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A Rising Tide of Anti-American Feeling
(Todd Richissin, Baltimore Sun, January 28, 2003)
"I just hate it and can't help that," says Manuel Baczynski, 31, who quickly adds: "Make it clear I don't hate Americans. I hate America for what it is doing." . . . This is something both very old from Europe and very new. Americans are accustomed to encountering resentment here, but what is happening now is in many ways different. European historians, intellectuals and political leaders are in general agreement that no longer are anti-American voices merely a vocal minority mired in the hate portion of a love-hate relationship. . . . The anti-American sentiments now come from the wealthy and the economically hard-pressed, from the highly educated and the barely so, from young people just opening their eyes to the world and from those who lived through World War II, Vietnam, the rise of communism and its fall. . . . They start with President Bush himself. There is a widespread belief that he is belligerent and lacks an adequate comprehension of the wars of Europe's past, demonstrated not only by his stance on Iraq but by his attitude toward those who oppose military action. . . . "There is a clear distinction in Germany and Europe between the campaign against international terrorism and war," Voigt says. "We've said Germany gives its unlimited solidarity in the stand against terrorism. The United States government says war with Iraq is an extension of the war on terrorism. We don't see the evidence of it. We don't buy it." . . . "What's different now is, we don't have the common bond with the Europeans we once had that served to keep us together," Kohut says, referring to the fall of the Soviet Union. "Terrorism has not served that role." . . . If anti-Americanism is already in bloom in Europe, its seeds were sown almost immediately after Bush took office. . . . The president's dismissal of the Kyoto Treaty, designed to slow global warming, was deeply resented in Europe. Resented, too, was Bush's refusal to accede to an international criminal court, which would have tried individuals accused of crimes against humanity, and his decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. . . . "The pictures that are presented show this joy for war," says Bertram. "That may be fair or not fair, but that is the perception people get, that this administration has a cavalier attitude toward war that doesn't match reality." . . . Those feelings have been exacerbated by Bush's tendency to draw a linguistic picture of the world that Europeans see as unnecessarily provocative. The president's remarks about an "axis of evil" do not play well abroad. . . . Anti-Americanism in Europe goes beyond the president. It is born of a contradictory desire for American culture and resentment of its ubiquity. Cultural differences about the role of religion in governing plays a part, with many Europeans believing that the religious right in the United States is driving American policy.

posted by LoZo 2:01 PM