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==Latin America==
==Latin America==
In Latin America, anti-American sentiment has deep roots dating back to the 1830s and the [[Texas Revolution]]. Other significant 19th century events which led to a rise in anti-American sentiment were the 1846-1848 [[Mexican-American War]]. In South America, the 1855 American intervention in Nicaragua, the U.S. propiciation of the [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898, and the support for the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état]] has fuelled anti-Americanism in that region. Similarly, U.S. support for dictators such as [[Augusto Pinochet]], [[Anastasio Somoza]], [[Alfredo Stroessner]] has influenced regional attitudes.<ref>[http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/19/us.cia.chile.ap/]</ref>
In Latin America, anti-American sentiment has deep roots dating back to the 1830s and the [[Texas Revolution]]. Other significant 19th century events which led to a rise in anti-American sentiment were the 1846-1848 [[Mexican-American War]]. In South America, the 1855 American intervention in Nicaragua, the U.S. propiciation of the [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898, and the support for the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état]] has fueled anti-Americanism in that region. Similarly, U.S. support for dictators such as [[Augusto Pinochet]], [[Anastasio Somoza]], [[Alfredo Stroessner]] has influenced regional attitudes.<ref>[http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/19/us.cia.chile.ap/]</ref>


The perceived failures of the [[neo-liberal]] reforms of the 1980s and the 1990s intensified opposition to the [[Washington consensus]],<ref>BBC News. ''How the US 'lost' Latin America''. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4861320.stm Online] accessed [[10 January]] [[2007]]</ref> leading to a resurgence in support for [[Pan-Americanism]], support for [[Popular front|popular movements]] in the region, the [[nationalization]] of key industries and [[Centralized government|centralization]] of government.<ref>Foreign Affairs. ''Latin America's Left Turn''. [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85302/jorge-g-castaneda/latin-america-s-left-turn.html Online] accessed [[10 January]] [[2007]] </ref> The movement saw the rise of leaders critical of United States policies throughout the region. Most vocal has been [[Hugo Chávez]] of [[Venezuela]], who is known for his strong opposition towards [[George W. Bush]], driving him to address him in many ways; referring to him as "the devil" before the United Nations,
The perceived failures of the [[neo-liberal]] reforms of the 1980s and the 1990s intensified opposition to the [[Washington consensus]],<ref>BBC News. ''How the US 'lost' Latin America''. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4861320.stm Online] accessed [[10 January]] [[2007]]</ref> leading to a resurgence in support for [[Pan-Americanism]], support for [[Popular front|popular movements]] in the region, the [[nationalization]] of key industries and [[Centralized government|centralization]] of government.<ref>Foreign Affairs. ''Latin America's Left Turn''. [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85302/jorge-g-castaneda/latin-america-s-left-turn.html Online] accessed [[10 January]] [[2007]] </ref> The movement saw the rise of leaders critical of United States policies throughout the region. Most vocal has been [[Hugo Chávez]] of [[Venezuela]], who is known for his strong opposition towards [[George W. Bush]], driving him to address him in many ways; referring to him as "the devil" before the United Nations,

Revision as of 12:57, 14 August 2007

File:Flagonfireimage2.jpg
Flag burning is widely used internationally as a symbolic form of protest against the United States

Anti-Americanism, often Anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility toward the government, culture or people of the United States.[1] In practice, a broad range of attitudes and actions critical of or opposed to the United States have been labeled anti-Americanism. Thus, the applicability of the term is often disputed.[2] Contemporary examples typically focus on international opposition to United States policy, though historically the term has been applied to a variety of concepts.

Interpretations of anti-Americanism have often been polarized. Anti-Americanism has been described as a belief[3] that configures the United States and the American way of life as threatening at their core[4]—what Paul Hollander has called "a relentless critical impulse toward American social, economic, and political institutions, traditions, and values."[5] However, it has also been suggested that Anti-Americanism cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon and that the term merely signifies a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices and criticisms towards Americans or the United States.[6]

Whether sentiment hostile to the United States reflects reasoned evaluation of specific policies and administrations, rather than a prejudiced belief system, is a further complication. Globally, increases in perceived anti-American attitudes appear to correlate with particular policies,[7] such as the Vietnam and Iraq[8] wars. For this reason, critics often argue the label is a propaganda item that is used to dismiss any censure of the United States as irrational.[9]

Use of the term

Template:Discrimination2 The use of the term anti-Americanism has been catalogued from 1948, entering wide political language in the 1950s.[10] The related term "Americanization" (to which anti-Americanism is at least partly a response) has been dated to a French source as early as 1867.[11] Labeling earlier attitudes and commentary "anti-American" is thus partly a retroactive exercise, though there are numerous examples of hostility directed at the country from at least the late 18th century onwards.

