Australian Imperialism

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Lenin would have clipped all extraneous text before replying to a message, so 
should you.
~~~~~~~~~
Tom and Phil have posted on this off and on list and I would like to try
and work through the differences in emphasis between us. I say 'emphasis'
because I think broadly we are in agreement.   I exclude Alan Bradley from
this consensus because like a true ideologue he is intent on denying the
reality of the Australian commitment to the "war on terrorism", also he
believes there is no point in talking with me and to be frank I am driven
to distraction by his constant yapping from a perspective which is
"of"  but not "in" the DSP.

To begin with I agree that the Australians are imperialists in their own
right.  Moreover their commitment to what Pilger has termed "other people's
wars" is essentially a down payment for ultimate sup[port from a great
power.  The Great Power was Britain until the fall of Singapore and since
then has been the USA.

At the height of the Japanese economic "miracle" in the 80s there was some
thought that we should get very close to the Japanese ruling class but that
seems to have faded with the Asian crisis and the melt down in the Japanese
economy.  At present the Australian ruling class seems to have turned its
back on Asia and is duplicating Blair and co by seeking a free trade
agreement with the USA.  I am not at all sure about this and it would be
good to have some discussion. But the fact is that Prime Minister Howard
and Opposition Leader Beazley are very pro-American.

It is in this context that I think that attacks on American imperialism are
progressive and I cannot for the life of me see why we should back track on
them in any way.  Of course we should not let the local imperialists off
the hook, but in terms of, dare I say it, internationals socialism American
Imperialism remains the number one target and our local leaders are
contemptible Deputy Dawgs.

I admit though that there appears to be increasing dismay in Australian and
other ruling circles as they discover that the Bush Administration simply
does not know what its medium to long term goals are. But the fact remains
that whenever the Americans whistle the Aussie ruling class come a running.
That is a source of considerable shame to Australians and one we should target.

regards

Gary