A new poll shows that the Arab world has a more negative opinion of the United States and president Barack Obama than the year before. As the U.S. attempts to position itself as a leader in the region in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts, the poll shows increased resistance to Amerikan hegemony.
Obama promised to bring “hope and change” not only to the United States but to the rest of the world too. As the imperial United States exerts its power and influence around the world, the election of the U.S. president is paid attention to by the peoples of the world as well as in the United States. Obama was thought to bring in a new era of improved relations between the U.S. and the rest of the world in contrast to the jingoism of Bush. But as we have shown many times Amerikan imperialism as a system continued under a new face.
The poll conducted by the Arab American Institute was taken of 4,000 respondents of six Arab countries: Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The polls show that the hopes the Arab world put on the U.S. and Obama has evaporated. The favorability ratings for the United States have plummeted in 2010, in some cases even lower than they were under the Bush presidency. Less than 10 percent polled have a favorable view of Obama. Saudi Arabia has a 30 percent favorable attitude of the United States, down from 41 percent in 2009. Egypt has a 5 percent favorable attitude, down from 30 percent in 2009. Many of the favorable ratings this year were even lower than in 2008, the last year of the Bush administration. The U.S. is viewed less favorably than other countries listed, and in 5 of the six countries polled the U.S is viewed less favorable than Iran, the current pariah state. Most countries also opposed the no fly zone over Libya imposed by the U.S. and NATO.
The polls showed that majorities saw that the two greatest threats to the peace in the region is U.S. interference in the Arab world, and the continuing occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel. After Obama gave lip service to solving the Palestinian issue in his “Cairo speech” in 2009, the Arab world has seen little done by the U.S. on this issue while the genocidal occupation continues. The assassination of Bin Laden also served to increased hostility toward the United States, as it continues to go around lawlessly interfering in other countries in its own imperial interests.
RAIM does not bemoan the drop in support of the U.S. and Obama in the Arab world. We welcome the evidence that shows that the people there see through the illusions given by the kinder gentler imperialist Obama. The masses in the Arab world and elsewhere are in a struggle against imperialism and its puppet governments led by the U.S. The reality of the aggression waged by the U.S. continues to expose the nature of its policies, and will be the first step in global resistance waged by the masses to bring down imperialism and bring about a more liberatory world.
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-Antonio Moreno
Sources:
-“Arab world’s views of U.S., President Obama increasingly negative, new poll finds.” Washington Post. online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/arab-worlds-views-of-us-president-obama-increasingly-negative-new-poll-finds/2011/07/12/gIQASzHVBI_blog.html
-“Arab Attitudes 2011.” Arab American Institute. http://www.aaiusa.org/reports/arab-attitutes-2011
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