Fuck this Shit

OK. I got your attention with the title, but that wasn’t the only purpose of that headline. I said it in response to what I’m about to talk about.

Do me a favor

Ok, so, you’re probably viewing this either on a smart phone, or more likely a computer. My request is not a difficult one, so don’t worry. Go to the Huffington Post. Look at the stories that are being reported. Here are some of the actual headlines that are on the front page as I write this: “American Sniper Killed at Gun Range” and “The End Of Football? America’s Favorite Sport Marred By Scandal, Brain Injuries” and “LOOK: Obama Goes Skeet Shooting ” and one more that is really real news “Amanda Bynes Moves Out After Weed Smoking Leads To Eviction Notice “

Do you see a pattern here? It’s all bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. None of that is shit that you should give a flying fuck about. Which brings me to my first point. The media in our wonderful capitalist societies are shit. It is complete and utter shit. Do we have news about what is happening around the world? Oh yes, here and there if you have the time and stomach to dig for it. We have alternative news sources, but they don’t get very much attention. We have mostly celebrity gossip, non-issues such as gun control, and slide shows of inane shit no one cares about. We have commercials for cars, and websites, and this business and that. Already forgotten are the names of the thousands of dead American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Never known are the names of the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and Afghanis. We are encapsulated in our little capitalist world. A disturbing news story about the state of the world is on? Quick, switch it over to Honey BooBoo so we can watch their family slowly eat themselves to death while exploiting a little girl whose life is probably already ruined, her only childhood sold as a commodity for profit. Not just as a model or something like that, which in principle I’m not against, but as a 24-hour watched little clown who gets treats for doing doing back flips. Like a jester in a court, but too damn young to know that she’s being laughed at, not with. No, we don’t want to think about things like global warming. We can put that off for later. We don’t want to think about how we’re destroying the only planet we have to call home.

No, no, no. Just go back to your TV and keep watching inane bullshit. Keep the news on, you’ll feel cultured and well informed. War around the world, untold death and destruction being waged on innocent people by your government. Change the channel again. Don’t think about such morbid things. America is a free democratic country, right? OK then, try to run for political office with no money, only on your ideas. Let me know how that works out for you. If you did get elected, let me know what would happen when you stood up against the military-industrial complex and tried to change this country in a real way. Let me know how long it would be before they found a way to toss you out on your ear. Just try running anywhere as a socialist, and see how long it would take for people to tune you out. They’ve been programmed to believe that socialism is a dirty word. When you start talking about poverty, watch as screaming heads start yelling at you that you’re worse than Hitler, and that you just hate America. When you start talking about the dismantling of quality public education in America, watch while they accuse you of just working for “big unions”. When you ask about the state of the environment, watch while they call you a hippy, and a tree hugger. Ask about lobbying, and watch as you’re silenced. Try to change this system from the inside out and you will fail, and fail miserably. You will try to rally the people behind the idea that we can create a better world, that we can change things. They aren’t listening, they’re more interested in whether or not Lindsay Lohan will miss her next court appearance again.

So fuck this shit.

Fuck the false narratives. Fuck the false dichotomies. Fuck the lobbyists with their millions and their hearts of stone. Fuck the media and their deliberate stupidity. Fuck the people who are too timid to speak up and speak out. Fuck the myth of America. Fuck the people who say “support the troops” even though they never question what that means, if anything. Fuck the poverty that is killing our children, and ruining their futures. Fuck this oligarchic system that ruins lives and destroys dreams. Fuck the “immigration reform” that will still leave millions in the US in an economic underclass with no legal rights against the employers that exploit them. Fuck the US government that would rather drone bomb Pakistani children than send its own children to university. Fuck the GOP, their hate, imperialism and greed. Also fuck the Democrats and their fake leftism. They’re exactly like the GOP, but to goddamn cowardly to admit it. Fuck this two party system that ensures the continued rule of the bourgeoisie over the workers, stifling their voices. Fuck this system of war, poverty, death. Fuck the complacent assholes who won’t even stop their boring consumerist lives to think about the real state of the world. People are dying, literally dying, because of this crisis of capitalism. FUCK THIS SHIT.

Fuck this false diversionary bullshit put out by bourgeois media. It is time to say, FUCK THIS SHIT.

Are you prepared to sacrifice to make things better? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is and demand a better system? Or will you be sucked back into the false GOP/Democrat dichotomy. Will you be willing to fight for real social justice and economic equality? Or will you fall back into your seat and listen to the watered down shit on NBC?

The only way the world will change, is by dedicated people doing everything they can to change it. Nothing less. Revolution won’t come otherwise. Change will always be just a dream. Ending poverty a punchline, and our schools will be sold to the highest bidder. No more science education, we’ll learn about Intelligent Design in Christian charter schools. So start thinking, start reading, start talking. As a friend of mine would say “Wake up, goddammit!”

The world will only change when we decide that we’ve had enough of this capitalist bullshit. It will only end when we as a people rise up and say, “Fuck this shit. We can do better.”

That day, I do believe, will come.

