Anti-Globalism = Anti-Americanism (By a sensible-talking Frenchman)

The American Enterprise ^ | June 2004 | Jean-Francois Revel

[quidnunc]

How to understand this war against globalization, which has grown in scope and virulence over the past five years? First, we must realize that it is a war in the real, not the figurative, sense of the word. It is a physical struggle being fought in the streets, not just theoretically. The demonstrators who are its shock troops are organized by activist organizations, many of them subsidized by governments, and they sack cities and lay siege to international meetings during their battles.

What motivates this extraordinary resistance? Globalization simply means freedom of movement for goods and people, and it is hard to be violently hostile to that. But behind this fight lies an older and more fundamental struggle—against economic liberalization, and against the chief representative thereof, which is the United States. Anti-globalism carnivals often feature an Uncle Sam in a Stars-and-Stripes costume as their supreme scapegoat. In this way, the new movement taps into an old socialist tradition, where opposition to economic freedom and opposition to America are impossible to separate.

The simplistic article of Marxist faith that capitalism is absolute evil, and that it is incarnated in and directed by the United States, may be the most important principle shared by the current crop of anti-globalizers. America is the object of their loathing because for a half century or more it has been the most prosperous and creative capitalist society on earth. But ultimately it is something even bigger that the anti-globalizers want to destroy: liberal democracy and free-market economics. Or quite simply liberty itself.

-snip-

[Imal]

Sacre bleu! Monsieur Revel, he is right!

[My2Cents]

From Publishers Weekly Review:
His latest book, a bestseller in France, comes at a crucial time. It seeks to explain the root cause of the world's and particularly Europe's obsession with hating America. He does not pretend that America is perfect. But he argues that the daily denunciations exceed the bounds of reasonable criticism. Furthermore, Revel says, European critics are quick to point fingers when they should be looking in the mirror. Rather than mock America's 2000 presidential election, he notes, Europeans should have been examining their own abysmally run European Union. He attributes such inconsistencies to Europeans' desperate desire to "project our faults onto America so as to absolve ourselves." Revel further finds fault with the antiglobalization movement. Though the movement claims to oppose inequality and poverty in underdeveloped countries, its true anathema is liberal capitalism, whose chief representative is the United States. The barrage of attacks will make it impossible for the United States to confer with European officials or take any criticism seriously. It is in Europe's interest, Revel says, to put aside its envy and consider a more constructive relationship with the United States. As a French citizen, the author laments the sorry state of his home country; he believes that careful consideration of American principles will strengthen Europe. Revel writes with a style at once informative and incisive. He possesses a sarcastic wit that is undoubtedly as irritating to his critics as it is endearing to his supporters.

[no more apples]

At last, a Frenchman who makes sense.

Their floating mass of some hundreds of thousands of demonstrators is their compensation for the frustration of having seen all the socialisms and all the revolutions fail. At a time when they have no positive alternative, yelling slogans and trashing cities and blocking international gatherings provide them with the illusion of moral action.

It's too bad they can't channel all that energy for the good of their country.

[Clemenza]

Private Sector Globalization: Good

UN/IMF/WTO Supranational Institutional Socialist Globalization: Bad

[Yardstick]

*Bump!*

[Akira]

It's a great book.

[CatoRenasci]

I always enjoy Jean-Francois Revel's work, ever since reading Without Marx or Jesus some 20+ years ago. Probably France's leading sensible intellectual (the only other French intellectual I've had any use for in the past 50 years was Jaques Barzun, and he was really an American).

[Chinese_American_Patriot]

What the hell? Don't EVER show THAT image to US!! F### the damn commies! It's their fault that their system of oppression and government-sponsered economic stuff does not work!

[satchmodog9]

A lot of my friends have gotten caught up in the bash America movement. It is for the simple reasons that they live in big cities and have siblings in college. All their information is from the left wing. The points we wind up discussing are straight from the commie party website, the progressive and DU. They now claim to be moderates but, most of their views are still from the right and the real problem they have is the Bush conspiracy. You know the whole thing about the Bush Nazi connections, part of the illuminati, Haliburton, etc. It gets old. I don't understand how some people let themselves get suckered into something that is so far from their core beliefs.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

To write that, Globalization 'simply' means 'freedom' of movement", simply is NOT so. To write that "Anti-Globalism = Anti-Americanism" shows a complete lack of knowledge of American History.

The U.S. of A. Constitution states in Article 1 section 9 paragraph 5 that, "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on any Article exported from any State". And in Article 1 section 10 paragraph 2 that, "No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports,....". THAT is "Americanism".

NOT the thousands upon thousands of pages detailing exactly when, why, and what may be traded and exactly who may be licensed to conduct trade between nations that present and proposed "agreements" {treaties} already in the pipeline.
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Guys, The above is a rebuttal to this typical Frenchman's understanding of "Americanism". And it would seem a few "conservatives" on FR. Not to mention Washington's words about not getting involved in foreign entanglements. Peace and love, George.

[tpaine]

bumpkin

[philosofy123]

We French have had little to say against Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, Kim Jong Il, Fidel Castro, Robert Mugabe, the imams of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the bosses of China and Vietnam. We reserve our admonitions and our contempt and our attacks for the U.S., for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and for Europeans like Margaret Thatcher, Silvio Berlusconi, and Tony Blair, because they are insufficiently hostile to capitalism. Our enemy is not the dictator but the free market economy.

THAT SAID IT ALL.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

"In their arrogance, a few infinitely shrewd imbeciles attempt to lay down the 'law' for all of us."

TP, Ah-YUP! Peace and love, George.

[aculeus]

America is the object of their loathing because for a half century or more it has been the most prosperous and creative capitalist society on earth.

Can't be said often enough: the fundamental ideology of Europe is envy. That's what gave the world Marxism and Naziism.

(Compare Euro hate-America-ism with its virtual absence in important Asian countries.)