By Kim Petersen
November 04, 2021:
Informationclearinghouse.info
- What are western values? One often hears a
representative of a western country praising its
western values. In a
2017 statement Canada’s prime minister Justin
Trudeau adumbrated Canadian values as “openness,
compassion, equality, and inclusion.”
Given the psychological torture that Julian
Assange has been subjected to over the years at the
hands of western nations like the Britain, the
United States, Sweden, and the silent host of
western states and their media, one wonders where
the compassion is. At the heart of the case against
Assange is an antipathy to openness, as evidenced by
the vituperation directed at Assange for publishing
the truth; WikiLeaks has a perfect record of
publication. And by promoting the right to know,
Assange sought to include the public.
Given the historical trajectory of the West, how
might purportedly virtuous western values have
arisen? Enlightened Europeans set sail for distant
shores, claimed the inhabited lands as their own,
derided the locals as savages, enslaved them, raped
the women, chopped off body parts, spread disease,
murdered multitudes, robbed the resources, destroyed
the cultures, among a host of atrocities. Despotic
monarchism, Nazism, fascism, and capitalism would be
spawned by Europeans.
Are westerners more enlightened today?
The United Nations General Assembly 72nd session
in December 2017, seems an apt barometer of current
western values. The UNGA’s resolution 72/157, called
for concrete action for the total elimination of
racism globally.
The resolution was resumed as
75/237, still entitled as “A global call for
concrete action for the elimination of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of
and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and
Programme of Action.” It was adopted by the General
Assembly on 31 December 2020.
Of the total votes cast, 106 were in favor, 14
were against, and there were 44 abstentions.
The
votes on Resolution 75/237 are very revealing of
western values. Consider that among the 14 nay votes
were a bevy of western countries:
Australia
Canada
Czech Republic
Democratic Republic of Congo
France
Germany
Guyana
Israel
Nauru
Marshall Islands
Netherlands
Slovenia
United Kingdom
United States
The US explained its nay vote as being based on
the “unfair
and unacceptable singling out of Israel.”
In his book, Fateful Triangle: The United
States, Israel, and the Palestinians, the
Jewish anarchist professor Noam Chomsky made crystal
clear the Israeli racism toward Arabs: “Contempt for
the Arab population is deeply rooted in Zionist
thought.” Chomsky also alluded to western
permissiveness toward Israeli racism: “Anti-Arab
racism is … so widespread as to be unnoticeable; it
is perhaps the only remaining form of racism to be
regarded as legitimate.” [1]
The US is a country established through
genocide and dispossession of the Indigenous peoples,
and it set up an apartheid reservation system for
those Indigenous peoples that survived. From this
vantage point, it seems no wonder that Israel
escaped criticism by the US since the US lacks a
moral basis from which to castigate Israel. The same
holds
true for Canada, a country that still practices
apartheid with its Indian Act and reserve system.
Canada also steadfastly
supports Israeli apartheid.
Several other western or western-aligned
countries abstained, among them: Andorra, Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia,
Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, Aotearoa (New
Zealand), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of
Korea (South), Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine. These countries
refused to take a stand on the anti-racism
resolution.
What about the other countries that supported the
resolution? In particular, how did the countries
subjected to disinformation, persistent criticism,
sanctions, and provocative military maneuvers from
countries crowing and preening about their western
values vote? China, Cuba, Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (North), Iran, Iraq, Russia, and
Syria all voted in favor of the anti-racism
resolution.
Which countries’ values best represent those
embraced by people of conscience?
Kim Petersen
is a former co-editor of the Dissident Voice
newsletter. He can be emailed at: kimohp@gmail.
Twitter:
@kimpetersen.
