Land of the Free?
Through the years I have learnt what it feels like to be mistaken for an Arab, a Frenchman, an Israeli, a Brazilian and a Spaniard. I have been greeted by countless warm introductions in languages which I will never understand and born witness to as many shocked faces at hearing an American accent escape my lips. I have been half-Mexican, half-German and a suspected Israeli spy; a humble student, an honoured guest, a weary vagrant, a desperate hitchhiker and an invisible beggar. At an early age I learnt what it means to be 'American' to the rest of the world. Yes, I've also been the one whose tax dollars 'pay for the bullets that kill my children,' and 'the bastard who robbed us of our water,' but more recently I've watched individuals shocked from one stereotype of dark-skinned foreigner into another of 'bloody American'.
American racism, American imperialism, American ignorance. These themes have all encroached upon the realm of cliché after visiting dozens of countries and having hundreds of conversations with those embracing global anti-American sentiments. If not for an ever-nagging sense of humility that I wish I could shed and a genuine personal regret for the role I must play in my democratically elected government's choices, I would long ago have given up on talking with those whose prejudices overflow upon me.
Racism is a primitive practice and should be relegated to generations past. Unfortunately, the progress of humanity greatly runs the risk of being overwhelmed by an ever growing sense of nationalism that is every year less resembling national pride than a hybridisation of classism, racism, religious fanaticism and globalisation. It is ironic that a process referred to as globalisation should lead to divisions being strengthened between countries, yet this is exactly what seems to be occurring. The increase in animosity towards such countries as the United States and even Great Britain is caused by religious fanatics suddenly flung out of their comfort zones at home and into environments where their faith is no longer reinforced by circumstances alone, but inverted.
People who once read their Bible, Torah, or Qu'ran quietly at home can, when in unfamiliar surroundings, resort to overt public demonstrations of faith in order to self-reinforce their faith. It seems that modern societies, when suddenly imposed upon by other governments, cultures and languages through the process of globalisation, can suddenly become bigoted and nationalistic in order to reinforce their own sense of identity. This practice, though casually disguised, is no less primitive than racism or fundamentalism.
Like the empires of Ancient Greece, Rome, Spain and England, the United States of America will someday fall. And like those empires of ages past, who fell in real world situations where international conflicts abounded, the final blow that will hasten the demise of America will not come from outside its borders. The final nail driven into the coffin of American imperialism will come from within that coffin. When the American juggernaut reaches its natural equilibrium with the rest of the world the people left behind will be the same people that are there now, and any nationalism that remains in the world will remain in the hearts of fallen Americans. Nationalism, like all forms of prejudice, is not limited by borders either geographic or class based. Those who embrace the new way of thinking will set themselves free but there will be those who consciously choose otherwise.
Liberation is an idea that cannot be supplanted by oppressive governments and cannot be encouraged by benevolent ones. There are those in all governments, cultures, religions, and classes that would choose in all sincerity to oppress their neighbour and live in ignorance. Fortunately however, there are also those that would choose to learn from one another and thereby set themselves free.
I recently interviewed Niall Ferguson, visiting Professor of History at Oxford University, Herzog Professor of Financial History at New York University and most recently author of Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. Ferguson argues that America has much to learn from Britain's own empire days: "The two most important lessons that America can learn from the British experience are that a successful empire needs to export capital and people rather than import them; and that it needs to have a longer time frame for its projects of colonisation than a couple of years."
Nationalism as we understand it is when a group of people latches on to what they believe makes it unique and identifies with that to the exclusion of all else. There is, however, another type of nationalism, not to be confused with the predatory practice of what has become known as Americanisation, that stays vibrant and relevant by putting itself on the global market and interacting with others in a symbiotic fashion. This is indicative of a confidence in one's national ethos that allows for an understanding of one's role in globalisation without the fear of losing national identity.
Professor Ferguson also argues that America must allow for a larger time frame (certainly more than a couple of years) and principal investment in things other than finance. It is exactly this that distinguishes between patronising another culture and respecting it. With minimal effort one can find the strength to tolerate differences for a year or two but this is really nothing more than a diminutive patronisation akin to 'not bothering.' In order to truly set up a global market where both nations and citizens interact honourably there must be a determined sense of commitment to world peace.
These guides for national survival in a global market apply to modern interaction between citizens. Indeed it is only because they are adequate at the individual level that they transfer into the global paradigm. Professor Ferguson's statement epitomises a healthy understanding of one's national role in global relations but also serves on the individual level as a reminder that in our ever shrinking world, where borders mean less and less, the secret to survival is not to close oneself off from the world and hold on to what is already had but to risk it all, to demonstrate confidence in one's self and one's nation and to become even grander by relishing in the surrounding diversity.
10th Jun 2004