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Understanding the Needs of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Archipelagoes
Context of Decision-Making
The primary dilemma in the fight against imperialism is how to counter the inclination of the many overt and covert advocates of totalitarianism, who are comfortable with both totalitarianism and imperialism, but generally prefer to cloak their intentions.
I am speaking specifically of the opposition to the enforcement of international law by those who are uncomfortable with a society of law, built on laws.
Before addressing this in detail, let us examine some previous contexts of political debate on this. In the case of World War I, there was a strong Socialist opposition to that war, and a subsequent crushing of the political opposition in the U.S., primarily by the threat and the carrying out of deportation, as well as false imprisonment, and the denial of access to the use of U.S. mails for distribution of newspapers.
Subsequent developments within the U.S. led to the appearance of totalitarian strains within the political scene. These include, for instance, the Lindberghists, as well as the appearance of Leninists. Both political strains advocated for totalitarianism, in one case the variety seen in the U.S.S.R., in the other, the variety seen in the Third Reich.
Neither of these developments within U.S. politics should have surprised astute observers of the development of American cultural change at the time. They were, to an extent, predictable.
Core Features of Totalitarian Ideology:
The core features of totalitarian ideology are :
(1) An intense distrust of reasoned thought, and a desire to accept the total or entire ideology of a single leader or clique, without either questioning or subjecting the elements of the ideology to normal methods of examination, such as scientific, mathematical, or classical historical reasoning. Implicit in this is a dictat that one must accept only one train of thought, and abandon entirely the edifice of preceding philosophy. Thus, Lenin, or Stalin, or Mao "thought", or Hitler, replace the entire assemblage of human thought through history, from Homer to Tolstoy.
(2) An appeal to authority and the use of ad hominem argument, as well as a host of other features of false or scholastic reasoning. (I would refer to any one of a number of texts on false reasoning, for the interested reader, who might wish to burden themselves with performing these types of analyses on for example, Hoxha's or Kim Il Sung's "writings".)
(3) An admiration for violence or lawlessness, frequently cloaked in the assertion that it is possible to have a society without law. This can also take the form of asserting that, (after the fashion of the arguments of Rousseau or Descartes), that we humans are able to naturally reach a social consensus on what is best, once the assemblage of law and tradition has been destroyed. This is sometimes accompanied by an intention to construct an entirely new society, for which all of the goals and means will be divined by a set of divinely inspired or otherwise gifted leaders.
Such violence is that it is frequently accompanied by an extreme social repression, as will be described below. This is sometimes called "law and order", especially by those least inclined to obey the law. By "order" is meant the imposed will of a clique or leader.
(4) An emphasis on ends rather than means.
(5) Creating a class of "deserving" scapegoats. Thus, certain classes - Kulaks, Jews, Roma, Gays and Lesbians, Chechens, Christians, Native Americans, Slavs, African-Americans, become targets that not only does it become justified to hate and attack, but which help to solidify the loyalty of those who are not attacked. At the core of this feature of totalitarian ideology is the concept of the "other", which allows any crime against the "other" to be justified, on the basis that they, for ideological reasons, become stripped of the normal protections of democracy, civil rights, human rights, due process, and the law.
(6) Use of shreds of the truth to lend a patina of logic to embellish the ideology. Without doubt, there were cases where Kerensky had played ball with the Western imperial powers. Likewise, there were probably some greedy Kulaks. We can often find pieces of the truth as ornaments to the Big Lie.
Intolerance proceeding from "Christian" broadcasters, can make claim to all of the truths that are embodied in the Bible - and at the same time make an appeal to hatred and divisiveness and call for violence.
Peculiarities of Responses to Human Rights Violations:
In the context of the structure of the ideology of totalitarianism, which certainly has its modern day advocates, we can see a peculiar response to modern-day violations of human rights and violations of international laws.
We can see this most vividly in the evolving ideology, totalitarian in all of its features, that there is no appropriate response to violations of human rights and international laws, other than an "appeal to reason".
The notion that such an appeal to reason is the complete and only appropriate response relies on the core belief that it is appropriate that some suffer while others retain their safety. As described above, a totalitarian ideology relies upon the creation of a class of victims, against whom any crime can be justified.
The other feature of this response is an innate distrust of law, and its enforcement. Any justification seems agreeable rather than actually having to follow through on protecting an endangered minority or halting the abrogation of human and civil rights, and restoring democracy and the rule of law.
