Insurgency And Counter-Insurgency

On an Afghan Street

Counter-Insurgency resembles a ghost of Franz Fanon's nightmares. It is the sixth stage of Imperialism. Imperialism consisted of the first stage of unorganized efforts spreading into foreign lands, then a second stage of more and more organized efforts, then a third stage being a period of domination and exploitation, followed by a fourth stage of anti-imperial insurgency. The fifth stage is a period of fluctuating dysfunctonality/functionality of the new states founded on the locales of the imperialist domains. The sixth is the re-insertion of outside powers, such as the USSR and now NATO into a long term presence in Afghanistan. The West and the world built on the Western model will not allow any part of the globe to reside outside its power. Globalization, for all the print expended to limn it as purely economic and beneficial, is also an intolerant ideology, as intolerant as any Wahhabi Saudi Islam. Both Ideologies have Mythic narratives of exclusivity, which renders them unable to co-exist alongside cultures that are Mythically different. Thus, we are now watching the battle of ideologues. Ideologues, by definition, see the world through the Mythic (quasi-religious) narratives of Ideology. Each stage of Imperialism is marked by its own stories, narratives, and myths. Some remain the same, some are redacted forms of older versions, some are new. We are not freeing ourselves from the past.