Why Hate America?(Column)

As we near the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, NEWSWEEK spoke with global leaders about the anti-American sentiment that has grown around the world. Their thoughtful--and often angry-- responses address everything from the psychology of resentment to the consequences of U.S. "unilateralism." Excerpts:

Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace laureate:

People are envious of the United States. The images that flash across TVs all over the world portray a wealthy, comfortable society removed from the violence and misery so commonplace elsewhere. But envy alone does not incite anti-Americanism. There's also a great deal of resentment toward the United States for its unilateralism, which you can see in the Bush administration's utter disregard for international initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol.

I believe anti-Americanism is more intense today than it was during the Vietnam era. Why, for example, did the United States unnecessarily provoke Iran by including it in the "Axis of Evil"? Why does it now want to risk its already tenuous standing with Arab countries by invading Iraq?

In the aftermath of the cold war, the United States was in search of an enemy. Now it's found one: terrorism. Terrorism is very dangerous, but it's not the only threat. Illiteracy, environmental degradation, disease and hunger plague countries worldwide. Lamentably, these threats have not diminished. If anything, they have grown, and through it all the United States has failed to assume a leadership role in addressing them. People resent how little the United States gives in foreign aid relative to its GNP, and they resent its embrace of protectionist barriers that discourage freer trade.

Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist:

America gives a sense of not caring about what other people think or say or how they live. Living in America, teaching classes of young Americans, I see this. When I was growing up in Nigeria, we thought of America as the country that was on the side of colonized people, those who were oppressed. That image carried into the '60s, even. In Africa, people find America later on the side of the oppressor. I think the cold war is what made the difference. In South Africa during the Reagan years, you suddenly developed this constructive engagement, working with apartheid to contain communism. That was when the popularity of America changed. America did not notice this change until the September 11 attack. It came as a great surprise.