One of the less appealing features of such a response, is the attempt to "negotiate " the total numbers of persons harmed, in order to arrive at a "reasonable" number that will than allow no protections to be provided. Thus, the argument would go, since only x rather than 10x mass graves have been found, or because only x rather than 10x civilians were killed, no action is needed.
We often see an argument of the form "it isn't worth one American life for xs to be protected". The irony of asserting that the perils of a trained military volunteer who enters combat on full cognizance and with all the benefits that such risks confer, are greater than those of a civilian, an senior or a child, already homeless, and in a country torn by strife, with no resort or rights, seems to be lost on those that make such an argument. It falls into the category of the argument that "they are different than us" or "they value human life less than us".
Devising An International Protectorate Status That Will Actually Work:
Current Problems:
The present dilemmas of Kosovo and East Timor are ample evidence that the current method of establishing international protectorates is defective. The defective features include the following:
(1) Administration by the U.N.: the U.N. is now not only notoriously incompetent and corrupt, but has the added disadvantages of being governed by a Security Council that includes the PRC and the Russian Federation, and has as influential a variety of similar antidemocratic hegemonies and surrogate empires, not least that of France.
(2) Refusal of the U.N., at least in the case of Kosovo, to treat Kosovo as if it will be at some point in the near future a free nation. By doing so, the U.N. has prolonged the violence, intolerance, and anarchy now present in Kosovo.
(3) The decision-making process is also cumbersome, as well as irresponsible, as no set of states are taking primary responsibility for the welfare of the protectorate.
(4) The current status of the International War Crimes Tribunal, which does not currently have sufficient independence to challenge the actions of states, especially those that are on the U.N. Security Council.
Potential Solutions:
Finding a Solution in the Case of the Mollucas, West Irian, Sulawesi, and Aceh
The current violence in the Mollucas, in primary part a product of actions by the central government in east Java, in Jakarta, can only be resolved by placing Indonesia as a whole under a international protectorate status, and then proceeding in a methodical and careful way, to allow individual islands and regions to determine their own ultimate status in a free and democratic fashion.
Rather than having U.N. administrative responsibility over Indonesia as an international protectorate, a much better alternative is an international protectorate status administered by a set of five to seven relatively disinterested nations, that would administer different ministries and the process by which the ultimate dispositions would be made. Examples of appropriate nations to do this might be Costa Rica, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Jordan, South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Germany, Western Samoa, and Canada.
In fact, establishing a roster of nations that might be effective as trustee nations in an area under international protectorate status, would make clear that there are good alternatives to the U.N. Security Council as administrator.
When an international protectorate has been established, as has already been shown, it is generally necessary to place a concomitant military force. The preferable military force would be one with an independent mandate, subject on to the independent scrutiny of the trustees of the territory, and financed on a rolling basis by the administrators of the trust territory/protectorate, with the bulk of the finds originally coming from an international fund set up for the purpose.
In the case of Indonesia, there would be many potential sources of troops - again, we can refer to a list of independent democratic nations, such as Nepal, Oman, and Mozambique.
Providing a Solution in the Case of the Central Asia (the Caucasus, Kashmir, Darjeeling, Assam, Nagaland, Tibet, Inner Mongolia):
In Central Asia, we find many of the same types of problems. Just as in the Southeast Archipelagoes the surrogate empires are Indonesia, New Guinea, and Malaysia; so in Central Asia we find the threat to democracy and human rights posed by the Russian Federation, India, the PRC, Burma, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, and indirectly by Pakistan. Of course, in Cambodia and Laos, there is recurrent persecution of non-urban cultures, and there would be much merit in examining how the influence of the larger hegemonies has aggravated the status of these rural and forest communities.
In light of continued violence over very large areas (Tibet, Singkiang), and towards particularly imperiled rural cultures (such as the "Marsh Arabs"), and in methods particularly egregious in terms of sustained violence towards civilians (Kashmir, Chechenya, Karen and Mon lands, Kurdistan), we can see that as a wide geographic region, Central Asia would profit much from attention.
What kinds of strategies could potentially resolve these situations ?
We know that in many cases, the placement of an international protectorate status would have at least been the appropriate first step. In other cases, such as in that of Sikkim, there should have been an immediate response to the Indian invasion in the form of a multilateral military counterweight.
