I was recently looking into public statements made by American anti-imperialists at the end of the nineteenth century, and I came across the platform of the Anti-Imperialist League (AIL). The AIL was a remarkable organization that formed in opposition to the annexation of the Philippines following the war with Spain. Like other antiwar and anti-imperialist organizations in our country’s history, they were unsuccessful in their original goal, but their resistance to the establishment of an overseas empire has inspired me for a long time and I have found many parallels between their campaign and the one that we fight today to bring an end to America’s endless wars. The AIL platform pulls no punches. They didn’t just view the conquest of the Philippines as unnecessary, but they also considered it a betrayal of core American principles of self-determination and self-government:
Learning from the Anti-Imperialists of Old
Learning from the Anti-Imperialists of Old
Learning from the Anti-Imperialists of Old
I was recently looking into public statements made by American anti-imperialists at the end of the nineteenth century, and I came across the platform of the Anti-Imperialist League (AIL). The AIL was a remarkable organization that formed in opposition to the annexation of the Philippines following the war with Spain. Like other antiwar and anti-imperialist organizations in our country’s history, they were unsuccessful in their original goal, but their resistance to the establishment of an overseas empire has inspired me for a long time and I have found many parallels between their campaign and the one that we fight today to bring an end to America’s endless wars. The AIL platform pulls no punches. They didn’t just view the conquest of the Philippines as unnecessary, but they also considered it a betrayal of core American principles of self-determination and self-government: