Imperialism By Ghassan Kanafani Summary

Ghassan Kanafani, a famous Palestinian writer from the 20th century, portrays the reality of Imperialization. He states, “Imperialism has laid its body over the world, the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle East, it’s arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Whenever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the World Revolution” (Kanafani). He personifies Imperialization and describes it as a human body with different organs situated at different parts of the globe. Organs always take control of a specific function, and all the organs being interconnected within one body represents the formation of allies within the major powers; the powers consisted of the industrialized nations from the west. The west had industrialized before
They experienced what their colonies had gone through while under their control; which caused them to feel sympathetic towards the poor and weak countries. This also connects to the outcome of WWI and WWII. It brought not just death and destruction, but also the end of Imperialization. The World Wars had weakened the imperialist powers which made them go through intense devastation. This gave the colonies a small light of hope to gain their long awaited Independence. The colonized countries had been struggling in their own homelands, since they were being controlled for so long. They had no say in their own government and land, because the imperialist took control of their economy and laws. They were considered second class citizens in their own countries, while foreigners got the top status. After the destruction of the Wars, maintaining their own nations appeared very challenging for the Imperialist nations; to keep their colonies in balance and under control, it seemed as a demanding burden. The lack of resources, government support, and hope after the World Wars, had been the causes of decolonization; the colonies were disowned by the imperialists
“claimed” that North Vietnam had attacked their ships by the Gulf of Tonkin, this further resulted into a violent air raid in the North by the U.S. (the best military in the world). Half million U.S. troops were occupied, protecting South Vietnam and to prevent the spread of Communism in the South. This needless violence was caused by the competition present within the different governments. It had no longer been about enforcing the ideas, but rather causing an end to the opposing side. One of the effects of this competition was impressively seen in North Vietnam, when the U.S. bombed each corner of the nation. This war between the U.S. and North Vietnam turned out to be gory, even though the U.S. possessed a great army, North Vietnam returned their strikes. North Vietnam tried to be ahead of the game, so they planned to use their “secret path” to be able to attack directly at the U.S. troops. This path followed the region of North Vietnam through Cambodia and made it’s way to South Vietnam. South Vietnam was where the U.S. was dominated at, but soon they had discovered the path and bombed the “living hell” out of all these regions. It has been said that there were more bombs dropped in Southeast Asia, compared to the total amount of bombs dropped in the whole world combined. Massive bombing by the U.S. had caused the U.S. citizens to rethink their presence in Vietnam. The war efforts had begun to conflict with American Democratic Goals. This war continued