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Speech by Jamal Harwood at The Oxford Union |
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Friday, 04 May 2007 |
Speech by Jamal Harwood, Chairman of Hizb ut-Tahrir supporting the motion: "This House Regrets the Founding of the United States of America” [*Check against delivery]
The Oxford Union, 26th April 2007
The Declaration of Independence represented the will to throw off the shackles of imperialism and forge an entirely new society.
This new state envisioned by the Founding Fathers was unlike any other
state in history, different because it was not based on race, tribe, or
language. That was the 'Old World'. Instead it was a unique opportunity for a state built upon ideas. This was the 'New World'.
My regret is not that a state was formed on ideas. How could it?
My regret is in the ideas chosen and the impact on the world of having a state so intrinsically built upon these ideas.
I am not denigrating the many outstanding achievements of the US:
• Technological advancements from space exploration, lunar landing, to medical advancements
• Or its instrumental role in the defeat of fascism and Nazism in WWII
• Or its acceptance of peoples from around the globe within its shores.
• Or its people. This is not about the American people some of whom were truly outstanding in human history - inventors like Thomas Edison, writers like Mark Twain and statesmen like Benjamin Franklin. No.
I am arguing that it is a matter of deep and sincere regret that certain ideas were selected to underpin the American Creed and that history is witness to the problems these ideas have caused.
And, ultimately, if we were to have the chance again to start a 'New World' these ideas should not be the ones chosen.
Paradox
America is a paradox. It has consistently produced extraordinary achievements but has suffered from incredible social ills.
Representing just 5% of the Worlds population the US makes up 29% of world output. The US is currently ranked the second most competitive economy in the world (by the World Economic Forum), and is first in technology and innovation, first in technological readiness, first in company spending for research and development and first in the quality of its research institutions. China does not come within 30 countries of the US on any of these points, and India breaks the top 10 on only one count: the availability of scientists and engineers. In virtually every sector that advanced industrial countries participate in, U.S. firms lead the world in productivity and profits. Also of the world's 20 top rated universities, 18 are American.
But it also leads in budget and balance of payments deficit, borrowing 80 percent of the world's savings. Has a national bill for litigation now larger than for its research and development. It has the highest number of firearm deaths amongst developed nations, the highest levels of rape, obesity, prison population and child suicide rates with the highest consumption and the highest waste. It also has the lowest voter turnout, the fewest number of represented political parties, the largest military budget and most foreign military bases.
This paradox is a consequence of the ideas that underpin America.
So at issue are the ideas that underpin the American identity, an identity that is uniquely American.
Any nation is defined by its core values, its thoughts, its principles and how they are applied. So - What defines the US? Attempts to define America and what it means to be American invariably refer to a single text that is widely respected: Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America'. (1835 - 1840)
In it, he defined America in a way that has never been bettered. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the 2nd edition of de Tocqueville's masterpiece contains the first use of the word 'Individualism' in the English language and it was used in relation to the USA.
de Tocqueville said 'Individualism' was not being selfish or egoistic. He defined 'Individualism' as a feeling that leads to:
"…each citizen to isolate himself from the mass of his fellows
and withdraw into the circle of family and friends: leaving the greater society to look out after itself".
It was the idea that looking after oneself meant the best for society.
The American Creed
This can be seen in the Frontier Spirit; that an individual can succeed without depending on anything or anyone and that doing what is best for oneself leads to the best outcome for the wider community. This is the 'American Dream'.
This deliberate detachment from society to pursue one's one self-interest has often been emphasised. For instance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the greatest American philosophers, wrote in 'Self Reliance', one of the most influential works of the age, that:
"… do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee thou foolish philanthropist that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong".
Or take Herbert Hoover's famous 1928 speech on "rugged Individualism", or what Hoover called:
"everyman for himself and the devil take the hindmost"
An example of what Hoover meant was during the Wall Street Crash when there were 12 million Americans out of work, 12,000 losing their jobs every day, 20,000 companies and 1,600 banks bankrupt, 1 farmer in 20 evicted, 23,000 Americans committed suicide in one year - and some people actually starved to death. President Herbert Hoover believed that if you were in trouble you should help yourself and not expect others to help you (eerily reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina last year).
Individualism is central to the American identity. Writers past and present refer to it. Like Francis Fukuyama in his recent book "The Great Disruption" – stated that the US was: "the most individualistic of all democracies" or Samuel Huntingdon's most recent book 'Who are we? Challenges to America's National Identity' where he refers to "…individualism, achievement and equality of opportunity as central values of the (American) creed".
American culture is full of it and it permeates much of what is wrong with the US today.
Domestic problems
The greatest problem with any society exhibiting an individualistic trend (let alone an entire nation predicated upon the idea) is that it cannot survive without society fragmenting.
This is no more evident than in the US itself.
Social breakdown is not a joke but it's a reality and it’s all down to the 'me, me, me' culture
Consider any indicator and you'll discover the scale of the problem US domestic society is facing.
• 1/3 of public schools are dysfunctional.
• Millions without health insurance.
• Racism is endemic.
