Essay on Hegemony
... 256). General de Gaulle challenged bipolarity because he believed that the only way to achieve multi-polarity was through many countries forming alliances against the two superpowers, “…extended diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China”(Twentieth Century World, 256). Che Guevara was also against bipolarity and believed in distributing power amongst the exploited “…underdeveloped continents”(Overfield, 350). Since wealth is the main source of military capability the economic competitiveness determines unequal military gains. Che Guevara was pessimistic of the U.S. monopoly in military capability, “Since imperialists blackmail humanity by threatening it with war”(Overfield, 350), and he concluded that since the U.S. is dominant in military capability, “weak and fearful local rulers” (Overfield, 350) would not have a chance in gaining more military power because they do not have the funds to compete. The American government allowed the CIA to spend large amounts of money for the military force in Chile, “organizing a military coup d’etat”(Overfield, 354) and to influence the outcome of the Chilean election of 1970. As mentioned, U.S. imperialism has become weak since countries around the world have begun to challenge U.S. power, especially since the U.S. threat of force does not always go over well when the other countries refuse to receive threatening aggression. The United States imperialism was all encompassing which fostered the existence of oppression. How the existence of oppression was fostered will now be discussed. Since the responsibility of government must extend to include rules and rights against perpetrating Johnson, 3 unlawful dissent, the U.S must have broken their own laws, which would foster the existence of structural and military oppression. A government acts oppressively when it directly or indirectly prevents a person from exercising basic human rights. All civil rights movements were critical in the articulation of social and political activism. The Feminists and the Black Power movement pressed for their equality rights, “…epitomize the roles we are all forced to play as women”(Overfield, 308), and to be liberated from societal oppression, “…living outside the value system white society imposes on all black Americans”(Overfield, 304). Oppression includes the structural oppression of the classes of people, for example, the rich of the poor. This was the situation when the Arabs threatened the use of their “oil weapon” when they realized “the extent of the power represented by this weapon”(Overfield, 378), and “the influence (they could have had) on the balance of world power ”(Overfield, 379). Military oppression can be understood as a policy whereby a state imposes its will on others through threatening the use of force. Che Guevara understood the situation of Vietnam to be an example of the U.S. trying to impose its threat of military involvement, and he came to the conclusion that “the wise reaction is not to fear war…launch a firm attack on all fronts where the confrontation is taking place”(Overfield, 350). Through reviewing the activities between the years 1965-80, the conclusion can be drawn that the United States has broken their own established rules and rights against perpetrating unlawful dissent, since they have acted oppressively towards their own citizens and citizens of other countries. Now to be discussed are the reasons why oppression did lead many people to seek a necessary and justified state of revolution. Revolution is justified through the conditions of oppression based on the violations of basic human rights and of the non- Johnson, 4 existence of lawful means by which to seek redress for these violations. The occurrences of long-term oppression around the world did not give citizens an opportunity to seek justice, and when individual’s opportunities to seek equality were threatened, many people would rationally believe that those circumstances were rational grounds to seek justice outside of government institutions. The first condition- oppression, was expressed by SNCC members in the 1967 pamphlet We Want Black Power, “The black man in America is exploited and oppressed…”(Overfield, 350), and under those conditions they concluded oppression could give rise to a revolt. The second condition- the non-existence of means by which to seek redress for violations of human rights, has been succinctly stated by Che Guevara “…what is our duty? To liberate ourse...