The Asian Century

Being sick and having nothing better to do at the moment, I started surfing the internet, reading articles and of course taunting a few people on twitter, as I am wont to do. I happened across an article in the Huffington Post by the senior program director at the Carnegie Council, Devin Stewart. In this article, entitled “The Asian Century Crumbles” Devin tries to dispel the idea that the age of American dominance and hegemony is coming to an end.  He cites such works as Fareed Zakaria’s “The Post-American World” and other works as examples of a the wrong headed idea that America was declining, and that Asia was rising. He states that not only was the idea of an America in decline wrong, but that Asia isn’t doing so hot either. He states that the Asia we are seeing emerge is not one of internationalist harmony, but one of conflict and regional disputes. He describes a few problems with the idea of an “Asian century”. First he says that it can’t be because of the aforementioned territorial and nationalistic disputes, and the fact that just recently Japan, and South Korea as well as others have elected nationalist conservatives to the highest offices. China’s expanding military strength is of concern to her neighbors, he says then accusing China of destabilizing the region. However, let’s really look at the facts. The US and Western colonial powers have been instrumental in helping to create most of the instability that now exists in Asia. From the colonial possessions of India, Indonesia and others, to the carving up of China, and even the militarization of Japan, it falls largely on the shoulders of the West. Furthermore, the most threatening force in Asia, militarily has been, and still is the US. Especially with the US’s recent announcement of a “pivot” to the Asian region, now that they’ve finished completely fucking up the Middle East, is proof that the US can’t leave Asia or control of it, to the people who actually live here. No, the US is determined to now shape Asia in its image, as it has tried to do so many other places. In fact, that point comes through very clearly in his absolutely ridiculous article. The whole thing reeks of ethnocentric bias, of bullshit liberal insanity and hubris, and a good strong helping of that sickening concept known as `American Exceptionalism`. In fact, I’m going to skip the other bullshit part of his moronic article, and take a quote by him at the end that really sums up the condescending way he looks at non-Western countries. “Instead, for many decades to come, Asians will likely seek to increase their freedom and equality to accompany their growing prosperity – the universal values that define the American Century.” Really? The so called “American Century” was one that was defined by equality? We’re talking about the 20th century, right? The one that had Europe killing more people than ever? Is that the American century where, for more than half of that century the US had a system of racial segregation, lynchings and an overtly racist political system? Was that the same century where we had a Great Depression that killed off an estimated 7 million Americans thanks to the greed of Wall Street? Is this the same century that ended with millions of Americans going homeless, hungry and uneducated? Is this the same century that the US invaded tens of countries killing millions of people? How interested do you think Vietnam is in becoming a little America? How interested do you think  Iraq and Afghanistan are in becoming part of America? Universal values my ass. The only values America has ever seemed to have is a combination of arrogance and hubris. This article is the epitome of the intellectually vacuous nature of the political discourse in the US. This guy claims ten years of study in Asian politics, but I honestly think he understands less than any given person walking down the streets of Beijing, Seoul, or Tokyo. This region is growing, it is evolving and it is changing. I hate to break it to you Devin, but America is in decline. So is Europe. Your so called “democracy” has suffered faked elections, riots in the streets, assassinations, civil wars and political corruption on a grand scale. This isn’t even mentioning the torture and lack of human rights in the US and Europe, nor does it even touch the “freedom” the millions of prisoners have in the US. The whole world is moving toward equality and freedom, but it is not going to come under the star spangled banners of the west. It will come with the popular liberation of the peoples of the world, the revolutions of the proletariat that will shake of the plague of capitalism like a bad case of the fleas. And all the American Exceptionalism in the world cannot stop the forward progress of humanity. All the American hubris in the world cannot stop the destruction of the capitalist empire. All the bombs in the world can’t kill the resolve of the working class when they rise up and decide that they’ve had enough. The only universal value, is that one day the means of production will be for the benefit of all humanity, instead of just for a few. Think outside the box, and reject this wrongheaded and intellectually vapid idiocy of capitalist imperialism.

In case you want to see this moron’s idiocy for yourself, please check it out here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devin-stewart/the-asian-century-crumble_b_2352088.html?show_comment_id=216874197#comment_216874197

War is in the Air

It’s no secret that things are heating up in the Asia-Pacific region. After more than a decade of focus on the Middle East, including two disastrous wars fought by the US against helpless foes in the region, the US has decided that its hegemony in the Pacific region is being threatened by an ascendant China, and changing balances of power. The USA Today newspaper reported back in June that the US is planning on shifting 60% of its warships to the Pacific by 2020. The report came as a result of remarks by Secretary of Defense Panetta on the “re-balancing” of the US military towards the Asian region. The US has announced greater presence in Australia, building new bases there just recently, in addition to restructuring of other Asian partnerships in the region. Just today however, it was announced that the US is planning on moving more and more troop activity to the Philippines, claiming that it is aimed at helping victims of natural disasters. This is widely seen as a convenient excuse for increased US pressure on the region. Tempers have been flaring over territorial disputes, such as China’s dispute with the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoals, or their dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands. Those are just two examples of many territorial disputes that are threatening to endanger the peace in Asia, and the actors that are maneuvering are not backing down in the slightest. China is a growing regional power that is increasingly rubbing shoulders with its neighbors, claiming that it has to protect its territorial integrity. Meanwhile, Japan, China’s old arch-nemesis is electing politicians who are promising to revise Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, allowing Japan to throw away the peace part of their so called “Peace Constitution”. Such moves towards militarism should be viewed with great caution and reserve, as what happens in the coming months could forever change the course of history.

Now you might be thinking that I am being a bit too alarmist. I don’t think that I am, at all. Tempers are really heating up. The newly re-empowered Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has not only set their sights on revision of the pacifist constitution, but are also have said that they will not back down or compromise on the issue of the Senkaku Islands. Japan refuses to even admit there is a dispute. Japan is also at loggerheads over the issue of the Dokdo Islands, claimed as well by Korea, and with Russia over islands the Russians seized at the end of WW2. China has a large military, and recently announced their first operational aircraft carrier, a huge leap for a growing military force. China is a force to be reckoned with, and they are not afraid to assert their new found strength. In an article in the news site “RT”, a Russian news organization, they reported on the coming growth in the US military presence in the Philippines. In case you are thinking I am overstating the threat to the region from different directions,read what RT reported at the end of the article

“Chinese Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping urged his military to prepare for a struggle, without mentioning the potential aggressor.

“Push forward preparations for a military struggle,” he told the People’s Liberation Army, which consists of 2.3 million servicemen.”

It is my hope that things calm down in the area. A blow up in Asia could, and probably would start another world war.

What do you think of the current situation in Asia? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

 

Gangnam Style and Michelle Malkin

Reports are popping up online about a song that the South Korean rapper, Psy wrote that apparently called for the killing of American soldiers. Here is the alleged song in English:

“Kill those fucking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives

Kill those fucking Yankees who ordered them to torture

Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers

Kill them all slowly and painfully”

Now it’s not surprising that Koreans hate the US military, after all we’ve been occupying their country continuously since 1950, but in reading the different reports about this song and the nationalistic idiots wringing their hands about it (“Oh dear, his music is ever so catchy but he has political sentiments I disagree with, oh dear”)

But what is more interesting than Malkin’s shrill predictable ranting about Murika and how everyone who hates the greatest country in the history of slaver-er I mean the world, should die and stuff, is the comment below the article on her site. For your amusement, and (I apologize) disgust, I present to you the best and the brightest of those who read the racist reactionary blog of Ms. Malkin

On December 7th, 2012 at 11:35 am, Dexter Alarius said:

PSY will be performing for the White House

And why not?
“Gang-nam Style” is how the Chicago thugs govern.

Get it? Because Obama’s from Chicago, and he’s black, and GANG-nam style. get it?

On December 7th, 2012 at 12:01 pm, WaterBoyz said:

Wonder if The Muslin Brotherhood will get more invitations as well?

Muslin? Isn’t that a fabric?

 

On December 7th, 2012 at 12:34 pm, NotaSlickFan said:

“GagNam” style is simply monkey noise, just like all other crap-rap. Roland, you just keep Roland with the filth. Sleep with dogs and you get fleas, lie in the muck with pigs and, well, you are obviously what you are. God bless all active and former U.S military personnel on this December 7th.

Wow. Rap is “monkey noise”. That’s not racist. At all. Not.

On December 7th, 2012 at 1:31 pm, Regulus said:

The problem all along with interposing ourselves via our military between certain countries and the real world — Europe and South Korea come immediately to mind — is that we have created the equivalent of “nation-state teenagers.”

Any fourteen-year-old is old enough and bold enough to mouth off at his parents, and to regard them as the stupidest, most un-cool people on the planet, but he’s in no position to accept any kind of adult responsibility, and doesn’t want it to boot.

A lot of our “allies” are the same way. Safe behind the guarantee that our armed forces will protect them, and unwilling to accept responsibility for their own defense, yet secure enough to trash-talk us because they think that dinner will always be ready for them on the table at the end of the day.

The “good” news is, it won’t be long before “Uncle” Sam won’t be able to afford the teenagers anymore, and they’ll be free to learn life’s adult lessons the hard way sooner than they imagine…

OK, so apparently South Korea is a bunch of teenagers who can’t take care of themselves, and the US has been babysitting them, and nobody appreciates how we’re “giving them freedom”. So we’re going to take our ball and go home.

Oh for the love of fuck, yes, please please, whatever the shitty reasoning, please take the “ball” and go home. For the love of god go home and never come back.

This my dear readers has been a slight detour into the minds of the criminally insane population in the US that unfortunately hold a lot of sway. The inmates are running the asylum, you might say. Till next time.

Some State Solution: The Problem with Israel

Some State Solution: The Problem with Israel

Is Israel, by the evidence of its history and policies, a racist, apartheid state? I would argue that for all intents and purposes, it is. That is not an assertion that should be made lightly, it is a grave charge against a state, and one that should be taken seriously. Then I must here present my reasons for labeling the state of Israel racist, and apartheid. Israel is in the news once again, as they send overwhelming firepower into the Gaza strip, punishing the Palestinians for their rocket attacks into Israel. To many people around the world, this story is quite the familiar refrain. Someone on one side starts shooting, and before you know it, the whole area is alight with rockets, missiles, bombs and gunfire. Often it would seem that people who aren’t familiar with the history of the conflict throw their hands up in exasperation. “That’s just the way that area is, they’ve been fighting for thousands of years, and they’ll keep fighting for thousands more.” That is quite an unfortunate assessment however, as there are reasons for this modern conflict, and those reasons aren’t as ancient as some would have you believe. These  problems go back to before the genesis of the state of Israel, back to the 19^th century and the start of a Zionist movement.

 

The geographic area commonly called Palestine has a long and storied history, and has been the home of some of the world’s greatest religions and cultural traditions. Jerusalem is sacred to all of the Abrahamic religions, accounting for billions of believers worldwide. It has also long been a source of conflict as different religious and cultural groups vied for supremacy and control over the small sliver of land in the Middle East. That long and storied history however is far too complicated and long to include in this short essay, so it will have to suffice to begin a little more recently in the story, namely the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

 

The state of Israel was created following the end of the second World War, however the movement to create such a state began in earnest in the late 19^th century. There are a number of factors that would many people sympathetic to the Zionist cause, their hope for a homeland. Jewish communities in Europe had been long subject to horrible discrimination, slander, and even mass murder. Pogram was a common word in many countries, and many died for simply being the wrong member of an ethnic and religious minority. Perhaps it was thought that if the Jews had their own homeland, that they would be free forever from the scourge of racism and religious bigotry. Centuries of antisemitism had resulted in the murder of multitudes of Jews,  the destruction of their property and their disenfranchisement from the societies they lived in. Understandably, they wanted an end to that bigotry, and an end to living in fear. The problem is that the establishment of the state of Israel as a “Jewish state” has not solved those problems. They continue to live in a world that is rocked by war, hatred and ill will. The state of Israel did not solve the problem of anti-Jewish bigotry because it is impossible to solve problems of racism by nationalist xenophobia.

So if we know that Jews were running from persecution and mass murder, some may wonder why anyone would deny them a national home where they would feel safe. A haven where they would have their culture, traditions and people protected. The answer is a simple one, and it is one whose reasons have been played out time and again in multiple different scenarios throughout history. The problem is that we’re defining “Jewish” as a cultural and religious identity, an ethnic identity, and asserting that they should have an exclusive piece of land just for them, and no one else; which does reveal some problems. How does one define what a Jew is? How far back in one’s family tree does one have to go before they are considered Jewish? Is it only a religious and cultural identity? Is there a perceived biological aspect to the identity of “Jewishness”? Why should any country be able to deny the entry or settlement of people on the basis of race, class, national origin, religion or other factors of a similar nature? Does the history of oppression of a group of people give them the right to persecute and or exclude other perceived groups of humans? Is that morally or logically tenable as a building block of national policy and identity? The question arises whether or not Israel by its history and policies is a racist, apartheid state. I would argue that for all intents and purposes, it is. That is not an assertion that should be made lightly, it is a grave charge against a state, and one that should be taken seriously. Then I must here present my reasons for labeling the state of Israel racist, and apartheid.

