Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Hearts & Balls
Has anyone noticed the recent panic of Canadian imperialists? 62% of Canadians oppose Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Terrified that it's losing 'the war at home', the government's embarked on an all-out media war to convince its fickle citizens that, contrary to appearances, Canadian troops are just big friendly guidance counsellors. With guns. There's two approaches:
1) Capture their hearts... and, hearts
The Afghanis really want Canadians there (Afghanis plea for Canadians to stand fast). They found a fruit vendor who loves the soldiers: "As long as they help us, we pray for them because they're making our country secure." Those poor Afghanis, unable to help themselves, desperate that we protect them from the Taliban by supporting legalized warlords. The article can't quite cover up the hatred Afghanis have for their own government:
Don't mind us! We're just crossing guards, with military assault rifles instead of stop signs!
Afghanis want peace, security and prosperity, like anyone else. They're being offered military occupation, and rule by the CIA and opium growers, as the only solution. I can see why some Afghanis think an 'outside force' might help; but Canadian troops are just another link in the same chain.
2) Dy'have the cahones? I bet you don't!
The Canadian government's using more traditional macho language. Two major newspapers headlines today were "Canada won't cut and run" and "Canada won't back down". As if Afghanistan was attacking Canada, and not the other way around. As Stephen Harper put it, "Our two principal military objectives are to fight terrorism, fight the forces of terror here, and to reduce the threat, and the second is to aid the Afghan forces in fighting it themselves.”
Which forces of terror, exactly; the ones your allies created? Which have never attacked Canada or the U.S.? (Note: Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., not the Taliban. The U.S. funded and supported the Taliban till 1996.) To help the same legal Afghan forces implicated in massive human rights abuses? Why is Canada in Afghanistan, exactly? No one wants to say, because that'd mean admitting it's a favour to the U.S., to secure its sphere of influence in Eurasia. Western imperialism created the Taliban, the warlords, destroyed the country and are now happy with a heroin-based 'failed state' pliant enough to use a base for more attacks against non-U.S. interests.
Finally, an export crop the World Bank doesn't regulate!
The solution isn't more western imperialism. As the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan write,
Ahmadinejad not all bad
I'll say one thing for Political Islam: it knows bad music when it hears it. In an effort to shore up support from his radical base - cultural revolutions being good for that sort of thing - Iranian President Ahmadinejad has banned western pop music:
Counter-revolutionary, thank god
Religious fascism is not pretty. But any government which recognizes George Michael and Eric Clapton are derivative, formulaic, repetitive, crap musicians who should be forced to play fourth chainsaw in a Einstürzende Neubauten symphony deserves - well, maybe not support, but at least a measure of understanding. As for the millions of young Iranians, I'm not sure I could support them if they marched under the slogan 'Don't let the sun go down on me.' If Ahmadinejad or the youth movement want to check out Belle & Sebastian, then we'll talk.
1) Capture their hearts... and, hearts
The Afghanis really want Canadians there (Afghanis plea for Canadians to stand fast). They found a fruit vendor who loves the soldiers: "As long as they help us, we pray for them because they're making our country secure." Those poor Afghanis, unable to help themselves, desperate that we protect them from the Taliban by supporting legalized warlords. The article can't quite cover up the hatred Afghanis have for their own government:
While most people who agreed to be interviewed were grateful for the military assistance, they also expressed impatience with Karzei, often labelled as a puppet of the U.S.
Economic and social change, particularly a better education system, are too slow in coming, they said.
Don't mind us! We're just crossing guards, with military assault rifles instead of stop signs!
Afghanis want peace, security and prosperity, like anyone else. They're being offered military occupation, and rule by the CIA and opium growers, as the only solution. I can see why some Afghanis think an 'outside force' might help; but Canadian troops are just another link in the same chain.
2) Dy'have the cahones? I bet you don't!
The Canadian government's using more traditional macho language. Two major newspapers headlines today were "Canada won't cut and run" and "Canada won't back down". As if Afghanistan was attacking Canada, and not the other way around. As Stephen Harper put it, "Our two principal military objectives are to fight terrorism, fight the forces of terror here, and to reduce the threat, and the second is to aid the Afghan forces in fighting it themselves.”
Which forces of terror, exactly; the ones your allies created? Which have never attacked Canada or the U.S.? (Note: Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., not the Taliban. The U.S. funded and supported the Taliban till 1996.) To help the same legal Afghan forces implicated in massive human rights abuses? Why is Canada in Afghanistan, exactly? No one wants to say, because that'd mean admitting it's a favour to the U.S., to secure its sphere of influence in Eurasia. Western imperialism created the Taliban, the warlords, destroyed the country and are now happy with a heroin-based 'failed state' pliant enough to use a base for more attacks against non-U.S. interests.
Finally, an export crop the World Bank doesn't regulate!The solution isn't more western imperialism. As the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan write,
Murder, robbery, kidnapping and the rape of women and children has become the routine. There is a high rate of women committing suicide and an ever expanding cultivation and trafficking of narcotics, all while billions of dollars of foreign aid and public resources are squandered away. ...Canada isn't there to help the people. It's there to help one set of warlords. While it's sad to hear a bully calling himself a victim, it's refreshing to see most Canadians don't buy it.
The last four years of experience in our Afghan nation has confirmed the point that for the government of Karzai, the will of our oppressed nation is not the priority but it is the interests of criminals. Mr. Karzai doesn’t want to and can’t destroy the band of criminals from Afghanistan because the interests of both parties are intertwined.
Ahmadinejad not all bad
I'll say one thing for Political Islam: it knows bad music when it hears it. In an effort to shore up support from his radical base - cultural revolutions being good for that sort of thing - Iranian President Ahmadinejad has banned western pop music:
Ahmadinejad has responded to the dilution of Iran's once-flourishing Islamic revolutionary culture by banning songs by such stars as George Michael and Eric Clapton from state TV and radio. The ban will affect millions of young Iranians, who avidly follow western music.OK, the Iranian hardliners hate all music, stone prostitutes, adulterers and homosexuals to death, cut the hands off thieves, etc. The Worker-Communists will tell you all about it.
Counter-revolutionary, thank god
Religious fascism is not pretty. But any government which recognizes George Michael and Eric Clapton are derivative, formulaic, repetitive, crap musicians who should be forced to play fourth chainsaw in a Einstürzende Neubauten symphony deserves - well, maybe not support, but at least a measure of understanding. As for the millions of young Iranians, I'm not sure I could support them if they marched under the slogan 'Don't let the sun go down on me.' If Ahmadinejad or the youth movement want to check out Belle & Sebastian, then we'll talk.
