US,
India Alliance
And Global Scenario
By Ram Puniyani
01 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org
The
visit of George W. Bush to finalize the nuclear deal witnessed the anguish
of people getting expressed in massive protests from diverse sections
of society, the followers of progressive, left and different shades
of Muslims groups. The large section of English press and elite were
ga ga about the ultimate realization of their dreams, US-India alliance
coming to fruition. Not too many critical sections asked as to why has
US, which never helped India with the technology during the crucial
period of its development, which never helped India in any way in its
technological foundations, which never supported India on the issues
of security and which had been putting sanctions on India on this or
the other pretext, has been surging with warmth and camaraderie from
last decade or so. No doubt Indian foreign policy has been bowing to
woo the US on every conceivable occasion, starting from supporting its
star war programs to offering military bases when it was attacking to
occupy Afghanistan, to its vote on Iran. The major hints were dropped
from US about its intentions to warm up its relations with India. No
doubt US has been the dominating influence on Pakistan's policies as
there are US military bases and it has been supported by US in various
ways. It is US which has to take lot of blame for the Kashmir imbroglio
which has been tormenting the Kashmiri people.
India had been a victim of
US foreign policy in most of the areas from the decade of 50s to 80s.
This was the real period for the growth of the infrastructure based
on which today the economy is growing by leaps and bounds. During this
era India resorted to the public sector for the growth of its industries,
and US point blank refused to support India in any way. Globally, US
kept allying with all sorts of dictators and despots, had been planting
many of them in various countries. The language used by US during this
period was that World is facing the threat from communism. It presented
its goals as defense of freedom and democracy. Its policies, on the
contrary, abolished and brutally killed democratic governments in country
after country. Iran 1953 and Chile in 1973 being the foremost examples
where the democratically elected governments were finished off and the
despots were installed as the rulers.
During the cold war era US
had to be cautious as the might of USSR was quiet matching in various
areas and it could not steam roll its imperialist designs with ease.
During this bipolar World, many a countries could struggle to gain independence,
under different flags. Its atrocities in Vietnam to suppress the national
aspirations of Vietnamese will be the benchmark of barbarism of worst
type in the history. The might of colonial powers of yesteryears, Britain,
France, and Holland etc. declined and gave way to the US hegemony in
the decades to come. US arrival as the big bully was marked by its dropping
of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were primarily
aimed to assert its rise as the super power in the World. It became
the first and only country to use this demonic Nuclear weapon killing
lakhs of innocent human beings, showing the barbarism of its policies.
With the USSR posing an alternate
pole of global power, many a countries could come out from the colonial
yoke to begin the foundations of their own development as independent
countries. The end of second World war, the war for the hegemony of
the colonies, ended in the defeat of one pole of imperialism, the axis
powers, Germany and Japan and also went on to sow the seed of the emergence
of newer equations in the form of formation of Israel, which was the
perfect tool for US to operate in the West Asia. The two giants of the
international arena kept clashing and dominating the global scene. Two
heartening factors during this era were that the group of nations came
up as the Non Aligned nations, and the development of regional endeavors
of cooperation like European Union, SAARC and the moral, ethical and
political acceptance of UN as the arbiter of World disputes. The seeds
of industrial development of some of these countries, which were colonies
earlier, like China and India also started sprouting during this period.
Apart from other developments the manpower for knowledge industry, IT
sector was the major development in some of these countries, more so
over in India.
The collapse of USSR was
the major turning point of the global equations. Now the World was left
with a single hegemonic nation, with insatiable appetite for ammunition,
nuclear weapons, and an expenditure on military purposes which runs
into astronomical figures and may be more than the total budget of many
smaller countries put together. US economy revolved more and more in
the dealing of armaments and reveled in selling arms to the warring
factions, one of which was invariably propped up by US itself. With
the decline of USSR the multiple phenomenon which came to fore were
the intensification of adverse effects of globalization in various counties
including in India, the increased military presence of US in West Asia,
its propping up of Al Qaeda through the ISI of Pakistan and the rise
of fundamentalism in the region as a response to the US policies of
suppressing the local democratic aspiration. In India it was also the
period of rise of middle classes and the reversal of the progressive
values, which were replaced by conservatism of high order and rise of
faith based phenomenon, rise of religiosity, and emergence of Hindutva
as the major challenger to the Indian constitution and democracy.
With the Ayatollah Khomeini
revolution in Iran, which in a way was the long term impact of US act
of overthrowing Mossadeq and installing Raza Shah Pehlavi, US propaganda
machine came out openly to declare that Islam is the new threat to World
civilization. The McCarthyism, the projection of Communism as the threat
to freedom and democracy got gradually replaced by anti Islamism. The
theoretical formulation of US political need came form Samuel Huntington
who went on to propound the 'Clash of Civilization' thesis. As per this
thesis, the contemporary problem is that World is witnessing a clash
between the backward Islamic civilization and the advanced Western civilization.
Put in other words the hint was that advanced western civilization is
the savior of Humanity and the backward Islam is the obstacle to the
path of World progress, freedom and democracy. Interestingly colonialists,
imperialists project themselves above the religious identity. When British
were rampaging India, they periodized Indian history as Ancient Hindu
period, medieval Muslim period and Modern British period. The deceit
of these forces is unmistakable. The colonial powers, the oppressors,
always need to project an enemy to consolidate their hegemony. During
cold war era US propaganda machine succeeded in demonizing communism
and currently it is Islam, the Muslims which have been demonized through
various mechanisms. The social common sense in the previous decades
was against communism, today Islam and Muslims occupy that slot and
all around one can hear the arguments about, violence, terror and other
attributes being inherent to Islam. Doctoring of mass consciousness
against Muslims is complete by now.
