We’re taught to think in schools, and by the lies of diplomats and politicians, that the US goes abroad only to help people. Any honest historian knows better and won’t dare write or teach this to serious students. That’s because the evidence to the contrary is simply too abundant, written in the blood and scarred earth of too many nations to dispute.
Shortly after the dawn of the Industrial Age, economic forces pushed politicians and, through them, armies, abroad, to seize markets and resources to fuel the machine. The US removed leaders, brought down governments, broke treaties, installed dictators, and turned a blind eye to needless suffering, because such actions in the short run supported illusions of stability, as defined by corporate interest.
From Cuba to Hawaii to Haiti to Iraq, to Afghanistan and scores more, the U.S. imposed puppets and dictators to do their bidding against the will of the people. And from the 1800s to now, the U.S. used sweet platitudes like liberty, democracy and freedom to sell these ruinous imperial projects. It happens today. We do not know and cannot now see in what form it will return. But return it will. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
