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The Fourth is Anti-Imperialist Day
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism." U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler
The Fourth is Anti-Imperialist Day
By Steven Argue
Today is a celebration of a revolution against imperialism, that being the American Revolution against British imperialism. Today this holiday is all too often seen as a day of nationalist celebration of the United States, the biggest imperialist power in the world. Yet the true roots of this celebration are in anti-imperialism.
We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of Iraq and Haiti suffering under US occupation and US imposed death squad governments. Likewise, we send out our sympathies and solidarity to the Afghani people suffering under decades of bloodshed and religious anti-woman governments imposed by US intervention. We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of the Phillipines and Colombia where US troops and money are propping up murderous governments. We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of the “third” world, many starving, under US imposed governments, unfair imperialist economic policies, and the constant threat of US military intervention.
We send out congratulations to the people of those few countries that have stood up to US imperialism and set up the governments and economies that they see fit for their countries.
U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler summed up US imperialism well:
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
"For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it.... I must face it and speak out.
"I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."
"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."
"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Butler's 1935 exposé "War is a Racket" begins with these powerful lines:
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
Bulter's words were not empty. This was a man who was on the inside of the world's most powerful fighting force. He goes on to reveal:
"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its 'finger men' to point out enemies, its 'muscle men' to destroy enemies, its 'brain men' to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" - Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to."
You can read the whole Butler article online
"War is a Racket," Common Sense magazine, November 1935.
http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/racket.html
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Subscribe to Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
By Steven Argue
Today is a celebration of a revolution against imperialism, that being the American Revolution against British imperialism. Today this holiday is all too often seen as a day of nationalist celebration of the United States, the biggest imperialist power in the world. Yet the true roots of this celebration are in anti-imperialism.
We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of Iraq and Haiti suffering under US occupation and US imposed death squad governments. Likewise, we send out our sympathies and solidarity to the Afghani people suffering under decades of bloodshed and religious anti-woman governments imposed by US intervention. We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of the Phillipines and Colombia where US troops and money are propping up murderous governments. We send out our sympathies and solidarity to the people of the “third” world, many starving, under US imposed governments, unfair imperialist economic policies, and the constant threat of US military intervention.
We send out congratulations to the people of those few countries that have stood up to US imperialism and set up the governments and economies that they see fit for their countries.
U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler summed up US imperialism well:
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
"For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it.... I must face it and speak out.
"I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."
"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."
"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Butler's 1935 exposé "War is a Racket" begins with these powerful lines:
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
Bulter's words were not empty. This was a man who was on the inside of the world's most powerful fighting force. He goes on to reveal:
"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its 'finger men' to point out enemies, its 'muscle men' to destroy enemies, its 'brain men' to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" - Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to."
You can read the whole Butler article online
"War is a Racket," Common Sense magazine, November 1935.
http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/racket.html
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Subscribe to Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
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