The anti-imperialism of Joe Biden

 "I'll have you know I'm from Dublin, that's right buddy, Dublin Illinois" 

-random Irish American

Joe Biden the President of the United States of America is famous for his strange speaking manner and frequent lapses in concentration. He's also gotten some fame for his unabashed Irishness. I've seen that clip of him mugging off a BBC reporter a dozen or so times to pick just one example. 

He's also not shy about bringing his heritage up during diplomatic affairs like a recent trip to East Jerusalem this month where he gave a speech which had this rather surprising fragment.

“…the background of my family is Irish American. And we have a long history not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people, with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish Catholics over the years for 400 years.”

I was quite shocked when I saw this interview, the fact that it was given in East Jerusalem, the part of the city that's still majority Palestinian despite repeated forced expulsions and home demolitions by the Israeli authorities seemed a strange venue for any American President but especially Joe Biden. But also the content of his words was very surprising and to be honest very difficult to parse, the actual clip is difficult to follow. Reading the transcript I've come to the conclusion he was trying to reach out to the Palestinian people by trying to build a connection by comparing the history of Ireland under Britain and Palestine under the Mandate government between the two World Wars.

Both periods involved a lot of violence and exploitation at the hands of the Imperial government, though curiously there were a lot of Irish soldiers serving in the mandate. That's the thing about Empires that gets obscured and in my view deliberately in national liberation discourse, the experience of subject peoples is not uniform, while it involves a lot of violence and exploitation for many, it also involves collaboration sometimes coerced, sometimes opportunistic and in a minority of cases genuinely. In effect the victims of the process become its enablers. The British military was a truly multi cultural institution during the Empire. Even after independence many Irishmen found employment and opportunities within it. Its not surprising to read about the Napoleonic Wars, the East India Company or the scramble for Africa and find Irish names, it should be surprising to find them in the Mandate as it was created in 1918, the same time Ireland was in the middle of a war for independence from the same Empire that was setting up shop in Jerusalem. This means aside from a few thousand recruited before 1918 and the Ulster contingents who are counted separately usually, those Irish soldiers made a free choice to enlist in that military. And the British Army to this day maintains Irish units which are open to citizens of the Republic.

Irish regiments of the British Army forming the frontline in British colonial counterinsurgencies in Palestine 1948, and Cyprus ten years later.#BritishEmpire pic.twitter.com/tNI1PUIYOi

— The Irish at War (@irelandbattles) July 9, 2022

So, its not wrong and the Mandate administration and its divide and rule tactics and bloody counterinsurgency campaigns against the Palestinians, and then later Israeli Jews has been overshadowed. But there something really strange and offensive about Biden making this comparison. President Biden is an American, he acts like an American and behaves like an American. More importantly he acts like an American President. Despite public statements of pride at his Irish heritage, its clear that the experiences of his ancestors has taught him very little beyond bluster. Instead of sympathising with the oppressed globally he's behaved like the head of an Imperial power. Famously the Irish in America came in their millions to the United States seeking refuge from oppression and crippling poverty, yet Joe has responded to other peoples attempting to do the same not with tolerance and understanding but with naked violence. ICE still exists, kids are still being put in cages and just recently the US gov has successfully pressured the Mexican government to pay for part of it. 

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - Mexico on Tuesday pledged to spend $1.5 billion to beef up its northern border as its leader met with U.S. President Joe Biden, who faces attacks from Republicans over his handling of immigration on the United States' southern flank.

Casting immigration as a "hemispheric challenge", Biden met Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and top Mexican officials in the White House to address U.S. concerns over migration and Mexico's desire for more worker visas.

...

Biden has struggled with more than 2.8 million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border since he took office at the beginning of 2021, a record-setting level.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/presidents-us-mexico-meet-after-summit-tensions-2022-07-12/ 

Oh and this is far from the first time Biden has commented on the plight of the Palestinians. Biden is a self declared Zionist and supporter of Israel.  

“The Palestinians need to end incitement in the West Bank and rocket attacks in Gaza,” Biden said. “What they are teaching in their schools is still in the schoolbooks. No matter what legitimate disagreement they may have with Israel, it’s never a justification for terrorism, and no leader should fail to condemn as terrorists those who commit these brutalities.”

Biden said the Palestinian Authority should “acknowledge, flat-out, Israel’s right to exist — period – as an independent Jewish state and guarantee the borders.”

“I’m going to fully support the Taylor Force Act, which holds aid to the PA based on payments they make to terrorists in Israeli jails.” Biden also said he would restore funding to the Palestinian Authority for security cooperation with Israel.

“I’m going to reverse Trump’s administration steps [that] I think significantly undercut the prospects of peace and restore diplomatic relationships with the Palestinian Authority and assistance to support the Israeli Palestinian security cooperation and economic, humanitarian aid for Palestinian people.”

He said Israel should stop settlement activity, but “we also shouldn’t let the Palestinians off the hook” for issues like incitement and support for terrorism.

Biden assigned blame for the stalled peace process to Palestinian and Israeli leadership which are unwilling to take political risks through direct talks.

“I know Bibi well, for over 40 years,” Biden stated. “This moves [him] so far to the right.” Biden clarified, however, that it “does not justify cutting military assistance to the state of Israel.”

“My commitment to Israel is completely unshakable,” Biden said. “As president, I’m going to continue our security assistance under the historic memorandum of understanding that we signed together in 2016 and maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. I’m not going to place conditions for the security assistance given the serious threats that Israel is facing, and this would be, I think, irresponsible.” (JewishInsider; Haaretz; Jerusalem Post, May 20, 2020) 

 more here https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/views-on-israel-of-u-s-presidential-candidates-2020-joe-biden 

To be honest I think Biden is an excellent example of the limits of nationalism as a motivator for liberty and progress. He seems passionate about a rebellious Ireland, but in terms of actions it evaporates, there's nothing you can point to that distinguishes him from any other major world leader. Much like how in Ireland the heroes of the Anglo-Irish War unleashed years of even more vicious violence and terror during the Irish Civil War. The victors in that conflict who would shape independent Ireland used Imperial guns and ammunition to do so.  The Irish Free State was born from Imperial artillery and guarantees. Joe Biden is just another Irish American revelling in a rebel mystique from a distance of time and space and money and power.