April 25 marks the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. For over 500 years, Portugal had maintained the world’s oldest colonial empire. The Portuguese military, fed up with costly colonial wars and with the Portuguese people behind them, overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime and brought democracy to Portugal, liberating Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and hastening the overthrow of the apartheid and white supremacist regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia.
It’s not difficult to compare these past events to the United States in the present; despite our ever-increasing military budget, America is struggling to maintain its colonial empire. In 2021, we saw the U.S. Army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking the end of the 20-year war as the Taliban swiftly retook the country from the U.S.-allied government. More recently, the U.S. government, mirroring Portugal’s covert support for the UN-sanctioned white supremacist and apartheid states of South Africa and Rhodesia, has unyieldingly supported the apartheid regime of Israel in its war against the Palestinian people. This is a deeply unpopular and consequential move that has led to protests across the country, as well as the alienation of Arab and Muslim communities.
This is jeopardizing the support and stability of the U.S.’ Muslim and Arab allies. The Middle East Eye reported that in Egypt and Jordan, U.S. allies that have continued their relationship with Israel using a business-as-usual approach, has led protesters who support the Palestinian people to clash with government forces. The U.S. cannot maintain its global hegemony if it alienates its regional allies and the American population.
How have our leaders responded to the prevalent domestic and foreign opposition to Israel’s war on the Palestinian people, a war that jeopardizes the U.S.’ own hegemony? In January, Nancy Pelosi claimed that pro-Palestinian protesters were being bankrolled by Vladimir Putin and called for the FBI to investigate them. It’s concerning that our national leaders sincerely believe that widespread opposition to the U.S. government’s support of the state of Israel is funded by foreign agents, but what is more concerning is the pervasive ignorance of Israel’s war on the people of Palestine.
Suppose our leaders like Pelosi can only respond to the cry of the people by delegitimizing their requests with unfounded accusations of foreign involvement, while a significant part of the American population chooses to remain apolitical in times of upheaval. In that case, it is unlikely that America can maintain its hegemonic domination over the changing world, as dismissing popular opposition to imperialism as foreign or irrelevant does nothing to address its root causes, nor stall the advance of history; nor will the suppression of the popular opposition to imperialism through state violence, as Pelosi alluded to, stall it. For as repressive as the PIDE – the Portuguese secret police – was, it did not save the empire and was abolished after the revolution.
Unlike Portugal in the 70s, I do not find it likely that the military will restore democracy to America. Nor do I imagine there exists a significant desire to decolonize our society. Colonialism is working well enough for most Americans, as such I imagine that America’s imperialist policies will continue for the foreseeable future. The Carnation Revolution ultimately showed that colonialism is dying and that empires are not permanent. It showed that empires cannot maintain themselves without popular support, and that no matter the number of tortures or murders the colonial authorities inflict, it will be unable to forestall its inevitable end in the face of popular calls for freedom and democracy.
Benjamin Zhou can be reached at [email protected].
