Vernacular Anti-Imperialism (2011)

Abstract Geographies are taking center stage in debates about new, contested forms of imperialism. Geographers have developed a powerful analysis of the spatial dynamics of imperialism, which remains somewhat rarefied, obscuring many of the ways in which people speak about imperialism in their daily lives. Taking seriously the postcolonial injunction to listen to colonized peoples and to those who stand with and for them, this article describes empirical research among activists who bring anti-imperialism to practical political projects and in so doing animate and renew this way of thinking and speaking. Interviews were conducted with members of three politicized communities, who mobilized distinct anti-imperial traditions in their opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These interviews—with Muslims, nationalist-separatists, and socialists in the United Kingdom—chart a series of interconnected, vernacular spaces of resistance. They show and suggest how, in the grounded and heterogeneous places of activist practice, and through imaginative and rhetorical geographies of resistance, the ideas and languages of imperialism are being mobilized and measured, sometimes found wanting, but ultimately animated and renewed. En el escenario central de los debates sobre nuevas y controvertidas formas de imperialismo están tomando asiento nuevas geografías. Los geógrafos han desarrollado un análisis potente de la dinámica espacial del imperialismo, que permanece algo enrarecido, oscureciendo muchas de las formas como la gente se refiere al imperialismo en su cotidianidad. Tomando seriamente el mandamiento poscolonial de escuchar a los pueblos colonizados y a aquellos que los respaldan, este artículo describe la investigación empírica entre activistas que involucran el anti-imperialismo en proyectos políticos prácticos, animando y renovando así este modo de pensar y hablar. Se administraron entrevistas a miembros de tres comunidades politizadas, que movilizaron distintas tradiciones anti-imperiales en su oposición a las guerras de Afganistán e Irak. Estas entrevistas—con musulmanes, separatistas nacionalistas y socialistas del Reino Unido—dibujan una serie de espacios de resistencia vernáculos e interconectados. Las entrevistas muestran y sugieren las maneras como están siendo movilizadas y medidas las ideas y lenguajes sobre el imperialismo, en los lugares y escenarios heterogéneos de práctica activista y mediante imaginativas y retóricas geografías de resistencia, a veces apenas en ciernes, pero en últimas animosas y renovadas Key Words: activismanti-imperialismimperialismMuslimwar on terror关键词: 行动主义反帝国主义帝国主义穆斯林反恐战争Palabras clave: activismoanti-imperialismoimperialismomusulmanesguerra al terror Notes 1. Shameless, Series 4, Episode 6, Scene 6: “Spot-check.” 2. The “war on terror” was renamed the “Long War” by the Pentagon in the Quadrennial Defense Review of February 2006 (Dodds Citation2007). In the United Kingdom, counterterror officials belatedly recognized that the term “war on terror” could be offensive, and it was announced in November 2007 that government ministers would switch to “less emotive language, emphasizing the criminal nature of the plots and conspiracies” (Norton-Taylor Citation2007, 8). 3. Interviews are identified in this article with details of the interviewee's name and affiliation or position when the interview took place; the interviewer(s) (where Naima Boutledja is NB, Jamil Iqbal is JI, and Richard Phillips is RP); and the date on which the interview took place. Research aims were explained in writing and in person, and potential interviewees were asked where they would like to meet; most suggested their home, work place, or a cafe nearby. Permission to record interviews was sought and in each case granted, and each interviewee signed a statement of informed consent, granting permission to use information either anonymously or in their own name. Most agreed and indeed wanted to be named; those who did not remain anonymous in all reports and publications based on this research. Transcripts of interviews were sent or e-mailed to interviewees, who were given the opportunity to make clarifications anddeletions. 4. This article, published on 14 September 2001, was followed up with further front-page condemnations of “Anglo-American imperialism” and the “war drums of imperialism,” which were printed on 21 September 2001. 5. Mahir Sayar, a volunteer for the progressive Muslim group the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue, spoke of “slogans” such as “down with Israel and down with imperialism.” 6. This view was echoed by Gareth Finn, SNP/CND, RP, 2 December 2006. 7. The DIU was founded in China in 1926 by Kim II-sung to fight against Japanese imperialism and promote Marxism-Leninism. It is considered by North Korea to be the roots and foundation of its ruling party, the Workers Party of Korea.