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Nobel Memorial Prize winner in Economic Sciences, Angus Deaton, summed up the perpetual concept of violence and poverty very succinctly. ‘“When students come to me and ask me, “How should I help the poor of the world, should I go to Bangladesh, should I go to Africa?” And I say, “No you should go to Washington.”’

The quote is taken from a forthcoming MIT publication titled “Experimental Conversations”, which features interviews with academics and experts in development economics. Its relevance can be applied to the context of dependence, violence and the perpetrators of this interminable cycle which, as recent happenings have demonstrated constitute the fulcrum of imperialism’s stronghold over nations.

The turmoil instigated by the US in Libya and Syria, not to mention the history of European colonial exploitation of the African continent, have perpetuated a state of permanent deprivation. Washington may seek to construct illusions of alternative empires. Yet, the political manipulation which has eclipsed diplomatic rhetoric managed to create a realm in which the humanitarian is deftly dissociated from the political, creating a society which is unaccustomed to confront the orchestrator of poverty and instead seeks to alleviate symptoms.

From seeking to undermine the Cuban Revolution and murder Fidel Castro, backing the military coup in Chile that terminated Salvador Allende’s socialist endeavour, the persistent attempts at destroying Venezuela, to the “War on Terror” project, the US operates through one particular premise – enforcing perpetual turmoil that creates unwilling victims. In turn, exploitation is facilitated while people suffer the ramifications of hegemony. Massacres, forced displacement, torture – all in the name of fighting the terror that is financed and backed by the same entities.

Attention should, indeed be directed towards Washington. Each consequence has a root cause and it has become a global conspiracy to eliminate the need to extrapolate what causes the ramifications of imperialist intervention. Conveniently, the US is seeking to depict Russia as another empire due to its recent involvement in Syria. However, mainstream media has not reported on the fact during the G20 Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin has explicitly stated that countries allegedly seeking to eliminate ISIS are involved in funding the organisation. Also, despite growing influence, so far Russia does not fit the concept of empire, which is a realm the US has cultivated for its own interests.

The US has long promulgated the myth of democracy which is a mere euphemism for its bombing people to save people strategy. When bombs subside, a new political territory is unleashed in which violence mutates, semblances of subjugated governments are installed and the international community, through the UN, takes on the futile task of attempting to convince spectators that violent transitions are necessary. Meanwhile, companies and international financial organisations step in to assert their authority.

Chile’s September 11 paved the way for the violent neoliberal experiment to materialise. Indeed, although several countries have been ravaged by the US, Chile retains a particular memory that is not easy to dismiss. Its society remains shackled to dictatorship ramifications, with evidence of inequality and discrimination, the latter mainly directed against the Mapuche population.

Libya can be cited as an example. With militias controlling oil reserves and competing governments struggling over recognition, the World Bank has declared that “Although the bank’s post-conflict engagement was initially expected to accompany only Libya’s short-term economic recovery efforts, the transition program will lay the foundations for longer term goals.”

In 2013, two years after the foreign intervention that destroyed Libya, leaders admitted that the country was using its financial reserves and considered entering into further debt to ease the economic contractions by resorting to foreign loans – a stance that former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had staunchly rejected. Going back to the source necessitates not only recognition of imperialist strategies of on-going chaos, but also to seek a concentrated effort aimed at exposing the hypocritical façade of democracy.