Taking Note Reporting on Empire: Imperialism comes out of retirement
Gibbs, Terry
This publication was once known as the Latin America and Empire Report. "Imperialism" and "empire" had largely dropped out of the left's political lexicon by the end of 1970s. "Empire" was...
...While the right now proudly celebrates the imperial status of the United States, those on the left struggle to find a language to continue their critique of interventionism while acknowledging the genuine threat posed by the sinister fanaticism of the likes of Osama bin Laden and gang...
...After 35 years, NACLA continues to make an important contribution to this debate by providing critical analysis on U.S...
...After years of being an activist on Latin American issues in Canada and an avid reader of NACILA Report, I was thrilled to be joining such a committed community of people...
...intervention specifically in the Americas...
...I had signed up with the Canadian-Palestinian Educational Exchange before I was called to interview for the position of NACLAs director...
...In modem global capitalism, only Americans get to vote, Brazilians do not...
...A group of teachers I met in Beirut were on their way to the UN Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa looking to establish contacts with European and African groups working with youth...
...government from once again playing globo-cop in the Middle East...
...Empire" was dropped from the NACLA Report's name in 1977...
...In the 21st century, critiques of the empire emerge from the least expected places...
...There are various ways to counter the violence and poverty of the current world order...
...As recent demonstrations in New York and Washington have shown, the peace and anti-globalization movements have united in the fight to stop the U.S...
...We are caught in a strange paradox: At the moment in which the United States acts as the chief executive officer of history's largest and most powerful empire, the narrative to frame this reality becomes ever more obscure...
...By the time I left for Beirut, though, I knew that I would soon be moving from Canada to New York to join NACLA...
...My young Palestinian students were impressively aware of changes taking place in Latin America and reflected on the ChAvez and Lula stories...
...But the current War on Terrorism in the context of economic globalization makes clear that the "specter of imperialism" is not simply caricature...
...I headed to the Middle East much more sensitive to perceptions of "America" from the "other side" of the war on terrorism...
...In a recent conversation with Brazilian reporter C16vis Rossi, financier and philanthropist George Soros commented, "In ancient Rome, only Romans voted...
...As we head into 2003, it seems that there is at least a little less resistance to a critical vision of U.S...
...foreign policy than there was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11...
...It may seem quite a leap to go from a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut to Latin American solidarity in New York, but understanding how North Americans are perceived in the Arab world provides useful clues both to mistakes being made in our foreign policy and to how links may be forged with justice oriented groups in various comers of the globe...
...Questions of intervention and empire were on my mind as I headed to Lebanon this summer to volunteer in a Palestinian refugee camp...
...But in a post-modem world, issues such as global resource management in particular, and the biophysical limits to growth in general, may also force us to confront the consumption patterns and lifestyles which the "Empire" supports...
...If there is a new anti-imperialism, it faces the challenge of uniting very diverse struggles in the name of a democratically oriented global order...
...The NACLA community of scholars, activists and journalists will continue to play a key role in mapping out these new theoretical and practical problems from the perspective of the Americas...
...Economic globalization and the War on Terrorism are changing political narratives and reshaping strategies for political action...
...One important way is tackling the roots of the current crises, and understanding the structures and groups that benefit from the existing order...
...Whatever language we use to frame this new state of affairs, critics from across the spectrum seem to be in agreement on at least some of the basic parameters...
...The "centering" of left and redistributive parties across the globe from the ANC in South Africa to the Worker's Party in Brazil speaks to this changing reality...
...The "Not in Our Name" campaign has given a respectful flavor to the anti-intervention movement and the battle to define "American values...
...In the same way that McDonalds speaks of a "glocalization" in its marketing strategies, solidarity networks are emerging crossregionally which reflect a global awareness in the framing of local issues...
Vol. 36 • November 2002 • No. 3
