Launching the Needed Anti-Colonial Movement

 

Times of India author Mrutyuanjai Mishra provides a valuable reflection on the recent, highly symbolic visit of Britain’s King Charles III to the United States—and that, in particular, from a formerly colonized nation of the Global South. He writes in a May 1 op-ed:

“The 250th anniversary of American independence should have been a moment of clarity, a reaffirmation of the principles that gave birth to a republic. Instead, it has revealed a profound contradiction at the heart of contemporary political life. At a time marked by war, economic strain, and institutional breakdown, Donald Trump chose to celebrate not the rejection of monarchy, but its legacy.”

Mishra continues: “The American Revolution constituted a decisive rupture with monarchy and imperial rule. It was not an extension of British political culture but a rejection of it. The Declaration of Independence established that sovereignty resides with the people, not with a crown or inherited authority. This position diverged sharply from European traditions shaped by thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, whose frameworks, despite their differences, remained tied to hierarchies of power and property. The American founders advanced a more radical proposition: that human beings possess inherent dignity, rational capacity, and the ability to pursue the common good. Government, in this view, exists to cultivate these qualities rather than restrain them under the authority of a sovereign ruler. To celebrate monarchy at the symbolic center of American governance is therefore to invert the very principle upon which the republic was founded.”

If only Americans were as offended at this embarrassment as Mishra is for them!

This topic was taken up in full at the May 1 weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition. Professor Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, said one reason for Trump’s fondness for Charles was that he sees himself as the “first American king,” and pointed to the increasing alienation of today’s ruling elites from the worsening conditions of life for the average citizen. He attributed this to the Western financial system’s transition from industrial productivity to financial profiteering, which has generated tremendous profits for a wealthy elite while wreaking destruction for the many. Even wars and genocides have become “good for business,” Falk noted, showing the amorality of this system.  (more...)

Launching the Needed Anti-Colonial Movement