Aby The Liberal

Aby June 28th, 2007

You might have pondered this question, especially if you live outside of America and are aware of the activities of US around the globe. Or perhaps you are an American and want to know why the world detests America so much. There are several reasons for this, one of them is the US foreign policy which irks most nations - be they democratic, autocratic or communists. After the World War 2, the United States of America has followed a foreign policy which is increasingly aggressive and extremist against countries not complying to American will and its petty interests.

Bodies of Vietnamese children massacred by US forces: Victims of American Foreign Policy

Successive American governments (with a few exceptions like Clinton, Carter, etc.) have shown in the last few decades that they are ready to kill hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of their political or business interests. At times the issue is so trivial that if a local government is not supportive of American companies or US influence, attempts are made by American agencies like CIA to destabilize that government by mass dissent, genocides, military coups or assassinations. United States owes apologies and compensations for the genocides of at least 11 million people around the world. The United States administration is guilty of so many crimes against humanity that they could have given Adolf Hitler a complex for not being able to rival the US in genocides. A few of the serious ones among them are shown below. The links for more details are given and if you find these unbelievable you can consult the relevant reports and historical records to verify these -

• 100000 civilians in Guatemala (1954), mostly the Mayans perished in the US organised coup to overthrow the popular Jacobo Arbenz. Reason was given as Arbenz’s close ties and friendliness with USSR and to improve the living standard of the Guatemalans.

• 600000 people died in bombings by USA on peasants and their fields in Cambodia (1973). Many historians agree that Cambodia is the most bombed country in history and they did not have any credible air of land defence to protect themselves.

• 1000000 Iranians were killed in the Iraq - Iran War from 1980 - 1990 by US backed and financed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It is ironic the US tried Saddam for the same crimes it was an ally to and more ironic that it financed and backed Saddam to topple the democratically elected Iraqi government.

• During end of Vietnam war (1975), US was defeated and it failed to put its choice of government into power against the people’s choice - Ho Chi Minh. To avenge the defeat and death of its 58022 killed soldiers, it released several million tons of Agent Orange and Napalm bombs which killed at least 2500000 Vietnamese civilians. The sanctions and blockades forced by US killed an additional minimum of 1.5 million people.

• 1200000 children died in Iraq between 1990 - 1997 as a result of US and UK led sanctions against medicine and food supplied to Iraq after the gulf war and also because of bio-chemical weapons used on Iraqis - according to World Food Program and UNICEF reports.

Every act of these mass genocides and massacres was given a catchphrase justification to suit the American tastes, most commonly being, in the ‘interests of America‘, ‘for freedom‘, ‘war or terrorism‘, ‘war against evil of communism‘, etc. but without a credible justification for the massive losses of human lives and property a war would cause. And yes, a lot of things which the US forces and special forces carry on around the world go unnoticed by the media and public alike till it gets leaked or gets declassified decades later - after the issue has ‘decayed’ (can no longer cause outrage as a fresh incident would have caused).

In the long run such activities create a dissent for Americans around the world. It makes them a target of mockery, hate, attacks both in foreign countries and attacks in mainland America itself. While no sane person would justify attacks on innocent civilians, understanding the root causes which cause such attacks is the first step to solving the problem. If critical issues are brushed under the carpet nothing can be achieved except further death and destruction of American people who often have nothing to do with what their governments are up to in rest of the world.

• Crimes , America , Ideology , Violence , Humanity
• Comments(12)

Mag June 19th, 2007

Salman Rushdie, the famed author was knighted by her majesty the Queen Elizabeth on June 16, 2007. The knighthood was met with sharp criticism and opposition from Muslims in UK and around the world in countries like Iran and Pakistan because of their hate-hate relationship against Sir Salman Rushdie. Islamic extremists placed a bounty of £80,000 on his head as is expected of them. A group of Pakistani ministers also went as far as to justify the acts of suicide bombers saying giving knighthood to someone like Salman Rushdie is a cause for terrorism. His fault? He wrote a book The Satanic Verses 18 years ago which supposedly insulted the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Salman Rushdie, the author of Midnight’s Children who was granted Knighthood

I know it is not very politically correct in a secular country to speak against a religion but Sir. Salman Rushdie did something he paid for manifold, by being hunted and being on run for years. He got the knighthood for his contributions to literature because of Midnight’s Children , Haroun and the Sea of Stories and such literary works. If he was knighted for The Satanic Verses it might be somehow justified for an opposition in the form of peaceful protests but terrorism? Suicide bombings? How does it justify to kill people who have nothing to do with it just because an author made defamatory comments against a religion and that in a book penned two decades ago? Is it worth that people get violently killed for the name of a prophet? I can’t understand this and I hope someone can explain me how could humans kill innocent people for thing as small as someone slandering a prophet.

A few years ago we had a bestseller book Da Vinci Code which was very offensive against Christians in general and Opus Dei Catholics in particular. It was followed with a movie on the same book which became a hit. We sure didn’t have the Pope or even a Cardinal passing a million pound bounty on Dan Brown and no one blew themselves up in a public place for it. It is because sane people living in secular nations know that it is a free world where people like me and you have choices. Choices to say what you want, choices to do what you want and choices to go where you want as long as you do not harm others. The people who are besmirched in the Da Vinci Code or Satanic Verses are long gone and their followers stay till today. But while the followers of one religion did not make a fuss about a book, the followers of another make a big fuss about it. Is it because one party is not very sure about the strength of their religion?

Why would people of a certain belief get so violent about offensive remarks that they are ready to kill for it? It is surprising when another group of people with another set of beliefs does not go berserk in the same situation. I think it has more to do with the strength of beliefs. Believing Christians are not worried that their religion will disappear overnight because of Da Vinci Code becoming a hit/bestseller. But maybe the Muslims who make such a fuss are not so sure when it comes to their own religion. Maybe they know their religion is possibly weak and a small strike like The Satanic Verses can destroy it. If we let religiously narrow minded people like this have their way, our freedom of expression and right to life will be in danger. This will turn into a war where every religion tries to have its way, we will have violences in the likes of the Crusades, the Holocausts and the Inquisitions.

We cannot eliminate religion altogether because of the strength of people’s beliefs and sense of emotional connection people have with the religions. But we can at least ensure that practising religion is done not at the cost of someone’s right to live and other fundamental human rights like freedom of expression and speech.

- Maggie
(Special thanks to Aby for formatting, editing and designing the post and also for giving a catchy title)

• World Culture , Ideology , Violence , Religion , Humanity
• Comments(8)