Long ago, the USA invaded Iraq citing weapons of mass destruction as the reason. Years later, many including retired British civil servant Sir John Chilcot concluded that intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction was presented with unwarranted certainty, that peaceful alternatives to war had not been exhausted, that the United Kingdom and United States had undermined the authority of the United Nations Security Council, that the process of identifying the legal basis was “far from satisfactory”, and that a war in 2003 was unnecessary.
Similarly in case of Britain’s CIA backed removal of Muhammad Mussadegh from Iran’s Presidency was widely regretted later. It turned Iran into a ‘dictatorial democracy’ forever and became a predecessor for the 1979 Iranian revolution. The similar decision to overthrow a regime in Libya pushed the country into civil war and created more problems for the world then the ones it has solved.
If we look at all these incidences, parallels can be drawn between them and the Trayvon Martin shooting. Trayvon Martin was killed on suspicion by a man who had assumed that Trayvon was looking to break into houses for burglary. His conversation with Sanford police’s non-emergency number operator was more of allegations that he conjured up from Trayvon’s appearance. Zimmerman said to the telephone operator that “this guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something.” How he concluded that unknown. He further said that the person had his hand in his waistband and was walking around looking at homes thus portraying him as having some weapon. He also mentioned that Martin was wearing a “dark hoodie, like a grey hoodie” as if only such guys looking for breaking into houses wear them. Zimmerman sealed Trayvon’s fate when he said, “these as***es, they always get away” and was soon running after Trayvon thus intimidating him.
Almost on a daily basis, the world is hearing and reading reports about how dangerous North Korea is getting and how inevitable it is to stop North Korea immediately
Zimmerman didn’t confirm if Trayvon was a real threat or not. However by alarming him and jumping at him, he did forced Trayvon to act in self-defense and retaliate. For Trayvon it might be a racist attack which warranted a fight or flight reaction; however we will never be able to know that now because Trayvon is dead. Moreover this retaliation of his eventually became a reason which Zimmerman’s lawyer used to justify Trayvon’s shooting.
Had Zimmerman confirmed if Trayvon was a real threat and had he waited in his car and not followed him thus intimidating Trayvon, there is a good chance that Trayvon would have been alive today. This is what exactly was done during Iraq invasion and this is what was done in Mussadigh’s overthrow. I would rather call all those past, present and future incidences an act of “Zimmermanism” where people, governments or individuals such as politicians are attacked by others such as a neighborhood watch man, another government or a group of governments, or a military alliance without first establishing beyond any doubt that the victim is a real threat and that attacking him will not produce even bigger problems.
Zimmermanism is much like Xenophobia (that is the fear of the unfamiliar) and it can be considered “lone or wolf pack attack on that which is perceived to be threat and that perception is produced from own fears, prejudices and biases against that which is perceived to be threat.” In all these acts of Zimmermanism, the attacker uses false propaganda and conjure up false facts to justify their acts of aggression. A research has shown that as many as 935 false statements about Iraq were issued over a period of two-years during the Iraq invasion. How many false facts must have been used for changing Mossadegh regime is yet to be identified however Kermit Roosevelt Jr. did used propaganda to remove Mossadegh.
An interesting thing about the phenomenon of Zimmermanism is that in almost all cases, the attackers and aggressors are freed with no charges. In other words they escape justice
It seems that North Korea will soon be subjected to Zimmermanism. Almost on a daily basis, the world is hearing and reading reports about how dangerous North Korea is getting and how inevitable it is to stop North Korea immediately. One must not forget that whereas Iran, Iraq, Libya and other such governments that had faced Zimmermanism, were non-nuclear weapon states. On the contrary, North Korea is a nuclear state. An attack on North Korea has the capacity to disrupt the life of whole Asian subcontinent. The retaliation from North Korea will also be disrupting enough for the USA and its allies. How many of the facts that are shared on daily basis about North Korea are actually false will only be known once the international alliances that are against Kim Jon-Ung will be able to successfully change the regime in North Korea or make it much worse. Before beating the war trumpet by the world, all options should be carefully considered even before talking about an invasion of North Korea. Trump when once said that he is ready to meet Kim Jon Ung, the world criticized him for his duality; however all proponents of peace actually admired it.
An interesting thing about phenomenon of Zimmermanism is that in almost all cases, the attackers and aggressors are freed with no charges. In other words they escape justice. If Iraq was indeed free from any of those weapons that were told to be there then someone should have been held accountable for this misinformation. Similarly all those propagandas that were initiated against Mussadegh were just propagandas than did anyone received any punishment for doing this? Who should be held responsible for the destabilized Iraq and dictatorial democracy in Iran?
The author is an Assistant Professor. He tweets at @Prof_MKShaikh
Published in Daily Times, November 4th 2017.