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I find the annual Pew Global Attitudes Project poll fascinating, not least because it's a way to overcome my own feelings of alienation from the way the world is going. The Pew reveals my attitudes to be closer to those of the many than those of the few. And that's a good feeling. What's more, the survey brings hope. It confirms Chomsky's proverb: "There are now two superpowers on the planet, the U.S. and world opinion".
Today I thought I'd go through the latest Pew Global Attitudes Report -- entitled "Global Unease With Major World Powers" and released yesterday -- to see how the way majorities of people in the world are feeling tallies with the way I'm feeling. Call it the "Hey, My Attitudes Are Global!" Project.
Global distrust of American leadership is reflected in increasing disapproval of the cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy.
This is a no-brainer. Bush and Cheney are so corrupt that even their own political system has noticed -- they were yesterday subpoenaed for documents relating to wire-tapping. They consistently act as if they're above the law. Their foreign policy has been such a huge disaster that yesterday's tributes to Blair cited his support of it as his biggest failure.
Not only is there worldwide support for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but there also is considerable opposition to U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
I'm absolutely on-message with "the world" on this one. The Surge has failed in Iraq. Even Karzai in Afghanistan is criticizing the US and NATO for their heavy-handedness (read: killing civilians and treating Afghan life as if it were "cheap").
Global support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism ebbs ever lower. And the United States is the nation blamed most often for hurting the world's environment, at a time of rising global concern about environmental issues.
Here you can slip a cigarette paper between me and Mr/Ms World's view. I'm only not ebbing because I never supported this "long war" in the first place. And I'm only not blaming the US for impending environmental catastrophe because I don't think we can look to the US to be any sort of responsible global policeman, and because China this month actually overtook the US as the world's biggest CO2 emitter (one more indication that the 21st century is going to be a Chinese century -- for good or ill -- not a "new American" one, as the US neocons had it).
China's expanding economic and military power is triggering considerable anxiety. Large majorities in many countries think that China's growing military might is a bad thing, and the publics of many advanced nations are increasingly concerned about the impact of China's economic power on their own countries.
I don't think China is going to do anything as imperialist as the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions in my lifetime. They've threatened to use nuclear weapons should the US intervene in any Taiwan-related war, though. Generally I think I trust the PRC administration rather more than I do the American administration at this point, on things like militarism and environment. It's a pretty grim choice, though. And sure, China's rise does imply a corresponding fall in Europe, where we're simply going to become more geriatric, less wealthy and less numerous. At best, this means we're going to be pioneering "the next thing" -- a transition to post-industrial, post-material values -- and leaving the "last thing" -- 19th century style industrialism -- to China. This is already very apparent in Berlin, a city of the very old, the very unemployed, and artists. In short, I'm much more complacent about China's effect on Europe than most Europeans surveyed. I think we have to go with the flow, find the silver lining. But whenever politicians talk about creativity being as important as productivity -- and there was a bit of this in Segolene Royale's debate with Sarkozy -- they lose. We won't let go of 19th century models of economic growth easily. Brown certainly isn't going to abandon that model in Britain. Nevertheless, that growth is not going to continue, and should not continue. What we need instead is controlled, well-managed, eco-friendly shrinkage.
Russia and its president also are unpopular in many countries of the world.
I must say that I was fairly appalled by the state of Russia when I visited a couple of years ago.The sense that you could trust no-one. The brash commercial atmosphere, the extremes of wealth and poverty, the run-down infrastructure, the casinos everywhere. I've refused all invitations to return to play concerts there, mainly because of a sense of widespread corruption. But actually I think I share the perception of many Russians that Putin's fight with the oligarchs is necessary. Yeltsin's hypercapitalism was actually giving Russians the worst of all possible worlds -- creating a tiny hyper-rich class while the majority saw their life chances (and life expectancy) decline to worse-than-communist levels. If I'm rather more pro-Putin than most surveyed, I'm also rather more pro-Chavez.
