Imperialism

MARK AMES—Last month, the Washington Post gave a glowing front-page boost to an anonymous online blacklist of hundreds of American websites, from marginal conspiracy sites to flagship libertarian and progressive publications. As Max Blumenthal reported for AlterNet, the anonymous website argued that all of them should be investigated by the federal government and potentially prosecuted under the Espionage Act as Russian spies, for wittingly or unwittingly spreading Russian propaganda.

EDITOR—Garland and Joti discuss many aspects of life under capitalism and imperialism (its inevitable spawn), including the nature of the class struggle, its various levels and structural fractures, i.e., workers vs capitalists in the distribution of society’s production (wages vs profits); the way the ruling class indoctrinates and confuses the population to maintain social peace and legitimacy through a vast apparatus of mind manipulation (media, political class utterances, academia, foreign policy deeds, etc); the inevitable crises of boom and bust in the capitalist cycle, caused by the way wealth is unequally distributed and production organised; and the rise of demagogs like Trump, usually representing the coalescing of a ruling class faction around an idea, program (scapegoating migrants), or public personality. Joti and Garland underscore that despite the rhetoric and posturings, no capitalist faction can ever advance a real solution to the problems created by capitalism, since wars, unemployment, poverty, recessions and depressions, climate change, cultural decay, endless corruption, etc., all stem from the non-negotiable, chaotic ways in which capitalists manage the political economy.

EDITOR—Garland and Dr Tony Monteiro, easily one of the most astute political analysts in the US, sort out the treacherous currents of contemporary American politics, as ruling class factions clash while deciding what kind of domestic and foreign policy will be implemented under Trump and beyond. The working class is simply fed up with the criminal and hypocritical status quo, says Dr Monteiro, and the signs are everywhere, starting with the Trump election by a solid margin, and the anomie observed in broad sectors of the population, especially Black people. The moment may be ripe for more radical politics, but the oligarchs are certainly not out of weapons to repress and confuse the masses, making this period extraordinarily fraught with promise and dangers. 

BILLY BOB—The behaviour of the West, like never before in my (half century) lifetime, is dropping the pretence of its “values and principles”.  The US is openly supporting Nazis, ultranationalists, and ethnic chauvinists in Ukraine and Israel, and they are engaging in actual ethnic cleansing and *Genocide* against the Palestinian and Russian people.  The US is providing military support for their proxy terrorist groups ISIS and Al-Qaeda as they again have sought to overthrow the popular, secular, Arab democracy in Syria.

PETER FORD—The media kicking of Bashar and Asma is really distasteful. It’s pointless.  He’s disappointed his few remaining followers, although it was unrealistic, I believe, for them to expect more. But the fact is that he ran when others were not able to run, and many of those have been killed, or they’re hiding or they’ve escaped to Lebanon in some cases where they’re also hiding. He did get out with his skin, but to beat up on him as the media are doing is really distasteful and pointless. It is akin to this new genre of political pornography, Assad porn, the torture stories, the hyped up narrative about prison and graves being opened up. (A form of retrogressive justification, mostly using staged fake news for all the US/NATO intrigues and atrocities inflicted on Syria for over a decade.—Ed).