Towards the Ruination of Empire
What does it mean to be an anti-imperialist today?
In an earlier dispatch written in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I endeavored to mark the distinction between Empire (with a capital “E”) and empires (with a little “e”). To do so, I first had to mark the distinction between territorial nations and non-territorial nations: territorial nations being those that make, maintain, and conquer territories over which they reign sovereign and supreme; non-territorial nations being those that share territories with other nations whom they continuously consult, engage in negotiations, and become confluent with. After marking the distinction between territorial nations and non-territorial nations, I proceeded to mark the distinction between Empire (with a capital “E”) and empires (with a little “e”) as follows:
As I see it, any and every act by and through which a nation makes, maintains, and conquers privileged territories for themselves is an act of nationalist imperialism. This is to say, in other words, that all territorial nations are perpetually engaged in acts of nationalist imperialism insofar as they are all perpetually engaged in making and maintaining their own privileged territories against others. Going further, this also means that the maintenance of a balance of power amongst territorial nations is just as much an act of nationalist imperialism as the upsetting of a balance of power by a territorial nation with hegemonic aspirations. Indeed, riffing on the work of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, the making and maintenance of a balance of power amongst a group of territorial nations is what I call the making and maintenance of Empire with a capital “E”; and the making and maintenance of a single expansionary territorial nation is what I call the making and maintenance of an empire with a lower case “e”. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is, in these terms, a conflict between empire and Empire — Russia has attacked Ukraine in order to expand its own (little “e”) empire but, in so doing, it is threatening the stability of (capital “E”) Empire.
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Empire (with a capital “E”) will allow empires (with a little “e”) to pursue genocidal, ethnocidal, and ecocidal projects unimpeded provided (i) that empires do not step on each other's toes too often as they go about their business and (ii) that empires do not stomp on the necks of conquered peoples in an “uncivilized” manner that egregiously offends Empire’s prevailing sensibilities. Given that Empire’s prevailing sensibilities are, at present, white-supremacist sensibilities, empires are presently allowed much more liberty to stomp harshly on the necks of non-White peoples and much less liberty to stomp harshly on the necks of White peoples.
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A White-on-White offense, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is a test of Empire’s power to check the excesses of empires. Many worry that Empire, led by the United States and its European allies, will fail to check the expansion of the Russian empire and then, by extension, the Chinese empire, and that this will spell the end for Empire as we know it.
In this dispatch, seeking to understand what it means to be an anti-imperialist today, I would like to further develop the distinction between Empire (with a capital “E”) and empires (with a little “e”) by considering two other imperialisms in their relations to nationalist imperialisms.
In the book Tools for Conviviality, Ivan Illich described three different modes of imperialism, each successive mode being more insidious and intractable than the last. First, he described a nationalist imperialism that is characterized by “the pernicious spread of one nation beyond its boundaries.” Second, he described a capitalist imperialism that is characterized by “the omnipresent influence of multinational corporations.” Third, and finally, he described a careerist imperialism, the most insidious and intractable of the three, characterized by “the mushrooming of professional monopolies over production.” Nationalist imperialisms, capitalist imperialisms, and careerist imperialisms, though different from one another, are not mutually exclusive imperialisms. To the contrary, they defer to one another, being mutually dependent and deeply interlocked with one another, a fact that becomes readily apparent when one one maps the three imperialisms.
A Map of Nationalist Imperialisms: This map of the globe outlines the borders of (little “e”) empires and highlights those (little “e”) empires that are affiliated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO is the international military alliance that presently prevails over (capital “E”) Empire and determines its sensibilities.
A Map of Capitalist Imperialisms: This map of the globe, included in the World Atlas of Global Issues, outlines the borders of (little “e”) empires and locates the headquarters of the 2000 most profitable multi-national corporations within (little “e”) empires.
On [this] map of the stock market capitalization of the 2,000 major multinational companies in 2017, the size of the circles is proportional to their weight in terms of stock market capitalization. The weight of United States firms can be seen (44%, compared with 22% for all European firms). The range of colors indicates progress made over the last decade: in addition to the growth of United States companies, an increase in those of emerging Asian countries is visible, at a time when some European, Japanese, and Latin-American firms are stagnating.
A Map of Careerist Imperialisms: This map of the globe outlines the borders of (little “e”) empires and locates the 800 most prestigious universities, the ones that host and produce the most elite professionals, according to Times Higher Education. The map shows that North America and Europe “dominate” international higher education.