Contemporary usage is often controversial. The term itself does not imply a critical attitude based on rational objections but rather a prejudiced system of thought and it is therefore rarely employed as a self-identifier (i.e. "I am anti-American...") as this implies bias. Instead, it is often used as a pejorative by those who object to another individual or group's stance toward the United States or its policies. Advocates of the significance of the term argue, for instance, that Anti-Americanism represents a coherent and dangerous ideological current, comparable to anti-Semitism.[12] Anti-Americanism has also been described as theory that seeks to frame the consequences of difficult US policy choices as evidence of a specifically American moral failure, as opposed to what may be unavoidable failures of a complicated foreign policy that comes with superpower status.[13]

Its status as an "-ism" is a greatly contended aspect and it is often called a propaganda term by critics who feel it is used to dismiss any censure of the United States as irrational. American academic Noam Chomsky, a prolific critic of U.S. policy, asserts that the use of the term within the U.S. has parallels with methods employed by totalitarian states or military dictatorships; he compares the term to "anti-Sovietism", a label used by the Kremlin to suppress dissident or critical thought, for instance.[14]

Other scholars have also suggested that a plural of Anti-Americanisms, specific to country and time period, more accurately describe the phenomenon than any broad generalization.[15] The widely used "anti-American sentiment", meanwhile, less explicitly implies an ideology or belief system.

History

Since the founding of the United States of America, anti-Americanism has existed in different forms and for different reasons. Some anti-American views derive from ideological resistance to American values and culture. Other views are expressions of group identity, racism, and xenophobia. Still other anti-American sentiments are reactions to the policies of the United States government.

The degeneracy thesis

Anti-American sentiment in Europe originated with the discovery of America, the study of the Native Americans, and the examination of its flora, fauna, and climate. The first anti-American theory, the "degeneracy thesis," portrayed America as a regressive and culturally bankrupt continent. The theory that the humidity and other atmospheric conditions in America physically and morally weakened both men and animals was commonly argued in Europe, and occasionally debated by early American thinkers such as Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson[citation needed].

In 1768 Cornelius de Pauw, court philosopher to Frederick II of Prussia and chief proponent of this thesis, described America as "degenerate or monstrous" colonies and argued that, "the weakest European could crush them with ease."[16]

The theory was extended to argue that the natural environment of the United States would prevent it from ever producing true culture. Paraphrasing Pauw, the French Encyclopedist Abbé Raynal wrote, "America has not yet produced a good poet, an able mathematician, one man of genius in a single art or a single science."[17] (So virulent was Raynal's antipathy that his book was suppressed by the French monarchy.)

A derivative of the thesis regarding the soullessness of America and its inherent threat to Europe was also used in Fascist rhetoric and in German and Japanese propaganda during World War II.

Anti-technology and Romantic hostility

Nazi propaganda poster addressing the Dutch public in 1944 with the words: "The USA are supposed to save European culture". The image utilizes a number of themes, some of which (racism, use of excessive force, American culture and the influence of Judaism) are still in use within some varieties of modern anti-Americanism.

The French Revolution created a new type of anti-American political thought, hostile to the political institutions of the United States and their impact upon Europe. Furthermore, the Romantic strain of European thought and literature, hostile to the Enlightenment view of reason and obsessed with history and national character, disdained the American project.

The German poet Nikolaus Lenau encapsulated the Romantic view, "With the expression Bodenlosigkeit (rootlessness), I think I am able to indicate the general character of all American institutions; what we call Fatherland is here only a property insurance scheme."

With the rise of American industry in the late nineteenth century, intellectual anti-American discourse entered a new form. Mass production, the Taylor system, and the speed of American life and work became a major threat to some intellectuals' view of European life and tradition.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "The breathless haste with which they (the Americans) work - the distinctive vice of the new world - is already beginning ferociously to infect old Europe and is spreading a spiritual emptiness over the continent."

