Jaggi Singh, a Canadian anarchist organizer, spoke to a crowd of more than 200 at De Anza as part of the Visiting Speaker Series on Oct. 24.
Singh is known for his involvement in anti-capitalist and anti-globalization struggles and for being targeted by the Canadian government. He is currently under probation for possession of a dangerous weapon, a teddy bear launching catapult.
Singh not only spoke of globalization, but also of America’s new war on terrorism, a war which he alleges as being equally ill defined and self-serving for the U.S. government as the war on drugs and the Cold War.
Using quotes from top military generals, economists, and political figures, Singh illustrated how he believes U.S. foreign policy and its military might are consistently used in a way that protects business interests, and have largely been developed to serve that specific purpose.
One such interest, Singh claims, is the oil in the Middle East, which he says America is becoming increasingly dependent upon. Afghanistan is of importance because oil lines have been planned to run through it to make use of large, untapped oil reserves under the Caspian Sea.
Singh sees state terrorism as the main cause of attacks, like the ones on Sept. 11. He also sees America as the main perpetrator and sponsor of such terror through its own military actions.
Among his examples of state terror were American trained and funded death squads in South America and the continued bombings and sanctions on Iraq, which have killed 1.5 million people, many of whom were children.
“Maybe we should be bombing Washington if we are going to apply the logic that we are applying to the Taliban,” Singh said.
“I believe it would trivialize the deaths that happened on Sept. 11 if we didn’t exercise our judgment and talk about history and the context,” Singh said. This is a very complex situation with historical roots, “I don’t think we should fall into the trap of seeing everything as good vs. evil, or civilization vs. terrorism.”
Singh says there have been many cheap shots against people like him, calling him a terrorist or communist. People think that since he is critical of the war, he is somehow on Osama bin Laden’s side or has the same values and beliefs. Singh believes we need a movement with progressive values and beliefs, not one led by fundamentalists like bin Laden.
When asked by an audience member if he was “just going to close his eyes to the Sept. 11 attacks and keep demanding that the bombings stop,” Singh replied, “I am asking you to open your eyes even wider, I mean really wide.”
