Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” is framed as a peace initiative, but it centralises authority, sidelines the vulnerable and rewards coercion. Australia should reject it rather than lend it legitimacy.

For centuries, the policies of Imperialism led to the stealing of lands and subsequent control of weaker countries through military force, by economic exploitation and political domination. Across Africa, in South and North America, in India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Palestine, Indigenous peoples were stigmatised, slaughtered and treated as of little consequence.

Brutality was sold as progress but after the Second World War, decolonisation led to independence for many peoples and some countries. That more humanitarian way of thinking has ceased. Under Trump’s ‘who cares about rules?’ foreign policy, a short lived period of humanity has been ridiculed and buried.

Trump’s Board of Peace is a new imperialism. Allegedly, it has been created to implement the next phase of a ceasefire over Gaza, and to promote peace in other areas of conflict, but the Board is under the bullying control of one man and the sycophants surrounding him.

The Chairman’s control looks like a 1984 Big Brother re-run. Members are invited by and can only have their terms renewed by Chairman Trump. Convening of the Board depends on this Chairman deeming it appropriate. He is a king who will have ‘exclusive authority’ to ‘create, modify or dissolve’ other developments. He must be joking? But it’s no joke.

Then there’s an Executive Board which the Chairman will select and he will have ‘the final authority regarding the meaning, interpretation and application of this Charter.’

Membership of the Board depends on inviting those who would not be disturbed and would probably be enthusiastic about the brutality of a new imperialism. Proposed as the only game in town, the UN Security Council voted for it. Trump supporters, from a selfish business man son-in-law to his bullying Secretary of State must be first on the invitees’ list. There is no room for the representatives of Moslem nations Turkey and Pakistan, but a warm welcome for countries indifferent to human rights, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates.

The Palestinian victims of genocide in Gaza will not be on the Board, but a genocidal leader, the indicted war criminal Prime Minister Netanyahu has gladly accepted the invitation. The value of thuggery is underlined. Abusive power must rule.

Consistent with the practices of other imperialist powers, the vulnerable who should have a central place in crafting a durable peace with justice must be ignored. In the grandiose claims about the Trump Board and what it will achieve, there is no mention of conditions in Gaza or of the two state objectives. Hamas must be disarmed but Israel is under no pressure to leave Gaza. The one sided version of imperialism flourishes.

In media and political discussion of the Board, a lukewarm controversy has surrounded the costs of joining the Board, $1 million for three years representation, $1 billion for permanent membership. Trump and his cronies want to replace the UN, hence these fees in a proposal which reflects a New York real estate operator treating the exploitation of regions and countries – think Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, even Minnesota – as akin to acquiring another Manhattan high rise.

There is no mention yet that peace building requires the vulnerable to be empowered by taking ownership and responsibility for their future. On the contrary, the brutalisation of Palestine must continue, yet be ignored. Attention is paid to Trump claims about his peace initiative, but since phase one of a ceasefire, 450 Palestinians have been killed. Israel plumbs new depths of cruelty and depravity, as in preventing humanitarian agencies from being present in Gaza. UNRWA, not just their building in East Jerusalem must be destroyed. The UN warns that ‘a lost moral compass opens a barbaric new era.’

As with the US Monroe doctrine – do what you like in your geographical sphere – as with the UK’s deceitful Balfour Declaration - who cares about Indigenous Arabs - as with Vietnam, racism, arms races as the means of dominance, imperialism is fed by love of violent power, and promoted by fraudulent advertising. The Charter for Trump’s Board of Peace says, it ‘shall undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law’, just when a so called rules-based, humanitarian law based order is ridiculed and must be replaced.

In Australia there’s no word as to how the Prime Minister will respond to an invitation to join Trump & Co, but the opposition, apparently ignorant of imperialisms’ record of past brutalities, appear to be excited. They want the invitation accepted. They seem to value the idea of being seen seating at a table with infamous people.

The political, cultural alternative is for leaders to cease being delusional about Trump and subservient to him. Analyse this Peace Board. Reject it. Tell the world that as usual, imperialism’s claims about peace disguise motives of personal gain for a few powerful, greedy individuals.

It’s time to heed Martin Luther King’s warnings, to see the imperialism in this Peace Board and instead insist that a radical revolution of values must include widespread inclusiveness and consultation with powerless peoples and should start with refusal to live in a world ruled by force.