The White Anti-Imperialism of Scott Ritter and George Galloway
Scott and George are done showing solidarity with "the Arabs".
I will start with a candid disclaimer, as I may hurt some feelings. It's important to acknowledge that some of my most cherished comrades in the anti-imperialist struggle, including the most beloved person in my life, my mother, are white. Esteemed figures such as Michael Hudson, Miko Peled, Matt Kennard, and my friend Peter Beattie also share this racial identity. Despite these deep personal connections, we cannot overlook a glaring and persistent issue: the insidious blind spot many white anti-imperialists have towards their own ingrained racism and supremacist leanings.
It is a pathology akin to liberal racism - the paternalistic, infantilizing discrimination that ostensibly uplifts while insidiously denigrating. White anti-imperialists veer between this neo-colonial "white savior" condescension and the cruder, denigrating racism of the far-right.
The recent bigoted outbursts of Scott Ritter and George Galloway about "giving up on the Arabs" lay this prejudice bare. Their public renunciation of supporting half a billion Arabs reeks of deluded self-importance - as if these Westerners are such indispensable saviors that an entire ethno-religious group is imperiled by losing their favor.
Ritter and Galloway’s Transcendent Wisdom
In a recent video posted on X, George Galloway tells a caller that he has given up on "the Arabs" since the Syria debacle, with Scott Ritter expressing agreement. This revelation is particularly telling about the type of anti-imperialism both gentlemen espouse. Some Arabs have expressed their approval of Assad's overthrow—a sentiment they are entitled to hold. For Ritter and Galloway, however, this was reason enough to label “the Arabs” as Al-Qaeda supporters who did not deserve their sympathy or efforts.
This stance came shortly after a post in which Scott Ritter criticized some Palestinians who congratulated Syrians on overthrowing Assad, stating that “the greatest threat to a Palestinian state are Palestinians themselves.” Apparently unaware of the complexities of surviving amid imperial violence, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, Scott presumes to know what is best for them regarding the intricacies of intergroup strife in West Asia.
More critically, Scott decries that some Palestinians hold a different view on Assad’s role in West Asia and the resistance. He argues that because of this difference in opinion, it is the Palestinians themselves who pose the greatest threat to their own cause of liberation from Western (US/Israeli/EU/UK) imperialism in West Asia.
Let's flip the script: I would argue that it is the failure of Scott Ritter and other Westerners to stop their 'democratically' elected governments from bombing innocent people in Palestine and neighboring Arab countries that truly threatens the Palestinian cause. It is people like him—and us—who are the real dangers, as we consistently fail to stop our leaders. But, of course, this kind of self-reflection is unlikely to occur to a supremacist Western anti-imperialist who is accustomed only to dictating and pointing fingers, without ever looking in the mirror.