It has been argued that this thesis transformed into a Heideggerian critique of technologism. Heidegger wrote in 1935: "Europe lies today in a great pincer, squeezed between Russia on the one side and America on the other. From a metaphysical point of view, Russia and America are the same, with the same dreary technological frenzy and the same unrestricted organization of the average man." Oswald Spengler had made similar claims in 1931's Man and Technics and his 1934 bestseller The Hour of Decision.

Racialism

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the racialist theories of Arthur de Gobineau and others spread through Europe. The presence of blacks and "lower quality" immigrant groups made racialist thinkers discount the potential of the United States.[citation needed] The infinite mixing of America would lead to the ultimate degeneracy. Gobineau said that America was creating "greatest mediocrity in all fields: mediocrity of physical strength, mediocrity of beauty, mediocrity of intellectual capacities - we could almost say nothingness."

Anti-globalism

See also: Anti-globalization

Anti-CAFTA graffiti in San José, Costa Rica

According to its opponents, globalization has magnified the visibility of trade conflicts and decreased job security[18], and is often attributed to either US or Anglo-American influence[19] "Globalization is the result of powerful governments, especially that of the United States, pushing trade deals and other accords[20]." Anti-globalist resentments stem from perceptions that the United States was the inspiration for globalization and neoliberal free trade policy, which those opposed to it claim is exploitive, and that thus America in particular has gotten rich by making others poor. This globalization also supposedly exposed previously isolated countries to the spread of the English language and American popular culture, a process that some have labeled cultural imperialism despite the role played by consumer choice (see American Cultural Imperialism). Though cosmopolitanism and exposure of communities to new cultures and ideas is widely considered a benefit (Multiculturalism and diversity), that the spread of American culture is deemed pernicious is one sign of anti-Americanism. The 'Anglo-American' corporate business model is the subject of much hostility ("the EU constitution on offer, Laurent Fabius had argued, was too low on social protection and too high on shameful Anglo-Saxon economic liberalism")[21]

National Identity

Anti-U.S. banner in a demonstration in Brazil, stating: USA It is necessary to resist. Long live Brazil!!!

Just as the United States itself has defined itself against Monarchical and Communist countries during its history, and is now defining itself against terrorism and radical Islam, the use of anti-American ideologies may represent a way for nations to unify their people and bridge political divisions and/or to cover up perceived flaws in their political or economic system. Certain forms of social identity theory argue that the existence of "an other" is crucial to the development of group identity. In the case of a European strand of anti-Americanism, some authors, like A.S. Markowitz in Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America, argue it would be linked to the creation of a coalescing European identity.

"The fundamental role of anti-Americanism in Europe in general, and particularly among those on the Left, is to absolve themselves of their own moral failings and intellectual errors by heaping them onto the monster scapegoat, the United States of America. For stupidity and bloodshed to vanish from Europe, the U.S. must be identified as the singular threat to democracy (contrary to every lesson of actual history). Thus, during the Cold War, it was dogma among Europeans from Sweden to Sicily, from Athens to Paris, that the "imperialistic" power was America, even though it was the USSR that annexed Eastern Europe, made satellites out of several African countries, and invaded Afghanistan, even though it was the People's Republic of China that marched into Tibet, attacked South Korea, and subjugated three Indochinese countries. A similar dynamic applies today in the war on terror.[22]"

Others, such as Minxin Pei of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggest that the unique character of American nationalism is the cause of some anti-americanism.

"The US has difficulty understanding why other countries feel nationalistic. And its idealism appears to others as hypocrisy. "Many admire its idealism, universalism and optimism... others reject American nationalism as merely the expression of an overbearing, self-righteous and misguided bully.'"[23]

Perceived ideological contradictions

File:Anti-US Tehran.jpg
Teherán, Irán, 2004

Samuel Johnson hit upon one theme that, in various and different forms, has long defined some forms of anti-American sentiment: the perceived hypocrisy of a supposed freedom-loving people engaged in less than admirable practices. Americans in his eyes were hypocrites in their relations with Indigenous peoples and African slaves.

"How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?" He famously stated that, "I am willing to love all mankind, except an American."

What distinguishes such attitudes from anti-slavery and anti-racism or opposition to colonialism in principle from anti-Americanism is that it roots these phenomena almost uniquely in American culture, scapegoating it while tacitly absolving others. For example, contemporaneous slavery in Brazil, or France championing Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité while running a Colonial Empire, or Johnston's own liberal Britain with its treatment of Indians in the Raj. A rational critic would condemn all such, but anti-Americanism is seen in the willingness to love (forgive) all but Americans.

