WikiLeaks: Unmasking Imperialism
For an empire that cloaks its aggressions and coercions in the benign garb of 'liberation' and 'democracy', those who lay bare the truth are dangerous. WikiLeaks, with its devastating exposure of the real face of imperialism, has earned the ire of the most powerful nation in the world. The US has branded the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a "hi-tech terrorist" and there have been calls to arrest and even assassinate him.
What WikiLeaks has done is to make public the documents that record what imperialism does and says in secret. These documents confirm what anti-imperialist and anti-war forces the world over have always known: that US imperialism is devious, self-serving, brutal, coercive, duplicitous and untrustworthy, not only towards its enemies but even towards its friends.
WikiLeaks established its enduring place in history by exploding the myth that imperialist wars were being fought for democracy. The video footage of US armed forces casually and cold-bloodedly indulging in the 'sport' of firing at unarmed civilians in the Baghdad, the evidence, recorded by the US and allied troops themselves, of massacres of civilians, custodial torture and cover-ups in Iraq and Afghanistan – proved the entire US war and occupation of those countries to be continuing war crimes.
Thomas Friedman, famous for having asserted that the hidden hand of the market needed the hidden fist of US imperialism to work, has branded WikiLeaks as "anarchy" that "undermines the ability to have private, confidential communications that are vital to the functioning of any society." The leaks reveal the US Secretary of State herself asking US diplomats to spy on a range of international figures including even the UN Secretary General. It shows US diplomatic offices in, for instance, Yemen, being used as fronts to smuggle in military equipment, and using Yemen's Government to cover up drone strikes in the region. It shows coups being planned, torture being covered up, lies being scripted. How can it be a breach of privacy and confidentiality to expose the US' own violation of every norm of privacy of individuals and sovereignty of nations?
Here in India, Shashi Tharoor, former Minister of State for External Affairs and self-appointed champion of ‘transparency’ in his Ministerial tweets, has declared, in the same vein as Friedman that the leaks are ‘unethical’ because the “confidentiality of government communications is the lifeblood of diplomatic comfort." At the same time, Ratan Tata, stung by the Radia tapes revealing his lobbyist working both media and political leaders to ensure pliant Ministers, has been righteously claiming the 'right to privacy' and accusing India of having become a crony capitalist banana republic. No 'right to privacy' can prevail over the right of people to know how and where and by whom policies affecting them are made. The most important of the WikiLeaks disclosures pertaining to India and the Radia tapes are not 'private' because they pertain to public policies that affect India's citizens.
The media in India has largely chosen to focus on the WikiLeaks cables reporting off-the-cuff remarks made by Rahul Gandhi to the US Ambassador, indicating that Hindutva communal groups may be a greater threat to India than LeT-type groups which have supporters only among a small section of Indian minorities. While the BJP has chosen this pretext to launch a shrill offensive against the Congress' heir-apparent, Congress has responded by generalising its stand to equate all forms of terror. Congress today lacks the courage to boldly uphold the stand taken even by Nehru, who had categorically said that while majority and minority communalisms are both dangerous, majority communalism is more so as it can masquerade as nationalism and therefore grow into fascism. The Congress' lack of commitment to combat communal fascist groups and boldly uphold secular democracy has been shown time and again – most glaringly in its failure to prevent the Babri Masjid demolition or punish its perpetrators, its repeated failure to act decisively against communal violence and its refusal to allow an impartial enquiry into the Batla House 'encounter'.
Moreover, behind the red herring of Rahul's remarks on Hindutva communal forces, attention has been diverted from the most significant WikiLeaks revelations about India. The leaked cables not only reveal the extent of US interference in India's affairs, especially in matters relating to the Nuke Deal and foreign policy. They show how not only the Congress and UPA Government push pro-US policies, but even the BJP is persuaded by the US Ambassador to calibrate their 'opposition' to the Nuke Deal just enough so as to ensure that the Bill is passed.
They also reveal how both US and Indian officials are very aware that Indian people have no tolerance for US interference or for inequality in the US-India relation, and therefore collude to mask this interference and inequality. For instance, the Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is heard cautioning the US Ambassador against publicly instructing India on foreign relations: "This government has to be seen following an independent foreign policy, not responding to dictation from the US," he said. In other words, appearances of independence must be kept up. Similarly, P Chidambaram tells the FBI Director, 'We must be able to say we had access, even if Headley did not speak'. Again, the UPA Government is aware that the appearance of equality and independence must be maintained and discrimination (e.g denial of access to Headley) or 'dictation' would prove politically costly. The US officials in turn tell their bosses in the US that while India is a 'raucous democracy', the Indian Government is a "true partner" of the US and "Delhi is much more amenable to cooperating." However they rue the fact that the Indian leaders "loathe to admit publicly that India and the US have begun coordinating foreign policies". In other words, we are being lied to by our Government, about the extent to which 'coordination' and 'dictation' are taking place.
The Indian ruling class should realise that the 'hidden hand' of US imperialism will not remain hidden long from the alert gaze of Indian people – and they will be forced to pay a price for their shameless role as agents of US empire.