Anti-American sentiment

[Maura Santangelo]

The Camino is a good opportunity to walk for peace, to reflect on the
suffering of millions of people who live through wars not of their
making.  It could be a time to connect with all that suffering and
aggression that causes it and see how we might be able to alleviate it,
starting with ourselves.   It is an opportunity to realize how we are
part of the problem and not blame it on the OTHER, whoever that might be
at the moment.

Europeans and other non American Westerners, yes even those with red
maple leaves on their packs, are equally responsible for the consumption
of oil and other resources of the rest of the world.  It is convenient
to hide behind America and its policies, but I do not see Europeans
giving up the comforts of consumption any more than their American
counterparts.  I do not see any less racism,  aggression and self
serving colonial attitudes and policies in Europe than I see when I live
on this side of the Atlantic.  What I do see is exculpation by
projection of over 500 years of colonial policies of European nations
onto "America".  It might be well to remember that the faith which
created the camino in the middle ages later created the wholesale
slaughter of millions of Native Americans, who are still suffering from
the repercussions.

Maura Santangelo
A European, I divide my time between NY and Umbria, and can see the
frustration of both sides (I don't like American culture in Italy, but
then I figure no one is imposing it on us except us)

On Monday, January 27, 2003, at 08:24 AM, G. Hammond wrote:

> A wonderfully one sided view of the world.
> For what its worth.
> I thought this was a site for discussing the camino not a convenient
> drop of
> political opinion.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeffrey Crawley" <jeffrey.crawleyaFABERMAUNSELL.COM>
> To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 7:11 AM
> Subject: Re: Anti-American sentiment
>
>
> | For what it's worth . . .
> |
> | There are over 290 million Americans in the world, some are mad, some
> are
> | bad, some are sweet, some are helpful, some are good, some are set on
> world
> | domination.
> |
> | The whole world isn't Anti American but a lot of us are unhappy with
> what
> | you are doing to the world we all share and many, many people have
> | increasing fears of where American political and economic policy are
> taking
> | us all.
> |
> | With respect to Iraq, yes, Saddam is a potential threat, probably has
> the
> | capability to produce nuclear weapons and is in infringement both of
> human
> | rights and UN resolutions but is that a reason to kill probably
> thousands
> | of innocent men, women and children? And he had NOTHING to do with the
> Twin
> | Towers - Bin Laden hates Saddam just as much or even more than he
> hates
> the
> | US, Saddam has killed more Shi'ites than Bin Laden killed Americans
> |
> | Israel HAS nuclear weapons, infringes human rights and has many UN
> | resolutions against them, are you going to bomb Israel?
> |
> | Pakistan HAS nuclear weapons, infringes human rights and has many UN
> | resolutions against them, are you going to bomb Pakistan?
> |
> | North Korea has the potential to build nuclear weapons, infringes
> human
> | rights and has many UN resolutions against them, are you going to bomb
> | North Korea?
> |
> | Presumably not, but why not?  Is it because none of those three
> countries
> | have oil the rest of the world is asking itself? The answer usually
> comes
> | back a resounding YES especially as the key members of the US
> | administration are locked in tightly to the Seven Sisters.
> |
> | Yes, Saddam is a bad person who has bombed and invaded another country
> (but
> | don't forget Kuwait only exists because basically some faceless
> bureaucrat
> | in London drew a straight line on a map and said "this side shall be
> Iraq
> | and THIS side shall be Kuwait") and caused the death of many of his
> | countrymen. The US KNOWS he has the capability to produce chemical and
> | biological weapons, they know because they SOLD the technology to
> Saddam
> | (ask Donald Rumsfeldt who was involved at the time in 1982) when they
> | thought he could be controlled as their weapon against Iran.
> |
> | You should then consider the fact that the US has bombed 22 countries
> since
> | 1945, it also HAS nuclear weapons, causes the infringement of human
> rights
> | and has UN resolutions against them, are you going to bomb yourselves?
> |
> | Consider further the fact that the US produces 25% of ALL world
> pollution
> | but denies the third world the chance to lift itself out of poverty
> and
> | even fouls its own doorstep drilling for oil on Texas beaches and in
> the
> | Alaskan wilderness. Are you starting to see why not everybody loves
> you?
> |
> | We are all very sorry that the US suffered 3000 casualties on
> September
> 11,
> | but you should know that for a huge part of the Spanish speaking world
> | September 11 (1972) is remembered as the date when America engineered
> the
> | overthrow of a legally elected government in Chile and replaced it
> with a
> | vile, fascist government lead by August Pinoche who killed many more
> | thousands of his own people than the number that died in New York's
> terror
> | attack.
> |
> | OK, that should have gotten enough blood boiling. So while your
> dander is
> | up what are you going to do about it?  Well, LISTEN for one thing!
> I'm
> | sorry the German student was so upsetting but did you ask him to
> explain
> | why he was?
> |
> | If you want to be popular in the world do something worthwhile and
> less
> | selfish. Don't impose a McDonalds on every street corner, don't
> undermine
> | peoples human rights because it is politically or economically
> expedient
> | for you.
> |
> | Ask yourselves for a start why doesn't America do something about the
> | appalling human rights abuses carried out daily by Israel? Are you
> afraid
> | that being anti Israel persecution of Palestinians would brand you as
> anti-
> | Jewish? They are NOT the same thing.  The US Government could do this
> at a
> | stroke and the whole of the Islamic world's attitude would change
> overnight.
> |
> | Ask yourselves why won't the Americans ratify the Kyota Accord? Why
> do you
> | think?  To paraphrase Bill Clinton: "It's the OIL, stupid"
> |
> | Perhaps when Americans abroad start to look at the way the world sees
> them
> | they might take a moment to think more deeply about what their big
> business
> | companies are doing to that world, until then you would probably be
> best
> | advised to do what your fathers did during the Vietnam war - lie and
> say
> | you are Canadian!
> |
> | As far as the Camino goes (remember that's why were here folks), to
> use a
> | fine old Yiddish term, try to be a mensch not a national of ANY
> country,
> | accept and be accepted, embrace others and be embraced, admit your
> faults
> | and forgive the faults of others.  In the aftermath of (your)
> September
> | 11th there was an outpouring along the Camino of support and comfort
> for
> | all Americans, perhaps now is the time for you to return the love and
> the
> | understanding?
> |
> | Next week we'll take a pop at the British!
>