The mask is off. Now you see the ugly face of America, its warts, spots and all. For that we must be grateful to Donald Trump, the bully with small hands and big cajones. He has turned the world against the nation which proclaimed itself “leader of the free world” and “the shining city on a hill”.
Westerners bought this guff and puff for decades. Those of the South and East knew better. During the Cold War, the US (with ever-loyal Britain) and the USSR interfered with the affairs of independent nations and bribed leaders to get access to natural resources. In 1953, the Western duo toppled Iran’s elected leader, Mohammad Mossadegh, and installed the autocratic Shah.
In 1958, Ghana’s Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah warned 300 African leaders at a conference to discuss their futures: “Colonialism and imperialism may come to us yet in a different guise – not necessarily from Europe.” He meant the CIA, which was actively disrupting politics, arranging assassinations, controlling cultures. Read all about it in The CIA and the Neocolonisation of Africa by Susan Williams.
In 1966, I had a bit part in The Crucible at the National Theatre in Kampala, capital of Uganda. In the after-show discussion, some people brought up indigenous peoples and the loss of their land. The CIA had funded the production. There were no more after-show chats.
We didn’t blindly hate the superpower. Its authors, films, and some presidents were loved. When JFK was murdered, Ugandans were traumatised. But we did not fall for America’s propaganda.
Salma (not her real name) and I have been best buddies since university in Uganda. She is a Muslim Asian, like me. After marrying a Jewish American medic, she moved to the States and became a fervent patriot. It happened so quickly. She became disdainful of suffering black Americans and “losers” who didn’t make the most of the dream. She supported US foreign policies. Now she just cries when I phone and admits that the America she loved was a fantasy.
British idolaters of the US say I hate America. I don’t. American art and literature can be phenomenal; its serious print journalism exemplary; its universities develop the critical mind, or did until now; and the soundtrack of my life includes Joan Baez, Elvis, Aretha Franklin, and so on and on. But no nation should ever be above criticism or accountability.
Americans take anti-Americanism very seriously. At a seminar held in 2006 at the Council On Foreign Relations, earnest academics theorised about “liberal”, “social” and “radical” anti-Americanism. The former two, they recognised, were the result of America not living up to its declared values and democratic ideals. The last, they decided, was an extremist position taken by hard leftists. What’s happening now doesn’t fit any of those categories. That will cause consternation.
square YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN
Newsletter (£)
Trump's frenzied attacks on 'wokeism' are infecting the UK
Read MoreCracks appeared in the special relationship after 9/11, the creation of Guantanamo Bay, and Blair and Bush’s Iraq crusade. The leader of the free world imposed its will lawlessly, mercilessly and without any regard for consequences. Their “shock and awe” operations in Iraq appalled the people of the two nations and around the world.
We see the same with the US and UK’s unconditional backing for Israel’s war, which is taking a heavy toll on civilian Palestinians. The rule-bound world order was undermined before Trump kicked it to pieces.
Trump’s condemnation of globalisation makes me laugh bitterly. The US-UK axis pushed this ideology. That led to a few getting unspeakably richer and the rest losing earnings and rights. It wrecked nations and diverse ways of being. It monopolised certain sectors. In India, people always drank brewed tea sold by locals. Starbucks and other chain coffee joints destroyed those livelihoods. McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and other US junk fare made the world fat. That has created widespread obesity and related illnesses, which most nations lack the resources to tackle.
America has been bad for the world for a long time.
Ralf, my African American friend, is a descendant of plantation slaves. In the 1960s, a young relative was lynched by white men because he had been standing next to some white girls. Ralf has been angry about his homeland for a long time.
We spoke last Sunday. He wanted to share these thoughts with our readers: “Great Britain has been too long an obedient servant to the US. Had she been more assertive, maybe our terrible overseas adventures would have been moderated, and the politics of white supremacy mitigated. Now get off your knees, free yourselves. Free us. It’s time.” It is time.
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