BOOK REVIEW - Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World

BY FINIAN CUNNINGHAM

By Mark Curtis, Vintage Books (London, 2003)

Price £7.99/€12

War is a continuation of politics by other means, the Prussian military strategist Von Clausewitz once famously said. The Peace Process here would suggest that the maxim also works in reverse, that politics is the continuation of war by other means. Opponents may no longer be actually killing each other to the same degree as before but let's not be mistaken — the opponents of Irish republicans are determined to defeat them as much as ever.

This is the real context in which the IRA is being pressured to hand over weapons. They are expected to unilaterally take the gun out of politics while their smiling opponents retain theirs.

Two weeks ago, An Phoblacht dealt with the past and present readiness of unionism to use violence for political ends (see Book Review, An Army with Banners: the Real Face of Orangeism.) It should be added that Orange-unionism is not just wielding a latent threat. Tragically, almost every week sees the brutal murder or maiming of a Catholic at the hands of unionist paramilitaries. Homes, like that of Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Butler, are shot at, petrol bombed or bricked. Unionist politics is still very much on a war footing.

What about the British Government of that ever-so sincere and Christian Mr Blair? There is ample evidence in Ireland that Blair's Government is still at war in the political sense. Most obviously, the apparatus of war continues to operate — barracks, surveillance, personnel, helicopters, warships, guns — albeit on standby. Then there is the endless use of black propaganda and dirty tricks, ranging from the allegations of IRA spy rings to the Colombia Three trial.

You can almost set your clock by the regularity with which 'scandals' are splashed in the media, designed to hamper and limit the political process at every turn. As I was writing this, two individuals working in the PSNI benevolent fund were arrested for questioning, on the tellingly vague allegation that they have been "passing on information useful to terrorists". They were later quietly released without charge but here we were again, unionist paranoia and headlines to suit, all conveniently putting Sinn Féin under a cloud of suspicion.

Could the ever-so civilised and pious British state, as epitomised by that saintly Mr Blair, be so duplicitous? You better believe it.

After reading Web of Deceit by British historian Mark Curtis, there is no doubt as to Britain's real role in the world. It is an "outlaw state" whose flagrant violation of international law and human rights is "as British as afternoon tea".

This is an excellent exposé of British imperialism, past and present, much of it based on declassified state documents. Curtis tells it how it is. Britain, he says, inflicts massive poverty and violence on much of humanity.

He writes: "The reality is that British Governments bear significant responsibility for global poverty — not only as a former colonial power that shaped many of the current unjust structures, but in their championing of a world trade system and economic ideology that enriches the few and impoverishes many more; in exporting arms that contribute to repression and worsening conflict; in supporting repressive regimes; and in undermining many popular, democratic political forces that try to address poverty."

Despite caring-sharing rhetoric of "ethical foreign policy", "poverty reduction" and "debt relief for the world's poor", Britain is the chief cheerleader, along with the US, for pushing neoliberal globalisation. This kind of state-led capitalism is designed for the benefit of transnational corporations. The objective is to give these corporations maximum freedom to maximise profits by exploiting workers and natural resources — even to the detriment of workers in Britain (and the US).

Deliberately depriving people of economic and social justice, forcing them into hunger and sickness, is by any definition "war" against those people.

And when Britain and its partner in crime, the US, come up against people who are not amenable to "politics", then it reverts to overt war. Blair, writes Curtis, is the most militarily interventionist British leader since the Second World War.

Along with the Americans, Blair has bombed Yugoslavia and Afghanistan and conducted a full-on war against Iraq (the latter resulting in the deaths of up to 10,000 civilians) — all in flagrant violation of international law. On these grounds, Blair should be prosecuted as a war criminal. But thanks to the mainstream media helping to spin a "web of deceit", which portrays a largely "benevolent Britain", this rational and justified indictment is made to seem ludicrous.

A radically different politics without guns or war is desirable and is possible, not only in Ireland, but globally. What is needed is the building of a truly democratic polity based on social justice, in solidarity with other peoples, including, and perhaps primarily, the ordinary, decent working people of Britain.

"The public's understanding of Britain's real role in the world is being obscured by an ideological system - principally, the mainstream media - that is largely accepting at face value New Labour's rhetoric on its moral purpose."

"Current British foreign policies are generally not only immoral, but also dangerous, for the British public as well as others. These policies are helping to make the world more insecure, unequal and abusive of human rights."

"Britain's role remains an essentially imperial one: to act as junior partner to US global power; to help organise the global economy to benefit Western corporations; and to maximise Britain's (that is, British elites') independent political standing in the world and thus remain a 'great power".

"Overall, I believe that people are being indoctrinated into a picture of Britain's role in the world that supports elite priorities. This is the mass production of ignorance. It actively works against our interests, which is precisely why the ideological system is critical to the elite, who essentially see the public as a threat."

— Mark Curtis