One thing that is immediately apparent to anyone who looks at the three maps above is the fact that the nations affiliated with NATO are the nations that tend to host the greatest number of profitable corporations and the greatest number of prestigious universities. This is no coincidence: militaries are, of course, the most powerful weapons of both (capital “E”) Empire and (little “e”) empires, but corporations and universities are critical supplementary weapons. Indeed, some say that the imperial operations of militaries, corporations, and universities have become so deeply interlocked that they can no longer be regarded separately, with the result being that it is better refer to each individual (little “e”) empire as “military-industrial-academic complex”.
From my vantage point, however, corporations and universities do not simply support imperial military operations, which is what the term “military-industrial-academic complex” is often meant to indicate. As I see it, corporations and universities also engage in their own distinct imperial operations with minimal military involvement and support. On the one hand, (capital “E”) Empire employs universities and corporations to drain intellectual and financial resources, respectively, from upstart nations in such a way as to maintain a balance of power with minimal military involvement and support. On the other hand, (little “e”) empires that know how to manipulate the university system and the corporate system can figure out ways to drain intellectual and financial resources from the status quo powers of (capital “E”) Empire, undermining the Imperial balance of power with minimal military involvement and support.
“Brain drain” is the common name for the effects of the imperial operations that are threatened and carried out by universities. “Capital flight” is the common name for the effects of the imperial operations that are threatened and carried out by corporations. Due to the circumstances of my own birth, I am very sensitive to the fact that brain drain and capital flight are the effects of imperial operations: I was blessed with the “privilege” of being born a citizen of a NATO status quo nation because brain drain and capital flight had enabled my parents to migrate from a postcolonial African nation to a NATO status quo nation.
The prevailing sensibilities amongst both (capital “E”) Empire and (little “e”) empires are presently such that it is best practice to prioritize the deployment of corporations and universities in imperial operations over and above the deployment militaries. Some militaries today have come to resent playing back-up to corporations and universities and are seeking ways to (re-)gain their priority in imperial operations, but most militaries are patiently standing ready and waiting for priorities to shift back in their favor when push likely comes to shove.
To understand why push is likely to come to shove, let us return to the three maps displayed above. You will note that China is the only nation that isn’t affiliated with NATO in any way that has managed to develop and maintain a comparable number of profitable corporations and prestigious universities relative to NATO affiliated nations. India and Brazil deserve honorable mention in this regard, for being unaffiliated with NATO but still hosting a significant number of profitable corporations and prestigious universities. Considering that Russia is the leading rogue power on the fringes of NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, and considering that South Africa is the most powerful nation on the African continent, it is no wonder that the NATO status quo nations are worried that the so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) might band together and upend (capital “E”) Empire’s current status quo.
Increasingly afraid of the rise of the BRICS, the NATO status quo nations are endeavoring to weaken the two most powerful nations amongst the BRICS, Russia and China, while also endeavoring to fold Brazil, India, and South Africa into the status quo as second tier nations. Given current best practices, the NATO status quo nations are presently deploying their corporations and universities as their primary weapons. NATO affiliated universities and corporations are under pressure to restrict the academic mobility and the financial liquidity that is available to Russian and Chinese nationals who are imagined to be threats, and they are being urged to provide increased academic mobility and financial liquidity to Brazilian, Indian, and South African nationals that are present themselves as good risks for the NATO status quo.
But efforts to use “peaceful” means to maintain hegemony have been failing: global inequities in favor of the NATO status quo nations are so immense that they are frustrating the growing aspirations of the BRICS at every juncture and inspiring them to join up in order to upset the status quo. The NATO status quo nations are now having to face the reality that they cannot “peacefully” prevail over (capital “E”) Empire for much longer: they will either have to use their military might to suppress the BRICS or they will have to relinquish their hegemony and accommodate the BRICS as equals in a new status quo. Unfortunately for global majority, the NATO status quo nations are presently spoiling for a fight: they are arming themselves to the teeth and refusing to negotiate an end to their unequaled hegemony over the international institutions that set the global agendas for militaries, corporations, and universities.
