Dear Trump, your decision to eliminate ‘Islamic’ terrorism is really worth appreciating because these fanatics have played havoc with the lives of thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims across the world.
But this time, you should also take action against those who encouraged such extremists, bankrolled their global jihadi agenda and trained them to kill and maim innocent people. Ask the CIA what they got out of supporting the Masyumi Party in Indonesia whose ideology created the mastermind of the Bali bomb blast. Interrogate the mandarins of the shadowy intelligence agencies of your beloved country regarding their role in training and arming Afghan Mujahideen – whose retrogressive ideas spawned a myriad of violent extremist outfits in Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
Carry out a posthumous trial of President Reagan for heaping eulogies on Afghan zealots, some of whom earned notoriety for throwing acid on the faces of women at Kabul University.
Ask the Pentagon and the US state department in what way Americans benefited from Washington’s support for ‘Islamists’ of the Middle East who fiercely resisted the secular regime of General Qasim in Iraq, the nationalist government of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt and the enlightened movement of Michael Aflaq in Syria.
An inquiry is also needed into Washington’s clandestine support for the Kosovo Liberation Army and militants who fought in Bosnia against the Serbs, and the covert backing of Jabhat al-Nusra and other jihadi outfits in Syria in recent years.
The intelligence community is hell-bent on discrediting you. Seize this opportunity and settle your scores. Be firm and steadfast. Do not hesitate to crush fundamentalists in the world whether they are in Xinyang, Chechnya or Dagestan.
You also intend to bring back the American capital by offering a 25 percent tax relief to American companies. We also support your effort to repatriate this $2.5 trillion, which is a huge amount. We appreciate this radical step because these companies played havoc with the third world. They hatched conspiracies to topple the elected government of Mosaddegh in Iran – who did not countenance their plundering of Iranian national resources. They collaborated with the CIA to dislodged Arbenz in Guatemala and Salvador Allende in Chile for refusing to allow the ruthless exploitation of their states at the hands of these giant monopolies.
Please do not leave the job unfinished. Our humble submission is that you repatriate the 42 highly civilised American companies which sold torture tools and equipment to third-world dictators, tyrants, monarchs and fascist democrats alike. Do not hesitate to nationalise these concerns, obliging these companies to sell such precious American gifts inside the land of liberty only.
The sole superpower loves weapons; the murder of over 20,000 Americans every year reflects its selfless affection for guns. American companies also violate your protectionist philosophy by transferring the technologies of lethal killing machines to countries like India. Shift back these lethal arms industries to the land of the most peaceful nation in the world that has militarily intervened only 223 times in various parts of the world since its inception in 1777, besides establishing over 800 bases in 150 countries.
Why should developing countries bomb each other with B52 and other ultramodern fighter jets. Let the gangsters of Chicago annihilate one another with these aerial toys. Let your opponents be decimated with chemical, biological and other lethal arms which Americans made toiling day and night. Mow down those who dare to challenge your misogynistic mentality with these lethal tools.
We support your idea of bringing back US capital but you must hurry up because around 50,000 industries have already been closed down. We tremble with fear but please do not get offended. As you have decided to bring back US capital, could we, the people of the third world, dare to request you to call back these fast food outlets selling poor-quality food in the name of sumptuous cuisine and contributing to obesity and a number of other health problems.
Could we send your oil, power and agri-business firms packing that are damaging our environment and destroying our agriculture by ruthlessly exploiting our lands in an unsustainable way for their gargantuan appetite of profit? Could we ship back your deep-sea trawlers that are depleting our oceans?
You plan to launch a campaign to kick out 11 million undocumented migrants. We have a problem with this. When your ancestors sailed out of Europe, exterminating around 25 million indigenous people, what documents did they bring with them? What documents did they obtain to enslave millions of Africans, forcing them to toil on plantations? Where is the documentation of around four million Africans, who were killed during the Middle Passages?
Since you have a right to police the world, you can do anything you want – and we support it. But the proponents of free market – Adam Smith and Ricardo – believed labour is the main factor in creating wealth. You know immigrant workers also create surplus value. So, when you expel these undocumented immigrants, will you also return the surplus value that they created over the decades?
This poses a huge problem because there would not have been any prosperity in the modern world if there were no plantations and such plantations could not have been possible without slavery, indentured labour and millions of undocumented immigrants. So, think before you leap.
The writer is a Karachi-based freelance
journalist.
Email: egalitarianism444gmail.com