 

During the British Mandate of Palestine in the early 20^th century, the demographics of Palestine were much different than today. That alone, of course is not grounds for worry, however the differences between now and then, and how it came to be are historically significant. The Jews returning to the Palestinian region before, during and after World War Two did not simply slip into town and join the rest of the populace living in peace. During the British Mandate of Palestine, a majority Muslim population existed side by side with Jews, Christians, Druze and other minorities. The program of returning the Jews to the ancient land of Israel increased hugely after the war, and pushed out many of the original Palestinian inhabitants. It created a humanitarian nightmare. In the 2009 book by Richard Becker titled “Palestine, Israel and the US Empire”  this time in Palestinian history is explained.  Becker describes the Irgun, a Jewish terrorist group aiming to seize the entire land of Palestine from the hands of the British, and then the Palestinians, resorted to the horrific massacre of civilians, documenting eye-witness accounts of the horror. This was part of an ethnic cleansing campaign that would dramatically change the demographics of Palestine, and would steal away land from Palestinians who had lived there for many centuries. One such massacre was in a village called Deir Yassin. Becker states “On April 9th, 1948, the Irgun wiped out the entire population of Deir Yassin. The Irgun soldiers arrived in the village and announced that the residents had 15 minutes to leave. Then the attack began. The Zionist soldiers blew up homes with their inhabitants still inside, fired at will and at close range, and committed other atrocities. When it was over, more than two hundred lay dead.” (Becker, p. 61) That campaign of terror he describes was repeated many times as they drove out the Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, causing a large humanitarian crisis. In discussing the  Palestinian right of return in Chapter 18, he mentions just how large that exodus of refugees really was. In 1948, the expulsion of almost three fourths of the Palestinian population caused 750,000 refugees, and the 1967 war led to another 300,000 refugees. (Becker) Israel took the land from the Palestinian people, and now have relegated them to tiny slivers of land in what used to be their own country. They are denied the right of return, and are forced to live within the confines of the Gaza strip and the West Bank. This is reminiscent of the regime of apartheid in South Africa that lasted until recently. Some wanted to create national homes away from the other ethnicities, to keep them separate. The population of the West Bank and Gaza now number in the millions of  people, people who still don’t have the right of return to their homes and their villages.

 

Aside from the history of the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homes and villages and being forced into defacto Ghettos, what exists in the State of Israel today that would designate them an apartheid state? We only have to look at the words of Israeli politicians, and the Israeli people themselves. Harriet Sherwood in the Guardian newspaper recently revealed the results of a poll first published in the Haaretz newspaper detailing what the Israeli public thought about apartheid and the Palestinian people. She said that the poll revealed that more than two-thirds of the respondents thought that the 2.5 million residents of the West Bank should be denied the right to vote should the area be annexed. Furthermore, three out of four Israelis polled wanted separate roads for Palestinians and Israelis, and 58% of respondents already considered Israel an apartheid state. (Sherwood )  Israel has denied the Palestinians a state of their own. Israel has demanded that they hold elections, and then blockaded those who dared to vote for the party Israel didn’t approve of, causing more humanitarian crises. Israel has assassinated at will Palestinian officials, and then condemned the Palestinians for fighting back. Palestine seems to be in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” sort of position. This all arises from the goal of establishing a state that was of, by and for one religious group, at the expense of everyone else. That bad idea has now gone on for decades, causing thousands of deaths, many of them civilians, even children.

 

The irrational fear and distrust of the Palestinian people by the Israelis is evident in the speech of their politicians. In 2008, as reported by the Telegraph newspaper, Matan Vilnai, the Israeli deputy defense minister called for a genocide stating “The more qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves,” (The telegraph) Shoah is the Hebrew word for holocaust. There have been many examples of this kind of speech.

 

In the book “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” by Ali Rattansi, he explains that racism can be based in cultural, or religious terms rather than overtly biological ones. He says “In practice, though, cultural demarcations are often drawn and used in a form that naturalizes them by implying that they are more or less immutable.” (Rattansi, p. 104) The Palestinians have been labeled as inherently violent, as incompatible for life in a society alongside the Israeli population. They have been subjected to apartheid, separated from the rest of their society for decades now, with no end in sight.

 

I believe that if we are to end the violent conflict in Palestine, we must bring about an inclusive, one state solution. We must heal the wounds, not by continuing to keep them separate, but by uniting them together into a peaceful coexistence. I believe it can be done. I think a two state solution would just legitimize the crimes of the Israeli state, and foster further resentment. Israel, in its current form as an apartheid state must end, for there to be peace again.

 

                                         CITATIONS

1)      Sherwood, Harriet. “Israeli poll finds majority would be in favour of ‘apartheid’ policies.” Guardian 23 OCT 2012, Online n. pag. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/israeli-poll-majority-apartheid-policies>.

2)      Becker, Richard. Palestine, Israel and the US Empire. 1st Ed. San Fransisco: PSL Publications, 2009. Print.

3)      Rattansi, Ali. Racism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

4)      ” Israeli minister vows Palestinian ‘holocaust’.” Telegraph 29 FEB 2008, Online n. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1580339/Israeli-minister-vows-Palestinian-holocaust.html&gt;.

 

 

 

Powerless

Permit me a little rant, my dear readers.