Such distinctions carry through to similar extreme forms of condemnation of American policies, separating them from principled oppositions to particular policies.

Early 20th century

As European immigration to the United States continued and the country's economic potential became more obvious, anti-American stances grew a much more explicit geopolitical dimension. A new strand of anti-American sentiment started to appear as America entered the competition for influence in the Pacific, and anti-Americanism was widespread among the Central Powers after the U.S. entered the First World War. Furthermore, many of the anti-American ideological threads spread to other areas, such as Japan and Latin America, where Continental philosophy was popular and growing American power was increasingly viewed as a threat. In political terms, even among the allies of the United States, Britain and France, there was resentment at the end of the war as they found themselves massively in debt to the United States. These sentiments became even more widespread during the interbellum and Great Depression and sometimes tended toward the anti-Semitic: the belief that America was ruled by a Jewish conspiracy was common in countries ruled by fascists before and during World War II.

Post-Cold War policies

File:Vitrenkoposter.jpeg
Ukrainian 2004 election poster of Nataliya Vitrenko depicting a hand symbolizing USA and NATO with a Nazi swastika

The fall of the Soviet Union may have brought an increase in anti-Americanism because the U.S. was left as the world's only superpower and people who formerly saw the United States as a bastion against Communism or needed the American security umbrella no longer felt the need to support the United States. Where the governments of allied states in particular had felt disinclined to openly criticize US policy during the Cold War, they have had fewer such qualms since. "By cultivating an anti-American position, Europe feigns membership in a global opposition of the downtrodden by America."[24] In addition, criticism of American economic sanctions and embargos toward various countries, including Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Iran, while maintaining commercial relations with countries such as China generates resentment[citation needed].

French author Jean-François Revel wrote that "For skeptics of democratic capitalism, the United States is, quite simply, the enemy.[25] For many years, and still today, a principal function of anti-Americanism has been to discredit the nation that stands as the supreme alternative to socialism. More recently, Islamists, anti-modern Greens, and others have taken to pillorying the U.S. for the same reason."

The belief that America was ruled by a Jewish conspiracy or that Israel was an American puppet state has also motivated anti-American hatred in some circles during the last third of the 20th century. Other items of concern include American military interventions and perceived imperialism, especially in connection with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the perceived selective favor given to allies of the United States in international institutions[citation needed], especially involving issues like nuclear proliferation[citation needed]. Also the apparent dismissal of international law, i.e. the treatment of detainees, in the War on Terror has intensified criticism[citation needed].

Regional attitudes

Anti-Americanism in some form has existed across different American presidential administrations, though its severity may wax and wane considerably depending upon particular economic or geopolitical issues. George W. Bush's presidency, for instance, is widely seen as inducing a major increase in Anti-Americanism,[26] with the 2003 invasion of Iraq affecting global opinions of the U.S.[27]

Australia

While not to the extent of Europe there is a rising attitude of anti-Americanism in Australia.[citation needed] However, anti-American sentiments have been present in Australian culture since the settlement and incorporation of the Australian continent by the British Empire in 1788, in which a mixture of anti-Americanism and Anglophilia developed in Australia and shaped the nation's views towards the United States and Great Britain.

Our love/hate relationship with US culture is possibly the most contradictory aspect of Australian culture and identity today. We consume vast amounts of US popular culture in an addictive manner but, as with the daily consumption of Coke or cigarettes, this consumption comes with a guilty aftertaste for many. Recent surveys show Australians to be among the most enthusiastic consumers of US culture and one of the nations most worried about the Americanisation of our society. This paradox goes some way to explaining why Australian anti-Americanism is often inarticulate and not classifiable as pathological anti-Americanism.[28]

Europe

During the George W. Bush administration, public opinion of America has declined in some European countries. A Pew Global Attitudes Project poll shows "favorable opinions" of America between 2000 and 2006 dropping from 83% to 56% in the United Kingdom, from 62% to 39% in France, from 78% to 37% in Germany and from 50% to 23% in Spain.[29]

In Britain, a traditional US ally, public affection for the USA has measurably declined in recent years. A June 2006 poll by Populus for The Times showed that the number of Britons agreeing that "it is important for Britain’s long-term security that we have a close and special relationship with the US" had fallen to 58% (from 71% in April), and that 65% believed that "Britain’s future lies more with Europe than America".[30] Only 44% agreed that "America is a force for good in the world." A later poll reported in The Guardian during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict said that 63% of Britons felt that Britain is tied too closely to the US.[31]

Also, some European computer users seem to have a hatred and sometimes hostile affection to Americans in the internet world. In such big name internet venues as Youtube, Digg, Break, there has been noticeable indication of Anti-Americanism.

