Economic &
Political Grievances Are at Root of Fundamentalism
By Lisette Poole
Newark, CA
Fundamentalism movements around
the world will continue to increase as long as
poverty and political justice issues are ignored,
says a prominent Pakistani political leader as
he takes issue with attempts by the United States
to project the current global unrest as a “clash
of ideologies.”
In a wide ranging interview, he criticized the
Americanization of Globalization, took issue with
the United States administration for “betraying”
American ideals of democracy and equality for
all its citizens and praised the recent rapprochement
between India and Pakistan as a step towards greater
peace in the South Asia region.
While condemning the deadly attack in London,
Minto sharply criticized the continuing American-led
war of occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq for
fueling more militancy around the world and held
western colonial nations responsible for the deepening
gap between poor and rich nations, which he sees
as the root cause of global unrest. He called
for an alternative political platform—people-to-people
cooperation—to break the monopoly of corporate
globalization.
“Western nations try to project this growing
militancy around the world as a clash of ideologies,
or civilizations, but it is not so. It is a clash
of interests,” Minto said. “Economic
issues and political injustice are at the roots
of unrest. Fundamentalism will die when the systems
that create poverty are eliminated.
“The Palestinians’ sovereign rights,
their rights to statehood, their rights to a nation
are directly tied to their economic destiny. In
Kashmir political interests are preventing the
settlement of that dispute. Meanwhile the people
suffer,” the soft-spoken political thinker
said.
Minto who teamed up with South African civil rights
leader, Nelson Mandela, when they were respectively
elected vice president and president of the International
Lawyers’ Association (1990-1995), said people
everywhere must rise against corporate globalization
that fosters more wealth for the already rich,
leaves developing countries in sheer poverty,
and fails to solve the political problems on the
ground, such as Palestine, Kashmir.
“Corporate globalization started a long
time ago,” Minto explained. “It began
with the western attempts to colonize eastern
countries—the age of enlightenment in the
West, which brought recognition of civil liberties,
women’s liberation and the rule of law brought
slavery to the East as Britain, France, Italy
and Germany went out to colonize the rest of the
world. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the
demolition of International law, continue the
plan.
“Recent Anglo-American efforts to use the
rest of the world as a colony are being met by
a resistance. While some people can accept globalization
they do not want corporate take over. The resistance
is now met by elements of fundamentalism. The
struggle grows,” he said.
Minto, 74, who has spent some 50 years of public
service fighting poverty and demanding equal justice
for all in Pakistan was imprisoned by former military
dictator Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq and adopted
as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
He believes an alternative political platform
that breaks the monopoly rich nations hold over
poorer ones can ward off further fundamentalism.
Minto accused America of contributing to the growing
military institutions around the world. The US
supported the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan against
the Soviet Union during the cold war phase between
the super powers, and that led to a growing military
machine in neighboring Pakistan, which had to
be met by an equal growth in India, said Minto
explaining the domino effect in south Asia. Similar
expansions have occurred in South America and
the Middle East as governments seek regional military
supremacy.
“The money spent in war and armament is
the legitimate right of the people who need reforms
– political and economic reforms - that
can lead to democratic rule,” Minto said.
“People who are suffering everywhere and
their political parties need to come together
to forge ways to overcome this trend.”
Minto, who is on a private tour of the United
States, has held formal negotiations with leaders
of the Green Party, a political grassroots organization
dedicated to goals similar to Mr. Minto’s
National Workers’ Party. (Lisette B. Poole,
a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco
Bay area, also lecturers at CSUH)
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