In the second part of his pro-American rant BBC journalist Justin Webb raised some theories that are crying out to be debunked.

In the article Webb suggested that the world blames the United States for its problems, that everyone sees America as a scapegoat. But, he asks, are some of the world’s problems “the result of local attitudes to poverty, local attitudes to honesty in government, and local attitudes to the rule of law?”

In other words, is anti-Americanism a smoke screen to hide the true causes of rest of the world’s failures?

I don’t think it is. In his latest article Webb uses the example of Latin America where local-level poverty, dishonesty and corruption in all levels of business and government, and criminality all lead to a low standard of living. In recent years there has been an upsurge (or at least greater vocalisation) of anti-Americanism in Latin America. I would argue that it is quite justified.

Latin America’s current situation is rooted in its past. And its past is littered with involvement from the North. The USA has supported dictators and repressive regimes in the following countries (this is a non-exhaustive list) Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Chile, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Argentina. During the last fifty years the USA has openly supported brutality, mismanagement and corruption that has allowed for Latin America’s wealth to become concentrated in the hands of the few.

In the last decade the USA (and its allies) pushed World Bank and IMF policies that have decimated people’s livelihoods and taken them to the very lowest denominator of human existence. Who will forget the Argentineans rooting through landfill sites looking for something to sell?

And in Central America the USA has exported its gang problem. An easy and cheap way to deal with the USA’s crime problem has been to deport gangs and their violent culture back to their ethnic homelands. Again, the cost in terms of human rights and economic stability has been high.

Justin Webb’s article flogs a now hackneyed cliché: that anti-Americanism is a symptom of self-loathing. In my experience allegations of self-loathing are a useful tool in a polemic argument when the facts to do not support your point of view and you need to fill column inches. Rather than self-loathing maybe anti-Americanism is an understandable quest to understand the past in order to improve the future.

One of the most outrageous and brazen sentences of Webb’s article needs to be quoted directly and in full to be believed:

“…millions and millions of Latin Americans benefit every day from the powerhouse US economy - from relatives cleaning cars in Los Angeles, making beds in Las Vegas and picking fruit in rural Georgia. They send money home to places where economic development is stymied by corruption and government interference.”

So apparently Latinos should thank the US for letting them earn meagre salaries doing the menial tasks white Americans won’t do, in poor conditions, with few rights, low status and constant harassment from the republican right. And why do they have to go to America, to leave their families, in order to make ends meet? Because of government corruption and economic instability which have their foundations in the USA itself.

There are two points which need reinforcing. Firstly, everyone has the right to criticise the policies of a country that makes no apology for trying to dominate the world. Secondly, The USA only looks after itself; it doesn’t go out of its way to help any other country (apart from Israel). Those that pretend it does are living in denial.

You may also be interested in my response to the first article in Webb's series: Why we hate America.