Huge majorities in most countries also say they have little or no confidence in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to do the right thing regarding world affairs. There also is broad opposition to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
I actually agree with Zizek on this: Give Iranian nukes a chance. "In a mad world," says Zizek, "the logic of MAD still works... It is precisely because [harmony between the global spread of multi-party Western democracy and the economic and geopolitical interests of the United States] can in no way be taken for granted that countries like Iran should possess nuclear arms to constrain the global hegemony of the United States."
African publics are increasingly concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor. In addition, the belief that economic inequality represents a major global danger has become much more prevalent in South Korea and Russia.
Count me with the Africans, the Russians and the South Koreans on this one. Widening Gini rifts are the biggest headache of our time, and very radical interventionist measures are required to correct the "invisible hand" -- a hand that, left to do its invisible work, kills and oppresses millions.
Most people in the survey, conducted in 46 countries and the Palestinian territories, have a favorable view of the United Nations... For the most part, global opinion of the European Union parallels opinion of the U.N.
I'm with "most people" on this; I have favourable opinions of both the UN and the EU, which I wish would hurry up and become a liberal-progressive superstate and throw its liberal-progressive weight around on the world stage. I'm entirely in favour of the EU having a Foreign Minister, for instance -- something Tony Blair fought against and failed to stop at last week's EU Treaty talks. And it's Gordon's anti-Europeanism that makes me least bouncy about Brown. Likely adoption date by the UK of the Euro: never, at present.
The U.S. image remains abysmal in most Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia, and continues to decline among the publics of many of America's oldest allies. Favorable views of the U.S. are in single digits in Turkey (9%) and have declined to 15% in Pakistan. Currently, just 30% of Germans have a positive view of the U.S. – down from 42% as recently as two years ago – and favorable ratings inch ever lower in Great Britain and Canada.
Back in 2001, you'd have found me living in New York and telling Index magazine "The American Dream is a thing you plug into when you get here, a common property for all of humanity." Well, I'm not saying that now. And even if I were, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Survey, all of humanity would most likely respond with a peal of hollow, bitter laughter.
Being on-message with world opinion feels good, even a reason for guarded optimism. But I have to give the last, cautionary note to Chomsky: "There's a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy."
Today I thought I'd go through the latest Pew Global Attitudes Report -- entitled "Global Unease With Major World Powers" and released yesterday -- to see how the way majorities of people in the world are feeling tallies with the way I'm feeling. Call it the "Hey, My Attitudes Are Global!" Project.
Global distrust of American leadership is reflected in increasing disapproval of the cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy.
This is a no-brainer. Bush and Cheney are so corrupt that even their own political system has noticed -- they were yesterday subpoenaed for documents relating to wire-tapping. They consistently act as if they're above the law. Their foreign policy has been such a huge disaster that yesterday's tributes to Blair cited his support of it as his biggest failure.
Not only is there worldwide support for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but there also is considerable opposition to U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
I'm absolutely on-message with "the world" on this one. The Surge has failed in Iraq. Even Karzai in Afghanistan is criticizing the US and NATO for their heavy-handedness (read: killing civilians and treating Afghan life as if it were "cheap").
Global support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism ebbs ever lower. And the United States is the nation blamed most often for hurting the world's environment, at a time of rising global concern about environmental issues.
Here you can slip a cigarette paper between me and Mr/Ms World's view. I'm only not ebbing because I never supported this "long war" in the first place. And I'm only not blaming the US for impending environmental catastrophe because I don't think we can look to the US to be any sort of responsible global policeman, and because China this month actually overtook the US as the world's biggest CO2 emitter (one more indication that the 21st century is going to be a Chinese century -- for good or ill -- not a "new American" one, as the US neocons had it).
China's expanding economic and military power is triggering considerable anxiety. Large majorities in many countries think that China's growing military might is a bad thing, and the publics of many advanced nations are increasingly concerned about the impact of China's economic power on their own countries.
