[Peace-discuss] How the U.S. Creates 'Sh*thole' Countries: A Review

[David Johnson]

 <https://blackagendareport.com/how-us-creates-shthole-countries-review> How
the U.S. Creates 'Sh*thole' Countries: A Review 

 <https://blackagendareport.com/author/Danny%20Haiphong> Danny Haiphong, BAR
contributor 

20 Mar 2019 

 
<https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://blackagendareport.com/h
ow-us-creates-shthole-countries-review>
https://blackagendareport.com/themes/newsclick/assets/images/facebook.png
<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=How%20the%20U.S.%20Creates%20'Sh*thol
e'%20Countries:%20A%20Review&url=http://blackagendareport.com/how-us-creates
-shthole-countries-review>
https://blackagendareport.com/themes/newsclick/assets/images/twitter.png
<mailto:?subject=How%20the%20U.S.%20Creates%20'Sh*thole'%20Countries:%20A%20
Review&body=NewsClick%20-%20http://blackagendareport.com/how-us-creates-shth
ole-countries-review>
https://blackagendareport.com/themes/newsclick/assets/images/mail.png

 
<https://blackagendareport.com/sites/default/files/2019-03/shithole-countrie
s-by-cynthia-mckinney-845.png> Dr. Cynthia McKinney is the author of "How
the US Creates Shithole Countries"

Dr. Cynthia McKinney is the editor of "How the US Creates Shithole
Countries"

Cynthia McKinney and her co-writers have produced an important literary tool
for anti-imperial agitation and education.

"Trump's use of 'sh*thole' offered an opportunity to explain the realities
of U.S. foreign policy to the people."

Cynthia McKinney has been on the frontlines of the struggle for global peace
for decades. Known first as a dissenting voice in Congress and then for her
work in exposing the truth about the U.S.-led wars on the Palestinian,
Libyan, and Black people here in the United States, McKinney's voice is
seldom heard in the arena of corporate politics. She has long understood
that one of the most critical tasks of this historical juncture is the
mobilization of the masses to stop the endless wars waged by U.S. Empire. In
a series of essays written by activists, scholars, and analysts from across
the political spectrum, McKinney shows through practice what this should
look like. Her new book How the U.S. Creates 'Sh*thole' Countries is an
invaluable piece of literature that seeks to transform anti-war ideas into
an anti-war movement.

The book challenges the liberal ethos that Trump's vulgar "sh*thole"
comments in January of 2018 were some aberration or detached from reality.
Liberal elites work hard to erase the realities of racism and war by
claiming the moral high ground of respectability politics. Their criticisms
of Trump center around his foul language to distract from the role that they
play in the creation of "sh*thole" countries. McKinney and the rest of the
authors condemn Trump for characterizing Haiti and African nations such as
Nigeria as "sh*tholes while attempting to answer a question that neither
racist demagogues nor liberal elites dare to ask: What exactly causes the
massive suffering experienced around the world?

"How the U.S. Creates 'Sh*thole' seeks to transform anti-war ideas into an
anti-war movement."

The text wastes no time in identifying the U.S. as the primary source of the
"sh*thole" conditions found in every corner of the planet. U.S.-led
devastation is broken down into four sections. The first section lays bare
the broad effects of U.S. imperialism worldwide and the millions of people
that the system has displaced, impoverished, and murdered. More specific
cases are presented in the next section, including the U.S. role in the
colonial occupation of the Palestinian people and the contemporary impact of
the U.S.' use of Agent Orange chemical warfare and landmines to kill and
poison the Vietnamese people. The last two sections deal with the propaganda
mill of the U.S.  Empire. Contributors end the text by conducting a thorough
analysis of how the U.S. is itself a "sh*thole" country.

What makes this book special is the purpose behind it. From the first page,
it is obvious that the authors are not merely attempting to teach others
about the horrors of U.S. foreign policy. This is an important function of
the text but not its central one. As McKinney herself explains in the
introduction, "This book presents new analyses of old narratives that wither
under scientific scrutiny and calls for a new, innovative vision for US
policy created by courageous leadership, like that shown everyday by the
contributors of this book."

