‘This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.” – Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the 2026 Munich Security Conference
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States, received a very warm welcome at the recent Munich Security Conference with wild applause and a standing ovation from those listening to his remarks of some 3,000 words. The theme of Rubio’s speech was rather simple. He told Europeans that they are great, very great, and superior to people in the rest of the world. He only expressed criticism of their failure to continue colonizing and for allowing Global South people to liberate themselves.
This son of Cuban immigrants declared himself to be European, highlighting his ancestors from Spain and Italy. If Rubio is like many Cubans, he probably has some African and indigenous Taino ancestry too. But any mention of those possibilities would have ruined his speech. He made a clear connection between the settler colony of the United States and the Europeans whose genocides made the establishment of that country and others in the western hemisphere possible.
Having completely erased his own heritage in deference to a white supremacist celebration, Rubio proceeded to tell his audience, full of vassal states, that they must be resolute in their Christian beliefs and their cultural ties of Western civilization. His speech was astounding, but not actually because he said anything they didn’t already believe, but because he spoke of the partially hidden belief in white supremacy publicly to a wide international audience.
It is appropriate that the speech was condemned, because the expression of racist beliefs should never be met with acceptance. Of course, for centuries, Europeans have practiced violent and racist policies. Most of the nations that Rubio referred to consider themselves to be, “. . . heirs to the same great and noble civilization.” Greatness and nobility are subjective terms, but it must be pointed out that there would have been no European economic power without theft of land, resources and human beings. Predation made Europe rich and keeps it that way. Rubio referenced “. . . its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.”
There were already empires in the states of Africa and Asia, and what became known as the Americas. They were defeated by the bloodshed from the invaders of Europe. There are millions of African descended people in North and South America and the islands of the Caribbean. They were stolen from their homelands and most are now Christians because their cultural memory was deliberately stolen in order to make them compliant in enslavement.
Rubio ignored his Cuban heritage in his speech, but there was an indigenous civilization on the island that became Cuba, too. It was the home of the Taino people and they called their island Cobao or Coabana or and Cubao. The arrival of the Spanish wiped out nearly the entire population in the northern Caribbean islands that now comprise Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, with 85% of an estimated 3.5 million people perishing from disease, forced labor, and murder. Their leaders, such as Hatuey, resisted but were ultimately overwhelmed. Hatuey traveled from what is now Haiti to Cuba to fight the Spanish, but he was defeated and burned at the stake in 1512. Rubio may also have Taino ancestry, but he wouldn’t get a hero’s welcome in Munich if he brought up any such inconvenient information. The Spanish and French and British and Dutch and Portuguese should be “shackled by shame.” But their histories show that by and large they have no such sentiments.
The most ironic thing about Rubio’s speech is that it assumed his audience didn’t already believe as he does. The Germans are thoroughly guilt-wiped by Israel and have paid more than 800 billion Euros in compensation to Israel and to holocaust survivors since 1952. This generosity towards Jewish people is quite different from its treatment of Namibians who were colonized by Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1904 and 1908, some 80% of the Herero people and 50% of the Nama people were killed by German colonizers in their war of resistance. The first genocide of the 20th century took place in Africa, and unlike Israel, Germany has paid nothing in compensation to African survivors in Namibia. Rubio can relax. Germany is not shackled by any shame regarding its genocides which took place outside of Europe as we can see with the rise in popularity of its rightwing, white supremacist political party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
While Rubio lamented “anti-colonial uprisings,” he didn’t mention that most of them failed in their struggle to become truly sovereign. Nations may have achieved what is called “flag independence,” but now, 70 years after the heroic war for independence in Kenya, their comprador leadership sends police to Haiti to do U.S. bidding or leases large tracts of land to Israeli interests. This continued domination does not occur for lack of effort. U.S. and European corporations own diamond mines in Congo, and seaports on the west coast of Africa from Mauretania to Congo-Brazzaville. When states do not comply they are destabilized, proxies and compradors in the pay of “great and noble civilizations” do their dirty work or are overthrown through brute force.
In Cuba, Rubio is committed to destroying its revolution by starving people and depriving them of oil. Schools are shut, hospitals cannot care for patients, and the ever-tightening screws of sanctions punish any country that might think of being in solidarity. It is little wonder that Rubio speaks of his ancestors from Spain and Italy. He would be embarrassed if he spoke of his descent from a country he is now tasked with destroying.
Europeans were upset by Donald Trump’s attempt to snatch Greenland from Denmark only because he was doing to them what they all do to the rest of the world. Far from encouraging liberation movements, the French killed 5.6 million Algerians in total during the colonial period and 1.5 million during the war of independence, while the British killed at least 20,000 Kenyans during their independence struggle and interned up to 200,000 in concentration camps and then destroyed evidence of their atrocities. Nor do European atrocities take place only in the distant past. When Libya was destroyed by the U.S. and NATO in 2011, the prime minister of the United Kingdom and president of France showed up in person to rub salt into the wound.
The awful Europeans are U.S. vassals who have allowed their patron to destroy their economies in an effort to defeat Russia. Joe Biden blew up their NordStream pipeline, which provided them with inexpensive Russian gas but they have remained silent. The term Stockholm Syndrome comes to mind as they mindlessly worship the country that keeps them in the status of secondary imperialists who can also be shoved under the bus at opportune moments.
Europeans are compliant puppets and will do whatever Rubio or any other U.S. Secretary of State tells them to do. Rubio and his boss, Donald Trump, don’t have to lecture Europeans about restricting Global South immigration. They are already doing that without any need of encouragement. They already act on behalf of the U.S. and they work together to keep a sordid business going. Little Marco Rubio has no worries and anyone who was shocked by the blatant racism and eliminationist rhetoric should know that he differed only in saying the quiet parts out loud for all to hear.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com
source: Black Alliance for Peace