Media Monitors Network
Dec 5 2004
Anglo-American “democratic imperialism” and 0.9 billion infant deaths
by Gideon Polya
“The British, in addition to their invasive contributions in South
America, Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South East Asia, the
Pacific and the Middle East, left the South Asian subcontinent
crippled by colonialism and helped impose a further burden of
militarization, economic exclusion, debt and war. The total post-1950
under-5 infant mortality in South Asia has been 281.5 million.”
An aggressive, militaristic, imperial US dominates the new world
order
There is a new world order that is dominated by one superpower, the
US. This US hegemony is backed by its Anglo-Celtic cousins, Australia
and the UK. It is vitally important for the world to consider the
human cost of this régime.
The Anglo-American Coalition commenced war against Iraq in 1991,
conquered Afghanistan in 2001 and finally occupied all of Iraq in
2003. The human cost has been horrendous – the `excess mortality’
(avoidable mortality) in Iraq has been estimated from UN data to be
1.5 million since 1991 and about 0.3 million since the US invasion in
2003, these estimates being consonant with estimates of under-5
infant mortality there totalling 1.2 million since 1991 and about 0.2
million since the final invasion. The `excess mortality’ and under-5
infant mortality in Afghanistan have been 1.2 million and 0.9
million, respectively, since the invasion in 2001.
The obscenity of such impositions by fabulously wealthy countries on
wretchedly poor, fragile countries is illustrated powerfully by the
following UNICEF statistics: in 2001 the under-5 infant mortality was
1000 in Australia (population 20 million), 109,000 in Iraq
(population 24 million) and 277,000 in Afghanistan (population 22
million). In 2002 these statistics were 1000, 108,000 and 283,000,
respectively.
What more can the world expect from this Anglo-American Coalition
that is evidently picking up from where the brutal British Empire
left off? A good guide can be obtained from an analysis of post-1950
under-5 infant mortality that is made possible by detailed statistics
publicly available from the UN and UNICEF. These statistics provide a
`smoking gun’ for an immense crime that has been committed over the
last half century – the largely avoidable death of about 0.9 billion
infants throughout the world. This effective mass murder of innocents
has gone unreported by Anglo-American-dominated world media.
Decent humans love kids
A commonality among decent human beings is affection for children.
Thus even in some relatively violent, male-dominated societies there
are conventions prohibiting male violence against other men in the
presence of women and children. Further, young children such as those
under the age of five are utterly blameless – they have not yet
developed the disagreeable attributes of so many adults. At the very
worst, such kids could be a nuisance by demanding too much love and
affection from their families.
The bottom line is that ill-treatment or murder of infants is utterly
unacceptable to decent humans. Historically, mass mortality of
infants was associated with the genocidal European invasions of North
America, South America, Australasia and the Pacific in which
introduced disease was more important than conventional violence in
decimating native populations. In the last century explicit, violent
mass murder of infants (as well as of adults) occurred repeatedly,
for example during the genocides applied to the Hereros of Namibia,
the Armenians of Anatolia, the Jews of Europe, the Tutsis of Rwanda
and the Cambodian civilian victims of the Khmer Rouge.
Whether a child dies a violent death or dies of deprivation or
malnourishment-exacerbated disease, the end result is the same.
Accordingly, to this list of infanticidal horrors of the last century
we should add the victims of enormous man-made famines in Russia (the
early 1920s), the Ukraine (early 1930s), British-occupied Bengal
(during World War 2) and China (during the Great Leap Forward). Major
wars such as the Japanese invasion of China, World War 1 and World
War 2 have been major killers of civilians through the accompanying
social and economic dislocation. Notwithstanding the creation of the
UN after World War 2, there has been immense avoidable infant
mortality over the last half century that is closely linked to First
World-derived militarization and war.
The global post-1950 under-5 infant mortality totals over 900 million
Using publicly-available UN and UNICEF data on populations, birth
rates, death rates and under-5 infant mortality rates, it has been
possible to simply calculate the total number of children under the
age of 5 years who have died in virtually every country of the world
since 1950. The results are horrendous – the global post-1950 under-5
infant mortality totals over 900 million.
In order to simply present and compare the data it is useful to use
some abbreviations and transformations. Thus for the major `overseas’
European colonies (the US, Canada, Israel, Australia and New Zealand)
the post-1950 under-5 infant mortality totals 5.3 million
(abbreviated as `5.3m’). The post-1950 under-5 infant mortality is
4.1% of the total mortality in these countries since 1950 (`4.1%
mort’) i.e. in these rich countries under-5 infant mortality has been
a very small proportion of overall mortality. Expressed as a
percentage of the total present day population of this grouping of
countries, the post-1950 under-5 infant mortality is 1.5% (`1.5%
pop’) or 1.5 dead infants for every 100 people alive today in these
countries i.e. very few people in this group carry the traumatic
burden of an infant death. For simplicity I will summarize the
post-1950 under-5 infant mortality statistics for this group as `5.3
m, 4.1% mort, 1.5% pop’.
With rounding-off of the data, the total post-1950 under-5 infant
mortality has been 912 million, this being made up of the following
components:
`Overseas’ European countries [5.3m, 4.1% mort, 1.5 % pop],
Western Europe [6.8m, 3.4% mort, 1.7% pop],
Eastern Europe [12.7m, 7.3% mort, 3.7% pop],
Latin America and Caribbean [51.9m, 32.0% mort, 10.0% pop],
East Asia [199.4m, 35.1% mort, 12.9% pop],
South East Asia [70.9m, 32.2% mort, 12.9% pop],
Turkey, Iran & Central Asia [40.0m, 46.2% mort, 17.1% pop],
Arab North Africa & Middle East [46.7m, 44.4% mort, 15.6% pop],
South Asia [281.5m, 42.8% mort, 20.0% pop],
Pacific [1.1m, 31.9% mort, 13% pop], and
Non-Arab Africa [195.9m, 52.9% mort, 29.1% pop].
You will immediately see that for the various groupings of European
countries the post-1950 under-5 infant mortality is on the average
about 3-7% of the total mortality within each group and less than 4%
of the current population. However for the non-European world the
post-1950 under-5 infant mortality is on average about 32-53% of
total mortality and 10-29% of total current population for the
various regional groupings.
Thus in European countries post-1950 under-5 infant mortality has
been a very small proportion of deaths whereas in non-European
countries it represents a very high proportion. Similarly, in
European countries on average only several under-5 infant deaths have
occurred for every 100 people alive today – whereas on average such
infant death has been tragically commonplace in the various regions
of the non-European world.
At this point a European neo-con will declare that surely such
elevated infant mortality is only to be expected for non-European
countries that are typically tropical or semi-tropical, fecund,
`backward’ and incompetently governed by authoritarian governments
i.e. that elevated infant mortality is `normal’ for such countries.
However many examples throughout the world demonstrate the fallacy of
such intrinsically racist assertions. Further, closer examination of
the data country-by-country reveals that the First World bears a
major responsibility for this largely avoidable infant mortality.
Many examples can be given to illustrate First World involvement in
this carnage and Anglo-American involvement in particular.
Anglo-American hegemony and militarism is linked to global mass
infant mortality
Latin America plus the Caribbean (i.e. the Americas minus Canada and
the US) has been dominated by the US for over a century. The
post-1950 under-5 infant mortality statistics for Latin America plus
the Caribbean [51.9m, 32.0% mort, 10.0% pop] present a dismal picture
but communist Cuba [0.3m, 9.6% mort, 3.1% pop] is a remarkable
exception because of high literacy and excellent primary health care
– notwithstanding 4 decades of US hostility, threats and sanctions.
It can be readily calculated that if the outcome for Cuba {3.1% pop)
is applied to the whole Latin America and the Caribbean grouping then
the post-1950 under-5 infant mortality would be reduced by 36 million
– US hegemony is thus a major factor in this appalling infanticide.
The British (as well as the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Belgians,
Germans and Italians) conquered, enslaved and exploited Africa for
centuries and left a crippled continent in a neo-colonial nightmare
of militarization, debt, economic exclusion, corrupt governments and
war that is presently compounded by HIV/AIDS. However the post-1950
under-5 infant mortality in peaceful, democratic Afro-Indian
Mauritius [0.08m, 21% mort, 6.3% pop] has been a lovely exception –
if the `6.3% pop’ stat is applied to all of non-Arab Africa then
notionally 153 million infants would have survived.
