Africa: Imperialism's New Strategies

By Ama Biney

AllAfrica - 3 July 2014

A review of 'Divide and Ruin: The West's Imperial Strategy in an Age of Crisis', by Dan Glazebrook, published by Liberation Media, 2013

Dan Glazebrook's volume demonstrates that the infamous imperialism of the past has not disappeared but has instead adopted new strategies to obscure its intentions, such as proxy wars and media-based indoctrination. These tactics must be exposed and imperialist resisted
Individuals on the 'left', or those who prefer the characterisation 'progressives', 'radicals' or 'activists' are conscious of the fact that the imperialist leopard never changes its spots. Though it may appear to do so, the change is illusionary.
Hence, the collection of articles in this new and slim volume reveal that since 2008, when 'things were not looking good for imperialism' (p. vii) with the onset of the capitalist economic crisis, it has meant that imperialism has resorted to reconfiguring strategies of domination and control over the planet's resources and to eliminating governments and people that fail to demonstrate subservience to the whims and interests of empire.
As Glazebrook argues, 'The truth is that Empire's strategy is far more insidious than in the days of Bush and Blair. Imperialism today no longer swaggers onto the world stage in a cowboy hat declaring its determination to launch "crusades" on behalf of the "haves and the have mores", to use the memorable phraseology of George W. Bush; its strategy today is a lot more cunning' (p. viii). In short, imperialism has shifted to wars by proxy - whether it be in Libya or Syria, which as the author claims, 'is also a sign of vulnerability and weakness' (p. viii).

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