In the introduction to Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism (Riley, Mohanty, Pratt, 2018), the authors profess, “In the service of conquest, this mobilization [of historically embedded colonial practices and rhetorics of male superiority and white supremacy; of female vulnerability, inadequacy, and inferiority; and the subjugation of oppressed masculinities of men of color] deploys gendered roles that embody oppressive power relations. It depends on the manipulation of and demonization of complex cultural structures of sexuality, including same-sex and queer sexualities, and on the assumption that a Eurocentric heteronormative heterosexual ‘order’ is an underpinning for both nation and empire.” Nexes of gendered and sexual identities held in contrast with cisgender, heteronormative white supremacist values shape the ways in which war is waged; supported; and dialogued about; cloaking the capitalist interests of imperialism held by those in power and backed by the ever-shrinking aggregation of US bourgeois hoping to hold their class footing on the scraps of the capitalist elite.
One example of this that comes to mind was the rise of women in weapons factory jobs during World War II. It was suddenly patriotic for white women to take on factory roles left vacant by men who entered the military, while Black women faced racial discrimination in applying for and participating in the same work, and Japanese-American women and their families were being sent to internment camps. The weapons being produced by white women in these factories were being used against people of other nations who were dehumanized to US soldiers by military training, namely Japanese people, using Eurocentric notions of humanity and normalcy.
Moreover, while claiming to fight against German troops to alleviate the subjugation of European Jews, the United States turned away Jewish refugees, including women and their children, on nationalist principles. However, in the decades following the formation of Israel, a move by European powers to avoid having to pay an actual reparations to Jewish refugees following the Holocaust, the US has provided financial and military assistance as well as diplomatic support in the name of supporting the Jewish people. Though in reality the United States is using the resulting alliance to exert control in the Middle East, profiting from weapons sales to Iran and exploiting natural resources such as oil in the region.
A recent example of the US “saving” people of other nations from their own government (regardless of whether or not that nation’s government poses a threat to its people), with underlying capitalist motives, is President Donald Trump’s airstrike on Syria in retaliation for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s supposed use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. China Central Television’s coverage of Saturday’s anti-war protest in downtown Chicago was included in an article from Israeli news website Haaretz.com, providing transcribed quotes from an interview given by local Party for Socialism and Liberation member, Billy Kincaid. Kincaid expressed that “[he believes] the U.S. lies and comes up with false pretenses to justify military intervention in sovereign foreign countries. So [the Party for Socialism and Liberation] believe[s] that for people in the U.S., it's especially important [to] oppose wars abroad, because [they] have the loudest voice to influence the U.S. government to stop killing people, to let people determine their own destinies in their other countries."
The anonymous Reuters author for Haaretz included that “[Kincaid] further pointed out that the U.S. has an imperialistic interest in Syria where they want to set up a puppet government so that they can control the oil pipelines and the resources in Syria, which are the supposed true reasons for the war.”
This article can be viewed here: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/it-s-a-war-crime-chicago-protesters-against-u-s-s-strikes-in-syria-1.6014502
Discussion Question: I have seen uncritical support for President Assad voiced as a counterpoint to the US's paternalist war on Syria, especially as Western media paints Assad in a wholly negative light. What solutions does this pose, as well as what issues?
This article can be viewed here: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/it-s-a-war-crime-chicago-protesters-against-u-s-s-strikes-in-syria-1.6014502
Discussion Question: I have seen uncritical support for President Assad voiced as a counterpoint to the US's paternalist war on Syria, especially as Western media paints Assad in a wholly negative light. What solutions does this pose, as well as what issues?
I like the connection made between the U.S’s involvement in the Middle East as supposedly to “save” us or “protect” the people when in reality, it’s a way for the U.S to colonize and steal resources. The authors mentioned briefly that there needs to be a fundamental change to the economy (13) and I think this is the only way that we can stop the exploitation of Syrian and other Middle Eastern countries’ resources. Without the demand for resources, like oil, there would be less desire for the U.S to exploit and colonize other regions.
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