Giano 45

SPACE IMPERIALISM

Imperialism in space, global power, a “new American century”, the sidelining of the UN: once more our thoughts focus on the United States of America. Deep founded concerns are provoked by US politics and policies and the material force that drives them, despite descriptions in terms of “art” and “mission”. The editorial piece of this volume looks at the Project for the New American Century, at how it has developed and the influence it has over the present US government. This is a subject that requires further attention in the future. The articles in this issue (n. 45), which marks Giano’s 15th year of publication - focus on the new power élites (Lodovisi), the Space Control programs (Garibaldi), which feature on our cover, on George W. Bush (La Valle) and on policies and attitudes concerning the UN (Imbriani). Europe is seen to be fading away (Massucci and Di Fiore), an issue which we intend to look at more closely, in relation also to the questions posed by The Western Spllt (Del Bello). The debate on Iran continues (Galletti, Fasciani), while Cotone writes on the “Wall of Apartheid” that the Israeli government is busy building. Lannutti presents an important informative article on the Iraqi resistance movement and Paolini examines the present situation in Georgia, situated as it is at the “crossroads of the world”. Bonapace provides a critical picture of the Balkans after the storm. In the reports presented at our Conference on Globalization without Governance, in the notes and reviews, the reader will find this issue is, as ever, the fruit of serious, collective analysis and reflection.

Remembering Norberto Bobbio
“Giano” looks back over its relationship with the illustrious philosopher and jurist who died recently. While recognizing Bobbio’s huge merits, the author also mentions his divergence with the thought and political position of the philosopher. In the 80s and 90s Bobbio held possibilistic and eventually clearly pro-western opinions that “Giano” was obliged to counter. Behind this stance lay a basic resignation to war as the result of the permanent Machiavellian nature of international relations, and therefore an insurmountable barrier to his troubled and contradictory pacifism.

 

Luigi Cortesi, PNAC: from global imperialism to the final solution
This basically informative premise intends to: 1) clarify exactly what the “Project for the New American Century” is, and define the ideology and the programs of the neo-conservatives; 2) focus on the influence that its promoters have on the current US government; an influence which is immediately apparent in the presidential paper “The National Security Strategy” published in September 2002; 3) illustrate the immense risks of the schemes for global dominance that the PNAC and the US government are aiming to put into practice: risks that could lead us to “humanicide” and a real “end to history”.

 

Achille Lodovisi, The foundations of US global power: the new political-military-industrial oligarchies
The military-industrial complex began to undergo a major change in the second half of the 1980s. The author refers to US and SIPRI data that points to an unprecedented development of massive weapon programs, the rise of economic oligopolies based on the vertical integration of production processes and on strategies developed by a political, economical and military leadership. The article demonstrates how America’s war economy has taken a decisive turn towards the sphere of information technology, and how this shift has accentuated the privatization of the military sector, and the connection between operational requirements and the extent of war. At a sociological level, the merging of property, with industry’s technical management and the selection processes of political leadership leap to our attention. This final part of the analysis will be continued in greater depth in a follow-up essay that is to be published in a future issue of “Giano”.

 

Gabriele Garibaldi, “Full Spectrum Dominance” and US space imperialism
The new Defense Secretary, Rumsfeld, has reopened US projects for the weaponization of space. After September 11th, mainstream media has presented National Missile Defense and Theater Missile Defense to American and international public opinion as a means to guarantee domestic security and international stability. These are however only the first of a series of plans for arming space, which follow the logic of the unipolar Grand Strategy that emerged immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first and most basic expression of this strategy can be found in the revival of NATO’s role in Europe, its aim being to prevent the rise of a Power or coalition of Powers that may challenge the US as the “lonely Superpower”, thus ensuring a unipolar and imperial “new American century”. From a military point of view the project has taken the form of strategic planning intended to widen the power gap between the US and any potential “peer competitors” (China first and foremost). Space plays a central role in this project and the United States are intent on maintaining their leadership in this field, willing, “if necessary, to deny access to others”.