It’s hard to read so many statuses, see so many pictures, read so many articles about the suffering in Palestine, and feel helpless to change it. It’s hard to know that I have the loftiest dreams of changing the world, but at the moment am just trying to keep my personal life together, my academic life intact. It’s hard seeing the great injustices of the world, of seeing one big system of hate, racism and exploitation that kills babies and ruins families while I am powerless to do anything about it. Indeed, it seems that our societies have raised us to be silent against the evils of the world. You’re  a nerd if you care about the plight of the Palestinians, if you’re aware of the horror that was inflicted upon the Iraqis, Libyans, Afghans, Chileans, Philippines, Korea or any other country touched by the ravages of capitalist imperialism. It’s hard to sit back and ignore the cries of the oppressed, at the risk in our societies of being laughed at, scorned and shunned. It’s difficult to have a conscience, to have a sense of right and wrong, in a world that seems to be floundering without a moral or logical compass. It’s hard to know that millions of people work long hours for starvation wages at Walmart so that the Walton family can have more money than they could ever ever hope to spend. It’s had to know that America is paying for the bombs that are dropping on Palestine right now, and seeing the face of the father, holding his 11 month old son with a look of pain and agony I never wish to know on his face. It’s hard to know that the US is supporting the terrorists in Syria, and condemns the government of Syria for defending itself against terrorists who have torn the country apart, all the while they support the incredibly inhumane treatment of Palestinians. It’s hard knowing that Israel can get away with anything, call it self defense and be viewed as heroes even while they commit crimes against humanity. It’s hard for me to think that so many Americans rejoiced in the election of yet another capitalist imperialist warmonger, as if all their problems were solved and the world was right again. It’s hard to know that the voices of nationalist vitriol are growing louder over all the world, and the small voices of internationalist working class people cannot be heard above the din. It’s hard knowing that the US spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year on war, but can’t afford college for the poor, or even food for the starving. It’s fucking hard to think that here in 2012 we as the human race cannot seem to rise above our petty differences, cannot set our priorities straight, cannot seem to progress beyond the level of primal savagery. It’s hard to think that we can send men to the moon, but can’t feed the world. It’s sad to think that we can cure a myriad diseases, but cannot for the life of us figure out how to bridge gaps, unite humanity and move forward. It’s sad that we are still tied up over the myth of race, the myth of nation and the myth of religion more than the reality of humanity before us.

It’s difficult to think that my voice is one lost in a cacophony of hate, and may never see the light of day.

It’s difficult to think that I can’t make a difference, that things won’t get better, that we will never solve our problems, that we will never end the pain so many of us humans live in from day to day.

Too difficult in fact, because I won’t. I won’t think that. I will grieve for the state of the world, I will hope for a better future, I will work day by day, to be a better person, to continue my education, to do what I can, to speak out about how I think and feel. I will fuck up a lot, I will have days where I am so depressed I can barely make it out of bed, but I will not fucking give in to the overwhelming pessimism threatening to take the world down to the seventh level of hell. I will not give in to hopelessness. I will take my licks and keep on kicking. Maybe I don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Maybe my voice is drowned out by the load of bullshit swirling through the media outlets of the world. Maybe tomorrow will just be another day of struggling to survive. Even if all that is the case, I will not give up. I will not give up because the moment I give up, I am truly

powerless.

 

The 2012 US Election

Tuesday’s election was a win for the incumbent, Barack Obama, and a continuation of near the same balance between parties in Congress. In reality though, it was a vote for the status quo. What does this election mean? How is the rabid right wing taking it? And what is going to happen to the USA?

Rabid Response

The response of the GOP crazies to the election was over the top and over the edge. Tea party poster child and former SNL star Victoria Jackson took to twitter to lament that “America has died.” she also gave a tongue lashing to Christian for allowing Obama to be reelected. Donald Trump, poster child for worst hair on a public personality ever, called for revolution. Just against whom, I can’t imagine seeing since he already has millions of dollars and is firmly in the capitalist class that rules the country. Rabid squirrel brain having Ted Nugent,\ went on a badly spelled twitter rant, yelling that “pimps whores and welfare brats” voted for “economic and spiritual suicide”. He also called anyone getting government assistance “subhuman”.

The talking heads on Fox “news” went into a spiral of depression and denial Tuesday night, as Karl Rove tried to deny that Obama had won. Bill O’Reilly lamented the death of a “traditional” “White” America. He also equated this demographic shift to laziness, and wanting handouts.

While it is not surprising that the rabid right responded to this election with racist rants and old rich white people feeling sorry for themselves, I would not recommend anyone breathe a sigh of relief. See, contrary to popular opinion, Barack Obama is really not all that progressive, and not much of a leftist. He’s not a socialist. He is most definitely not a communist. I’ll tell you what he is.

Barack Obama is a war mongering capitalist imperialist.

Guantanamo Bay, still open. Afghanistan, still being fought. Thousands and thousands of dead and wounded soldiers, with more being wounded almost every day. The US is maintaining more than 750 bases all around the world, in more than 150 countries. We are helping the human rights abusing rebels in Syria, giving Israel more ammo to drop on Palestinians, we are still embargoing Cuba, we are still threatening Hugo Chavez, we are continuing NDAA, the PATRIOT act, drone surveillance of our own citizenry,
and on and on and on.

Obama is in effect, Dubya 2.0. So there must be a reason that the GOP, and the neocons hate him. Oh right, he’s black. Forgot about that.

I hope these gun wielding crazy assholes do start something. If the US is too busy destroying its own government then it cannot attack other countries. I hope it all devolves into a anarchic chaos filled pile. But it probably won’t, because Americans are afraid to fight for their own political future. They’re too scared to actually press for systemic change, and even the brain damaged reactionaries on the right are all talk and no walk. No surprise there.

So what’s the plan now? Oh, I suppose another 4 years of the status quo? What are you going to do about it? Nothing?

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

I went to a forum at my university tonight on the subject of the US election. What I heard was people blatantly lie about both the political process, and the policies being enacted. I had the strong feeling that I was the furthest left person in the room as well, so that certainly made things interesting. I also got dressed down by an elderly woman who was incensed that I wasn’t voting for Obama. Long story short, it got me thinking about the political process in the US, and why it is so, so far out of whack. Why things can’t be improved in the current paradigm, and why we need radical change in our political systems.

Wealth Inequality

One speaker made a load of bullshit accusations and false characterizations about the occupy movement. I answered his stupidity, but it pissed me off that he could stand up there and blatantly lie about a movement he probably never went to, and held such contempt for. This man is white, a lawyer, obviously not poor; in short the poster child for the GOP. He thinks that the protesters were all violent hipsters out to get everything for free, that we just want a free ride in life. Untrue. We’ve worked our asses off for years, for low pay, only to be swallowed in debt, with uncertain futures, a lack of jobs, and a fractured world while men like him play the fiddle and pretend all is well. His material was mostly from the Heritage Foundation, a hack think tank if there ever was one. He slandered and lied the entire time he was slated to talk.

Here are some of his claims:

There is too much debt, the deficit keeps rising, and we’re sinking in debt, and it’s all the democrats fault.

The TRUTH:

Yes, the US is in debt, but why? Because of the democrats and their love for the welfare state? Oh hell no. We’ve spent over a trillion dollars on illegal and pointless wars in the middle east, in addition to massive tax breaks for the wealthy and huge government expansion. (Think PATRIOT Act, NDAA, Dept. of Homeland Security) Bush created a MASSIVE amount of debt, never balanced a budget, and ruined the US economy. Then the GOP gets mad at Obama for CONTINUING THOSE GODDAMN POLICIES.

Another claim: Liberals and the left just want everything handed to them on a sliver platter

The TRUTH: The fact is that in the US, the rich are really scared of something completely different. They’re scared that people will notice that the capitalist class has had everything handed to THEM on a silver platter. They have for too long taken for granted their positions of privilege, and they are now scared that they’re going to lose it. Wanting a society that can provide the basic human needs to the people is not asking for everything on a silver platter. The capitalist class sits around making money off the hard work of the proletariat, and then cries bitter tears of pain when they’re asked to sacrifice a tiny bit of their ill gained wealth for the common good. This only goes to prove that you can’t let the capitalists maintain power and still hope for socialism, or hell, even for some goddamn social progress.

The US Political System

Switching gears now away from the crazy claims of a disingenuous lawyer (also known as a lawyer), the talk tonight really highlighted for me the problem of our political system. There are only two sides. There are the democrats, and the republicans and they will decide what happens to the country. Don’t like the two party system? Too goddamn bad. Don’t like either party? Too bad. While the world is worried about a possible financial meltdown, a possible world war, increasing political tensions worldwide, a lack of jobs, the death of our environment, more war, income inequality, no money for education or housing, no money for anything other than the rich, real fucking problems… While all that is going on our political process consists of two people whose political positions are near enough that they could easily fit into the same political party, arguing on national TV about things that have NOTHING to do with the real problems we face. These same two will not be elected by a popular vote, they will be elected by an unaccountable electoral college, the names of whom no one knows, and political candidates for congress being the same old same old oligarchy that has ruled us since the dawn of this country. No other voices or concerns may enter the debate. No other parties can compete. No other way can be found. Status quo status quo status quo. Neither party candidate wants to end our overseas wars immediately, neither candidate wants us to close our excessive overseas bases, neither of them cares about changing American foreign policy, neither cares about ending the war on drugs, neither cares about anything other than getting elected so they can ensure four full years of power. Nothing changes, and they don’t want it to change. Things are just the way they like it because they can play you all off the other party, and get you so used to this bullshit that you are not educated or brazen enough to speak out against it. “If you don’t vote Republican, the Democrats will win” “If you don’t vote for the Democrats, the Republicans will win”. I said something on twitter the other day that really sums up how I feel about these two corrupt parties. I said “Having to choose between the Dems and the GOP is like being made to choose between salmonella and E.Coli. When will we wake up and see the truth for what it is? The US is nothing more than an oligarchy, a sad corrupt oligarchy that will come crashing down under the weight of its own hubris.

The lawyer who spoke tonight said many damned lies, and tried to back it up with shitty statistics. Like the BS claim that half of all Americans don’t pay tax. (Nearly every American pays tax of some sort)

But this is par for the course. We accept these lies as legitimate debate, when they are not. They are simply lies. Lies like the idea that the human beings who make up the populace of the USA can’t control their own political process, that we are beholden to a hundreds of years old document that we didn’t agree to. The idea that we are to sit down and shut up and not raise these questions. Why are there so many Americans on welfare? Good question, why are there so many Americans who NEED welfare? Are Americans just inherently lazy? It think not, and data backs me up. We’re one of the hardest working countries in the developed world. Why is it then? Maybe it’s because the people hoarding all the money in the US are not the real producers of wealth. Those are the grease stained engineers, the school teachers, the bakers. They are the street sweepers and the hotel desk clerks, they are the mothers and the fathers who bust their asses ever day to provide for their families, and are depressed, hurt and ashamed when there is more month than money. We are the people, teh strugglers, the fighters and the hopeful, and we are the ones who make the wheels of the economy turn. Assholes like that lawyer want you to believe that YOU are lazy, that you don’t want to work that YOU just want welfare. Fuck no. I don’t want welfare, I want socialism. I want a system wherein the workers own the corporations, and there are no CEOs. I want a truly transparent, money free political system that values ideas over political party apparatus. I want a system that believes in free and equal rights for all, including so called illegal immigrants, LGBT et al. I want a better world, not a world where the only way of making it big is to step on the corpses of your downtrodden worker brethren. We can, and indeed we must DEMAND and end to this ridiculous and unacceptable status quo. We need socialism bad, we need real workers democracy bad, we need equal rights for all bad, we need an end to capitalism. That may not be the popular thing to say, but it needs to be said. I will never stop advocating revolution in the US until we overthrow this militaristic fascist state. I will not give in and support Obama and the democrats. I will never OK the current treatment of Palestinians, Libyans and others. I will not accept capitalist imperialism, and I never will

So what are you going to do? Are you going to accept the status qo? Are you going to accept the rhetoric of lies, damn lies and statistics on Fox “news” and CNN? Or will you join me in demanding a better world, and a new political system to bring about that better world. You supported the overthrow of the regime in Egypt, right? Are you too cowardly to advocate the same in the US? It’s high time for a change, it is high time for an uprising, it is high time for a better world.