With collapse of USSR, US
started feeling easy and its focus on west Asia to control its oil wealth
found the expression in its aggressive foreign policy and its continuing
blind support to Israel. It did float Al Qaeda and brought in the word
Jihad as a war cry for Al Qaeda and for its attack on the communists
in Afghanistan. In the process it achieved the twin purposes of taking
the revenge of its humiliating defeat in Vietnam and at the same time
bringing the oil rich area under its military and political control.
This period of World History is dominated by the return of the language
of religion in politics, the conservatism in social life and rising
differential between haves and have not's. With all its drawbacks, the
presence of USSR was not only a check on the domination of US but also
a provider of space for the development of democratic values, the struggle
to strive for substantive Liberty Equality and Fraternity (Community).
With world facing a single bully in the form of US the progressive,
democratic values and culture took a nose dive. Looking from India one
can see the cultural deterioration, rise of conservatism as reflected
in the Hindi films, serials, in thee rise of Babas, Acharyas and their
clan doing successful business.
Religious identity and the
politics based on it, which had taken a back seat during the era of
national liberation, struck back strongly, mostly coming to center stage
of the national life in many a countries. US, which at home was having
a good deal of radical progressivism, started wilting under the multinationals
policies, and fundamentalism which was a phenomenon of 1930s started
making a come back, more so after 9/11. US schizophrenia of liberalism
at home and promotion of despots abroad started giving way to the logical
trajectory and today Christian right is a strong presence there, Bush
being one of a sample from this segment. Earlier Bush had manipulated
his victory, this time God, Gays and Guns were the essential component
of the victory kit of George W Bush, the contemporary World Emperor.
The release of tape by Osama just few days ahead of the polling date
signified the deeper links of Al Qaeda and Bush. These alliances do
not remain in part they do try to become holistic over a period of time
and it is likely that US conservatism will become stronger over a period
of time.
Meanwhile the demonization
of Islam and Muslims picked up severely and in the aftermath of 9/11
Osama, terrorism and Muslims are being projected as synonyms. The deeper
issue of the imperialist lust for oil and political hegemony has been
cleverly put under the carpet by the propaganda machinery, ever willing
and capable of Manufacturing Consent or doctoring mass consciousness.
The parallelism of these processes Worldwide and in India is too striking
to be recounted. BJPs coming to power at center not only manifested
the retrograde degeneration of democratic norms and values it also went
into make a strong effort to subjugate India's foreign policy to the
US. The 'Fight against terrorism' became the slogan of Hindu rights'
campaign to consolidate its power by demonizing the Muslims as terrorists.
The BJP, as the political child of RSS, aimed and aims to primarily
suppress the rights of downtrodden, dalits, workers, and women. Minorities
in a way are the collateral victims of its politics; Muslims minorities
are being converted into the new untouchables as the Hindu Rashtra of
Gujarat demonstrates. Muslims world wide are the sacrificial goats of
the imperialist lust for control of oil and politics of the World.
It is in this background
that the tilt in US foreign policy has to be seen. It has enjoyed the
status and power of monarch during last two decades. Now the global
equations are shifting and China is emerging as a major economic and
military power. During US aggression against Iraq, barring the World
peace movement, the groups of scattered peace-lovers world over, there
was no significant opposition to the US unilateralism. When one is using
the word US, UK is the integral part of this word. It has to be kept
in mind that it is during this period that US chose to trample upon
the United Nation and its political and moral authority. All through
during earlier times also it had protected Israel when it blatantly
violated the UN resolutions. Now as seen in the cases of Afghanistan
and Iraq it first bypassed and than swallowed UN in a single gulp.
Now with the rise of China,
there is a perception that it may emerge as the alternative pole of
power. India not only has the strategic location, it also is emerging
as a fairly strong, nation in its own right. Here one is using the term
strong in the conventional sense, military power, nukes and the affluence
of the handfuls. The real strength of the nation should come from the
well being of all citizens is another matter, not being taken up here
as it does not command battalions in the contemporary World. The present
US worry is to preempt the rise of China as the alternative pole, challenging
its hegemony, which it has become used to enjoying, dictating World
policies from the White house. Attacking and reprimanding weak countries
at will and treating the concept of democracy amongst the nations of
the World, with contempt.
The bamboo curtain had already
served China well, to develop its strength by the use of controlled
labor market and violations of the norms of labor relations. Notwithstanding
that, it is emerging as a force which can take on US might some day.
US has seen that its concept of progress and development goes well where
the section of middle class prospers. It is those countries which ape
at it and aspire to associate with its glamour and exploitative political
system. US knows, India today is exactly in this state and by wooing
it over to her side, it will be creating a potential coalition in which
it can continue to rule the roost and also put at bay the possibility
of China posing as a threat to its imperialist lust in times to come.
Bush couldn't have been happier after his visit to India, he got all
he wanted and some protesters burning his effigy everywhere may not
be of much consequence to the mighty administration being presided over
by him.
Can we retrieve the ground?
Can we think of India's foreign policy retrieving its non alignment
and not just be and act as a pawn in the hands of US designs of continuing
to rule the World? It may sound as if the protests have gone in vain,
that US will steamroll India's foreign policy. It is a question of how
the progressive sections continue their pressure, how over a period
of time they can sustain the concerns of average people for the right
to life and keep speaking for policies which look at the human beings
as the citizens, who deserve and should get what is enshrined in the
UN Charter of human rights. The bringing together of different countries
to face up to the onslaught of US foreign policy is a must. It can attack
country after country and get away with giving explanations which are
neither just nor acceptable to the World community. This alliance of
non aligned countries can come up with the Global peace movement raising
its voice against the adverse economic and political policy of the World
bully. Its time this becomes central agenda of human rights groups.