Fabbrini (2004) reports the American invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003 brought anti-Americanism to the surface of public debate in Europe. However, that ignores previous history. "In the two months after 9/11, the phobias and fallacies of traditional anti-Americanism massively intensified," and "A group of 113 French intellectuals launched an appeal against the 'imperial crusade' in Afghanistan: 'In the name of the law and morality of the jungle' (not because 3,000 people had been murdered), 'the Western armada administers its divine justice' . . .Today's unilateralist pacifists condemned the American counterattack against the Taliban in Afghanistan precisely because it was a counterattack. The United States, they said, had given in to base desires for revenge and launched an air assault that would lead inevitably to the deaths of Afghan civilians. What they should have done was negotiate a political solution. Well, of course! Democracies always refuse to negotiate; only sanguinary fanatics are eager to compromise."[32] The reaction to U.S. unilateralism has been nourished by a complex of fears, two in particular: the presumed economic and cultural Americanization of Europe and the Americanization of the European political process. The overwhelming global power acquired by the United States in the post-Cold War era and the unilateral exercise of that power, especially after 9/11 attacks September 11, 2001 fed the anti-American sentiment contributing to its most militant manifestation. In early 2002, the #1 best seller in France was L'Effroyable imposture, which claimed that 9/11 was a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. government[33]. It broke the French record for first-month book sales.[34] In Germany, former cabinet Minister Andreas von Bulow claimed that the U.S. government staged the 9/11 attacks to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,[35] inflaming a "wave of anti-Americanism" in Germany.

In Europe in 2002, vandalism of American companies was reported in Venice, Athens, Berlin, Zürich, Tbilisi (Georgia), and Moscow.[36] This is reminiscent of French activist Jose Bove's vandalism against a McDonalds restaurant in 1999, which made him a hero to many[37], and an attempted terrorist bombing of another McDonalds in France in October of 2000.[38]

European anti-Americanism well predates the invasion of Iraq and the Bush Administration, with criticisms of American "hegemonism", the coining of the term "hyperpussiance", and the dream of making the EU a "counterbalance" to the United States all flaring up in the '90s. The usual criticisms were also levied, that America was enforcing sanctions against Iraq for oil, and attributing sinister motives to the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia.[39] It has been argued that anti-Americanism is being used to create a "European" identity:[40]

"No identity has ever emerged without an important counter-identity. Anti-Americanism thus enables the Europeans to create a hitherto missing European identity that must emerge if the European project is to succeed. This functional dimension of anti-Americanism is a key reason why among the two core proponents and protagonists of the European project - the French and Germans, though not only them - anti-Americanism has become such a central part of political discourse."

Asia

In Japan and South Korea, much anti-Americanism has focused on the sometimes criminal behavior of American military personnel,[citation needed] aggravated especially by high-profile cases of sexual assaults on locals by U.S. servicemembers. The on-going U.S. military presence in Okinawa remains a contentious issue in Japan. In 2007 anti-Americanism spreads rapidly. [41]

In South Korea, two junior high school students were killed by American military personnel in a traffic accident at the final stage of a presidential election in 2002. As a result, the Korean public opinion was enraged and Roh Moo-hyun, who advocated anti-Americanism, was elected President. President Roh Moo-Hyun and his administration considerably weakened the alliance of the United States and South Korea.[42] Also, the Iraq War and foreign policy of America was invoked as rationales for inciting negative attitudes towards America in South Korea[citation needed].

