Democracy
& Nature, Vol. 8,
No. 2
The
politics of recognition versus the politics of hatred
Arran
Gare
Abstract:
Hatred
of America expressed in the September 11th attack is more than
matched by the hatred by Americans for Islamists expressed in the war on
Afghanistan, the War against Terror and the threatened wars against the “Axis
of Evil”. It is argued here that there is a pattern of self-reinforcing hatred
operating in the world set in motion by the actions of the United States,
particularly by George Bush Snr. and embraced and used by George Bush Jr. to
reinforce and further develop this pattern. To oppose this it is necessary to
understand how hatred is generated, how this system operates and how Bush is
exploiting it, and then to provide an alternative. It is argued this requires a
new story of civilization as the quest for justice understood as true
recognition to oppose to the myths based on hatred promulgated by Bush. In terms
of this story, the extreme economic, social, political and military policies of
Bush and the myths used to justify them should be recognized for what they are,
the challenge of barbarism to civilization.
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