 

Enrico Maria Massucci, Europe, an ambiguous and illusory Venus
The energetic protests on the part of a number of European States at the outbreak of the Iraq war created the illusion of wide-spread opposition among “Old Continent” nations to US policy. However the official end to hostilities and successive “realignments” have shown that Europe is not, at present, in a position to express any global vision, nor produce any routes of action, alternative to the US “model”. While there remains an underlying ambiguity concerning the foreign policy of the world’s super power, it is only indicated by episodic adverse reactions to US imperial policy, the domestic policies developed by the “eurocracies” only serve to mutate, echo and confirm the underlying tendencies inspired by neoliberist logic. These are specific political, cultural, economic and above all social choices, written into the prevailing anglo-saxon based philosophy and acritically inspired by the supra-determination of the market function, that bolsters Europe’s subordination to the US.

 

Anna Cotone, The Palestine Wall, XXI century apartheid
An in-depth report on the meeting held last December in Rome at the European Parliament, during which the The Wall in Palestine report, edited and published by the Pengon network, was presented. The report makes the crude reality of the Israeli project quite clear with photos and map graphics that clarify the territorial destruction and social trauma imposed on the local population. The main objective of this wall, which does not follow the 1967 “Green Line” that runs between Israel and the West Bank, is to reinforce the Zionist State and compromise the creation of a Palestinian State once and for all. To this end there is no holding back in the face of this new and extremely dangerous assault upon the UN and international law.Gi

 

ancarlo Lannutti, The Iraqi resistance movement
The capture of Saddam Hussein has had practically no effect on Iraqi resistance. Indeed, the movement that is fighting against the English, Italian and American troops in Iraq is flourishing due to the deterioration in relations with the population and in particular the Shi’ites. The call for an end to occupation and for the political independence of the Iraqi people is becoming increasingly insistent. The Bush administration, whose war seems to be based on dubious pretexts and justified by a series of lies, has lost all credit. The author works on international sources to trace a detailed picture of the organized resistance forces, distinguishing between the “Islamic” and the “lay, nationalist” factions, which are in turn divided into various subgroups. The movement as a whole appears to be deeply rooted among the population. Its legitimacy cannot simply be reduced to its terrorist activities, but should be seen as that of opposition to the occupying forces “in any shape and form”.

 

Michele Paolini, Georgia, an international crossroads
A “velvet-gloved revolution” has shaken Georgia, crossroads of the international oil trade. The nation has moved from the controversial elections of November 2nd last to the demonstrations of November 14th, the standing down of president Eduard Shevardnadze on November 23rd and the subsequent election of his rival Mikhail Saakashvili on January 4th 2004. The author looks at the fabric of international relations upon which these events have taken on global importance: the instability in Iraq, the tension between USA and Russia, the international economic situation conditioned by increases in oil consumption and the dispute between the US and China over access to the strategic resources of the Caspian Sea. Georgia provides a local indication of the high global temperature.

 

William Bonapace, After the storm in the Balkans
It is ten years since the Balkan crisis erupted and the situation in this region is still critical, with persistent military tension, economic stagnation and the proliferation of illegality and criminal organisations right through to the heart of government institutions. Despite various sometimes perplexing interpretations, the causes of this disaster are purely political. On the one hand the nationalist élites and on the other a series of international organisations, loyal to their dogmatic liberism, have succeeded in demolishing the State and selling off the economy to local power groups, thus exposing the markets of these nations to processes of de-localisation towards stronger nations, and encouraging an extremely murky form of “financialisation”. The recommendations of the European Commission may well prove useless unless there is a far-reaching amendment of the the parameters and criteria for intervention in the region. The only way out of this mess lies in a political system and economic policy that can resist the siren songs of liberism and forced globalisation and promote a recognition of the value of local resources, human and environmental, in view of entry into Europe.

 

Mirella Galletti, Iran, a State under siege
In Iran moderates and fundamentalists seem to stand in contrast, despite being considered two faces of the same coin by some analysts. Moderates led by President Khatami are demanding long term reforms, while the U.S. is trying to isolate Iran and stop its nuclear activities. In October 2003 three European Ministers visited Tehran in an attempt to resolve the current crisis over its nuclear program within the International Atomic Energy Agency. With its soft policy Tehran can play a strong part in the opposition to American imperialism in the Middle East.

