Did the Russians covertly publish inflammatory and misleading political ads? Probably. Did Putin want Trump in the White House? Probably. Look. They did, they didn’t, I’m not here to argue. But I will ask: What did you expect? The world was closely watching our election, hoping and praying for “Pokémon-Go to Polls?” Maybe. The fact of the matter is millions of people don’t, and can’t, share that kind of optimism. Here are five times the U.S. government meddled with foreign elections, the ugly legacy of the Democrat-Republican “$600 billion in Military Spending Because Who Needs Healthcare or Education???” Coalition.
Mohammad Mossadegh – Iran 1953
Political animosity between the United States and Iran can only be understood in context with their historical relations. The fall of prime minister Mossadegh’s secular, democratic government and the reinstatement of the Shah’s political authority led to a resurgence of nationalism that culminated in the 1979 revolution and Iran’s current government structure. Declassified documents published in 2013 reveal a covert operation jointly between the Eisenhower administration and U.K. to overthrow Mossadegh and replace him with a “pro-western government.” The campaign included consolidating opposition groups, disseminating propaganda to “disenchant the Iranian population with the myth of Mossadegh’s patriotism,” and efforts to strengthen the Shah’s political power. The operation was – you guessed it – a grab at oil reserves that the Mossadegh administration had previously nationalized with great popular support. Had Iranian intelligence overthrown the democratic will of America’s citizenry 64 years ago, I don’t think we’d ever hear the end of it.
Jacobo Arbenz – Guatemala 1954
Jacobo Arbenz, Guatemala’s second democratically-elected president, led his country with vast popular support for the last three years of Guatemala’s “Ten Years of Spring,” a celebrated period of post-dictatorship reform and democracy. Under his leadership, Guatemala’s agrarian reform program expropriated over 1 million acres of uncultivated lands from private holders and redistributed it to roughly one-sixth of the population who were largely poor, indigenous peasants. The program increased agricultural productivity and raised the peoples’ standard of living. Most of the Untied Fruit Company’s Guatemalan land was uncultivated, leading to its seizure and redistribution. In response, the exploitative American corporation waged a lobby campaign in Congress and disseminated public propaganda stating Arbenz’s government had to go. Eisenhower (wasn’t his administration supposed to be a time of peace?) authorized operation PBSUCCESS, which provided over $2 million for “psychology warfare and political…subversion” along with armaments and training for paramilitary opposition groups to carry out this wish of America’s corporate overlords. A military junta more suitable to U.S. capitalism took power.
Gough Whitlam – Australia 1975
All fish in the sea gotta watch their back for the soul-crushing tentacles of American hegemony. But of all nations – Australia? Contrary to popular belief, Washington doesn’t care how loyal you are and never has. If you’re not licking the dirt off Uncle Sam’s shiny black shoes, then maybe, well, it’s time to reevaluate your priorities (God forbid you have the audacity to proclaim an inkling of independence for your own people’s welfare). Get with the times! Prime minister Whitlam’s reforms, including universal healthcare and free education, an end to military conscription, and land rights for indigenous peoples caught Washington’s attention. But his real crime was shedding Australia’s longstanding chains of servility and standing up to U.S.-U.K. paternalism. Specifically, he threatened to terminate American operations at Pine Gap, a spy facility used for intercepting satellite communications and other intelligence operations (it has recently been linked to highly controversial drone strikes which have caused hundreds of civilian deaths). Honest mistake on Whitlam’s part. Won’t happen again. A bloodless coup took care of the “Whitlam problem.”
Boris Yeltsin (U.S.-supported) – Russia 1996
“RUSSIANS CLAIM ROLE IN TRUMP WIN”
“MOSCOW – A team of Russian political strategists said this week that they served as United States President Donald J. Trump’s secret campaign weapon in his comeback win over a Democrat challenger.” Yeah, I’d be mad too. Why would anyone condone such a slap in the face to popular democracy by a foreign government, let alone enshrine it in a newspaper headline? Ask the Las Angeles Times from whom I snagged this excerpt and doctored it to point fingers at Putin rather than a liberal America. I don’t know about you, but when the media overlords assure me that “democracy has triumphed” when Washington technocrats manufactured a deeply unpopular candidate’s victory, I try to swallow my pride and admit that it might not be a bad idea to gulp a healthy dose of skepticism with my orange juice in the morning. And when Russian operatives do the dirty work for the powers that be, we should be just as appalled as when the “progressive” administration in Washington does the same. I guess you could say the chickens have come to roost, and the Clintons are making egg salad.
Manuel Zelaya – Honduras 2009
Though far from perfect, Zelaya’s three-year presidency oversaw the installation of novel social reforms including universal free education, guaranteed school meals for children in need, free energy for poor families, and economic reforms that raised the minimum wage and reduced poverty. Zelaya’s proposal to modify the constitution drew sharp criticism from political opposition. Late on a June night, military personnel kidnapped him from his home and forced him onto a flight destined to exile him abroad. During her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton curiously reversed her Sec. of State position (which, along with Pres. Obama, condemned Zelaya’s pajama’ed removal as a coup), and began pushing for recognition of the new government’s legitimacy despite domestic and international support for Zelaya. Doing so allowed the US to provide aid to the subsequent government, one that has violently and in many cases lethally repressed activists for peasant, indigenous, environmental, and LGBT+ rights. As a matter of fact, reports have come out just this week that implicate the current right-wing Honduran administration for violence against peaceful protestors who are demonstrating against probable election fraud. As of December 3, at least one civilian has been killed and many injured; police have even been forcing people from their homes using tear gas, among other brutal tactics. Did I mention their elite military police are receiving training and handsome financial aid packages from the Trump administration?
I know what you’re thinking: “But comrade! Are you saying…we deserve Trump for all the hypocritical and subversive things our own government has done?” Not at all! But that’s what the ruling class wants us to believe. Cry foul play, and suddenly the United States is the victim. They want us to throw our arms around the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other intelligence institutions that never actually cared about us in the first place. They want us to beg the security state to reinstall (quasi-) democratic norms in our own country while forgetting about the atrocities we commit with impunity elsewhere. Likewise, they want us to see the United States as an exceptional state able to throw its weight around because it’s our “duty” in this tumultuous world. Maybe it’s time we “dump the Trump” AND recognize that the atrocious things his administration is doing finds a precedent throughout the archives of “progressive” American governance. Abstract bourgeois ideals like “free and fair elections,” “human rights,” and “progressive taxation” mean nothing if we support leaders who tout them at home but jump at the chance to restrict them abroad for people who owe us nothing. See Dr. King, the anti-imperialist: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I’ll end with a quote from my second favorite American intellectual, George W. Bush. “Why do they hate us?”
More on:
Iran
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup
Guatemala
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/10/20111021443836184.html
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/
Australia
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/1970s-cia-backed-coup-australia
https://theintercept.com/2017/08/19/nsa-spy-hub-cia-pine-gap-australia/
https://www.whitlam.org/gough_whitlam/achievements/democracylawandhumanrights
Wooster Students for Collective Radical Action and Mobilization 