Anti-War Leaders Fear US Fast Food Threat to Iraq
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
April 11, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - Many Iraqi citizens have taken to the streets in recent days to celebrate their freedom from dictator Saddam Hussein. But that joy could turn to sorrow, anti-war protesters warn, when the Iraqis begin to see their country adopt western cultural values.
Stephanie Schaudel, co-coordinator for Voices in the Wilderness, an anti-war group in Chicago, said the "richness of culture" in Iraq is going to be subjected to Americanization by U.S. corporations during the post-war rebuilding of the war-torn nation. The result, she indicated, would be difficult for Iraqis to swallow.
"Some people would think that seeing a KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) on a street corner is a sign of progress, I certainly don't," Schaudel said.
Schaudel sees the destruction from the war as the greatest threat to the Iraqi people, but believes their suffering will continue as America's cultural influence increases.
"You can just look at what those kinds of businesses have done to the diet and health of many Americans to think that it might not be the number one thing we should be exporting," she explained.
"Iraqis have really good food, they don't need a KFC," she added.
A coalition of anti-war groups is scheduled to march in several cities across the nation and world on Saturday to protest the war. Anti-globalization protesters are also planning to march at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington this weekend.
The export of American culture has historically tainted other nations, according to Schaudel.
"You can look in so many different corners of the world, where very similar operations have happened, where the U.S. either covertly or overtly has backed military takeovers, and then not long after that, you see multi-nationals and U.S. corporations coming in there," Schaudel said.
Peter Cook, an organizer with the radical anti-war group International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), agrees about the threat of American culture to the Iraqis.
"The U.S is putting in place an old-fashioned colonial regime [in Iraq]. We can be pretty sure that the U.S. is going to be impacting all aspects of Iraqi society," Cook said. He also does not believe Iraqi citizens will benefit from America's influence or rebuilding.
"I am not sure colonialism has ever made anybody better off except a few people in colonial power," Cook said.
Despite the U.S. commitment to rebuild Iraq following a decade of economic sanctions and the war, Cook is not optimistic. "The People of Iraq are not the ones who are going to benefit from this," he said.
Dustin Langley, a spokesman for International A.N.S.W.E.R. in Washington D.C., sees the Americanization of Iraq as inevitable.
"What we will see is they will enter this homogenized McDonalds culture and of course we will see a loss of local traditions and a local way of life," Langley said.
"That is something that happens all over the place, and it is certainly something that is going to happen once the U.S. occupies and controls the media and probably forcibly brings U.S. corporations into the situation," he added.
Colonel Sanders Vs. Chemical Ali
But, Tom Kilgannon, president of the Freedom Alliance, a group concerned about U.S. sovereignty issues, believes there are worse things than to expose Iraqi citizens to American culture.
"You can make a case that fast food is not the healthiest part of a balanced diet, but it certainly beats weapons of mass destruction," Kilgannon said.
"The people of Iraq will be much better off with meals from [KFC's founder] Colonel Sanders than from Chemical Ali," Kilgannon said, referring to the man responsible for the chemical attacks on the Kurds in Northern Iraq in the 1980s.
Kilgannon believes the Iraqis will determine their own form of government and will benefit greatly from the U.S. post-war rebuilding effort.
"I agree with the president that we will help the Iraqi people form their own government and I have every confidence that the Iraqi people will be able to make the decision as to what is best for them," Kilgannon said.
The anti-war protesters, who believe Iraqi citizens will get little or no say in how their new government functions, also reject the images on television of Iraqis welcoming the U.S. soldiers.
"If somebody bombs my neighborhoods, and then they come in with big guns, I think that more than likely people are going to go out there and try and befriend them when you are defenseless," Cook explained.
"I don't give [TV images] much weight. I look at it as pure propaganda -- very definitely orchestrated," he added.
Langley does not believe the U.S. will export capitalism to Iraq, but instead impose a military style regime.
"What they're going to have there is not properly described as free enterprise. The U.S. companies will be given control over the economy so it will be more like a military, corporate occupation, not Adam Smith-style free enterprise," Langley said.
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