 

Monica Fasciani, Iran, an arduous transition
The student protests that took place in Iran in July 2003 were not only reacting against the obscurantism of certain conservative factions, but also against Khatami’s reformist government, a sign of an important evolution in the political perception of younger generations in Iran. The excessive and manipulative international attention that these protests attracted, in particular in the U.S., has had a de-stabilising effect. The leading “Clerical” élite has used this active dissent, and American attempts to use it for their own ends, to exacerbate anti-western rhetoric and intensify the repression of any domestic democratic and progressive tendencies.

 

Luigi Cortesi, International war and social conflict
The article reports on the present wave of labour protests in Italy that coincides with a period of peace marches and demonstrations - among which is included the collective mourning for the Italian soldiers killed on duty in Iraq. The contemporaneous aspect of these demonstrations would suggest that the two movements should work on a line of unity: on the one hand the peace movement should adopt the social demands of the workers as its own, on the other the workers’ movement and its culture should leave behind its underlying classism, steeped as it is at times in corporatism, and develop the internationalist elements of its own tradition. This would create a single social body of protest against the capitalist axis as a system of both social domination and international conflict.

 

Stefano Azzarà, Friedrich Nietzche and the nihilist project for domination
During the XIX century and up to the early XX century, a solid alliance between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie enabled them to control the destiny of Europe’s nations. In the face of a developing mass society and organized proletariat, part of this alliance prepared to reach a sociopolitical compromise, while the rest struggled to maintain its own social and colonial power. In Nietzsche we can find the most refined philosophical expression of the culture and ethos of this “persistence of the ancien régime”. In his book Nietzsche, il ribelle aristocratico, D. Losurdo re-evokes, from within, the political and cultural debate in Germany, depicting a Europe as it hurtles towards crisis, and placing upon this background, the reactionary grandeur of a project that was to throw its long shadow over the entire XX century.

 

Silvio Silvestri, International war and social conflict
The psychological reaction to the massacre of the Italian soldiers in Nassiriya was characterized by a sense of mourning and a desire for peace rather than by a sense of nationalism. There is also growing indignation concerning the responsibilities for the Italian expedition in Iraq, requested by Bush and readily granted by Berlusconi, in his search for legitimacy as the “joker” premier, discredited and guilty of corruption: a leader whose wealthy businessman culture and media power leave him far from the real needs of his country.
There is, however, one positive note in the current Italian situation, the revival of popular, worker protests, which have not only succeeded in standing up to the blackmail of power, but also to the weakly trade unionist style of negotiation, while at the same time underlining the valid motives for the widespread discontent. The new workers’ movement joins the eco-pacifist movement, which has taken an active part in numerous protests and made a strong stand against the pro-American policies of our right-wing government. Silvestri hopes that the two movements can meet. The radicalization and internationalization of social conflict could represent a concrete, insurmountable barrier to the projects of war, and make a decisive contribution to the salvation of Humanity.

 

Conference Lectures

Globalization without governance.
Global risks and the international system

The University of Bologna, 15-16 May 2003
Ed. by Michele Paolini

 

Claudio Del Bello, The Western Schism
Thoughts on some of the forms of global crisis. The “West”, as the capital, the driving force, identifies its true nature as it declines. Witness to its own fall, it lives through fractures and open wounds that cannot be explained by “growth” and overproduction, but rather by a halt in development. The extraordinary acceleration of the processes caused by the internal logic of the exploitation of capital has brought about the end of politics. State intervention in the market is evident in the US as demand of goods, and in the “continental” model as the supply of them. This has widened the gap as far as concerns the objectives of the State and its guarantee of independence to social representatives. Neoliberism tends to protect freedom of goods over freedom of humankind, transferring the rights acquired by and for people to goods, but Europe has still not fully capitulated, thanks to particular agreements that are in force and the institutions that uphold them. The West is beginning to split in two.

 

Raniero La Valle, Bush governmental strategy and new international geopolitics
The author examines “the United States national security strategy” document, published in September 2002. The paper presents some completely new issues. It lays down the basics of an ideology that draws a value from the national well-being and makes it absolute. After September 11th this value became national security. The national security ideology is similar to that which existed in the authoritarian regimes in Latin America at the height of the Cold War. The difference between that, however, inspired by European Caudillism and identified in anti-communism, is that this US version has been grafted on to and evolved from the ideology of “American heritage” and the “American way of life”: national security means the affirmation of that heritage and the continuation of that way of life.