However, as Robert Hathaway, director of the Wilson Center's Asia program, wrote "the growth of anti-American sentiment in both Japan and South Korea must be seen not simply as a response to American policies and actions, but as reflective of deeper domestic trends and developments within these Asian countries. Or to put it another way: even at this moment of U.S. preeminence, not everything that happens around the world is a response to American might, or to decisions taken in Washington."[43]

Middle East

File:Teheran US Barry Kent2.JPG
Anti-American mural in Tehran

The Middle East region has been a focal point of much anti-American sentiment in the latter decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, often blamed on specific US policies in the region, particularly its close relationship with Israel and it's stance on such matters as Sudan's civil war and Darfur. However, some argue that the real roots lay in government policy as reflected in state-directed media:

"Although anti-Americanism is genuinely widespread among Arab governments and peoples, however, there is something seriously misleading in this account. Arab and Muslim hatred of the United States is not just, or even mainly, a response to actual U.S. policies -- policies that, if anything, have been remarkably pro-Arab and pro-Muslim over the years. Rather, such animus is largely the product of self-interested manipulation by various groups within Arab society, groups that use anti-Americanism as a foil to distract public attention from other, far more serious problems within those societies[44]"

By this reasoning, America is blamed for failed systems in the Middle East, as a means of re-directing internal dissent outwards, towards what Osama Bin Ladin has called "the far enemy", America, instead of at indigenous regimes.

The term Great Satan, as well as the chant "Death to America" have been in continual use in Iran since at least the Iranian revolution in 1979. The Iranian capital Tehran has many examples of anti-American murals and posters sponsored by the state; the former US Embassy in the city has been decorated with a number of such murals.

In 2002 and 2004, Zogby International polled the favorable/unfavorable ratings of the U.S. in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. In Zogby's 2002 survey, 76% of Egyptians had a negative attitude toward the United States, compared with 98% in 2004. In Morocco, 61% viewed the country unfavorably in 2002, but in two years, that number has jumped to 88 percent. In Saudi Arabia, such responses rose from 87% in 2002 to 94% in June. Attitudes were virtually unchanged in Lebanon but improved slightly in the UAE, from 87 % who said in 2002 that they disliked the United States to 73% in 2004.[45] However most of these countries showed a marked distinction between negative perceptions of the United States, and much less negative of Americans.[45]

The Pew Research Institute probed more deeply the stereotypes of westerners in the Middle East. While more than 70% of middle easterners identified more than 3 negative characteristics of the Westerner stereotype, the three strongest were selfish, violent and greedy. Few had positive opinions of Westerners, but the strongest positive stereotypes were devout and respectful of women.[46] The report also demonstrates strong unfavorable views of Jews and weakly favorable views of Christians predominate in the Middle East. In Jordan, 61%, Pakistan 27%, and Turkey 16% have favorable views of Christians while in Jordan 1%, Pakistan 6%, and Turkey 15% have favorable views of Jews.[46]

Cultural anti-Americanism in the Middle East may have its origins with Sayyid Qutb, an influential Egyptian author, who Paul Berman titled "the Philosopher of Islamic Terror".[47] Qutb, the leading intellectual of the Muslim Brotherhood, studied in Greely, Colorado, from 1948-50, and wrote a book, The America I Have Seen based on his impressions. In it he decried everything in American from individual freedom, taste in music to Church socials and haircuts,[48].

"They danced to the tunes of the gramophone, and the dance floor was replete with tapping feet, enticing legs, arms wrapped around waists, lips pressed to lips, and chests pressed to chests. The atmosphere was full of desire..."

He offered a distorted chronology of American history and was disturbed by its sexually liberated women[49]

"The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs -- and she shows all this and does not hide it."

He was particularly disturbed by Jazz, which he called the American's preferred music, and it is created by Negroes to satisfy their love of noise and to whet their sexual desires ...[50]. Qtub's writings influenced generations of militants and radicals in the Middle East who viewed America as a cultural temptress bent on overturning traditional customs and morals, especially with respect to the relations between the sexes. As Paul Hollander has written[51]

"The most obvious and clear link between anti-Americanism and modernization is encountered in Islamic countries and other traditional societies where modernization clashes head on with entrenched traditional beliefs, institutions, and patterns of behavior, and where it challenges the very meaning of life, social relations, and religious verities. What becomes of the world when women can go to work and show large surfaces of skin to men they are not related to? In a recent case, the indignant male members of a Kurdish family in Sweden were "provoked" by the transgressing female of their family who had the temerity to have a job and a boyfriend and dress in Western ways. She was finally killed by her father."

Hollander went on to explain that:

In Arab countries and among Muslim populations, anti-Americanism is not only the monopoly of intellectuals but also a widespread disposition of the masses. In these areas, traditional religion, radical politics, and economic backwardness combine to make anti-Americanism an exceptionally widespread, virulent, and reflexive response to a wide range of collective and personal frustrations and grievances-and a welcome alternative to any collective or individual self-examination or stock-taking.

