Imperialism // Current TV

Sarkozy has been accused of colonial nostalgia over today's Bastille Day parade. What do you think is the best way for a country to honor a complicated past?

More on this criticism of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.... more

joshuaheller
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U.S. Men's World Cup Team Rides a Wave of Jingoism

By David Vine "The U.S. team is not an allegory for the nation. The team and... more

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McChrystal Scandal Shows Us the Military No Longer Protects America -- It Guards Empire | | AlterNet

The military is no longer protecting America only -- it's also defending an empire that will lead to more and more loss of American lives for no reason.
June 24, 2010 |

The Obama/McChrystal debacle is symptomatic of a wider divide -- the widening estrangement between our civilian elites and our military. McChrystal deserved to be fired and has been. But this event is a symptom of a bigger problem.

General McChrystal's disdain for President Obama did not arise in a vacuum. The context is: 1) the disconnect between our "all-volunteer military" -- that is now really a professional mercenary force by another name -- and the civilian political leadership with less and less personal military service experience. And 2) the fact that the Republican Party has wrapped itself in the flag while the Democrats have had a harder time distancing themselves from some voices that have been perceived as offensively anti-military within their big tent.

The real reason that Rolling Stone was able to quote so many highly placed military people's disdain for members of the Obama administration is because the military sees itself as more moral and better -- and certainly more conservative -- than the types who serve in civilian roles today, especially within a Democratic administration.

Disclosure: I'm someone who has experienced this "disconnect" first hand. When my son volunteered for the Marines it was a shock to me. As a typical member of the white upper middle classes, as a writer living in Boston and as someone who never served, I was shocked by his choice.

My son John and I wrote a book describing our journey together to a place where I came to value the military and he came to understand my post-Vietnam parental anxiety: Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps. What we both discovered is that class warfare is part of the equation. Our "kind" just don't volunteer much these days. I then co-authored another book (this time with former Clinton appointee Kathy Roth-Douquet) on this problem, AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country.

The political polarization between the so-called red and blue states has spilled over and helps reinforce the sense that from an upper middle class and often Democrat view point those who serve are the "other." And from the military point of view, the fact that most officers define themselves as Republicans these days means that they see the non-serving upper classes "the Hollywood Democrats" as alien politically as well as in other ways.

In 1976, most of the military identified as Independent, while 33 percent identified as Republican (still a larger proportion than the general public). But the armed services have abandoned this neutrality. Now 60 percent considered themselves Republican, and only seventeen percent considered themselves Independent. (The first figure is from data in the Foreign Policy Leadership Project conducted by Prof. Ole Holsti. The last year of the Holsti study was 1996. In that year, about 67 percent of military identified as Republican.)

More at the link:The military is no longer protecting America only -- it's also defending an... more

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Emergency Protest Against Israeli Attacks on Gaza Freedom Flotilla - Austin

Here, In Austin Texas in front of Whole Foods, at Sixth Street and Lamar, we spent the... more

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Ramsey Clark & Cindy Sheehan - The Supreme International Crime = American Wars of Aggression

In Washington DC on March 20th, 2010 as part of the National March on Washington DC,... more

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The Revealing of American Empire - National March on Washington DC - 3/20/10

Kevin Zeese from Voters for Peace, Heidi Boghosian from The National Lawyers Guild and... more

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The Whitewashing of War Crimes & The Reclaiming of Public Space

On Saturday, thousands of people converged at the White House for the March 20th March... more

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The Smashing of an Empire - The World Can't Wait - National March on Washington DC

The World Cant Wait organizes people living in the United States to repudiate and stop... more

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The Blooming of a Movement - Peace of the Action Memorial & Camp Out with Cindy Sheehan in Washington D.C.

On March 20th 2010 activist of all walks of life gathered at the Washington Monument... more

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Interview with IVAW Member Bobby Whittenberg at ANSWER Coalition Protest in D.C. on March 20th 2010

Burning Flags and Tearing Down Walls

On March 20, 2010, on the seventh anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq, at a rally across the street from the White House, before an anti-war march, veterans Robyn Murray, Matthis Chiroux, and mother of a Marine Elaine Brower burned an American Flag in protest of the violent, aggressive United States Government. As a combat wounded veteran and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, I fully support, endorse, and encourage this symbolic protest. It is important for the general public to see veterans committing non-violent acts of dissent and I hope to see more of it in the future.

This has sparked a controversy among people with more fascistic sympathies. Matthis has received threats of violence, rape, and death. Such threats truly show the character of people loyal to the American flag and the American government. Very few things are more quintessentially American than "Fall in line or we will beat you, rape you, or kill you." Just ask native americans, or african americans, immigrants, women, or the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Haiti, etc. Violence, dominance, rape, and murder are the American way and when Matthis Chiroux, Robyn Murray, and Elaine Brower lit that flag, it is exactly that type of ethos that they were challenging. If people are more upset over the burning of a piece of cloth than the death and destruction of people, then certainly their priorities are out of order. With this type of repression of radicalism, it is no surprise that this movement has been only marginally successful thus far.

The image of two veterans and the mother of a Marine burning the flag of the American empire is a powerful and striking one. It causes people to ask questions. It causes people to look beyond the lies told by the media and the administration. It is a call to arms and needs to be heeded.

Some have called this action "divisive" or "alienating." This is a clear attempt to universalize their own misguided allegiances and to push their own agenda masked in the thin veil of "propriety." Fortunately most people are capable of deeper thought than these petulant patriots. It is not always in the moment that we see the results of an action. We do ourselves and others no justice if we posit that our knee jerk reaction is necessarily the best one, and the most accurate indication of the long term affects of an action. Most of us are capable of performing a deeper analysis of things that may initially shock us long after the fact. We turn things over in the heads and ponder and analyze them. People are less often changed and moved by things that are commonplace, or everyday, but are most moved and changed by things that jar them out of their comfort zone for a moment. It is impossible to know what will inspire and what will alienate different people, as not all people are the same. What repulses one may inspire many others.

One can not help but note how appropriate it is that those who support the burning of the flag are pushing for an illumination of consciousness, a stepping into the light, while those who favor repression and suppression would wish to extinguish the flames of burning flags and the fires that burn in our hearts, driving us to seek peace and justice. To anyone with a complete and accurate analysis, the burning of an American flag symbolizes the destruction of walls built between people. It symbolizes love for all people, regardless of national origin, and is indicative of international solidarity.

Patriotism and nationalism are no different in principle than racism and they need to be challenged and combated accordingly. Let us all step into the light of a million burning flags, putting behind childish allegiances that have kept us divided. Let us burn all flags, cross all borders, and take down all walls that divide us. Let us destroy that which destroys us. Let us unite for peace and justice. Let us create a new world.

Peace, Love, and (A)narchy,
Bobby Whittenberg

To read Bobby Whittenberg's blog go to:
http://veteranarchy.blogspot.com/Burning Flags and Tearing Down Walls On March 20, 2010, on the seventh anniversary... more