 

Angelo Michele Imbriani, The UN in US politics and culture
This article considers recent events and the debate concerning US unilateralism. In American politics and journalism the distinction between “unilateralism” and “multilateralism” has become a common issue. These are, however, simplified and largely unfounded labels. The political situation in America and the historical role of the Bush government cannot be seen to have made a break with the past. The use of the terms “unilateralism” and “multilateralism” gives a false impression of the true situation and hides the nature and origins of the so-called unilateralism, or more correctly American imperialist policy. The two supposed groups - unilateralists and multilateralists, hawks and doves, in fact occupy a territory that is to a large extent shared by both.

 

Maria Clara Donato, China from modernization to “Quanqiuhua”
When China joined the WTO in 2001, it was a demonstration of the country’s involvement in the global system, an involvement that those in power considered to be closely connected to the “reform and opening” strategy of Deng Xiaoping. But despite the fact that the “quanqiuhua” (a neologism that stands for globalization) has always officially been represented in a positive key, as necessary to modern China’s growth and prosperity, numerous doubts remain. On a domestic level stability is on the table: how will the regime control the social costs provoked by an unbalanced and tumultuous economic development and exacerbated by the very process of globalization. On an international front, China is forced to stand up to the aggressive policies of the Bush government and protect its own interests in an international system increasingly driven by the American imperialist program.

 

Raffaele Nocera, Globalization, neo-liberism, US hegemony: the Latin American case
At the beginning of the 21st century the Latin American countries stood at a crossroads. They could either continue to accept the Washington Consensus with its unsustainable economic policies, or effect an important change in their own national socioeconomic programs. The recent crises in Argentina (December 2001) and Bolivia (October 2003) are unmistakable signs of the refusal of increasingly large sections of society to accept the neoliberal economic model and its renewed plans for neocolonial exploitation. This grassroots impetus needs to be translated into effective alternative options in the economic sphere which can guarantee that State income be made available for education, the health service and security. With regards continental integration, the Latin American states are showing increasing resistance to the launch of the Americas Free Trade Area (Alca). However Brazil and Argentina are showing renewed interest in the Mercosur. If this manages to strengthen in the next few years it should create a regional, economic, political, institutional and cultural alliance able to negotiate on equal terms with the United States, the European Union, Japan and the other actors on the world stage.

 

Domenico Di Fiore, The other Europe and neoliberism
1989 left the potential split between the USA and Europe out cold. At least that is how the egg heads in the US government have perceived it. The missing, or veiled target of this perception is what (“old continent”) Europe stood for in terms of social emancipation and erosion of the essence of State during the last century. It is, on the other hand, this very aspect which can provide a launching pad to “overturn the failure of the present”: the compulsion of a political subjectivization that can, on a European backcloth, retrieve the heritage of the “workers’ movement” and fuse it creatively with the new social movements.

Walter Peruzzi, Pacifism in Italy
A new pacifist movement began to develop in Italy when the Gulf War broke out. Traditional nonviolent or anti-imperialist groups began to mix with other broad sections of society which were less easily identified in terms of politics or ideology. Soon the movement split into a “moderate” wing, that stood alongside the PCI (Italian Communist Party) and a more “radical” but minority group that emphasized the new nature of war as a permanent tool of government for capitalist re-globalisation, and underlined the need for political pacifism. The hegemony of the moderate thinkers pushed the movement out on a limb in terms of unity and institutionalization, a situation countered only by some interesting grassroots attempts to change direction. It wasn’t until the Kosovo war that political pacifism began to pick up and expand, only to decline once more until the renewed activity in 2003. This recent activity marks not only a qualitative leap but also an element of discontinuity, as it originates from the no-global movement and its fusion with other social and political forces from the Catholic sphere and from civil society. This brings an end to pacifism as a “separate” movement, and marks a new beginning, full of potential for development, with the sensitivity, experience and contribution, and internal coordination specific to a “movement of movements”.

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