More generally, it is the rise of alternatives, ushered in by modernization, that threatens traditional societies and generates anti-American reaction. The stability of traditional society (like that of modern totalitarian systems) rests on the lack of alternatives, on the lack of choice. Choice is deeply subversive-culturally, politically, psychologically.

The recent outburst of murderous anti- Americanism has added a new dimension to the phenomenon, or at any rate, throws into relief the intense hatred it may encapsulate. The violence of September 11 shows that when anti-Americanism is nurtured by the kind of indignation and resentment that in [turn] is stimulated and sanctioned by religious convictions, it can become spectacularly destructive.

North America

Canada is a nation that often uses anti-Americanism as a way of fostering Canadian nationalism[original research?], as the country has historically defined itself largely in opposition to the United States[citation needed]. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, Canada was established as a monarchical state for British "loyalists" and remained a loyal dominion of the British Empire well into the 20th Century. Traditional anti-American sentiment in Canada thus promoted the idea of Canada being the product of superior British culture and civilization, and the United States being an inferior, republican society built on irreligion, treason and violence[original research?]. Though such sentiment is no longer common in modern Canada, many anti-American Canadians now define their society as being fundamentally "more liberal" than that of the United States, with more progressive politics creating a more tolerant, peaceful, and superior society, similar to the rhetoric of liberal Europeans[original research?].


Latin America

In Latin America, anti-American sentiment has deep roots dating back to the 1830s and the Texas Revolution. Other significant 19th century events which led to a rise in anti-American sentiment were the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War. In South America, the 1855 American intervention in Nicaragua, the U.S. propiciation of the Spanish-American War of 1898, and the support for the 1973 Chilean coup d'état has fueled anti-Americanism in that region. Similarly, U.S. support for dictators such as Augusto Pinochet, Anastasio Somoza, Alfredo Stroessner has influenced regional attitudes.[52]

