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Against Empire

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A low-intensity war is a proxy war, using the mercenary troops of the U.S.-backed Third World government. — location: 529 ^ref-1175

The targeted populace is bled and battered until it feels it can take no more. The cry for peace comes not from the people in the imperialist country but from the people in the victimized land, who eventually are forced to submit to their batterers’ economic and political agenda. — location: 552 ^ref-56960

refugees from capitalism. Driven off their lands, large numbers of impoverished Latinos and other Third Worlders have been compelled to flee into economic exile, coming to the United States, many of them illegally, to compete with U.S. workers for entry-level jobs. — location: 921 ^ref-65508

So they must be shown that the republic is being bled for the empire’s profits, not for their well-being, that real national security means secure jobs, safe homes, and a clean environment. They must be informed that this empire, which is paid for by their blood, sweat, and taxes, has little to do with protecting them or people abroad and everything to do with victimizing them in order to feed the power and profits of the few. The global military apparatus they grudgingly support at such immense costs does not serve their interests. To cut it drastically will not leave us prey to some foreign adversaries. On the contrary, to lay down the sword and use our labor and national treasure for the peaceful reconstruction so desperately needed at home and abroad is not to become a weak nation but a truly great one. — location: 1084 ^ref-62409

Those who oppose empire are thought to be against the republic, when actually they are its last best hope. — location: 1101 ^ref-9230

Nine months of democratic efforts were too much for Haiti’s military leader, U.S.-trained General Raoul Cedras and his army, which seized power and went on to kill several thousand Aristide supporters and beat and torture many others. — location: 1923 ^ref-19561

Imperialism is a system in which financial elites forcibly expropriate the land, labor, resources, and markets of overseas populations. The end effect is the enrichment of the few and the impoverishment of the many. Imperialism involves coercive and frequently violent methods of preventing competing economic orders from arising. Resistant governments are punished and compliant ones, or client states, are “rewarded” with military aid. — location: 1961 ^ref-11558

The American people need something better than flag-waving hoopla and the easy slaughter of weaker peoples. They need a major transformation in public policy, away from empire and toward democracy. — location: 3001 ^ref-22073

Not only must we love social justice more than personal gain, we also must realize that our greatest personal gain comes in the struggle for social justice. And we are most in touch with our own individual humanity when we stand close to all of humanity. — location: 3053 ^ref-60644