 |
| Assistant editor, Fluffy |
The
terrorist attacks and the U.S. response to them have been subjects of much
discussion. I want to address a single question frequently asked these days:
are “Americans and the world safer” today than before U.S. government response to these events?
Politicians,
the mass media, and an army of “security experts” and pundits have answered in
the affirmative. They share
the belief that the safety of the American public and the people of the world
can only be assured through the exercise of the naked U.S. power at home and
abroad, assisted by its allies. But what is the class nature of the United
States? Which social class
organizes and runs the affairs of the state? The current economic crisis can offer us an idea. The U.S. government under Bush and
Obama has not failed to assist corporation and entire economic sectors (e.g.
finance and auto) while workers facing long-term employment have been quietly
forgotten. The concepts of “safety” and “security” apparently too have a class
character. Thus. It is presumed
and advertised that the safety of American public lies in the economic and
political hegemony of the American capitalism protected by any means
necessary.
This
view has shaped methods and means employed to respond to the September 11
terrorist actions and Al Qaeda.
Policies pursued include limiting and even suspending civil liberties at
home, especially through a racist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim campaign, and an
imperialist war that has devastated Afghanistan and Iraq and has been expanded
to Pakistan, Yemen and parts of Africa.
Although
liberal bourgeois currents and their pseudo-socialist counterparts have argued
that repression at home and war abroad is essentially a Bush era policy, the
presidency of Obama has largely maintained this legacy and in some respects
expanded it. The war in
Afghanistan has been intensified and expanded to Pakistan and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the liberal bourgeois
opposition to such policies during the Bush presidency has died downed. There
is no significant opposition to the continued limiting or suspending civil
liberties or intensifying or expanding the “necessary war” (as Mr. Obama calls
the ongoing imperialist war in Afghanistan).
To
an observer not liberal politics and the Democratic Party, this bi-partisan
response to the September 11 terrorist attacks is not surprising. It dovetails that anti-labor offensive
that took its definitive shape under President Reagan and has continued to this
day. Labor bureaucrats note that
there are difference between “friends of labor” (often Democratic party
politicians) and outspoken anti-labor politicians (often republicans). However, Democrats and Republican argue
over tactics but agree on the strategy to serve that capitalist class they both
serve. In fact, increasing repression at home and continuing imperialist war
abroad complement the economic war employers and their government have been
waging at home and abroad. What is
certain is that the center of American politics has shifted steadily to the
right since the mid-1970s.
So,
are the working people safer in
the U.S. and abroad given the policies outlined above? The answer is clearly in the
negative. Not only because we are
more at the mercy of the employers and their governments but also because of
the policies we need to pursue that
are not pursued as they run counter to the interest of the capitalist ruling
classes. I am referring to
policies to protect the planet and its ecosystems and the environment, from
global warming and climate change, to acidification of the oceans and species
extinction.
The
challenge remains for the labor movement, civil libertarians, anti-war movement,
and the environmental/ecological movements to forge an ecological socialist
movement that transcends the capitalist system in the U.S. and around the world
and open the road to establishing a socialist society that thrives by being
part of a healthy ecosystem we can Earth.
* * *
The
last 100 posts addressed topics of interest to ecological socialism. A large number of posts are about
ecological crisis and environmental degradation: 18 posts reveal aspects of
ecocide and 9 deal with climate change and global warming. There are 11 posts dealing with
capitalism, 10 with crises generated by it and the longer term
anthropocentrically organized human societies (mostly the so-called
“civilization”), and 6 dealing with imperialism and war. There are 3 posts
about prisoners and the death penalty.
There
are 10 articles dealing with the planetary history, including evolutionary
change, and 6 articles on science and methodology, three on animal liberation and
4 on various reform measures that are worth ecological socialist support. There
are a number of book and film reviews, calls to action, and two pieces
highlighting anthropocentrism.
There
are 13 posts on Cuba and two on Latin America.
I
should like to restate a standard journalistic policy: all signed articles
represent the views of their author(s). They are posted here because they
relate to a subject of our interest and some from mass media can even represent
current bourgeois thought. Only unsigned articles are the points of view
of Our Place in the World.
Our
Place in the World has been in existence for a little over two years. It has
become a resource for a number of people and communities across the world.
Please help us to improve it by commenting on the posts, by sending articles,
and by sharing ideas and criticism by writing to opitw.editor@gmail.com. If you like a post, please share it with others.
--Kamran
Nayeri
* * *
FAIR
USE NOTICE
This
web log (blog) contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always
been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such
material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political,
social, economic, foreign policy, human rights, scientific, cultural,
educational, health and legal issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use'
of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For
more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . All the materials contained
in these pages are properly attributed. If you wish to use copyrighted material
from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you have to
contact the copyright owner.
No comments:
Post a Comment