"U.S. imperialism has displaced, impoverished, and murdered millions."

Indeed, the book unites a range of voices with years of experience in the
struggle for peace against a backdrop of endless American warfare. Brian
Wilson, who lost his legs blocking munitions transfers to Nicaragua during
the U.S. contra wars, details his visit to El Salvador where he learned of
the extensive role that the U.S. played in the proxy war (1980-1992) on the
FMLN and the massive displacement and death roll left in its wake. Former
editor of the New African magazine Baffour Ankomah analyzes the corporate
plunder of several African nations and its role in creating massive levels
of impoverishment and instability in the resource-rich continent. In Ghana,
for example, Ankomah explains how large multinational mining corporations
have expatriated over half of their profits while paying zero dollars in
taxes back to the national government. Such an outcome, according to
Ankomah, is the rule rather than the exception for most African nations. 

Human rights lawyer Christopher Black and this writer contribute analysis
regarding why the truth about U.S. empire is so hard to disseminate. The
first two sections of the book detailing the extensive U.S. record of
creating "sh*tholes" abroad are thus intimately connected to the last two
sections which concern the deplorable conditions right here in the center of
the imperial albatross and the imperial propaganda that facilitates popular
obedience to the destruction. This book makes clear that it is impossible to
understand the suffering of the masses in nations such as Somalia without
studying and condemning the narratives that justify the policies that create
"sh*thole" conditions. As Christopher Black explains, ". . . propaganda is
used to provoke war, to sustain war, to turn other people, declared to be
the enemy, into beings that need to be killed. It robs them of their
humanity, of their kinship with us, their desires and dreams, and makes them
into vermin to be destroyedwith ease and even joy in the killing."

"Corporate plunder creates massive levels of impoverishment and instability
on the African continent."

>From Puerto Rico to Ghana, Venezuela to Palestine, the U.S. has spread the
misery of its "sh*thole" model in the service of corporate profit and
military domination. Despite this reality, the peace movement in the U.S.
remains small and ineffectual. How the US Creates 'Sh*thole' Countries seeks
to reverse the contradiction between the dire conditions before us and the
relatively stagnant political waters in which we swim. It is an effective
intervention which offers a wealth of public information to counter a system
based on the accumulation of private wealth from the spoils of war.
Regardless of whatever one thinks of Trump as an individual, his use of
"sh*thole" offered an opportunity to explain the realities of U.S. foreign
policy to the people and the contributors of the book seized the time. 

It is only fitting that the plight of the U.S. poor concludes the text. U.S.
citizens and non-citizens alike pay dearly for the wars that cause
"sh*thole" conditions at home and abroad. The deplorable conditions of poor
people and working people in the U.S. continue to worsen. Mired in debt and
unable to afford healthcare and the necessities of life, poor and working
people in the U.S. have little stake in the wars carried out on the poor in
distant nations. Contributing authors such as Richard Falk and Robin Eastman
Abaya make this abundantly clear. 

"Propaganda makes people into vermin to be destroyed."

How the U.S. Creates 'Sh*thole' Countriesis a must-read for those looking to
politically educate themselves and others about the causes and effects of
the U.S. Empire's foreign policy. This is the first step toward developing
and strengthening a much-needed peace movement in this period where the
crisis of U.S. imperialism threatens to engulf the world in endless,
potentially nuclear wars with the rising powers to the East, Russia and
China. The warmongers, the war-makers, and the corporate elite will not
promote this book. It will be up to the forces of peace and justice in the
world to elevate its message and popularize its analysis before it is too
late.

Danny Haiphong is an activist and journalist in the New York City area. He
and Roberto Sirvent are co-authors of the forthcoming book entitled American
Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News- From
the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror (Skyhorse Publishing,
<https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510742369/american-exceptionalism-an
d-american-innocence/> Release Date: April 2nd, 2019 ). He can be reached at
wakeupriseup1990 at gmail.com. 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190322/ed3f8ce1/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2188 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190322/ed3f8ce1/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2524 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190322/ed3f8ce1/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 929 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190322/ed3f8ce1/attachment-0006.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 113023 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20190322/ed3f8ce1/attachment-0007.png>