What Are We Defending and Why?

American nationalistic beliefs don’t align with the world’s perspective because we don’t know our history and disbelieve dissident narratives.

I listened to the Counting Crows, Films About Ghosts album to travel to the time I believed the US was who it said it was and life was meaningful.

While the US and NATO invaded Iraq, I moved to Barcelona, not knowing I’d unlearn everything I had learned. The anti-American, NATO, and war sentiment surged throughout Europe, and Europeans condemned Americans for their bleak anti-war movement. They were furious.

The 2004 Madrid City bombings intensified anti-US tensions, and Spaniards blamed the attacks on the US and a Spanish conservative party for dragging the country into war. Spain pulled its troops out of Iraq a few months later, and I learned Europeans aren’t fond of us.

Europeans blatantly regarded Americans as stupid, naive, arrogant, and nationalistic, not glorious WWII liberators. They distrusted NATO and US interventions, staging unwavering protests while their governments aligned with American neocolonialism, neoconservative, and neoliberalism (free-market capitalism).

Europe transformed my perspective, revealing contrary information to the esteemed American democracy, and Argentina radicalized me.

Like most North Americans, I didn’t know much about Latin America. The War on Drugs and the media’s consistent violent news stories insisted the region wasn’t safe, dissuading Americans from traveling to the area. However, Europeans who had visited or lived in South America endlessly praised the continent and commented, “you’re from the US — you’ll be fine.”

I moved to Córdoba, Argentina, choosing the second-largest and less touristy city, and rented a room from a family. Argentines were still recovering from the 1976–1983 military dictatorship, the 1982 Falklands war, 1980s neoliberal policies, IMF loans with $5 billion annual interest charges, hyperinflation, austerity, political instability, corruption, and economic debt default.

The family that rented me a room argued incessantly about finances, and it wouldn’t be long until I found out that US foreign policy perpetuated their struggles. Argentina knows its dark past because it doesn’t want to repeat it, and an Argentine explained our history that we don’t learn.

The US aided and funded Argentina’s military dictatorship and knew it tortured, kidnapped, murdered, and threw innocent people out of planes, yet it continued supporting the regime. When the reign of terror ended, the US and the IMF introduced neoliberal and austerity policies, inducing financial pain.

Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and countries throughout the Global South endured similar horrors and economic restructures. These resource-rich nations aren’t incapable of providing safety and prosperity to citizens. They have less wealth than the West because our government claimed ownership of their assets and disallowed socialism.

Governments nationalized resources to redistribute wealth and invest in the public, but the US perceived these leaders as autocratic fascists and overthrew them. Yet, a centralized economy isn’t tyranny— it’s logical and essential for allocating goods to the people.

We don’t know the culture or the people’s objectives, yet we invade, claiming we’re restoring democracy. The US rules the world and invests every resource in maintaining it. Everything our government does is for wealth and power because the foundation of US interests is pursuing global dominance by any means.

Nothing, but my perspective has changed since 2004.

It’s the Republicans and the Democrats. Our government destroys lives, including ours, and we blame everything and everyone but the offender. We believe every country that doesn’t align with the US is undemocratic, yet our government is the global dictator.

The world has a shared history, but for many of us, its existence remains unknown. This is the story I know, and it’s true, but you’ll discredit my truth because it isn’t the version that you see. Yet, I understand because I believed too, and perhaps, it doesn’t matter that we believe in lies.

However, you can run, but you can’t hide because despair is everywhere, and it’s catching up to you.