The perceived failures of the neo-liberal reforms of the 1980s and the 1990s intensified opposition to the Washington consensus,[53] leading to a resurgence in support for Pan-Americanism, support for popular movements in the region, the nationalization of key industries and centralization of government.[54] The movement saw the rise of leaders critical of United States policies throughout the region. Most vocal has been Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who is known for his strong opposition towards George W. Bush, driving him to address him in many ways; referring to him as "the devil" before the United Nations, [55] an example of demonization. He has redirected the foreign policy of Venezuela "against the toughest country in the world, the United States."[56]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "anti-americanism". Random House Unabridged Dictionary. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  2. ^ Hollander, Paul, The Politics of Envy, The New Criterion, November 2002, accessed 29 April 2007. "Unlike other more researched, consensually reprehensible attitudes and prejudices, such as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia, anti-Americanism was regarded among the intelligentsia as a more or less natural phenomenon, perhaps regrettable but easy to explain and largely justified."
  3. ^ Hollander, Paul. Anti-Americanism: Irrational and rational, Transaction Publishers, 1995
  4. ^ Ceaser, James W. "A genealogy of Anti-Americanism", The Public Interest, Summer 2003.
  5. ^ Paul Hollander defined the prejudice thus: "Anti—Americanism is a predisposition to hostility toward the United States and American society, a relentless critical impulse toward American social, economic, and political institutions, traditions, and values; it entails an aversion to American culture in particular and its influence abroad, often also contempt for the American national character (or what is presumed to be such a character) and dislike of American people, manners, behavior; dress, and so on; rejection of American foreign policy and a firm belief in the malignity of American influence and presence anywhere in the world."[citation needed]
  6. ^ O'Conner, Brendan. "A Brief History of Anti-Americanism from Cultural Criticism to Terrorism", Australasian Journal of American Studies, July 2004, pp. 77-92
  7. ^ Rodman, Peter W. The world’s resentment, The National Interest, Washington D.C., vol. 601, Summer 2001
  8. ^ Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism By Nicole Speulda, The Princeton Project on National Security, Princeton University, 2005
  9. ^ O'Connor, Brendan, op. cit., p 78: "... Cold War (1945-1989) ... In this period the false and disingenuous labeling of objections to American policies as ‘anti-Americanism’ became more prominent."
  10. ^ Roger, Phillipe. The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, introductory excerpt, University of Chicago Press, 2005.
  11. ^ Rubin, Barry. "Understanding Anti-Americanism", Foreign Policy Research Institute, August 2004
  12. ^ Foot, Rob. "The New Anti-Semitism?", Quadrant Magazine, vol, XLVIII n 4, April 2004.
  13. ^ Kagan, Robert. Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (2003)
  14. ^ Interviewing Chomsky Preparatory to Porto: Alegre Zmagazine
  15. ^ Katzenstein, Peter and Robert Keohane. "Conclusion: Anti-Americanisms and the Polyvalence of America", in Anti-Americanisms in World Politics, Katzenstein and Keohane, eds., Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006 (forthcoming).
  16. ^ de Pauw, Cornelius. Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains ou Mémoires intéressants pour servir à l'histoire de l'espèce humaine. London, 1768.
  17. ^ Raynal, Abbé Guillaume-Thomas. Histoire philosophique et politique des deux Indes. Amsterdam, 1770.
  18. ^ Moore, Michael, Downsize This, 1997
  19. ^ "Globalization and Resistance An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Husayn Al-Kurdi". 1995. Retrieved 2007-02-24. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 29 (help)
  20. ^ McChesney, Robert W. (1999). "Noam Chomsky and the Struggle Against Neoliberalism". Monthly Review. Retrieved 2007-02-24.
  21. ^ "A triumph of the right". New Statesman. 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  22. ^ http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.17764/article_detail.asp
  23. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2970424.stm
  24. ^ http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=5cm8m89n8bpb099csz9qn8p6z7nzj8xp
  25. ^ http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.17764/article_detail.asp
  26. ^ Speulda, Nicole.Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism, The Princeton Project on National Security, Princeton University, 2005
  27. ^ CNN: Anti-Americanism in Europe deepens, February 14, 2003
  28. ^ Brendan O'Connor, Australian Book Review, October 2003.
  29. ^ http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=252
  30. ^ The Time's Populus poll
  31. ^ http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1828225,00.html
  32. ^ http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.17764/article_detail.asp
  33. ^ Bitterman, Jim French buy into 9/11 conspiracy, CNN, 26 June 2002.
  34. ^ Crumley, Bruce TIME Europe Magazine: May. 20, 2002 -- Conspiracy Theory - 1
  35. ^ Connolly, Kate, German Sept 11 theory stokes anti-US feeling, The Daily Telegraph, 20 November 2003.
  36. ^ http://www.pa-aware.org/resources/pdfs/Political%20Violence%20Against%20Americans%202002.pdf
  37. ^ Trueheart, Charles French trial not just a case of vandalism, Chicago Sun Times, 1 July 2000.
  38. ^ Bomb defused at French McDonald's, 16 October 2000.
  39. ^ Nato Hits Chinese Embassy, BBC News, 8 May 1999.
  40. ^ http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-16.htm
  41. ^ Nicole Risse, Yonsei University: [The Evolution in anti-Americanism in South Korea: From Ideologically Embedded to Socially Constructed]; [1]
  42. ^ Asia Times: Korea-US: Swan song for an alliance, September 16, 2006
  43. ^ http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=27212
  44. ^ Rubin, Barry The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2002.
  45. ^ a b Linzer, Dafna (2004). "Poll Shows Growing Arab Rancor at U.S." The Washington Post: A26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  46. ^ a b "The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other: Europe's Muslims More Moderate". Pew Global Attitudes Project. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  47. ^ Berman, Paul The Philosopher of Islamic Terror, New York Times Magazine, 23 March 2003, accessed 29 April 2007.
  48. ^ David Von Drehle, A Lesson In Hate Smithsonian Magazine
  49. ^ Siegel, Robert Sayyid Qutb's America, NPR, All Things Considered, 6 May 2003, accessed 29 April 2007.
  50. ^ Amrika allati Ra'aytu (The America that I Have Seen) quoted on Calvert (2000)
  51. ^ Hollander, Paul The Politics of Envy, The New Criterion, Nov 2002, accessed 29 April 2007.
  52. ^ [2]
  53. ^ BBC News. How the US 'lost' Latin America. Online accessed 10 January 2007
  54. ^ Foreign Affairs. Latin America's Left Turn. Online accessed 10 January 2007
  55. ^ James, Ian At U.N., Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil', AP, 20 Sep 2006,
  56. ^ Blum, Justin (Washington Post, 22 November 2005). "Chavez Pushes Petro-Diplomacy". Retrieved 29 November 2005.

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