Public Meeting: Obama's War
Speaker: Vijay Prashad, Chair of South Asian History, Trinity College, Connecticut
9 Jan. Tonight Kaveri Mess 9pm Sharp
As the President of USA Barack Obama announced a ‘surge’ of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan and later on while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize defended the necessity of war for a lasing peace, the reality of Obama being the head of the Hegemonic-Imperialist power in the world was reaffirmed, shedding away all the pretensions of being a ‘Messiah of Hope’ and ‘Crusader of Change’. Inspite of being charged of being ‘cynical’ the anti-imperialist left-democratic and progressive forces had refused to join the ‘bandwagon of hope’ as Obama-the first African-American to have been elected to the post of the President of USA took charge in 2008 amidst much of an euphoria. Those who understand the overarching reality of imperialism could not have ‘hoped’ that an individual could bring any change in the existing order of things, even if one gives him the benefit of doubt and accepts the sincerity of his promises. On the other hand it is plausible to argue that Obama is a product of the very necessity of the system to legitimise itself, to provide it with a human face. But being the President of the hegemonic-imperialist power makes it difficult at times to even masquerade behind the human face as the imperial ambitions-not of the individual but inbuilt in the system-take over.
The decision of the deployment of 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan shows how the Presidency has become subservient to the conservative political and security establishment in the United States. Obama, who was elected on a non-war platform, has transformed himself into a “War President” in the mould of his immediate predecessor, George W. Bush. Inspite of the apprehensions and reservations in some quarters of Obama administration, with 61 per cent of registered Democrats opposed to an escalation in Afghanistan and in addition, 52 per cent of the total population believing that the war itself was not worth fighting, Obama has bogged to the demands of the military-industrial complex in the country. So much to the ‘greatest democracy’ in the world! Furthermore in his speech at American military academy at West Point, New York where he announced the ‘surge’ in Afghanistan-now better known as Af-Pak policy-Obama said that the struggle against “violent extremism will not be finished quickly and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Obama, like Bush, is now talking about endless wars. The eight-year war in Afghanistan has now lasted longer than the Second World War. More than a million Afghans have lost their lives. The military approach of the US would further precipitate the crisis in Afghanistan. It is the presence of foreign forces in the country, not Islamic radicalism, that makes ordinary Afghans resist the occupation. This in turn strengthens the forces of insurgency such as Taliban. But this has always been the case with the actions of the US and Obama is no exception to it even though there is so much of talk of ‘change’! Even during his campaigns to the Presidency, Obama had sought to shift the theatre of the war from Iraq to Afghanistan, whereby troops from the former could be moved to the latter.
A President at war accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, was an unprecedented phenomenon even though in the past people such as Henry Kissinger has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ‘audacity of Obama’ being that he acknowledged the “hard truth: that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes; there will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.’’ Anti-Imperialist Left forces have acknowledged this ‘hard truth of imperialism’ and recognise the necessity of defeating the imperialist forces and putting an end to the exploitative world order as the pre-condition of the lasting peace. Nevertheless one can definitely be outraged over such a shameless justification of war while accepting the Peace Prize, but this irony itself marks our times. In the world where de-caffeinated coffee is available so that one can enjoy the coffee with no ill-effects of caffeine, one can go at war while accepting the Peace prize, with all the rhetorical lip-service to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and somehow can ‘buy off’ the sins. The Nobel to Obama is very much a case of a system trying to ‘buy off’ its sins!
The task before the anti-imperialist left forces is to remain steadfast in its opposition to the imperialist designs of the hegemonic powers led by the USA while continuing the battle against the fundamentalist forces of different hues. After all these two represent a ‘unity of opposites’, wherein one feeds on the other. And while doing so it is of utmost importance not to come under the ‘charismatic spell’ of Obama and to remain critical and vigilant all the time as the task before us is no more made easier by the coming of Obama. Hence, it is in this context that we need to analyze the larger foreign policy of US under Obama administration and how it is making attempts and seeking to continue the efforts earlier administrations including that of George W. Bush. In this regard, we call upon the student community to attend tonight’s Public Meeting on Obama’s War in Kaveri Mess to be addressed by Prof. Vijay Prashad, noted academic and writer.
Lenin, President, SFI-JNU P.K.Anand, Secretary, SFI-JNU
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