late 1990s, typically within days of the State Department’s yearly rights reports. Accordingly, the 2015 report by the Chinese stated that the U.S. showed “not a bit of regret for or intention to improve its own terrible human rights record.” The Wall Street Journal quoted the Chinese report as saying: “Plenty of facts show that, in 2014, the U.S., a self-proclaimed human rights defender, saw no improvements in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems. While its own human rights situation was increasingly grave, the U.S. violated human rights in other countries in a more brazen manner.”
The article by the Journal states:
America’s record remained blotted by rampant gun crime, racial discrimination, the pernicious influence of money in politics, widening income and social inequality, and state infringements of individual privacy, according to the State Council’s latest yearly assessment. By Beijing’s reckoning, the U.S. also violated human rights abroad through the use of torture, mass electronic surveillance of foreign governments and citizens, and frequent military drone attacks that have inflicted civilian casualties.
Political pluralism in the country is also systematically hijacked by narrowing down of the political platform to the whims of two parties with barely different ideas. Despite the presence of numerous other parties with alternative ideologies and policies, the financial oligarchy that truly runs the country has intentionally left them out. Therefore, party pluralism still evades U.S. politics despite the country incessantly abusing others for not realizing it.
Freedom of expression is yet another issue that has been entangled by big money and the interests behind it. In his book entitled “Manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media,” Noam Chomsky expressed his view that “the media serve, and propagandize on behalf of powerful societal interests that control and finance them. The representatives of these interests have important agendas and principles that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and construct media policy.”
That means the media report or not based on the policies that are hand made by these societal interests. It is, therefore, no wonder that the so-called international media that are under the control of these social interests did not report on the Occupy Wall Street Movement’s demonstrations and the subsequent violent crackdown by the police until they persisted for a whole three weeks. Even when they eventually did, the reports were highly skewed and portrayed the demonstrated as basically “losers.” The promotion of life derivatives of neo-liberalism is also a major hijacking of social media to serve the purpose of the financial oligarchy. Therefore, the U.S. media systematically marginalizes and completely ignores important social issues that matter and entertains those that promote consumerism. In such a system, it is not hard to see the twisted face of freedom of expression.
The hypocrisy in the self proclamation of the U.S. as a defender and police of human rights, political pluralism and freedom of expression is staggering. As has briefly been expressed above, the U.S. is not morally fit to preach and prescribe these ideals to others when it is one of the most notable transgressors.
In one of their routine moves of meddling in the internal affairs of others, a few U.S. senators, reputed as cheap targets for lobbyists, called for a “full, credible, and transparent investigation into the killings and instances of excessive use of force” that allegedly took place as a result of protests in the Oromia and Amhara region.
While they have the audacity to call for explanation and investigation from the Ethiopian government, they should clearly understand that the government is not accountable to them. Although these corrupt politicians might by now feel like they have the right to boss around a sovereign state since they have done it all so frequently before, they would definitely stumble up on a reality check if they decide to engage in one of their spoiled stunts.
As the death of Ethiopians is primarily sad news for us Ethiopians, the unfortunate development needs to be worked out between Ethiopians themselves. If the senators are truly concerned about human rights, they have plenty of issue to ponder in their own country. Whether it is the random killing of black people or the deteriorating condition of health and education in the country, I am sure they have an abundant range of issue to address. What keeps them looking away from their own problems and stare into ours is that the business of bullying other sovereign states is quite lucrative while the other earns them just their salary.