 

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to…

The internet erupted with outrage at the announcement of the winner of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. A prize that is supposed to be given to those who have advocated for peace, and helped bring about a more peaceful world. Of course as you most likely know, this year’s prize went to the European Union. After having given the prize to other capitalist imperialists such as Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger, this only helps solidify the meaninglessness of the prize and its control by those who wish to advance, not human rights or democracy, but capitalist control over everyone and everything. Their rationale for awarding the peace prize to the EU was that it had solidified unity on a continent that used to be torn by war. This may sound reasonable to some, but if you dig just below the surface you’ll see that this is a farce, and that giving the peace prize to the EU is like giving a prize for outstanding human rights to the keepers of Guantanamo bay. Now I’m going to tell you why.

Peace and Human Rights my Ass

While it’s true that Europe has managed not to kill off the entire globe yet, that is hardly cause for a Nobel Peace Prize. Hell, I’d qualify for that shit if that was the case. What is the EU’s stance on human rights? Have they actually produced a more peaceful world? The answer to both, unfortunately, is a negative one. Let’s start with the first question, human rights. Is Europe upholding human rights? The answer is an unequivocal NO. Let’s start with the support of many EU countries for and complicity in illegal CIA renditions. No less than 14 EU member countries have been explicit in helping the US with their illegal kidnapping and imprisonment structure in Europe. Countries like the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Greece, Sweden among others. Want to read more about this? Glad you asked, because here is a link for you from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/world/europe/07iht-prisons.1915898.html

And that’s not all. Amnesty International reported that migrants to Greece, many of them minors were being unfairly and illegally imprisoned in detention centers. Here’s the story here:  http://www.amnesty.eu/en/press-releases/security-and-human-rights/detention-of-minors-in-greece-shows-failings-of-eus-immigration-policy-0463/

Migrants left to die: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/28/left-to-die-migrants-boat-inquiry

These problems are important egregious violations, and I could talk about support by the EU member nations and participation in the US’s illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has killed upwards of a million people, but there is something closer to home that I want to focus on.

The EU financial crises is years old now, and the struggle continues as Brussels, Germany and France try to squeeze the poorer member nations for all they have. Greece, Italy and Spain among others are floundering in ridiculously high unemployment, sagging economies and corrupt governance. Hundreds and hundreds of people in countries like Spain and Greece have taken their own lives because of austerity programs that took away from them what they had worked hard their whole lives to build. Men who had worked for a lifetime found that their guaranteed pensions were being stripped away from them, leaving them with nothing to live on. The disabled and sick are left hanging as the government cuts and cuts and cuts social programs that helped these people live with a modicum of decency. Surely it was because all those social programs had bankrupted those countries, right? (this is what the right likes to bray every time you bring up the trouble in Europe) NO. It is the fault of none other than the EU itself. It brought poorer countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal under the common currency when they were not ready to do so, and created a tidal wave of economic excess. Banks borrowed at ridiculously low rates and bet on bad debt over and over again, and the whole economy was managed very very badly. A mountain of debt piled up and the banks were about to go under so the governments bailed out the bad decision making bankers and put themselves deeply into debt. The bankers, the governments made out like bandits, and the working people were thrown under the bus. Higher taxes, for less government services. That’s not fiscal responsibility, that is straight up theft from the working classes. That is reprehensible. Mothers in Greece are abandoning babies they can’t feed, homeless numbers are growing, riots in the streets and anger abounds. The EU is in the throws of a social movement that could possibly bring down the whole damn apparatus. The police hit, shoot, beat and gas protesters for expressing their anger against this travesty, and pictures of bloodied and beaten protesters abounds. Speak out against this sickening fleecing of Europe and you’re thrown in jail, kill millions of jobs and steal pensions, you’re a hero. It is down right sickening. Here’s some pictures from “peaceful” Europe:

This is all going on RIGHT NOW. People are suffering and dying thanks to the economic terrorism wafting out of Brussels, Berlin and Paris, and there are loads of riots and talks of war, separatist groups and economic collapse. And it is to this region, that they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Seems legit.

Dear Europe, you don’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. You don’t deserve it because there is no justice in Europe, only class warfare. And as you may have heard before, no justice, NO PEACE.

FUCK the EU and its capitalist tyranny. End the EU and build socialism in your countries.

Also, give up on ever respecting the Nobel Peace Prize, it’s a joke and has been for some time.

It is important enough to say again:

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE.

Columbus Day: U.S. capitalism built on slavery, genocide

Columbus Day: U.S. capitalism built on slavery, genocide.

Columbus Day: U.S. capitalism

built on slavery, genocide

No reason to celebrate

 

By Peta Lindsay

 

October 7, 2012

 

This article first appeared in the October 2004 issue of Socialism and Liberation magazine.

The second Monday of October is Columbus Day, celebrated as a federal holiday in the U.S. since 1971. This day marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 landing in the Americas, his “discovery of the New World” for the benefit of the Spanish monarchy.

Columbus Day is a day of parades, pageants and retail shopping bargains across the nation. Schools close and

American Indian Movement marches in San Francisco October 1992, to commemorate 500 years of resistance. Photo: Bill Hackwell

government employees get the day off. But exactly who and what are being celebrated?

To celebrate Columbus is to celebrate a legacy of genocide, slavery, rape and plunder. It commemorates the violent and bloody accumulation of capital for the ruling classes of Europe and, later, the U.S.

Columbus’ voyage was financed by the Spanish monarchy. Spain was then a newly unified nation-state in competition with other European powers to expand its domain and amass great wealth. The purpose of his expedition was to establish an alternative trade route to the East and return with riches. Gold and silver were of particular interest to Columbus.

When he landed in the islands now known as the Bahamas, Columbus encountered the Arawak Indians, whose kindness and generosity he noted in his journal and letters. Columbus quickly took a group of Arawaks captive, hoping they could lead him to gold. He then sailed to Hispaniola-Haiti and the Dominican Republic-where he enslaved even more Indians.

After returning to Spain and reporting on the incredible wealth in the islands of the “New World,” the monarchs gave Columbus 17 ships and more than 1,200 men to plunder the Caribbean. His new expedition went from island to island gathering slaves and gold with unprecedented brutality.

