Editorial
The Leopard Cannot Change its Spots
Prior to the inauguration of Barack
Obama as the new president of the United States, there were a lot of
expectations that he would set a new tone for American foreign policy. These
expectations persisted despite the fact that in his campaign speeches Obama
pledged to continue most of the foreign policies of the Bush administration.
Obama’s supporters and those who chose
to create illusions about his presidency excused these pledges on the basis
that Obama needed to say such things in order to get elected, but once elected
he would pursue a different foreign policy. In particular, there have been many
suggestions that Obama would change the American attitude towards the
Israel-Palestine conflict. During the three weeks of Israeli bombardment of the
people of Gaza, Obama remained silent, claiming that there could only be one
president at a time.
On his first day in office, Obama’s
promises to close the Guantanamo detainment facility within a year and to order
the military and CIA to stop torturing prisoners have been hailed as signifying
a new era in U.S. foreign policy. However, the U.S. was already a signatory to
numerous international covenants prohibiting torture and that has never stopped
it from training, organizing and supervising torture and death squads
throughout the world - Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Iran, Indonesia,
etc. Furthermore, by focusing on only the issue of torture, which has seriously
tarnished the image of the U.S. in international public opinion, Obama is
covering up the more fundamental crime of U.S. imperialism – the invasion and
occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the ongoing slaughter of civilians in
those countries. Neither in his campaign
speeches, his acceptance speech, nor in his inauguration address has Obama once
referred to the equality of nations. Rather, he has repeatedly called for the
restoration of the pre-eminent position of the U.S. in
international affairs. He never speaks about respecting the sovereignty and independence
of other countries and peoples, but rather about spreading American “freedom
and democracy” around the world. American “freedom and democracy” has become
synonymous with war and aggression, with support for fascist dictatorships, and
the use of terrorism, torture, assassinations and “disappearances” to crush any
opposition to U.S. control. So Obama’s pledge to end the practice of torture at
the same time that he pledges to strengthen U.S. imperialism rings somewhat
hollow indeed.
On his third day in office Obama
addressed State Department employees along with Vice-President Joseph Biden and
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. In that meeting, for the first time since
the U.S. election Obama addressed the issue of Israel. He stated:
“Let me be clear: America is committed
to Israel's security. And we will always support Israel's right to defend itself against legitimate threats. For years, Hamas has
launched thousands of rockets at innocent Israeli citizens. No democracy can
tolerate such danger to its people, nor should the international community, and neither should the Palestinian people
themselves, whose interests are only set back by acts of terror. To be a
genuine party to peace, the quartet has made it clear that Hamas must meet
clear conditions: recognize Israel's right to exist; renounce violence; and
abide by past agreements.”
Obama made no mention of the necessity
for Israel to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to exist, to
renounce violence and to abide by the numerous UN resolutions demanding that it
withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza. Obama thus made it crystal clear that
there will be no change in U.S. policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. In
other words, the message of “hope” for the world’s people delivered in his inaugural
address on January 20 clearly does not extend to the Palestinian people.
Obama went on to outline the conditions
his regime will impose on the Palestinian people if they want food and medicine
to reach them:
“I was deeply concerned by the loss of
Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering
and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who
are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and who've
faced suffocating poverty for far too long. Now we must extend a hand of
opportunity to those who seek peace. As part of a lasting cease-fire, Gaza's
border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an
appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority
participating. Relief efforts must be able to reach innocent Palestinians who
depend on them. The United States will fully support an international donor's
conference to seek short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term
reconstruction for the Palestinian economy. This assistance will be provided to
and guided by the Palestinian Authority.”
This means that the condition for a
“cease-fire” for the people of Gaza is their acceptance of continuing control of
their borders by Israel and control of international aid and reconstruction of
the economy by the corrupt and bankrupt Palestinian Authority (PA). The people
of Gaza have repeatedly rejected this blackmail. They have expressed, through
democratic elections, their desire to be represented by Hamas and that Hamas be
in control of aid distribution and economic development. Far from shaking that
determination, Israel’s three weeks of brutal bombardment and slaughter of Gazans has further undermined support for Fatah and the PA,
not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank as well.
So, within three days of taking office,
Obama has succeeded in shattering the hopes and dreams of the hundreds of
millions of people around the world who fervently believed that a president
whose skin colour is the same as that of so many of
the oppressed peoples of the world would sympathize with the oppressed against
the oppressors. However, Obama was not elected as the champion of the oppressed
people of the world, but as the champion of U.S. imperialism, the greatest
oppressor of the peoples in history. He is no more capable of changing the
nature of U.S. imperialism than a leopard is of changing its spots. Freedom for
the Palestinian people can only be won through their own struggles and those of
the world’s people against imperialism and all forms of reaction; it will never
be handed to them by those who are responsible for their enslavement and
oppression.