The NATO status quo nations have justified maintaining an uncompromising stance towards their rivals by claiming to have “earned” their hegemony through “good” works — they maintain that their militaries make wars to advance democracy and freedom, that their corporations innovate for the future, and that their universities produce the finest global leaders and change-makers. The reality is, however, that NATO’s hegemony over (capital “E”) Empire has been characterized by unprecedented ethnocidal and ecocidal horrors, and the militaries, corporations, and universities of the NATO nations have overseen these horrors, sometimes only passively but oftentimes actively. To quote from my previous dispatch:
100 million people are displaced, 2 billion people are hungry and 4 billion in poverty, Earth’s wildlife populations have plummeted more than two-thirds over the past half century, half of all the languages on Earth are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear within a century, the climate catastrophes have only just begun, responses to a global pandemic have inspired the governments of the Global North to double down on a global apartheid system that restricts the mobility of the peoples of the Global South, and Empire’s floundering leader, the United States of America, is using its “discretion” to fund its police and military forces above all else in preparation for who knows what…
To sum the matter up much more concisely, the NATO status quo nations are the nations primarily responsible for the perpetration and perpetuation of the ongoing Late Davosian Holocausts. That being said, however, we mustn’t fool ourselves into thinking that bringing about a new Imperial order led by the BRICS will bring about a better world. To the contrary, we must recognize that all prior endeavors to establish new Imperial orders have entailed genocides, ethnocides, and ecocides, and there are no viable prospects at present for bringing about a new Imperial order led by the BRICS without initiating further genocides, ethnocides, and ecocides.
To counter the forces of genocide, ethnocide, and ecocide today is to be an anti-imperialist, and to be an anti-imperialist is to encourage people to desert (capital “E”) Empire and (little “e”) empires and let them both fall into ruins — this means, in other words, to encourage people to desert the military, the corporation, and the university and let these vessels of imperial power fall into ruins.
Those who propose that we ought to “reform” the military, the corporation, and the university in order to “save the world” are, in fact, proposing that we ought to optimize ongoing genocides, ethnocides, and ecocides so as to make them more tolerable and less offensive to their perpetrators and their victims. To interpolate a text by Michel Serres, if you critically examine the sum total of all progressive initiatives to “reform” the military, the corporation, and the university, you will find that all these reformist initiatives together “amount to the image of a ship sailing at twenty-five knots toward a rocky bar on which it will inevitably be smashed to pieces, and on whose bridge the officer of the watch advises the engine room to reduce speed by a tenth without changing direction.” This is an ugly truth that almost no one in a position of power will admit today, excepting those reactionary fascists who are yelling, “Onward! Full speed ahead!”
To be an anti-imperialist today means refusing to take the helm and steer the ship to safety, refusing to take responsibility for changing the direction in which the doomed ship of Empire is heading. Indeed, to be an anti-imperialists today means wanting to see the doomed ship of Emprie go smash. That being said, however, anti-imperialists believe that reducing the ship’s speed is necessary to give people enough time to gather what is precious to them, abandon ship, and watch the ship go smash from a safe distance. Ay, anti-imperialists everywhere are desperately trying to slow things down, urgently advising people to gather and hold everything dear, and urgently searching for and developing ways for people to abandon ship as safely as possible. This means that, on the one hand, anti-imperialists are working to counter the initiatives of the fascist reactionaries who are doing everything they can to ensure that the ship goes smash as fast and hard as it can; and, on the other hand, anti-imperialists are working to counter the initiatives of the progressive liberals who only aim to slow things down enough to make sure that everyone aboard the ship is properly seated with seatbelts fastened before the ship goes smash.
But anti-imperialists cannot effectively ask people to desert the military, the corporation, and the university and to abandon the doomed ship of Empire unless anti-imperialists can do two things:
Deconstruct the statements, implements, and environments that have enabled the military, the corporation, and the university to discourage and prevent desertion and impoverish, imprison, and/or kill deserters; and
(Re-)construct statements, implements, and environments that enable desertion and enable deserters to make convivial lives for themselves while (capital “E”) Empire and (little “e”) empires fall into ruins
Anti-imperialists today are working to slow down the doomed ship of Empire just long enough for them to effectively do these two things before abandoning ship with everyone and everything they hold dear. To this end, some anti-imperialists must to infiltrate the engine rooms of the doomed ship, jam up its workings, and force slow downs. This means, in other words, that some anti-imperialists today must buy themselves and others time to engage in convivial (de-/re-)construction projects by infiltrating and sabotaging the imperial operations of the military, the corporation, and the university. Ay, and the degree to which the anti-imperialists succeed in this regard will be the degree to which the doomed ship of Empire will have already become an abandoned ruin before it goes smash.