Opening the continent to slavery

Columbus was the first European slave trader in the Americas. He sent more slaves across the Atlantic Ocean than any individual of his time-about 5,000.

He and his men captured and enslaved the Arawak people almost as soon as they landed. Some were sent to Spain and others served Columbus on the islands. In 1496, Columbus jubilantly wrote Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella about the possibilities for exploitation in the West Indies: “In the name of the Holy Trinity, we can send from here all the slaves and brazil wood which could be sold.”

In Hispaniola, Columbus and the Spanish set up a system that made every Indian over the age of 14 responsible for gathering a certain amount of gold each month. They received copper tokens to hang around their necks if they succeeded. If an Indian was caught without a token, the Spanish cut off their hands and let them bleed to death.

Such murder and torture occurred frequently because the Spanish wildly overestimated how much gold existed on the island. Gathering enough gold to satisfy the Spanish conquerors was an impossible task.

When it became clear there was no more gold to take, the Spanish started a form of plantation slavery, known as the ecomienda system. This system thrived by working Indian slaves to death on large, privately owned estates. Indian slave labor was later used in gold and silver mines.

Sexual slavery was also widespread among the Spanish settlers. In 1500, Columbus wrote: “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.”

Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish priest sympathetic to the plight of Indians, described the terrible violence against them: “[the Spanish] rode the backs of the Indians as if they were in a hurry,” and they “thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.”

When the Arawaks tried to escape enslavement, they were hunted and killed. The Spanish sent hunting dogs to rip them apart. When the Arawaks tried to organize armed uprisings, they were crushed by the settlers’ advanced weaponry. Arawaks taken prisoner in battle were hanged or burned alive. Many turned to suicide out of misery and desperation.

The diseases brought by the colonizers rapidly felled the Indians. Through out the Americas, millions died from smallpox, influenza, viral hepatitis and other illnesses. European rodents and livestock wreaked havoc on the ecosystem of the Americas, which sustained the native population.

A brutal legacy

Columbus and his followers massacred an entire people. Some estimate that the pre-Columbian population on the island of Hispaniola was as high as 8 million. By 1516, the Indian population dropped to 12,000. Only 200 remained by 1542. Not one Arawak Indian was left alive on the island by 1555.

The atrocities committed by Columbus and his men were by no means isolated occurrences. Columbus set the model for other Europeans who sought to dominate the “New World.” The same method of terrifying, enslaving and slaughtering Indians was employed by all explorers portrayed as heroes in U.S. history books.

In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés and his fellow villagers waged a scorched-earth campaign against the Aztec empire, overcoming fierce resistance and looting everything they could find. Francisco Pizarro carried out a similar extermination against the Inca empire in Peru.

Captain John Smith from England helped colonize what is now the U.S. state of Virginia for profit. In 1624, he glowingly referenced the Spanish method for dealing with indigenous people: “… you have twenty examples of the Spaniards [and] how they got the West Indies and forced the treacherous and rebellious infidels to do all manner of drudgery work and slavery for them, themselves living like soldiers off the fruits of their labors.” The model of limitless brutality to accumulate resources can be seen through out U.S. history.

Slavery fueled capitalist profits

When it became clear that Indians were dying out too quickly to be useful laborers, settlers turned to the transatlantic slave trade. Settlers reaped huge profits from African slaves who were imported to provide labor to maintain the colonies. Plantation slavery soon spread throughout the Americas, providing agricultural production for the colonizers at very little cost.

It is impossible to know how many Africans were forced into slavery in the Americas from the time of Columbus

In this 1862 photograph, the members of this family represent five generations of slavery. Photo: Timothy O’Sullivan

through the 19th century. Slave traders would often record fewer slaves than they actually transported to keep insurance costs down. They also wanted to avoid criticism for exceeding the maximum capacity of their ships’ holds. For example, in 1788, a British House of Commons committee discovered that the slave ship The Brookes-built to carry a maximum of 451 people-carried more than 600 Africans across the Middle Passage.

Slave traders failed to note when slaves died on the high seas. Due to the brutal and unsanitary conditions on slave ships, nearly 1 in 5 slaves died this way.

Although Britain officially banned the slave trade in 1807, many Africans were illegally kidnapped and transported to the Americas thereafter. At least 12 million Africans were taken to the Americas as slaves.

The slave trade provided the European and U.S. ruling classes with centuries of free labor. In the 1600s, the Spanish began using African slaves in gold and silver mines. Most European colonies used the plantation system to produce sugar, cotton, tobacco, indigo, rice and other crops for export to the European market. This process provided Europe with enough material wealth to spur the rapid advances in technological development and production known as the Industrial Revolution.

Even today some U.S. companies can trace their success to profits made from slavery. A 2002 lawsuit against AETNA insurance, CSX and Fleet Boston sought reparations for African Americans from these companies based on their participation in the slave system. AETNA made its money insuring slaves as the property of their masters. CSX is the present permutation of a company that used slave labor to lay railroad tracks. Fleet Boston is a bank that was founded by a slave trader.

The lawsuit is important because it raises the African American community’s just demand for reparations and at tacks the greedy profiteers of slavery. It insists that African Americans be compensated for centuries of forced labor and discrimination. These historical conditions created the economic disparity faced by African Americans in the U.S. today.

It is not only specific companies that owe reparations; the U.S. government must pay as well. Slave labor built the White House. The so-called “founding fathers” of America owned slaves. For nearly 100 years, the U.S. government and their capitalist partners reaped massive profits dripping with the blood of African slaves.

Genocide and slavery in the name of capitalist accumulation was practiced in the Americas and the rest of the colonized world. Karl Marx wrote in “Capital”: “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skinned, signaled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.”

Columbus and those like him are heroes to the capitalists. They understand that the cruelty and exploitation that marked the colonization of the Americas benefited them. The capitalists’ unyielding search for profits and superprofits leaves them neither conscience nor morality.

Although legal chattel slavery no longer exists in the Americas, capitalist exploitation of poor and oppressed people continues to this day. This is the legacy of Christopher Columbus. For that reason, the masses of people who suffer exploitation have no reason to celebrate on Columbus Day.

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