ACTIVISTS & HEROES

PATRICE GREANVILLE—LITERALLY MILES OF CARS WAITING FOR FOOD HAS BECOME ANOTHER SEARING IMAGE OF LIFE IN AMERICA THESE DAYS. Jimmy Dore properly calls them, “poverty traffic.” And they are popping up all over the country, including in once “proud” libertarian cultures like Texas. 

Major crises, like this “trifecta” of a pandemic, economic implosion and political bankruptcy, reveal in stark relief the shortcomings of any major social system, and so it is with America’s “Way of Life,” its beloved capitalism. While Congress and the White House have done literally NOTHING to assist the tens of millions thrown into complete destitution, it is the people who spontaneously organise themselves to help each other, and they do. Mind you, this is not charity, per se; this is people properly and promptly doing what needs to be done to solve a social problem. There is solidarity here, and a lesson that we hope will not be forgotten: the people really don’t need the capitalist structure oppressing their lives.

PATRICE GREANVILLE—In this segment, Caleb interviews Christopher Helali, a Communist candidate to the US Congress (PCUSA), based in Vermont. Helali’s background is most interesting: he’s a small farmer, and a descendant of Greek communist partisans who fought the Nazis and later the reactionaries supported by the British and the Americans after the war. Despite his open leftwing views, he enjoys a fraternal relationship with working class men and fellow farmers, mny of whom support Trump, and is able to educate them about the issues confronting them all—in itself a major breakthrough considering the cultural circumstances. Don’t miss this highly instructive and inspiring chat. In the recent 2020 election, although the Democrat candidate (Peter Welch) won, as expected, by a huge majority with 67% of the vote, Helali managed a respectable 1%, with 3,432 people casting their ballot for him. This despite the fact he lacked the enormous financial and media resources enjoyed by the Democrat incumbent, and that he had to communicate his message while pushing back against the deep-seated anti-communist hostility and appalling ignorance that defines the US electorate. Obviously his honesty, courage, steadfastness, and cogency played a big role in this outcome.

While I had initially supported the US invasion of Afghanistan it was about the time the US began preparing for war with Iraq that I began waking up to the reality of US foreign policy. I left the US Marines and the US itself to live in Thailand – a nation I had visited in the military as part of the annual Cobra Gold training exercises. Thailand’s unique culture, history, and specifically Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama 9) who spent his life promoting self-sufficiency, technical knowledge, and practical solutions inspired me to do something practical with my own life – leading me to study and work as an industrial designer.

The Center for Political Innovation (CPI) is an emerging think-tank focused on the development of actuated domestic and foreign policy in the United States of America, utilizing proven methodology involving socialist ideological principles and fact-based empirical research to illuminate the best course of action for the political climate and challenges of the 21st Century. Our objective is to establish the foundations of a new and dynamic American Socialism, for the benefit of people both at home and abroad.

ED CURTIN—Maybe a hawk killed the bluejay, but if so, it didn’t gloat over its body.  It would have been operating under the laws of necessity, where as far as we know, compassion has no place. Not true for Che’s killers. Here they are posing for the camera, guns still aimed at the dead man, as if he still posed a great danger to them.  They were right, at least in the long term.