American Imperialism

A tip of the hat to Kasama for bringng this video to my attention.

100 days into the Obama administration seems like a good time to step back and ask ourselves some harder questions about the role of the US in the world.

During the reign of W it was permissible to indulge the idea that the aggressive posture the US was taking in the world was simply a function of having a Republican in the White House. As Obama ramps up the war in Afghanistan and as the promised US withdrawal from Iraq looks less and less like an actual withdrawal this becomes a harder position to sustain, though undoubtedly some will try.

The video above is an abridged and animated version of Howard Zinn's graphic-novel style "A Peoples History of American Empire." It recounts Zinn's own process of realization of the imperialist nature of the United States beginning with his own role as a bombadier in the Second World War. It is a thoughtful and sober challenge to those who think a change in the occupant of the White House will bring about a change in the essentially aggressive nature of US foreign policy.

In saying this I do not mean to suggest that it doesn't matter which party is in power. I think it matters a great deal, not least of all because when the Dems are in power progressives can't blame what the US does on the Republicans alone and are sometimes forced to look a little deeper into the structural nature of the beast that is the American Empire.