The post-1950 under-5 infant mortality in the modestly endowed but
peaceful and democratic Muslim country of Malaysia has not been too
bad [1.2m, 20.2% mort, 4.7% pop]. If the Malaysian stat of `4.7% pop’
is notionally applied to the Muslim countries of Turkey and Iran
(subject to massive US interference), formerly Soviet-occupied
Central Asia and Afghanistan (subject to UK, Russian and thence US
intervention) then we can calculate a `saving’ of 29 million infant
lives since 1950.
Similar country-by-country quantitative analysis indicates major US
contribution (through interference, threat, militarization and war)
to the horrendous post-1950 under-5 infant mortality in East Asia
(notably in China, North Korea, South Korea and Mongolia), in South
East Asia (notably in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and East
Timor) and in Arab North Africa and the Middle East (notably in
Libya, Iraq and in Israel’s neighbours). The post-1950 under-5 infant
mortality in all of Israel’s immediate neighbours totals 16.6
million.
The British, in addition to their invasive contributions in South
America, Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South East Asia, the
Pacific and the Middle East, left the South Asian subcontinent
crippled by colonialism and helped impose a further burden of
militarization, economic exclusion, debt and war. The total post-1950
under-5 infant mortality in South Asia has been 281.5 million.
Australia as a genocidal junior imperialist
Australia, having historically been involved in the decimation of the
indigenous populations of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and the
South Pacific, is proud of its 2 century record of military service
throughout the world for the British Empire `on which the sun never
set’. Since 1950 Australia has been militarily involved in UK and/or
US military adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Indonesia,
East Timor, Korea and Indo-China and hence complicit in the
horrendous infant mortalities in those countries.
The South Pacific is Australia’s `patch’ and the post-1950 under-5
infant mortality in the Pacific has been 1.1 million, with 0.9
million of this contributed by the former Australian colonial
possession of Papua New Guinea. The unilateral retention by Australia
of most of East Timor’s off-shore oil and gas reserves will ensure
continuing poverty and elevated infant mortality in that much-abused
country.
In 2004 the present Australian Government indicated that if deemed
necessary it would engage in pre-emptive strikes against neighbouring
countries and has refused to sign a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
that bans such attacks and which is adhered to by the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and various East Asian powers.
Australia has certainly learned well from its big Anglo-American
cousins.
Boycotting the Anglo-American Coalition to end global mass
infanticide
Peace is the only sensible way forward. Indeed violent opposition to
the US has brought appalling civilian suffering. Thus the under-5
infant mortality in Iraq since 1991 and in Afghanistan since 2001
totals 2.1 million as compared to about 1100 US military deaths in
combat in those theatres – a death ratio of about 2000 Muslim infants
per US soldier. This arises because major Anglo-American casualties
are unacceptable in domestic politics and accordingly any target must
be bombed and shelled from a distance before occupation – but at the
cost of enormous civilian casualties. Thus Fallujah has been
`destroyed in order to liberate it’ with over 0.2 million of its
former citizens now refugees in their own land.
The world must apply sensible feedback to halt the carnage. The
military-industrial complexes of the US and the UK have benefited
enormously from massive global military expenditure that now totals
$800 billion per year (with half of this being that of the US alone).
The extra funding of the US military-industrial complex since 9/11
has been about $400 billion and it is evident that the endless `War
on Terror’ in response to jihadist atrocities (5000 Western deaths in
the last 20 years) will continue to be immensely profitable to the US
and UK war industries. Feedback through economic boycotts would seem
appropriate for stopping imperial wars fought for economic benefit.
The world can only respond sensibly to continuing Anglo-American
Coalition war crimes by exposure, condemnation, boycotts, sanctions,
legal actions and bans applied to Coalition countries – and by making
“ethical purchases” from and “ethical investments” in non-involved
countries such as China, France, and Germany. Already formal
complaints over Coalition war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan have
been made to the International Criminal Court. The sheer magnitude of
the continuing Anglo-American crimes against the innocent must be
kept before the world – it is inconceivable that this mass
infanticide can continue unabated. Silence kills. Silence is
complicity. Inform everyone. Save the children.