ANDRE VLTCHEK • OCTOBER 19, 2019
Q: Do we see an increase in
the number of countries resisting the bullying of the United States and its
allies? What makes this resistance happen?
A: I believe that there are
two main factors. The first one is the ‘moral one’: People are more and more
aware of the brutality of the Western colonialism, neo-colonialism and
imperialism, which have been torturing the planet for many centuries. This
awareness became possible mainly thanks to the non-Western mass media outlets,
such as RT, Telesur, Press TV, CGTN, but also NEO, Global Times and Sputnik.
The second one is the “practical aspect”: Countries like Iran, Venezuela, or
Cuba are looking around, and what they see are horrors that are happening to
neighboring nations, which have already succumbed to the Western dictate: Iraq,
Afghanistan, Honduras, for instance. They see total devastation and collapse,
and they are coming to a logical conclusion: “Being a slave of the Western
empire does not pay. It is better to maintain dignity and to fight for
independence, no matter what. Dying upright is better than surviving on one’s
knees, in a puddle of excrement.”
Q: Is it the US that has
weakened or countries that resist have become stronger?
A: Both. The U.S. is weak
because it is morally defunct. There is nothing optimistic in terrorizing other
nations. To run an imperialist empire is deeply nihilistic and gloomy. To live
from plunder is depressing. Depression and pessimism, nihilism and constant
outbursts of aggressiveness, are weakening the spirit. On the other hand,
positive resistance and revolutionary spirit, are strengthening both nations
and the individuals. I described it in detail in my revolutionary philosophy
book, “Revolutionary Optimism, Western
Nihilism.”
Q: What happens to a country
that does not resist the oppression of powerful countries? What makes countries
surrender to the West and not believe in their own power?
A: Total collapse. It
happened, for instance, to Indonesia, after the US-sponsored coup of 1965. It
is, unfortunately, going to happen to Brazil, under the Bolsonaro regime,
unless the country rises. It happened to Russia under Yeltsin. Countries
surrender to the West because they lower their guard and their young people get
fully indoctrinated by Western propaganda, as we can see, right now, in Hong
Kong. Of course, local elites often play a very negative role: they get
corrupted by the West, and they use their power over their own people, using
the mass media outlets that they hold in their hands, as a tool of
indoctrination and of the lowering of the intellectual standards of their
nation. Education, too, can be a double-edge sword: ‘education’ does not always
mean positive ‘knowledge’ – it can be something that brutally forces a person
into accepting orthodox, banal concepts which ruin all creativity and make
people accept a way of thinking that is injected into their country from abroad
(the West). Excessive amounts of nihilist, pop ‘culture’ designed to negatively
condition one’s brain, is there to weaken the country as a whole.
Q: Are the US and Britain as
influential as they seem, or are they less powerful than the will of nations,
in portraying themselves with the help of soft power?
A: Both the United States
and Britain, but especially the United States, are extremely powerful and
lethal, militarily. Together, they possess enough nuclear weapons, to destroy
life on our planet, many times, over and over again. However, as societies,
they are becoming increasingly weak. If you mingle with North American and
British people, one thing that would strike you, is that most of the
individuals living there are very confused, insecure and uncertain about
countless basic things. There is a lot of fear there. People are scared of
getting sick or old. They are terrified of ending up without a job, on the
street. Many are incredibly lonely. But their brains have been conditioned,
geared to embrace extreme individualism, and so, they are increasingly afraid
to commit to anything or anybody. They are desperately longing to be part of a
family, of a community, or of some movement, but they cannot commit to
anything. If you are committed, let’s say you are a Communist or something
else, they will ridicule you, smear you. It is quite an ugly world populated by
mainly weak, spoilt people, who talk big, smear big, try to think about
themselves as being big, but are terribly insecure and unhappy, often suicidal.
They think they are free, but they are not. They think they are knowledgeable,
but many of them are like ISIS; totally indoctrinated.
Q: To what extent has the
Iranian people’s resistance and in the whole, the resistance of what is called
axis of resistance (Syria, Iraq, Yemen …) been a model for the world’s
dominated countries? How can the countries that have resisted, transfer their
experiences to other countries?
A: Only through determined
men and women – writers, journalists and filmmakers. The problem is that in the
West, almost no one knows about the heroic struggle of the Iranian, Syrian,
Venezuelan or Cuban people, and very few are really aware of the suffering of
the Yemeni men, women and children. And the West basically controls the flow of
information in places like Africa, Asia (except China) and to a great extent –
Latin America. And this is precisely where we have to get people to know what
is happening in the world. Cubans should now be close to Iranians, Syrians to
Venezuelans. To the Russians and Chinese, with all those who are being attacked
by the West. In a way, this is now beginning to happen, but slowly. Victims
should unite, and fight. To survive together, to defeat imperialism, together,
and to build much a better world, together. The resistance of heroic countries
should be hailed. Imperialism should be shamed, stridently. We should help each
other, support each other. The trend is in the right direction. I just wish
things would move faster. I don’t want billions of human beings to continue
dying in misery, unnecessarily, as they are now: alive but dead. I believe in
justice, in social justice. That is why I support countries that are fighting against
imperialism. I don’t expect them to be perfect. I only expect them to be better
than those who are torturing the world. Better, stronger and kinder.
Andre Vltchek is a
philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered
wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Four of his latest books are Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism, a revolutionary novel “Aurora”and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and
DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the
Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through
his website and his Twitter. His Patreon
Mostafa Afzalzadeh is an
Iranian journalist and film maker
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