Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights To Sell War
by Jean Bricmont /
2006 / English / EPUB
2.3 MB Download
Since the end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been
made into a justification for intervention by the world's leading
economic and military powers—above all, the United States—in
countries that are vulnerable to their attacks. The criteria for
such intervention have become more arbitrary and self-serving,
and their form more destructive, from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan
to Iraq. Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the large parts of the
left was often complicit in this ideology of
intervention—discovering new “Hitlers” as the need arose, and
denouncing antiwar arguments as appeasement on the model of
Munich in 1938.
Since the end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been
made into a justification for intervention by the world's leading
economic and military powers—above all, the United States—in
countries that are vulnerable to their attacks. The criteria for
such intervention have become more arbitrary and self-serving,
and their form more destructive, from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan
to Iraq. Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the large parts of the
left was often complicit in this ideology of
intervention—discovering new “Hitlers” as the need arose, and
denouncing antiwar arguments as appeasement on the model of
Munich in 1938.
Jean Bricmont’s
Jean Bricmont’sHumanitarian Imperialism
Humanitarian Imperialism is both a
historical account of this development and a powerful political
and moral critique. It seeks to restore the critique of
imperialism to its rightful place in the defense of human rights.
It describes the leading role of the United States in initiating
military and other interventions, but also on the obvious support
given to it by European powers and NATO. It outlines an
alternative approach to the question of human rights, based on
the genuine recognition of the equal rights of people in poor and
wealthy countries.
is both a
historical account of this development and a powerful political
and moral critique. It seeks to restore the critique of
imperialism to its rightful place in the defense of human rights.
It describes the leading role of the United States in initiating
military and other interventions, but also on the obvious support
given to it by European powers and NATO. It outlines an
alternative approach to the question of human rights, based on
the genuine recognition of the equal rights of people in poor and
wealthy countries.
Timely, topical, and rigorously argued, Jean Bricmont’s book
establishes a firm basis for resistance to global war with no end
in sight.
Timely, topical, and rigorously argued, Jean Bricmont’s book
establishes a firm basis for resistance to global war with no end
in sight.