In the case of Chechenya, Ingushetia, and elsewhere in the Caucasus, a combination of an international protectorate and placement of multilateral military counterweight would have been a possible strategy.
An additional component of strategy is economic isolation of the Russian Federation, the PRC, India, Burma, and Turkey (and other hegemonical surrogates).
We know that, as the case of Iraq shows, the cynical victimization of the civilian population can occur as a consequence of the commitment of Western monopoly capital to the hegemonical surrogate. Economic isolation in the absence of a commitment to democracy and human rights has exactly such a victimization as a consequence.
Thus, the components of a strategy for management of the depredations of imperialism in Central Asia would include multilateral trusteeship, multilateral military restraint, directed economic steps, and a firm legal process towards establishing national self-determination and comprehensive civil and human rights.
Summary and a Discussion of Nationhood and Intercommunal Conflict:
To really understand low intercommunal conflicts occur, we have to understand the role of imperialism. Most, if not all apparent intercommunal conflicts are actually a consequence of designed imperial strategies to divide and conquer.
Examples of this include Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Mollucas. We can observe in these cases the role of monopoly capital and its agency of imperialism and imperialism's hegemonic surrogates, via English, German, U.S., French, and Dutch colonialism (and post-colonial manipulation).
The Green movement has made an effort to convey the idea of conceiving of our geopolitical reality as bioregions or watersheds. I would argue that this is not far from the truth - that our natural relationships to each other are ecologically and geographically defined, and then that what we call a nation is associated with ecological and geographical relationship, as well as a historical relationship.
No one would propose that African Americans and Eurasian Americans are not part of the same nation - then how can we divide Kosovo into separate nations, when it functions as one natural nation ? The definition of nation must be a historical definition of a shared nationhood, rather than a division based on spurious lines of color, religion, language. We must begin to recognize that the term nationalism is a term of derogation that derives from the intention of monopoly capital and imperialism to divide and conquer.
Thus it is those who use the term "nationalism" in various contexts, that we should question. Towns, cities, counties, tribal lands, nations, bioregions, watersheds - these are the geographic, and historical, and ecological units on which we can base self-government and self-determination, tolerance and democracy. Those who attempt to divide based on religion, or color of skin, or the language we use, or how we dress, or how we dance or sing ; their intent is clear, and should be avoided.
It is now a necessary step for us to protect the people of the southeast Asia archipelagoes. They should no longer be subject to rule from Jakarta, or from New York, or from old Amsterdam, or from London. The violence perpetrated on the civilians should alert us to the worsening of the problem, and it is up to people of conscience within the international community to respond.
Sample Letter:
(date)
Congressman Ronnie Shows
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Representative Shows:
Please consider the desperate condition of the islands within the southeast Asian archipelagoes, that are currently subject to misrule and violence from Jakarta and from the dominant military and political cliques of east Java.
The recent violence against civilians in the Mollucas, perpetrated by the plan of Jakarta and those who are the advocates for Indonesia's hegemony, mirrors similar violence in West Irian, and has similar causative factors as the violence in Aceh and now fermenting in Sulawesi.
The Dutch have, from a position of some moral weakness, asked for an international force be placed in the Mollucas. The most reasonable action to take, however, is a step by step placement of those regions most under threat, into the framework of international protectorates. First the Mollucas, then West Irian, and then potentially other regions should be placed into international trusteeship status (as should have been done initially with both of these regions).
Despite the war crimes committed against civilians and civilian property in East Timor by the Indonesian government (and the continued kidnapping and extortion, not to mention other offenses, against East Timorese civilians held in prison camps in West Timor), perhaps the Indonesian government can be given one more chance. Will Gus Dur and Sukarno Putri be more willing to protect human rights and democracy in Aceh ? This should be our test case, to see if the "new" Indonesian government should be trusted at all. Will a free and fair referendum be held, along with democratic elections for representatives to a Acehian regional government ? Will crimes against civilians be investigated and prosecuted in civilian courts where judges are free from coercion ?
In the case of the Mollucas, the time is now for placement into a trust territory status. There should be a multilateral trusteeship, with funding from the Indonesian government, the U.S., the U.N., the Dutch government, the Japanese government, and other historically culpable parties. The trusteeship should have executive powers in full over a multilateral force authorized fully to enforce international and local law.
