The Siege of Venezuela and the Travails of Empire

The US is as blatantly imperialist now as the Jim Crow South was blatantly racist for a hundred years—and the one is as absolutely unacceptable as the other. Indeed, imperialism isJim Crow, international edition. Anything calling itself the “progressive” left must see that, and name it, and fight it. Unequivocally. No “But that Malcolm/Maduro fellow is so violent/ undemocratic!” No American politician who abides imperialism deserves to call him/herself “progressive,” let alone “left,” or deserves the political support of those who are actually progressive and left. There is no such thing as Progressive Except Imperialism. Message to “progressive” politicians: Do not expect any serious leftist or anti-imperialist to let you off for this. Time is over for thinking it’s OK to go along with the imperialist “humanitarian/democratic” regime-change bullshit of Trump-Obama-Bush-every-American-president. If you’re not willing to break decisively with that, you are a big part of the problem. Self-identified “progressives” and “democratic socialists” had better find a way to define themselves clearly against their imperialist colleagues. Like class politics, international issues—Palestine-Israel, Venezuela, and self-styled “humanitarian intervention”—are going to be on the agenda, whether identity-politics fans like it or not. And they are going to be splitting questions. Don’t be all hurt and whiny and try to shut people up or blame Russia when it becomes clear that a lot of potential Democratic voters say “Fuck No!” to a ticket that represents continued establishment imperialism and zionism plus a tax hike and a “public option.” “Lean in” to that, resisters.