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ACCORDING TO LIZ - Wars have always been fought for the benefit of the ruling class, not for the people. Too often the elite have used religion and societal suffering as the justification for sending others to die so they can profit.
That was true in the time of the Romans and is as true today.
Those who claim it’s about democracy, about freeing people from another autocrat, or how other countries are sapping the road to prosperity are not just in denial, they are obfuscating their true goals – for land and the profits that accrue to them, for oil and other natural resources, and to advance their personal economic superiority.
They establish puppet dictatorships, drive people from their homes, and then profess shock when migrants beg for refuge or cross their own borders illegally.
Those arrested by ICE aren’t people wanting to scam American tax dollars or establish criminal empires.
They are human beings fleeing further battles in their native countries as splinter factions fight to gain what little is left, fleeing the poverty and ruins left by the conquerors, fleeing a land devastated by war. In almost all cases, they are looking for a place to rebuild their lives and contribute to their new community.
The bad eggs come from several sources. Some have been subverted by agents provocateurs capitalizing on the disaffection swirling in makeshift refugee camps which warehouse people like cattle. Others were criminalized in their home countries by a leadership of oppression, too often propped up by the capitalist world order and the American government.
And those who make it across the border without papers too often get caught up in an underground social system where they are easily exploited by American businesses looking for off-the-books cheap labor and by criminal elements who can leverage their lack of legal status to force them into nefarious activities.
They have little opportunity to assimilate, increasing the risk of deportation not only for themselves but also for families, forcing them to huddle in enclaves where they feel protected, fostering the continuance of their language and customs, and magnifying the xenophobia that scurrilous politicians use to further divisiveness and build their own power.
There are any number of simple policies that could precipitously reduce these risks – fairer and more transparent immigration guidelines, supportive assimilation, increased support for humanitarian aid, stopping the practice of propping up oppressive regimes for corporate profiteering, immediately addressing climate change consequences including proactive approaches to rebuilding lives of those at risk and those already displaced.
Instead, the current oligarchs of our political age – Orbán, Putin, Bolsonaro, and Trump – have not only succumbed to racist tropes but have themselves capitalized on divisiveness to advance their own careers, blaming economic difficulties on the objects of their discriminatory attacks.
And corrupting common sense democratic principles and basic humanity for business and political advancement.
Also, if arrogant political leaders can’t negotiate win-win solutions, can’t live with sharing the planet in the spirit of coexistence, won’t advocate for worldwide peace, justice, and prosperity... they are generally ruining their own countries’ economic and social demise to favor a fortunate few for whom they are fronting.
They are driving today’s populist movements by amplifying fears – deflecting the consequences of their own selfish actions on to other people. And those people are you and me.
Nationalism and racism raise barriers between people. To paraphrase Pope Francis, the human race is one great family, the universal race of men and no one group can claim preferment. We need to acknowledge human dignity and the equality of all mankind.
In any uber-nationalist society that doesn’t want out-of-control immigration, leaders need to look at what factors are driving migrants to leave their homes.
First up? Ensure that those crossing borders have the means to and can safely stay in their own countries.
Any country that can allocate $75 billion to immigration control would be better served addressing root problems than funding for-profit internment camps and a secretive paramilitary.
Abuse of power and bullying by politicians, whether by democratic election or coup, will always sow the seeds of aggression and war. And build on icons of history to justify their stances be they Roman emperors, the Medicis, the American Revolutionaries or the Nazis.
Hitler’s photo was on the walls of the Argentinian military junta’s torture chambers after Operation Condor, the CIA-backed and U.S.-financed coalition of South American repressive dictators overthrew Eva Perón’s government. A dirty war, primarily targeting civilians, that resulted in thirty thousand desaparecidos in the 1970s.
Eighty percent of deaths in wars since 2000 have been civilians, a third of those are children.
The world has let internal conflict in Congo continue, causing five million mostly civilian deaths in the past three decades. Solely to allow international corporations unfettered access to the country’s natural resources – including trillions of dollars worth in gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, and lithium deposits.
Particularly the rare earth minerals vital to powerful global industries like aerospace, military, technologies, and clean energy.
Once starvation, lack of housing, inflation, and increased cost of living for both the aggressor nation and those attacked are factored into the cost of war, do wars make any sense?
They only accelerate a downward spiral of suffering, creating more migrants and additional economic misery, ripe for manipulation by kingpins jonesing to get rich from the economic exploitation of the losers, revamping priorities in service of corporate and plutocratic profits, and outright dismissal of the value of human rights, human dignity, and human lives.
Wars today are driving climate change, not only ravaging countries but the entire planet, leaving too many of the vanquished with nowhere else to go except the homes of the victors.
The late Pope Francis called for bridges to be built between people, between nations, to develop respect for differences while sharing common beneficial goals.
For shutting down all forms of violence – physical, emotional and psychological; for opposing intolerance, xenophobia, selfishness, and hatred of all forms.
Hatred can kill the soul but with unity, kindness, care and compassion – which are forces more powerful than bullets and rockets – we can build a better future.
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
