[PEN-L:11681] 'Peace-Keeping' and 'Confidence-Building' (was American Working Class & Anti-Imperialism)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman replied to me:
>Yoshie, is what you describe an indication of progressivism?  Were Buchanan,
>Gingrich .... progressive when they did not want to go to Vietnam?  Or were
>they just willing to send somone else to Vietnam?
>
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>> Well, I, for one, think that the American working class were and are by far
>> more progressive than, say, Bogdan Denitch on the very question of
>> anti-imeprialism!  At least American people don't want to see their sons &
>> daughters (and their friends' sons & daughters) dying in whatever 'hot
>> spots' that the mass media happen to designate.

I don't think it's an indication of progressiv-*ism* as in a coherent
worldview.  I do think that American working people not wanting to kill
and/or die in faraway places just because the government, media,
intellectuals want them to is objectively progressive -- one of the
hard-won gains from anti-Vietnam War movements that capital wants to rid us
of.  (And I don't think this sentiment of ordinary people -- not wanting to
be used and used up -- has much in common with the worldview of Buchanan,
Gingrich, etc.)

That many Americans think their lives, their friends' lives, and their
families' lives are too precious to be handed over to the U.S. military is
one of the few good signs for the Left and something that has been
distressing the U.S. government.

In Japan also, the American and Japanese governing elite have been trying
to get rid of the 'pacifism' of the populace:
*****   from Patrick M. Cronin, "The U.S.-Japan Alliance Redefined,"
_Strategic Forum_ 75, May 1996, (published by Institute for National
Strategic Studies, National Defense University), available at
<http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/forum75.html>

...A third achievement has been to continue to spark a broad public debate
in Japan on its role and the importance of the alliance. Because of the
legacy of World War II in Japan, *pacifism is deeply rooted in the popular
mindset*; and, as a consequence of the American security umbrella, many
Japanese assume that security is as automatic and plentiful as oxygen.
While Japanese officials have long known otherwise, *there is a chasm
between the policy-making elite and the electorate in Japan* about the
responsibilities of creating and preserving regional security.... (emphasis
mine)   *****

Where does 'peace-keeping' fit into this picture of elite discontent with
popular 'pacifism'?:
*****  Toshio Saito, _Strategic Forum_ 163, May 1999, (published by
Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University),
available at <http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/forum163.html>

...Contribution to a more stable security environment. The SDF contributes
to international peace efforts by participating in UN Peacekeeping
Operations and international disaster relief activities. It promotes
*confidence-building* measures through security dialogues and other
defense-related exchange activities with other nations.... (emphasis mine)
*****

The rhetoric of 'peace-keeping' is a wedge used in their efforts to move
people in rich countries (such as Japan, Germany, Australia, and America)
away from their gut-level reluctance to participate in the imperial armed
forces, while people in poor countries are at the same time being wooed by
the same rhetoric to have 'confidence' in them.

Yoshie