Sanaullah Jamali
Imperialist forces are responsible for a number of atrocities, war crimes, and crimes against humanity from the Iraq war in 2003 to supporting warlord Khalifa Haftar in Libya and this is all committed by the Western countries that talk about democracy, human rights, and freedom. Their own democratic institutions are weak especially of the US, which after the 2016 election of Donald Trump can no longer be called a democracy, because of the way he was elected by using social media platforms to get help from foreign powers. The protesters in Hong Kong protest for their so-called freedom, who are CIA backed fascists, and the black lives matter protests in Minneapolis are responded to by military force and riot police. The difference between these two movements is that the protesters in Hong Kong are supported by the US and the Minneapolis protests are against it.
The Imperialist forces have been committing crimes against humanity since 1492 when Christopher Columbus went to the Caribbean and Central America, after which he inflicted violence on the native people of the region, and took some of them as slaves which is a crime against humanity and modern-day Americans celebrate Columbus day even though he never went to mainland US. They also see him as a hero but in reality, he’s a criminal. Now the process of decolonization is ongoing with protesters occupying the streets across the US and several other countries including Brazil and in the last few days, protesters around the globe are toppling down the statues of famous imperialists and colonialists including King Leopold II of Belgium, and Christopher Columbus. This is a mass movement of young people who are angry about the system of racial inequality, and economic injustice that is affecting people around the world and this is all because of capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism. Malcolm X famously said; “You can’t have capitalism without racism”, and he was very right. It is the bitter truth of our global capitalist system which is made to fill pockets of elites, bureaucrats, and wealthy CEOs instead of the general public.
King Leopold II of Belgium owned the Congo as his private property. He extracted the resources of the area and forced the native people to work for him as his slaves. Sometimes, these people were worked to death but they were still forced to work for him. According to Wikipedia, “In the period from 1885 to 1908, many well-documented atrocities were perpetrated in the Congo Free State (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) which, at the time, was a colony under the personal rule of King Leopold II of the Belgians. These atrocities were particularly associated with the labor policies used to collect natural rubber for export. Together with epidemic disease, famine, and a falling birth rate caused by these disruptions, the atrocities contributed to a sharp decline in the Congolese population. The magnitude of the population fall over the period is disputed, but it is thought to be between one and fifteen million.”
Some people still see him as a hero but in reality, he was a criminal. Many imperialists were seen as heroes in their home countries as if they were doing something good while inhumanly treating Africans, Native Americans, and every other group of people they colonized. Imperialist forces such as the US government, its State Department, and CIA waged wars and orchestrated a number of military coups against third world countries and they used the term invisible wars to refer to these conspiracies. After committing human rights violations and crimes against humanity, they say that it was nothing.
I oppose imperialism because it destroyed the lives of Africans, Native Americans, Vietnamese, and Iraqis, etc. who were living peacefully in their native lands without disturbing, hurting, and killing any of the colonizing nations like the British, French, the Belgians, or any other European nation.
Lastly, this is to the resistance fighters on the streets:
Don’t ever stop protesting on the streets for freedom.
Continue your struggle, for it is the right way to fight the imperialist/capitalist powers.
Long live the resistance!
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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