Modern Communism Special Supplement

Clinton's Visit to South Asia:

A Dangerous Threat to the Peoples of the Region and the World

Hundreds of thousands of Indian workers and peasants, youth and women and peoples from all walks of life were out on the streets throughout India demonstrating against President Bill Clinton's recent visit to their country. The visit was the first by an American president in 22 years. In fact, this was the most important visit of a U.S. president to South Asia since the beginning of the Cold War over 50 years ago. Now, coming at the end of the Cold War, at the end of the bipolar division of the world, it is a visit of imperialist re-alignment and heralds a new period of inter-imperialist collusion and contention in the region.

Reports on the cordial discussions that went on behind closed doors and the public rhetoric about "two great democracies" are in sharp contrast to the reports a few months ago which were all about talk of sanctions. The aim of this propaganda is to have the peoples lose vigilance, to disarm the peoples of the region both figuratively and literally. Further, it is meant to "reassure" the world, that "all is well" and that the U.S. has matters "under control", that it is working in everyone's interest, and that the Indian government, for its part, is "rational", reasonable and a democratic loving country. All the while, though, the machinations carry on. Nothing has changed other than the U.S. imperialists have re-assessed their hard-line on India's weapons testing in the light of America's changing economic and strategic aims.

Economically the U.S. can no longer accept being shut out of India. During the Cold War, India was an ally of the Soviet Union and for the most part did not allow itself to be used as a market for American goods and capital. With the end of the Cold War, the Americans have steadily been able to increase their influence in India at the expense of the Russians. Whether it is cheap labour in the garment or shoe industry sweatshops or cheap labour in the high-tech industries of Hyderabad or Bangalore or a new market in what Clinton called "the largest middle class in the world", American monopoly capitalistshave turned to India in their drive for ever greater profits.

Strategically and militarily U.S. imperialism can no longer afford to remain a "stranger in a strange land" as former U.S. president Jimmy Carter described his visit 22 years ago. Driven by the imperialist need, born of economic necessity, to dominate Asia as it seeks to dominate the entire world, the U.S. looks to Asia and sees China's own ambitions in the region as one potential problem and the ambitions of Russia and the Islamic nations as two others. Faced with this competition, the U.S. sees an opening to pursue its old ambitions in Asia by forging an alliance with India. Thus Clinton spoke in loving tones to the Indians - in a fashion which is being called "attuned to Indian sensibilities" - while speaking in threatening tones to the Pakistanis. And so, while U.S. policy during the Cold War was to support Pakistan as a buffer against Russia on one side and China on the other, now, in the post-Cold War period, the U.S. and India have found common ground.

This is ultimately a disastrous development for the peoples, as, quite possibly, the U.S., with India's backing, may enter the region militarily, possibly right into Pakistan. The justifications are already being prepared during this visit: Pakistan is "undemocratic", is supporting "terrorists" in Kashmir, and so on. These are similar to the justifications used to invade Iraq and similar to those used to justify bombing Yugoslavia. In fact, the scenario from Yugoslavia is being repeated with a South Asian flavour. By telling the Pakistanis to "stop supporting terrorism", while telling the Indians that "only India can decide for itself", Clinton has effectively taken sides in the regional conflict over Kashmir. The U.S. declares the real enemy is the anti-democratic Pakistani military dictatorship which is "supporting terrorism" in Kashmir, setting the stage for intervention by the world's "greatest democracy" in alliance with the world's "largest democracy".

In keeping with that aim, Clinton spoke in the most astonishingly conciliatory tones to the Indian Vajpayee government and the parliament - to the extent he backed down on nearly all demands with regard to any formerly contentious issues such as nuclear weapons testing. Moving with ease from a formerly aggressive sanction-based stance, Clinton has now stated that "Only India can determine its own interests. Only India can know if it truly is safer today than before the tests. Only India can determine if it will benefit from expanding its nuclear and missile capabilities, if its neighbours respond by doing the same thing."

Such statements are designed to further incite the Indian national chauvinists who are in power in India to act aggressively against Pakistan and against the liberation movement of the Kashmiri and the other peoples fighting for national liberation in the region. While the monopoly media has praised Clinton for his visit to India, the fact is that the visit does not augur well for the peoples of India, Pakistan and South Asia, nor for the peoples of the rest of the world. The shifting of alliances and inciting of armed conflict in the Indian sub-continent is bound to bring a response from America's competitors in the region, thereby bringing the world a step closer to a cataclysmic inter-imperialist war.