• Sexual assault statistics went threw the roof decades ago
Thirty-six million Americans do not have enough to eat, and the number is growing. Nearly half of those lining up outside soup kitchens have one or more family members in employment. They are simply too poor to buy food. The have's repudiate the have-not's, saying "why don't you get a job". Few realise that, less than 1 percent of the people removed from the welfare rolls by the welfare reform in 1996 will ever get a job that pays a living wage. On the minimum wage, working 50 hours a week there will still not be enough to pay rent and feed a family living in any major US city.
This is just the issue of poverty. What about gun crime? Gang culture? Sexually transmitted infections? The litigation culture of 'ambulance chasers'?
Soon the culture becomes one of rights and but not of responsibility.
All of this further distances the American peoples from Thomas Jefferson's dream based on the pursuit of happiness.
What's worse is that American popular culture is now global and the rest of the world is beginning to suffer from the same ills of individualism as the Americans. And it is being imposed, often violently upon other nations.
Foreign Policy
The world too is increasingly unhappy with America's aggressive foreign policy. Opinion polls and surveys all point to increasing frustration and concern over the deteriorating position which America is orchestrating.
The Zogby survey of 2005 highlighted that in the US's supposed strongest allies in the Middle East Egypt and Saudi Arabia - domestic opinion gave the US only 14% and 9% approval ratings.
The Pew poll (2007) highlighted that the US is widely rated throughout the world as the greatest danger to world peace, greater than Iran or North Korea. And even 31% of Americans believe that the United States is the greatest threat.
In America’s own backyard of Central and South America the US has overthrown or undermined no less than 40 different Latin American governments during the last century. There is a wave of anti-American feeling stretching from the Texas border to Antarctica.
When it comes to international affairs everyone looks out for their own interests first. That's natural, but only one state is deluded enough to believe that acting in its own interest is to the benefit of the rest of the world.
Guess who?
To explain, when the US believed it needed to isolate it did so and the League of Nations fell apart. The same happened with Kyoto.
When the US left isolationism it regarded itself as a force for good in the world, leading the free world and democratising the Muslim world. Each time it interfered the claim was the same – not that it was in America's interest but that it was somehow in the interest of the rest of the world.
Yet imposing freedom, subverts it as Niall Ferguson highlights in “Colossus: The rise and fall of the American empire”: “Just as the Victorians seemed hypocrites when they spread "civilization" with the Maxim gun, there is something fishy about those who would democratize Fallujah with the Abrams tank”. Yet Americans still wonder why most of the world does not accept their imposed leadership.
With the obsession of post 911 history, consider life from the other perspective. This is not a new phenomenon. Consider yourself for just one horrific moment in the shoes of an Iraqi. Would you feel any different about the 500,000 the UN reported of mostly women and children that perished during the 1990’s under the Clinton (UN) imposed sanctions. Deaths that Madeleine Albright accepted as a “price worth paying” to keep Saddam from weapons of mass destruction. Would you feel any different to the Bush junior administration, responsible for killing 650,000 and counting, in the last 4 years?
The Muslim world is well aware of the US support of dictatorships, and does not buy the rhetoric over democratising of the region. The story is the same, US interests are for not for the benefit of the world, they are for their benefit and specifically their multinational corporations. Those that Bush affectionately calls “The haves, and the have mores”. His constituent backers in corporate America. Never in history have we seen such a close relationship between a government and corporations.
In fact American companies have become an ugly metaphor for this individualist American society – the strong dominates the weak, profit and accumulation of wealth has become the dominant objective and it is utterly ruthless.
Conclusion
To conclude, if we could start again with a 'New World' would we persist in a state so wholly individualistic or is it a source of regret that such a divisive and corrosive idea was selected?
For me it's clearly the latter. The US is a remarkable country but it's a paradox capable of both great successes and huge, painful failures. It must be a source of regret that we were unable to think of a better set of ideas to build the 'New World' on and it is clear why we are now suffering.
People do not trust a nation that so easily subverts its own principles.
Equality before the law, the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial are all “old world” values. Yet America seems happy to replace them with new words which indelibly represent its new world: Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition.
This debate is not about choosing between Caliphate and California as claimed by Matt Frei (opposite) the choice is about the right of peoples to choose their own way of life without US interference or continued US oppression. You have an opportunity today to give a resounding message against what the US has become.
'I want to conclude with a quote....'
“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.”
That is not a victim of the United States mourning Geroge Bush, Ronald Reagan or Kissinger’s foreign policy, but Thomas Jefferson in the July 4th, 1776 Declaration of Independence referring to George 3rd, King of Great Britain.
It is a sad irony that despite the ideals promoted by the founding fathers, America has proceeded in the world emulating the approach of European colonialism. Today America no longer stands as a beacon but as a world hegemon. Unilateralist, self interested, individualistic…American. Its past proves that its harm outweighs the good it has done. Its present implies a far worse future for us all, as it carries a neo-colonial torch in much of the world.
I move that this house regrets the founding of the United States of America.
[Applause]
* This transcript is an adaptation of Jamal's pre-prepared transcript. Please check against his actual speech.
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