The Role of Politics

by Timms

Happy May 1st! International Worker’s Day is a great time both to inspire the people around us and check out what our comrades are up to in other countries. Our class is strong, and today is a day we should definitely show it!

May Day aside, I would like to take this post to put into words an idea that’s been bugging me. I haven’t been able to write for a while because of work, so I need to get this down before I forget it. I’ve been reading some great articles lately like this one about life for women under Saddam versus the US (this one from the excellent blog Crimson Satellite). I am starting to realize the full gravity of what is happening in the Middle East and what we can expect going forward, but given that I’m not an expert in this area feel free to correct me on my understanding.

Back in 2001 when the events of 9/11 took place, I did not understand the situation very well. I was eleven years old, so I don’t think you can blame me for that. The story was (and largely still is) that terrorists hate freedom and wanted to hurt America, so we have to stop them because we are the good guys. Obviously this is bullshit, but enough people believe it that we should take a closer look at just how this all came to be. To get a clear picture, we need to look back to World War I. I’ll try to provide a very abbreviated history, though I highly suggest you go read more about it.

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire joined Germany and Austria-Hungary in fighting the British and French. Britain saw potential in using Arab nationalism to fight and destabilize the Ottomans. In exchange for their assistance, the British promised independence to many groups. The Skyes Picot agreement instead sectioned off the middle east to various Allied powers, creating the borders we see now (which were very poorly planned, often lumping in groups which were not friendly with each other into the same country). Jewish people began settling in Palestine from abroad. During World War II both sides struggled to obtain strategic control of the oil supplies in Iran and transportation routes such as the Suez Canal. Afterwards, many of the political mandates were abandoned, leaving most states independent. The United Nations made plans to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, thus causing the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and establishing Israel as a settler state. Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya all established secular socialist governments in the 50’s and 60’s, which were later supported by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The United States has since had its hands involved in many proxy wars, providing billions of dollars, equipment, training and support to Islamist organizations such as Al Qaeda. This support likely destroyed the Soviet economy in their eight year war against Afghanistan against US backed mujahideen. The United States also gives billions in aid to Pakistan, almost exclusively in the form of military supplies.

This is the necessary background to realize what is happening right now in Syria and what has happened in other countries of the Middle East during the Arab Spring uprisings and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The CIA has had extensive involvement with Al Qaeda since their resistance against the Soviets. I think that it’s a possibility that the Bush administration used this asset to justify its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and subsequently to establish sympathetic governments throughout the Middle East by co-opting an initially popular movement. This is pretty easy to see in Syria, where there is little popular support for the rebels who are largely mercenaries from outside of the country. This, while awful, is hardly shocking. The CIA has done similar things to destabilize socialist countries and establish puppet governments in South America. The part that I want to write about is how effective the Bush and Obama administrations have been in swaying popular opinion and redirecting attention in the wake of these events.

I don’t think George Bush is the incompetent character he played while president. The more likely explanation is that his incompetence was faked, making the war crimes, torture, corruption, profiteering and destruction seem like blunders instead of calculated and advised plans. My realization that I wanted to write down so badly is the idea that the US political system is a sham on more levels than we realize. This is not to say that the people involved are incompetent, but instead to say that politics as we know it are not what we are lead to believe. I find it interesting to draw parallels between the development of reality television and the current state of discourse in modern politics. Political debate now resembles the same scripted rivalries and personal attacks seen on daytime television. Elections now can be seen to serve a few purposes.

1 – To entertain the public and shift attention to desired issues
2 – To shift blame for government failure to the people (e.g. “Don’t blame me, I voted for Romney”)
3 – To serve as scapegoats that do not affect the perceived legitimacy of the government

The invasion and control of the Middle East was most likely always the plan, even before 9/11. Bush was likely elected president to be the fall guy for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He was to play his part as a patriotic but unintelligent guy’s guy whose pride was hurt and who had a grudge against Iraq because of his dad. This narrative makes him seem much less evil and more pitiful, which is exactly why this narrative was used. Bush performed beautifully for the bourgeoisie. A complete half of America’s budget is now funneled into private hands by way of military investment, justified by the continued need to confront “terror”. By destroying countries, the US is able to spend massive amounts of unquestioned money on rebuilding using contractors. Billions are spent on weapons and equipment that we purposely destroy or bury to make room for more. We are able to sell guns to the people we piss off. We are able to justify our actions by showing that people are pissed off. It’s a pretty interesting system, and seems to be working pretty well judging by how many trillions of dollars have been dumped into the military industrial complex.

Bush eventually drew the hatred of the public and his approval ratings dropped. This set the stage for the Obama election, which offered a choice between McCain (playing the role of Bush substitute) and Obama, who was now seen as the intelligent and peaceful savior who would end the wars and free the internet and whatever else people thought he would do. People were and still are largely convinced that Obama is that person, because he does a very good job of keeping media focus on him personally and occasionally on his reprisals of the Senate (which now take Bush’s place as the incompetent scapegoats of the public’s ire). Under this president, we have seen increased involvement in the Middle East including the monetary and military support of Libyan rebels, the fabricated uprising of mercenaries in Syria and the continuation and increase of Predator drone strikes. The same time this is happening, we have also seen multiple periods of crisis where the government has taken advantage and pushed political issues through which would otherwise have been opposed by the people. Current efforts are to disarm the public using the fear generated from recent shootings. Other efforts include the increased US control over global internet access, acting as a sort of digital US imperialism which ignores the sovereignty of other countries.

There are many more examples of this political acting I could list, but these two demonstrate the effectiveness. The capitalist system as a whole avoids criticism from the public by shifting blame elsewhere. Voting allows blame to be placed on the public for making a bad decision. Officials can act as scapegoats to remove blame with them when they leave office. Wall Street can be blamed for a cyclic recession which is an inevitable part of capitalism. Politics is very much a part of the mainstream media, and acts as PR while providing entertainment and distraction to an angry and growing middle class. As long as people believe that it is not the system at fault, reformism will still capture the minds of the American people. We should make it a goal to help people see past the facade so that they may judge for themselves just how fucked up this system actually is.