The members of the trusteeship should be four to six nations that are democratic and do not have a history of imperialism in this region. These could, for instance, include Mozambique, Denmark, Austria, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, and Canada.
The same selection criteria should be used in choosing what nations will contribute the military contingent for enforcement of the trusteeship.
What can members of our American Congress do to help with making progress on these goals ? First, to recognize that the Indonesian government has forfeited its right to govern over the Mollucas and West Irian, and that an international protectorate needs to be placed there.
Second, that there should be no funding of the Indonesian government through any source, either through the IMF, or the World Bank, or the Commodity Credit Corporation or EIB, or the Asian Development Bank, or other loan agencies of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce.
And third, that the U.S. government should support diplomatically and financially the efforts of an international protectorate and its military force, and should not impede the actions of others to provide this support.
These are all ways that we can contribute to the safety and resolution of this area. Congress can act through resolutions, and through budgetary and directive legislation affecting both international institutions and the scope of the executive branch's decision-making and executive leeway.
I would hope that these are efforts that you feel able to help with.
Sincerely,
Kendall P. Brown
Jackson Progressive
editor@jacksonprogressive.com
Recent events in British-occupied Ireland suggest that the sectarian unionists have no intention of giving up their status as "superior beings" commissioned by the Almighty to lord it over the "inferior" Catholic "scum" who were seemingly put on earth to serve them and serve as objects of contempt and opprobrium.
Item. A concert featuring flutist James Galway and Maire Brennan, attended by pupils from both religious communities, was disrupted by drum-banging Orangemen. The reception held later resulted in pandemonium courtesy of the foul-mouthed abusive missile-throwing loyalists. Many nationalists were not allowed by the RUC to attend the reception because they could not maintain order.
Item. The north Belfast Orange march and parade contained elements known to be death-squad hitmen. Obviously this was done to terrorize and intimidate the nationalist peopulation.
Item. Orange marchers in Lurgan deliberately provoked an angry violent reaction from the local Catholic population they were "lording it over."
Item. Loyalists in County Antrim set two Catholic primary schools on fire. Fortunately none of the targeted children were killed or injured.
One could cite other instances of unionist terrorisn and intimi- dation as they occur almost on a daily basis. These incidents rarely reach the international media.
The new governmetal structure established by the Good Friday Agreement has yet to prove that the human and civil rights of the Catholic-nationalist population in occupied Ireland will be respected. Is it any wonder that the Provisional Irish Republican Army is keeping its powder dry?
William Gartland
gartland1@juno.com
Rio, WI
June 22, 2000
Letters to the Editor
editor@jacksonprogressive.com
On June 8, the 33rd anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY, Navy Seal veteran Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura met with some survivors of that attack which resulted in the loss of 34 American lives and the wounding of 171 other members of the crew.
Unfortunately, this writer was unable to find anything in print concerning this memorable and historic meeting. The meeting was historic and memorable because most politicians are afraid to associate their persons or names with USS LIBERTY survivors lest they lose the political patronage of moneyed PACs devoted to the State of Israel.
An example of this occurred in Wisconsin in 1989 when the new USS LIBERTY MEMORIAL LIBRARY was dedicated in Grafton, Wisconsin. Governor Tommy Thompson sent a telegram of greetings and congratuations to the residents of Grafton on the occasion of the dedica- tion of their new library without any acknowledgement of the presence of USS LIBERTY survivors and their families.
Then Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Herbert Grover even tried to get the Grafton library board to drop its plans to honor the USS LIBERTY dead by naming the library after the ship upon which they served. Money that was supposed to be applied to the construction of the library was withheld.
The late George Ball, Undersecretary of State in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, referred to the deaths of the 34 LIBERTY crew members as the "blatant murder of American citizens." [1] And yet, this is the only naval disaster in American history that Congress has refused to investigate in order to determine culpability.
Governor Ventura has again proven that he is one of those rare political leaders who is truly an American patriot and a person of impeccable integrity unafraid to take political risks. Minnesotans are truly fortunate to have him as their governor.
Robert E. Nordlander
nord@famvid.com
Menasha, WI
[1] THE PASSIONATE ATTACHMENT: AMERICA'S INVOLVEMENT WITH ISRAEL, 1947 TO THE PRESENT by George W. and Douglas B. Ball, p.58