Imperialism and Colonialism in a Post World - Essay Example

Imperialism and Colonialism in a ‘Post’ World Postmodern Theorists’ View on Colonialism and Imperialism Colonialism and imperialism has almost the same meaning. Both terms is about dominating another place and often involves political and economic control over another dependent territory. The only difference between the two is that colonialism happens when a group of permanent settlers enter another country and maintains the political practice from the country where they originally came from. On the other hand, imperialism focuses on how one country uses its power over another country. Postmodernism was born during the late 1960s when the Western Europe and the United States were experiencing a political turmoil. People started to think that there is no justice with the use of Marxism, liberalism, and fascism theory in politics since only those who have political power has the right to exercise authority. (Burke, 2000) Due to the people’s mistrust in the Western political system, different groups of students, trade unionists, the protesters of the anti-Vietnam war, the liberal communists, and the militant Socialists managed to join their forces in order to make the necessary changes politically. Postmodernism is viewed as a theoretical virus that is strong enough to paralyze the progress in people’s thoughts and the political practices. (Cole, Hill, & Rikowski, 1997) Basically, a lot of philosophers have described post-modernists as ‘post-structuralist’, ‘deconstructionist’, ‘social constructivist’, ‘pragmatist’, and simply relativist (Boyle, 1998) since it is not possible for everyone to have a uniformed access over political power. It is said to be relativism for the reason that if all of us have the access to knowledge, power to practice authority, etc. then it means that no one could rule over the other localities, etc. Ways in which Imperialism and Colonialism are viewed through Postcolonial Approaches Postcolonial approaches view colonialism for having asymmetrical power between relations and violence. (Kabir & Williams, n.d.) According to Blunt and Willis (2000: 170), imperialism and colonialism in postcolonialism are both embeded on the expectations of modernity as well as hierarchy. Particularly the relationship between knowledge and power is the basis for a successful imperialism. In general, postcolonial approaches shows that ‘knowing the Orient’ or Orientalism is the key for one to be able to dominate or imperialized another territory. It emphasizes that knowledge is basically the reflection of a good economy and political functioning and interests. Geographical boundaries between each territory is seen by postcolonial theorists as an important factor that could affect imperialism and colonialism. (Nash, 2002; (Blunt & Rose, Writing Women and Space: Colonial and Postcolonial Geographies, 1994) In line with this matter, Bishop, Phillips, and Wei (2003) and Yeoh (2001: 457) emphases the impact of urban geography such that ‘geographical boundaries is all about ‘economic linkages including a cultural hybridation.’ With regards to geographic differences between two separate territories, postcolonial approaches are generally viewed as constructively in such a way that global inequality, displacement of the population, as well as political and cultural conflicts can be traced through geographic regions. (Blunt and McEwan, Introduction. In Blunt A. and McEwan C. Postcolonial Geographies, 2002) In the context of geographical boundaries, it is said that ‘economic development of a country as well as the development of geographers can be seen through the significant relationship between the post-colonialism and the global capitalism.’ (Blunt & McEwan, Introduction. In Blunt A. and McEwan C. Postcolonial Geographies, 2002: 6) Basically, it is the rich countries that are likely to rule the less developed countries. Tariq Ali’s Accounts for U.S. imperialism and its Driving Forces Tariq Ali, a prominent socialist, view commented that the incidence of the September 11 attack will eventually make the U.S. nation as ‘Anybody-But-Bush’ crowd. (Auciello, 2004) Right after the terrorist attack in 2001, we have clearly observed how Bush uses his authority to convince the U.S. nation to go into war against the attackers claiming that such decision would give justice to the American victims. According to Tariq Ali (2002), ‘Empire is a very stimulating part of globalization.’ He strongly believes the United States to be invincible more than any strong empire around the world due to combined internal and external factors which is the U.S. economy and the U.S. military policies. (Fernandes, 2002) Based on Tariq Ali’s statement, the United States will always use power coming from wealth and war in order for the country to imperialize other nations. Back in 2002, right after the September 11 attack, Tariq Ali has stated that there is a possibility of war going on in Afghanistan which was followed by the Sharon’s war against the Palestinian nation. Ali highlighted that the main purpose of attacking the Afghanistan simultaneously with the Sharon’s war in order to weaken the Palestinian’s resistance and destroy its hope for a sovereign and independent Palestinian republic. (Fernandes, 2002) A very good example is that the U.S. has a tendency to use an effective disguise such as publishing the ‘Human Rights Imperialism’ which was written by Uwe-Jens Heuer and Gregor Schirmer back in the late 1990s. (Mage, n.d.) Such disguise was used by the United States in order to make it easier for the U.S. military force to exploit other colonies with the use of military power. (Wood, n.d.) My Personal Opinion on Tariq Ali’s View on the U.S. Imperialism For most developed countries, imperialism is similar to a declaration of war. (Imperialism Means War!: For a World-Wide Anti-Imperialist Front. International Communist Seminar, Brussels, 1999) Personally, I do believe in the saying that ‘history repeats itself.’ Since the U.S. have been known for using coercion in order to be able to colonize another country or territory, I strongly agree with Tariq Ali’s view on the U.S. imperialism. For many years, aiming to strengthen its imperial power, the U.S. Empire had been very much used to depend on its military conquests through its political-diplomatic expansion. By going through war, the U.S. diplomats could prevent the EU as well as its other member states from being able to pass on any significant resolution related to fossil fuel, global warming, and poverty reduction at the Johannesburg meeting. This is basically one way in which the U.S. government could distract the possibility that the World Trade Organization could implement an adverse decision which could negatively affect the U.S. economy in the long-run. (Petras, 2002) This issue has been a widely debated topic for a very long time. Based on the world record, the air pollution (carbon dioxide and methane gas) that is emitted by the United States into the atmosphere is considered to be the major factor that causes global warming. Since it would be very costly for the U.S. to take into consideration complying with the world-wide environmental regulations, the U.S. government refuses to sign up the KYOTO protocol which was endorsed by the European Union. (Global Warming Lawsuiit against US gets Green Light, 2005) As part of the U.S. imperialism, its goal is to use a global strategy or ‘full spectrum dominance’ by gaining control over the land, air, sea, and space. (U.S. Imperialism Down Down, 2006) We have heard of the past U.S. imperialism with specific countries like Cuba, North Korea, Iran, the Philippines, Syria and other countries in the past. In fact, the main objective of the U.S. imperialism is to be able to economically re-colonise the third world countries worldwide. *** End *** References: Auciello, J. (2004, December). Was the Vote for Bush a Vote for War? Retrieved September 5, 2007, from Socialist Action Newspaper: http://www.socialistaction.org/dec04_9.htm Bishop, R., Phillips, J., & Wei, Y. (2003). Postcolonial Urbanism. London: Routledge. Blunt, A., & McEwan, C. (2002). Introduction. In Blunt A. and McEwan C. Postcolonial Geographies. New York: Continuum. 1 - 5. Blunt, A., & Rose, G. (1994). Writing Women and Space: Colonial and Postcolonial Geographies. London: Guilford. Blunt, A., & Willis, J. (2000). Decolonizing Geography: Postcolonial Perspectives. In Bunt A. and Willis J. Dissident Geographies: An Introduction to Radical Ideas and Practice. Harlow: Prentice Hall. 167 - 207. Boyle, J. (1998). Anachronism of the Moral Sentiments? Integrity, Post-Modernism and Justice. Yale University, Whitney Humanities Center, Conference on Postmodernism/Postmodernity. Burke, B. (2000). Post-Modernism and Post-Modernity. Retrieved September 5, 2007, from infed: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-postmd.htm#post-modernism Cole, M., Hill, D., & Rikowski, G. (1997). Between Postmoderism and Nowhere: the Predicament of the Postmoderist. British Journal of Educational Studies , 45(2):187 - 200. Fernandes, F. (2002, July 8). An Interview with Tariq Ali: How the Bush Used 9/11 to Remap the World. Retrieved September 4, 2007, from Counter Punch: http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq0708.html Global Warming Lawsuiit against US gets Green Light. (2005, August 25). Retrieved September 5, 2007, from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/08/25/afx2192827.html Imperialism Means War!: For a World-Wide Anti-Imperialist Front. International Communist Seminar, Brussels. (1999, May 2 - 4). Retrieved September 5, 2007, from WPE: http://www.wpb.be/icm/99en/ResImpDefEN.htm Kabir, A., & Williams, D. (n.d.). Postcolonial Approaches to the European Middle Ages: Translating Cultures . Cambridge University Press , 1 - 10. Mage, A. (n.d.). Human Rights Imperialism. Retrieved September 4, 2007, from Monthly Review: http://www.monthlyreview.org/398heuer.htm Nash, C. (2002). Cultural Geography: Postcolonial Cultural Geographies. Progress in Human Geography , 26:219 - 230. Petras, J. (2002, December 23). How the Empire Works: The Second Track. Retrieved September 5, 2007, from Omnicenter: http://www.omnicenter.org/warpeacecollection/imperialism.htm#theperfectenemy U.S. Imperialism Down Down. (2006, February 26). Retrieved September 5, 2007, from Peoples Democracy : http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0226/02262006_edit.htm Wood, E. (n.d.). Kosovo and the New Imperialism. Retrieved September 4, 2007, from Monthly Review: http://www.monthlyreview.org/699wood.htm Yeoh, B. (2001). Postcolonial Cities. Progress in Human Geography , 25:456 - 468. Read More