I don't think China is going to do anything as imperialist as the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions in my lifetime. They've threatened to use nuclear weapons should the US intervene in any Taiwan-related war, though. Generally I think I trust the PRC administration rather more than I do the American administration at this point, on things like militarism and environment. It's a pretty grim choice, though. And sure, China's rise does imply a corresponding fall in Europe, where we're simply going to become more geriatric, less wealthy and less numerous. At best, this means we're going to be pioneering "the next thing" -- a transition to post-industrial, post-material values -- and leaving the "last thing" -- 19th century style industrialism -- to China. This is already very apparent in Berlin, a city of the very old, the very unemployed, and artists. In short, I'm much more complacent about China's effect on Europe than most Europeans surveyed. I think we have to go with the flow, find the silver lining. But whenever politicians talk about creativity being as important as productivity -- and there was a bit of this in Segolene Royale's debate with Sarkozy -- they lose. We won't let go of 19th century models of economic growth easily. Brown certainly isn't going to abandon that model in Britain. Nevertheless, that growth is not going to continue, and should not continue. What we need instead is controlled, well-managed, eco-friendly shrinkage.
Russia and its president also are unpopular in many countries of the world.
I must say that I was fairly appalled by the state of Russia when I visited a couple of years ago.The sense that you could trust no-one. The brash commercial atmosphere, the extremes of wealth and poverty, the run-down infrastructure, the casinos everywhere. I've refused all invitations to return to play concerts there, mainly because of a sense of widespread corruption. But actually I think I share the perception of many Russians that Putin's fight with the oligarchs is necessary. Yeltsin's hypercapitalism was actually giving Russians the worst of all possible worlds -- creating a tiny hyper-rich class while the majority saw their life chances (and life expectancy) decline to worse-than-communist levels. If I'm rather more pro-Putin than most surveyed, I'm also rather more pro-Chavez.
Huge majorities in most countries also say they have little or no confidence in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to do the right thing regarding world affairs. There also is broad opposition to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
I actually agree with Zizek on this: Give Iranian nukes a chance. "In a mad world," says Zizek, "the logic of MAD still works... It is precisely because [harmony between the global spread of multi-party Western democracy and the economic and geopolitical interests of the United States] can in no way be taken for granted that countries like Iran should possess nuclear arms to constrain the global hegemony of the United States."
African publics are increasingly concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor. In addition, the belief that economic inequality represents a major global danger has become much more prevalent in South Korea and Russia.
Count me with the Africans, the Russians and the South Koreans on this one. Widening Gini rifts are the biggest headache of our time, and very radical interventionist measures are required to correct the "invisible hand" -- a hand that, left to do its invisible work, kills and oppresses millions.
Most people in the survey, conducted in 46 countries and the Palestinian territories, have a favorable view of the United Nations... For the most part, global opinion of the European Union parallels opinion of the U.N.
I'm with "most people" on this; I have favourable opinions of both the UN and the EU, which I wish would hurry up and become a liberal-progressive superstate and throw its liberal-progressive weight around on the world stage. I'm entirely in favour of the EU having a Foreign Minister, for instance -- something Tony Blair fought against and failed to stop at last week's EU Treaty talks. And it's Gordon's anti-Europeanism that makes me least bouncy about Brown. Likely adoption date by the UK of the Euro: never, at present.
The U.S. image remains abysmal in most Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia, and continues to decline among the publics of many of America's oldest allies. Favorable views of the U.S. are in single digits in Turkey (9%) and have declined to 15% in Pakistan. Currently, just 30% of Germans have a positive view of the U.S. – down from 42% as recently as two years ago – and favorable ratings inch ever lower in Great Britain and Canada.
Back in 2001, you'd have found me living in New York and telling Index magazine "The American Dream is a thing you plug into when you get here, a common property for all of humanity." Well, I'm not saying that now. And even if I were, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Survey, all of humanity would most likely respond with a peal of hollow, bitter laughter.
Being on-message with world opinion feels good, even a reason for guarded optimism. But I have to give the last, cautionary note to Chomsky: "There's a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy."