MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
I have on my cell wall, “Afghan Girl,” Steve McCurry’s photograph that
graced the cover of a 1985 National Geographic. I’m sure MIM is familiar
with “Afghan Girl.” It’s one of my favorite selections of photo
journalism/art.
2010, NG again dispatched McCurry to Afghanistan in search of “Afghan
Girl” in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the famous photo.
McCurry found “Afghan Girl,” just as before - still living in the dirt.
I would wager McCurry has made tens of thousands, nay, hundreds of
thousands of dollars in proceeds from “Afghan Girl.” Obviously,
McCurry’s subject didn’t receive squat.
My question to MIM is: Should “Afghan Girl” be compensated for McCurry’s
photo commensurate to revenue generated, even though said revenue is
derived form superprofits? After all, “Afghan Girl” was McCurry’s model.
Extrapolating form the above, if prisoners are thrown nickels an dimes
by the prisoncrats, are prisoners then feeding at the imperialist
trough? I, myself, don’t give 2 hoots if Texas prisoners are paid or
not. That would just bequeath the man more authoritative leverage to be
used against us. I don’t give a fuck ’bout commissary, unless you’re
talking about boycotting or looting it. And the Texas so-called
“good-time” scheme is a farcical sham.
MIM(Prisons) responds: There is some value, in a world where the
government and its structures are actually serving the interests of the
majority of the world’s people, to superstructure systems of media and
arts that also serve the people. But in the case of a photo exposing
conditions of poverty and suffering, these should be used to identify
problems and inspire action to change, not to generate wealth for the
photographer.
The imperialists have come up with a myriad of ways to make money off
the backs of Third World people. It is true that revenue for a photo is
just a shifting around of superprofits; obviously there is no actual
value or profit created from the taking of a photograph, or from being
photographed. But instead this shows how the privileged in the First
World share the wealth stolen from the Third World, to First World
workers who are mostly engaged in unproductive labor. Rather than ask
whether the Afghan girl in the photo should be compensated for the
photo, instead we say that the entire situation is wrong and
demonstrates how imperialism is more interested in profit than the
welfare of human beings. This is just one small example further
demonstrating that capitalism is a dead end system and must be replaced
with a system that serves the interests of the majority, not the profit
of the minority.
This year’s election reminds me of the 1980 Ronald Reagan and Jimmy
Carter neo-conservative presidential campaign. We have Donald Trump, the
competitive imperialist bizzness mogul. Now we must ask ourselves, since
we have lesser of the two evils, what is it that we as a nation want as
a leader? But I find myself not liking or feeding into the rhetoric of
both candidates, Trump or Clinton. Hillary Clinton favors exploitation
of Third World international proletariat. Both Trump and Clinton have no
solutions for the oppressed nations here in the United $tates or abroad.
As senator Sanders pointed out, Clinton is in the pockets of big bankers
and Wall Street. And Trump seizes the opportunity to expand his ego and
exploit more oppressed nations, by building casinos, resorts and handing
out slave wages to the proletarians of that land.
But what are the solutions to our problems in this capitalistic culture?
One solution which needs to be addressed is a separate party which would
be for the people and by the people. We must not allow the media to
downgrade socialism. Socialism and a socialist party in the United
Snakes of America is a must. We have to overstand what socialism is and
what it can do for oppressed nations here in America. Bringing equality
to all people, and ending global imperialism. But this brings me to
Bernie Sanders. His rhetoric of free education and universal health care
sounds good, but if you are going to support socialist ideas, then you
must go all the way and build a socialist party, and not allow the two
party system of Amerikkka to stigmatize socialist views and its
persistent hopefulness.
As long as the wings of establishment support imperialism we will never
get close to fruition of socialism. But what really upsets me is that
New Africans in America sell out to capitalistic rhetoric by upholding
or embracing bourgeois cultural propaganda. This is why the title
“lesser of two evils” is used for this essay on the awakening of the
lumpen to class consciousness.
There are so many contradictions within Donald Trump’s “Let’s make
America great again” slogan. First and foremost, we must overstand what
made so-called Amerikkka great. Stealing land and demoralizing the First
Nations. Denying them culture and their own way of life. Enslaving New
Africans, or might I say oppression of all people of color who do not
represent white supremacy. That Trump slogan alone is a subliminal white
supremacist statement. Making those who support the labor aristocracy
continue and support efforts to exploit the white lumpen and the people
or nations of oppressed people of color. Creating more wars, and war on
the revolutionaries who will stand up to imperialism. And I can’t forget
about Hillary Clinton who will continue where her husband left off. She
was a supporter of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act,
signed into law by Bill Clinton. And we have the nerve to say oh she’s
for New Africans. I must conclude that what we have in this election is
lesser of the two evils, Trump vs. Hillary. Capitalism vs. mass
incarceration.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade is on the right track in
condemning the Amerikan election system as a tool to reinforce
imperialist power. There is no choice for the truly oppressed and
exploited of the world. In fact, the vast majority of those exploited by
Amerikan imperialism aren’t even eligible to vote in these elections
because they aren’t Amerikan citizens.
We agree that the lumpen should be paying attention to this election and
using it to raise class consciousness, but we’re not in agreement with
the implication that Bernie Sanders represents socialist ideas. In fact,
he is just the other side of the Donald Trump “Let’s make America great
again” coin. Both want to increase the wealth for the Amerikan labor
aristocracy which can only come at the expense of the exploited Third
World proletariat. Even if Sanders spreads those super profits around a
bit more, that doesn’t help the oppressed majority of the world. Sanders
supports the same aggressive militarist international policies of all
the other imperialist candidates: “We live in a dangerous world full of
serious threats, perhaps none more so than the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. Senator Sanders is committed to keeping
America safe, and pursuing those who would do Americans harm.”(1)
The problem isn’t just that Sanders doesn’t support an independent
socialist party, the problem is that Sanders is muddying the word
socialist, just like the “national socialists” (aka fascists) in Germany
did in their day. This is not a word meant to ensure greater wealth for
privileged nations at the expense of oppressed nations. And while it’s
possible Sanders could pursue a policy of greater advancement for the
oppressed nations within U.$. borders, this would only serve to expand
the ranks of the labor aristocracy on the backs of oppressed nations
globally. We cannot support that sort of rhetoric.
MIM(Prisons) maintains that it is possible one day Amerika will fully
integrate the oppressed New Afrikan, Chican@, Boriqua and First Nations
like the Irish, Italians and others who initially faced oppression but
later fully integrated into Amerikan society. This could even be done by
shifting around some money from within imperialist Amerika. But judging
from the popularity of the overtly fascist rallying cries from Trump and
eir ilk, it seems more likely that national oppression abroad will
continue to engender national oppression and racism at home.
This election is important for lumpen consciousness within Amerikan
borders because it would be easy to be taken in by the Sanders rhetoric.
Or to be frightened by the Trump rhetoric. And so be moved to rally
around “the lesser of two evils” campaign to get on the streets working
for the “Democratic Party.” But the lumpen class consciousness needs to
be tied to internationalism. We need to diligently point out the
suffering of the international proletariat at the hands of imperialism,
which is the same oppressor keeping the lumpen down. The alliance should
be between these two oppressed groups, against the imperialists. Not
between the lumpen and the so-called left wing of the imperialists
against the international proletariat. Our job as communists is to push
the oppressed and exploited classes to the right side of this equation:
the side of the world’s oppressed.
When the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program included: “We will not
fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black
people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America”
they were demonstrating this internationalist class consciousness,
specifically in the context of the Vietnam War. This writer is correct
that we will never get close to socialism within the imperialist
establishment. But we disagree that there is actually a lesser of two
evils in any imperialist election, or a choice between imperialism and
mass incarceration. These things go hand in hand, and one side’s
rhetoric benefits some Amerikans more while the other side would benefit
a slightly different group of Amerikans, while the white nation remains
firmly in power, and the wealth continues to come from the exploited in
the Third World.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi has been held in secret detention centers by order
of the Amerikan government since 2001, first in Mauritania (the country
where ey was born), then in Jordan, and finally in 2002 in Guantánamo
Bay where ey is still imprisoned. Slahi voluntarily turned emself in to
the Mauritanian police on 29 September 2001; sure that ey would quickly
be cleared since ey was innocent of any crimes. Instead ey faced years
of torture, through which ey initially maintained eir innocence, until
it became clear that ey would never be released and ey could no longer
stand the suffering. After that point Slahi began to confess to anything
eir captors wanted em to say. Slahi still occasionally told them the
truth when they asked directly, but for the most part their stories were
not possibly consistent or confirmable since the “confessions” were
entirely fabricated. But after ey began to make false confessions and
falsely implicate others Slahi was allowed to sleep and eat, and the
extreme physical abuse stopped. The details of eir torture will make
readers wonder how Slahi held out for so long.
Slahi started writing down eir experiences in 2005 (after ey was finally
given paper and pen) and after many years of legal battles eir heavily
censored manuscript was finally released by the Amerikan government.
This book is an edited version of Slahi’s story, complete with the
original redactions. The editor, Larry Seims, includes some speculation
about what is behind the redactions and documents other declassified
information that corroborates what Slahi wrote. In spite of heavy
censorship, the released manuscript includes surprising detail about
Slahi’s experience including years of torture, the clear evidence that
ey is innocent, and the Amerikan government’s desire for a false
confession.
The book is written in English, Slahi’s fourth language, one that ey
learned in prison in order to better communicate with eir captors and
understand what was going on around em. For six and a half years Slahi’s
was allowed no contact with the outside world and was even hidden from
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which has a mandate
under the Geneva Convention to visit prisoners of war and others
detained in situations like Slahi’s to ensure humane treatment. For the
first year of incarceration Slahi’s family didn’t even know where ey
was, they found out when one of eir brothers saw an article in a German
newspaper. In 2008 Slahi was finally granted the “privilege” of
twice-yearly calls with family. In 2010 Slahi’s petition of habeas
corpus was granted by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, ordering eir
release. But the Obama administration filed an appeal and Slahi remains
in custody.
Amerikan Imperialist Global Domination
The many people who were arrested and kidnapped from their home
countries to be sent to Guantánamo Bay underscore the neo-colonial
status of those countries. As Slahi explains “November 28th is
Mauritanian Independence Day; it marks the event when the Islamic
Republic of Mauritania supposedly received its independence from the
French colonists in 1960. The irony is that on this very same day in
2001, the independent and sovereign Republic of Mauritania turned over
one of its own citizens on a premise. To its everlasting shame, the
Mauritanian government not only broke the constitution, which forbids
the extradition of Mauritanian criminals to other countries, but also
extradited an innocent citizen and exposed him to the random American
Justice.”(p. 132)
When the ICRC finally got in to see Slahi, the last detainee they were
allowed to visit, they tried to get em to talk about abuse ey
experienced. “But I always hid the ill-treatment when the ICRC asked me
about it because I was afraid of retaliation. That and the fact that the
ICRC has no real pressure on the U.S. government: the ICRC tried, but
the U.S. government didn’t change its path, even an inch. If they let
the Red Cross see a detainee, it meant that the operation against that
detainee was over.”(p. 348)
This book underscores the power of Amerikan imperialism to do whatever
it likes in the world. There is no government or organization able to
stand up to this power. This is something that many Amerikans take pride
in, but this is the power of a people who seek to dominate the world for
economic gain. When the oppressed fight back, that power is deployed to
squash the resistance by any means necessary. Of course there is a
contradiction inherent in this power: Amerikan imperialist domination
breeds resistance from the oppressed around the world. So-called
terrorist attacks on Amerikan targets are responses to Amerikan
terrorism across the globe.
As Slahi noted when ey was watching the movie Black Hawk Down
with a few of eir guards: “The guards went crazy emotionally because
they saw many Americans getting shot to death. But they missed that the
number of U.S. casualties is negligible compared to the Somalis who were
attacked in their own homes. I was just wondering at how narrow-minded
human beings can be. When people look at one thing from one perspective,
they certainly fail to get the whole picture, and that is the main
reason for the majority of misunderstandings that sometimes lead to
bloody confrontations.”(p. 320)
We would not agree that it is just misunderstandings that lead to these
bloody confrontations. Rather it is the blood thirst of imperialist
aggression constantly seeking new sources of exploited and stolen wealth
that inevitably leads to bloody confrontations.
While Slahi is far from politically radical, eir experience educated em
in the reality of injustice and the definition of crime by those in
power. Writing about eir arrest and initial imprisonment in Mauritania:
“So why was I so scared? Because crime is something relative; it’s
something the government defines and re-defines whenever it
pleases.”(p. 92)
War on Islam
The target of Amerikan aggression changes depending on where there is
the most resistance to imperialism. Back in the mid 1900s it was focused
on the communist countries, this shifted to the “War on Drugs” and
attacks on Latin America in the late 1900s, and then to the Arab world
in the early 2000s. Slahi is acutely aware of this latest wave of
aggression by the Amerikan imperialists targeting Islam and the
hypocrisy of this attack:
“…Americans tend to widen the circle of involvement to catch the largest
possible number of Muslims. They always speak about the Big Conspiracy
against the U.S. I personally had been interrogated about people who
just practiced the basics of the religion and sympathized with Islamic
movements; I was asked to provide every detail about Islamic movements,
no matter how moderate. That’s amazing in a country like the U.S., where
Christian terrorist organizations such as Nazis and White Supremacists
have the freedom to express themselves and recruit people openly and
nobody can bother them. But as a Muslim, if you sympathize with the
political views of an Islamic organization you’re in big trouble. Even
attending the same mosque as a suspect is big trouble. I mean this fact
is clear for everybody who understands the ABCs of American policy
toward so-called Islamic Terrorism.”(p. 260-61)
Slahi also documents the denial of religious practice in detention
camps:
“But in the secret camps, the war against the Islamic religion was more
than obvious. Not only was there no sign to Mecca, but the ritual
prayers were also forbidden. Reciting the Koran was forbidden.
Possessing the Koran was forbidden. Fasting was forbidden. Practically
any Islamic-related ritual was strictly forbidden. I am not talking here
about hearsay; I am talking about something I experienced myself. I
don’t believe that the average American is paying taxes to wage war
against Islam, but I do believe that there are people in government who
have a big problem with the Islamic religion.”(p. 265)
Slahi misses that this chauvinism is not at root a problem Amerikans
have with the Islamic religion. Rather it is a problem they have with
oppressed people who rise up to oppose Amerikan imperialism. Islam is
just one of many targets because it is a religion of the oppressed. The
Amerikan government (and its people) had no problem with Islam when
al-Qaeda was an ally in the fight against communism. In fact Slahi
himself trained with al-Qaeda for six months in Afghanistan, but this
was during the time when that group was supported by the Amerikan
government and fighting against the Soviet-backed government in that
country. This action was legal for Mauritanian citizens, and in fact
encouraged by the Amerikan government. Nonetheless this fact became one
of the cornerstones of the Amerikan insistence that Slahi was behind the
World Trade Center attacks, among other things.
Will Amerikans Oppose Torture?
After years of torture and unjust imprisonment at the hands of the
Amerikan government Slahi remains relatively moderate in eir views about
the country and its people. Ey sees fundamental good in all people, a
view that communists share, but one that has blinded Slahi to the
economic interests of the vast majority of Amerikans which leads them to
support the torture in Guantanamo even after reports like this one are
released.
“What would the dead average American think if he or she could see what
his or her government is doing to someone who has done no crimes against
anybody? As much as I was ashamed for the Arabic fellows, I knew they
definitely didn’t represent the average Arab. Arabic people are among
the greatest on the planet, sensitive, emotional, loving, generous,
sacrificial, religious, charitable, and light-hearted…. If people in the
Arab world knew what was happening in this place, the hatred against the
U.S. would be heavily watered, and the accusation that the U.S. is
helping and working together with dictators in our countries would be
cemented.”(p. 257)
The reality is that most people in the Arab world do know about Amerikan
injustice. In fact, in Mauritania the police told Slahi “America is a
country that is based on and living with injustice”(p. 134) when Slahi
asked why they were extraditing em when they believed ey had already
proven eir innocence. And it is this knowledge that leads to many taking
up the fight against Amerikan imperialism. At the same time most
Amerikans now know about the torture of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and
still public sentiment is far from outraged at these actions. Large
portions of the population rally around political figures like Donald
Trump when ey calls for more torture.
From all of this we see further evidence for the potential of
Islam
as a liberation theology for those fighting against Amerikan
imperialism. Just as the masses in Latin America were drawn to Catholic
liberation theology as a reaction to oppression and injustice in that
region, segments of any religion are likely to adapt to popular
sentiments. Liberation theology was a valuable ally for the
revolutionaries in Latin America.
Regardless of the format this liberation struggle takes, we know that
the oppressed people of the world can not wait around for Amerikans to
wake up and stop the torture themselves. Now more than a year after
Slahi’s book was released (which even spent some time on the best
seller’s list), still nothing has been done about eir situation. The
masses must liberate themselves; their captors will never willingly give
up power. And the Amerikan people are enjoying the spoils of the
captors, so most Amerikans are happily going along with imperialist
torture worldwide.
The Syrian civil war, the biggest conflict in the Middle East if not the
world, has many wondering what the outcome will be. The United $tates
has backed a group in the Kurdish area that has called for the expulsion
of Arabs (1) and has armed fundamentalist religious forces that threaten
the Syrian government, headed by Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, the
government-controlled capital of Syria, Damascus, has been a place where
Muslims, Christians, and Jews are allowed to co-exist, united by the
same desire to save their nation from the forces that be. The Syrian
Constitution is based in the mission of Pan-Arabism and specifically
prevents the formation of political parties “on the basis of religious,
sectarian, tribal, regional, class-based, professional, or on
discrimination based on gender, origin, race or color.”(2)
The Assad government opposes becoming a puppet to U.$. imperialism and
was never for the creation of I$rael and its occupation of Palestine. As
history has shown, with a policy like that comes economic, if not
military, aggression. The East and the West are in a tug-of-war over
influence in the Middle East and it’s only going to get worse. The
so-called U.$.-type of “democracy” has proven again and again that it
does not work; imperialist pseudo-democracy will not work in Syria just
like it hasn’t worked in Afghanistan or Iraq.
The pro-West bourgeois media claims Assad rules with an iron fist, but
the West has backed the destruction of secularism and political
pluralism in the region. Syria is more democratic than Saudi Arabia, a
U.$. ally and the biggest dictatorship in the region. If the United
$tates is really so concerned about iron fists, maybe the capitalists
should look past the petroleum barrels and look at Saudi Arabia, the
anti-democratic Sunni dictatorship that is nominally leading a
repressive war in Yemen and was involved in the brutal repression of
recent revolts in Bahrain.
For centuries Sunni influence has dominated the sectarian Muslim world,
but now the table has turned and the Shia militias have taken up more
territory than they’ve had in centuries, which has the Saudis in an
ideological war with Iran. Assad is blamed for all the casualties in the
war but even the foreign aggressors can’t deny that it’s their coalition
planes dropping the barrel bombs on innocent civilians, threatening the
Syrian government with war if they intervene.
The United $tates has spent $5 million on a Pentagon-sponsored training
program to arm the Syrian opposition forces, but four years later there
is still no success in their campaign. The Pentagon has admitted that
the program was a failure. From the beginning of the war the U.$. State
Department’s policy towards Syria was “Assad must go now.” But since
it’s looking like this is not going to happen any time soon Obama said
Assad doesn’t have to leave right away, there can be a transition of
power. What bureaucratic bullshit.
All this has to do with Russia and Iran’s strong presence in Syria and
their strong stance on supporting Assad. The Iran-backed Shia militias
are doing most of the fighting on Iraq’s border with Syria, and they
have made it clear that as soon as they’ve dealt with the Islamic State
they’re prepared to fight the real enemy: U.$. imperialism. Russia has
recently opened up an airbase in western Syria, the biggest Russian base
ever built outside the old Soviet territory. Just recently they’ve
started conducting their own airstrikes against the Syrian opposition
forces in eastern Syria, far from Islamic State-held territory.(5) Now
the United $tates sees how determined Russia and Iran are in making sure
the Syrian government doesn’t collapse. Both sides are willing to sit
down for talks on how to avoid each other on the battlefield but can’t
decide how the war should end. One thing is for sure: if Assad leaves,
the war still won’t end.
The real victims of this ideological, semi-colonial war are the innocent
people of Syria. Since the beginning of the war, 250,000 people have
died and more than 9 million people have left their homes. According to
the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 3,000
to 6,000 people leave Syria every day. So now because of the war the
biggest refugee crisis since WWII is happening with no end in sight.
Other major casualties are happening among the Kurdish people, who have
been fighting for freedom since before the war and have suffered much
death and destruction because of the war. I’m not talking about the
comprador landlord class that sold out to imperialism. I’m talking about
the exploited who were suffering way before the war, and do not have
interests aligned with imperialism, despite their misleaders.
As anti-imperialists we oppose U.$. aggression in Syria as well as
anywhere in the world. Chairman Mao said “political power comes out of
the barrel of a gun.” So as long as there is exploitation there will
always be war. As materialists we must use scientific theory to educate
one another on the importance of solidarity with the Third World and
opposition to the bourgeois warmongers.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is correct that our principal
contribution here should be in making it hard for the United $tates to
stay involved in Syria and elsewhere. And while we cannot determine the
forces on the ground elsewhere, we can see who is in the
anti-imperialist united front and who is with the imperialists. In that
light, we have a couple comments related to some popular narratives on
this conflict.
First, there is a myth promoted in the Western media that violence in
the Middle East is due to centuries-old religious conflict. This myth
paints the current war(s) in an ahistorical way; they have always
existed, and may continue to exist unless the imperialists can somehow
tame and modernize these backwards peoples.
The reality is that these are some of the most religiously diverse
countries because they are close to the birthplaces of so many of the
world’s most popular religions. Countries like Iraq and Syria not only
were quite diverse and harmonious, but were relatively well-developed;
not the bombed-out desert caves we see in the media.
The narrative that focuses on religion does so to hide the real politics
and economics behind the conflict. In particular, hiding imperialist
meddling. It also attempts to convince the West, from atheist to
Christian, of the barbarity of these “foreign” cultures. It is important
to remember that the principal contradiction on the international scale
is imperialism vs. the oppressed nations, and not between religions or
genders.
Many have used the role of wimmin in the Islamic State in contrast to
the Kurdish regions to justify support for the Kurds. As Frantz Fanon
noted in his study of the Algerian revolution, the conditions of armed
struggle forced the involvement of wimmin in military operations,
regardless of cultural beliefs to the contrary. In other words, the
national struggle, if genuinely aimed at liberation from imperialism,
will force the gender contradiction forward with it. The converse is not
true, which is how we know which contradiction should be prioritized. It
is true that more wimmin holding guns can be a good sign of the
progressiveness of the organization, but even in the Third World this is
not always the case.
This leads us to another myth that we want to clarify for our readers,
which is that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a Marxist, or even a
Maoist organization. While having Marxist-Leninist roots, the PKK fully
capitulated to the Turkish state after the capture of their leader
Abdullah Ocalan in a joint U.$.-Turkish operation in 1999. He officially
changed the leading ideology of the PKK to a libertarian “Democratic
Confederalism” in 2005. But as early as 1998 Ocalan was denouncing
communism, and promoting the route of U.$. development for the oppressed
nations.(6)
The PKK has its roots in Turkey, which has a long history of Maoist
activity that continues to this day. Yet none of the Kurdish-controlled
areas are currently run by anti-imperialist organizations. The
U.$.-backed Erdogan regime in Turkey does have a complex relationship to
the PKK and other Kurdish forces. While they have provided support to
Kurds fighting the Islamic State, in recent months, they resumed violent
attacks on the PKK within Turkey. For this reason and many others, the
current alliance of Kurdish forces with the U.$. empire is not an
optimistic choice for the Kurdish people.
A USW comrade asks: Recently I was having a conversation here
with someone about the “Third World.” This person didn’t think
all of Africa, Asia & Latin America was still the “Third
World.” I wasn’t totally sure. He also asked exactly what qualifies a
country for Third World status. I had no answer, he asked someone
outside prison who looked online and stated all Latin America is still
Third World but China was now considered “Second World,” is this true?
Can you send me an article on “Third World” - past, present, and future?
Thank you.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The use of the terms First, Second and
Third World arose during the Cold War, when the Western imperialist-led
block was referred to as the First World, the communist block was the
Second World, and the Third World were the so-called non-aligned
countries who were also the most exploited and underdeveloped countries
by design.
Mao Zedong put forth an alternative assessment of the world using these
terms. By this time the Soviet Union had clearly gone back on the
capitalist road. So while the West saw the Soviet Union as communist,
China saw it correctly as imperialist. Mao therefore labeled the two
superpowers, U$A and the Soviet Union, as the First World. He grouped
other imperialist countries as the Second World, which he saw as
potential allies against the First World. Then the exploited countries
he saw as the Third World, including socialist countries like China
itself.
Today, the general usage of the term Third World is more consistent and
it is closer to the way Mao defined it. It might be used interchangeably
with terms like “exploited nations,” “oppressed nations,”
“underdeveloped countries,” “periphery” or “global south.” In 1974 Mao
said, “The third world has a huge population. With the exception of
Japan, Asia belongs to the third world. The whole of Africa belongs to
the third world and Latin America too.”(1) To this day, this is probably
the most common view of who is the Third World. But of course it is more
nuanced than that.
It is worth mentioning the more recent use of the term Fourth
World to refer to indigenous populations that are not really
integrated into the capitalist world economy. This points to the reality
that the vast populations that we might lump into the category of Third
World can vary greatly themselves. The distinction is a more useful
point when analyzing conditions within a Third World country than when
doing a global analysis.
In the earlier years of the Soviet Union, Stalin summed up Lenin’s
theory of imperialism and split “the population of the globe into two
camps: a handful of ‘advanced’ capitalist countries which exploit and
oppress vast colonies and dependencies, and the huge majority consisting
of colonial and dependent countries which are compelled to wage a
struggle for liberation from the imperialist yoke.”(2) This is how we
view the world today, when there is no socialist block with state power.
But we also know that historically the socialist USSR and socialist
China both saw themselves in the camp of the exploited countries, or the
Third World.
In our glossary, we define Third World as, “The portion of the
geographic-social world subjected to imperialist exploitation by the
First World.” If this is our working definition, we might choose to use
the term “exploited nations” to be more clear. But this comrade brings
up a good question asking about China. And it leads us to the question,
is China still an exploited nation?
We will only superficially address this question here, but we think the
obvious answer is “yes.” It was only recently that the peasantry ceased
to be the majority in China. And after the destruction of socialist
organizing in the mid-1970s, the conditions of the peasantry quickly
deteriorated pushing people to leave their homelands for the cities.
While urban wages have seen steady growth in recent years, even that
masks a vast and diverse population. The average annual income of $9,000
puts an urban Chinese worker in the neighborhood of earning the value of
their labor.(3) But the average is greatly skewed by the wealthy, and
most workers actually make far less than $9,000 a year. Combine them
with the almost 50% of the population in the rural areas and we’ve got a
majority exploited population.
Another way to think about China as a whole is that it accounts for
about 25% of global production.(4) Capitalism cannot function and pay
over a quarter of the world’s productive labor more than the value they
produce. Keeping all the value of your own labor (and more) is an elite
benefit only granted to a tiny minority found almost wholly in the First
World. There is really no feasible path forward that leads to the vast
majority of Chinese people benefiting from imperialism when they make up
almost 20% of the world’s people. This is a contradiction that Chinese
finance capitalists must deal with.
While the modern interpretation of the term Third World tends to be a
descriptive term for the conditions of that country alone, the
definitions from the Cold War era actually defined Third World countries
by how they relate in the global balance of power. To define a country
as Third World is more meaningful when it is done to define its
interests in relation to others. Can we count on the Chinese to take up
anti-imperialism or not? Or, as Mao put it, who are our friends and who
are our enemies? That is the important question.
While we see the makings of more and more revolutionary nationalist
organizing by other nations against China in the future, we cannot put
the Chinese nation in the camp of oppressor nations. It is our position
that some 80% of the world are of the oppressed nations that oppose
imperialism. Including China as an oppressor nation would push that
number down near 60%. But the conditions in China just don’t support
that categorization.
The bourgeois myth is that the world has been in a period of peace since
the end of World War II. The MIM line has always been that World War III
is under way, it’s just taken the form of the First World vs. the Third
World, so First Worlders don’t worry about it so much. In recent years
that has begun to change as witnessed in thinly veiled conflicts in
places like Ukraine and Syria. In recent months we’ve seen U.$. and
Russian military on the same battlefield, not on the same side. And both
countries are gearing up to increase their militarys’ involvements in
that war in Syria. This is the first time that the inter-imperialist
contradiction has been so acute since Gorbachev took power in the Soviet
Union in 1985 and began the dissolution of the union in partnership with
the Western imperialists.
Politically speaking, it would be reasonable to consider countries like
Russia, as well as China, to be the Second World today, as they provide
a counterbalance to the imperialist interests of the dominant
imperialist powers of Europe, Japan and, most importantly, the United
$tates. As such, Russia and China can play progressive roles as a
side-effect of them pursuing their own non-progressive interests,
because they challenge the dominant empire. However, we have not seen
the term Second World used in this way, and you don’t really hear the
term these days. Perhaps the growing inter-imperialist conflict will
warrant its comeback.
The imperialists have created a mess of migration, with hundreds of
thousands of people traveling from the Middle East and north Africa to
the European Union (EU). Earlier this year there was media attention on
the increased migration from Myanmar and Bangladesh to the richer
countries of South Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. This
is in the context of an unprecedented increase in mass displacement
worldwide.
“By end-2014, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide
as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human
rights violations. This is 8.3 million persons more than the year before
(51.2 million) and the highest annual increase in a single year.”(1)
The conditions that led about 7% of the world’s entire population to
leave their homes vary widely, and similarly the situations they face
when they do leave their homes also vary. Some have absolutely nothing
to their name but the rags on their body, while others are carrying
smart phones, have high formal education, and are being wired money
along their journey for train tickets and smugglers’ fees. Some just
need to leave where they are, others want to meet up with family who
have already immigrated to other countries, and many are doing both.
This article does not attempt to provide a comprehensive history of the
mass migrations, but it does try to outline some basic principles to
keep in mind as the news unfolds.
Open All Borders!
The oppressor countries have concentrated wealth due to the oppression
and exploitation they inflict on other nations. In these countries,
there is a lot of hubub about whether people are “truly” refugees, and
thus worthy of help, or “just” migrants looking for better economic
opportunity, and thus not worthy of assistance. They say those deemed to
be economic migrants should be sent back to their “safe” countries to
build their lives there – a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps of
international proportions.
No matter why people are leaving their present location, our position is
the same: open all borders! The most progressive economic position under
capitalism would be to enable free travel and work across all borders.
Wealth would be more equalized and the imperialists would have a
material interest in ending harmful policies and practices in other
countries, for fear that those populations would leave their homes to
venture to the countries where the wealth is being concentrated.
We know opening all borders is not a realisitic solution in our present
conditions, so at the very minimum we call on the wealthy countries to
allow those who have already fled to make new lives wherever they (want
to) land. We then call on these wealthy countries to take a stand
against the primary cause for why people flee: U.$. militarism and
imperialism.
On the surface it appears Germany has been somewhat favorable to this
position. They have been the most welcoming country of the EU (although
most recently they are trying to curb the migration rather than welcome
it with open arms). We support any EU country’s openness to migrants.
But it’s significant that Germany has an aging population and has been
trying to figure out how to maintain its economy with a deficit of
working-age people. How fortunate then that so many of the refugees come
with professional degrees, skills, and even some savings. The economic
situation in Germany makes it possible for the country to play hero. The
economic substructure defines the ideological superstructure. If not for
the economic problems in Germany, humanitarian efforts would be
marginalized.
National Chauvinism is Not Internationalism
In spring 2015, media attention was on Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,
and Australia for refusing to take in Rohingyas and Bangladeshis who
were abandoned by their smugglers at sea for weeks and months.(2) The
primary position of these countries was “it’s not our problem.”
In the EU, Hungary has been a main thoroughfare for migrants this
summer. In response they are erecting an emergency wall on the borders,
and Hungary’s government’s stance is to discourage migration as much as
possible. Denmark, just north of Germany, has been widely advertising
that it has greatly reduced assistance for migrants, and that people
should not go there. And these are certainly not the only examples of
national chauvinism in Europe.
Those who don’t grasp the differences between revolutionary nationalism
and national chauvinism will use these examples as evidence that all
nationalism is bad. One of the more progressive trends that makes this
mistake is the anarchists. Nationalism of oppressor nations tends toward
fascism, but nationalism of oppressed nations tends towards
revolutionary internationalism. Being that the vast majority of
anarchist movements are located in the First World, it makes sense that
they should oppose the nationalism that they see around them. But a
materialist historical analysis shows that nationalism of the oppressed
has done the most to advance peoples out of oppression, imperialism’s
stranglehold, and toward a society where nations and states are no
longer necessary. Maoists also want a world without nations and states,
but a rejection of the progressive aspects of nationalism won’t get us
there.
European Union vs. United $tates
Some officials in the EU have criticized United $tates policy and
military intervention in the Middle East as the reason for this most
recent mass migration. To the EU, most people coming from the Middle
East are from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Not surprisingly, the United
$tates is also presently engaged in military campaigns in and on these
countries.
But the EU only cares what the United $tates does to the degree that it
affects the EU. It’s good when anyone criticizes the United $tates’s
meddling in the Middle East. But until words turn into actions (and
until EU countries stop their own military campaigns in the region),
it’s just a lot of hot air. We want to see the EU not only open its
borders for all the migrants, but also to recognize that it has
interests which differ from those of the United $tates. A united EU
should stop all material and verbal support for occupation and war in
the Middle East, which would do more to help with their present migrant
crisis than building walls and placing newspaper ads.
Rise of Fascism
The recent mass migration has been exposing reactionary nationalist
sentiments, and in turn adding fuel to the recent rise of fascism in
Europe. More far-right parties are being elected at various levels of
government, and there are more demonstrations and attacks on migrants –
the people, and the infrastructure to support them. Most notably,
fascism has been rising in the last few years in Greece, Germany,
Hungary and Sweden.(3)
Communism is the natural antithesis to fascism. Those who see more
material interests in maintaining their present economic position will
tend toward fascism, whereas those who would benefit more from an
equalization of wealth internationally will tend more toward communism.
It’s the job of the communists to help prevent the rise of fascism in
Europe.
The vast majority of the governments in the world lack popular support
because they serve the oppressive interests of U.$./European/Japanese
imperialism. Popular elections in Palestine (for Hamas) and Honduras
(for Zelaya) have been rejected by the United $tates, who put their
chosen leaders in power. Meanwhile, Afghanistan and Iraq are the most
hypocritical examples of U.$. “democracy building.” A decade of military
occupation, with all the murders, secret prisons and torture that
entails, and even the imperialists can’t claim any victory. Iraq has
split into multiple states, all of which are engaged in an ongoing hot
war. And a recent U.$. government audit of the $1 billion dollars spent
in Afghanistan over 10 years concludes that they have been largely
unsuccessful in establishing “the rule of law,” not to mention
“democracy.”(1)
Of course, that’s not to say that certain imperialist interests have not
been served in these projects. A destabilized Third World nation is
certainly better than a unified one, because the inherent interests of
the Third World are opposed to those of the imperialist nations. Any
successful organization of Third World nations to serve their own
interests is a blow against imperialism. And the ongoing wars grease the
gears of the military industrial complex.
Looking at the Middle East, West Africa or Central America, we cannot
say that the oppressed nations are winning. But the objective conditions
for successful resistance are certainly there and developing. Our
strategic confidence in the victory of the proletarian nations over the
imperialist nations comes from these objective conditions, principally
that the proletariat nations far outnumber the imperialist ones.
Honduras: Mass Protests and Collective Farming
10 July 2015 – tens of thousands of Hondurans marched in the capital of
Tegucigalpa with torches held high to call for the resignation of
President Juan Orlando Hernandez.(2) These protests have been going
strong for seven weeks, and they are the continuation of a six-year
struggle against the forces behind a coup d’etat backed by the United
$tates in 2009.
In this same period a movement to seize land by collectives of
campesinos has been ongoing. These collectives are highly organized and
participate politically in the national assemblies behind the mass
protests. In the countryside, these collectives have provided improved
housing, education and pay for their members. They are class conscious,
and addressing gender contradictions as well. The documentary
Resistencia (2015) shows the regular harassment and
assassinations these collectives face.(3) One community had all their
houses bulldozed while attending a rally in Tegucigalpa, yet they pull
together and rebuild, as one campesino says, because they have nowhere
else to go. While some collectives seem to have armed guards, generally
they depend on non-violent resistence at this time.
The United $tates recently deployed 280 Marines to Central America, with
most going to Honduras as part of their ongoing militarization of the
country in face of this continued mass resistance.(2) Meanwhile, many of
the top military personnel who are allied with the large landowners in
Honduras have been trained in the terrorist training camp known as the
School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.(3) For decades,
graduates of this school have carried out the most atrocious and brutal
military campaigns in Central America on behalf of U.$. interests.
Today, Honduras is considered the murder capital of the world.
Imperialists Slaughter Yemenis in Desperation
The United $tates has been waging low-intensity warfare in Yemen since
shortly after 11 September 2001. In that time they have carried out over
100 drone strikes in the country.(4) In mid-May of 2015, U.$. troops and
ambassadors were pulled out of the country following a popular
insurgency that threw out the U.$. puppet regime of Abdedrabbo Mansour
Hadi in late March. Hadi has since remained outside of Yemen with no
sign that he will be able to return.
Since the removal of Hadi, an intensified bombing campaign in Yemen has
been described as a “Saudi-led” effort, yet U.$. Deputy Secretary of
State Antony Blinken is behind the coordination center in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia and the United $tates expedited weapons deliveries to their ally
who they’ve already provided with a strong, modernized military.
On 6 July 2015 over 30 civilians were killed when invaders shot a
missile into a small market in the village of Al Joob. Other recent
strikes in the region killed 30 in Hajjah, and 45 just north of Aden.(5)
“In addition to some 3,000 Yemenis killed since March, the war has also
left 14,000 wounded and displaced more than a million people, according
to the [United Nations].”(6) Close to 13 million are lacking food due to
the war and the blocking of shipments into Yemen by the imperialist-led
coalition. Meanwhile preventable diseases like dengue, malaria and
typhoid are spreading.(6)
Like the people of Honduras, these horrific conditions leave the people
of Yemen with no choice but to keep fighting. In April, “19 Yemeni
political parties and associations rejected the UN Resolution 2216 [an
attempt to appease the resistance], stating that it encourages terrorist
expansion, intervenes in Yemen’s sovereign affairs, violates the right
of self-defense by the Yemeni people and emphasized the associations’
support of the Yemeni Army.”(7) In June, Najran tribes, in a Saudi
border region, declared war against the Saudi regime because of the
Saudis killing innocent people. This occurred after the House of Saud
attempted to bribe tribal leaders to support their war efforts in
Yemen.(8)
Yemen’s relationship to Saudi Arabia is similar to those of Mexico and
Central America to the United $tates. Yemen was once a nominally
socialist state after a Marxist-inspired national liberation army took
control after British colonialism ended in the region. So like Central
America, Yemen is no stranger to socialism and Marxism. Yet, while
militarily conditions are more advanced throughout the Middle East, we
do not see the class-conscious subjective political forces that exist in
places like Honduras.
Yemen risks falling into inter-proletarian conflict as has been ongoing
in Syria and Iraq. Yet, reports from the ground indicate a strong
recognition that the ultimate blame for their plight falls on the United
$tates (this is true in Honduras as well). Chaos does bring opportunity
for the objective forces of proletarian class interest to rise to
prominence. While conditions are dire in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, they
lend themselves to building dual power and ultimately delinking from
imperialism, which is what the oppressed nations must do to improve
their conditions. While there are multiple competing powers in Syria and
Iraq right now, no sustainable dual power can develop that is not built
on the class unity of the exploited classes as exists in Honduras. At
the same time, dual power must be defended, and the imperialists will
always respond to efforts at delinking with military intervention. It is
this military power that is lacking in Honduras to make their
collectivization efforts sustainable.
These are just some of the hotly contested areas of the world today. The
battle is between the imperialists and the exploited majority. While the
imperialists are the dominant force today, the exploited majority are
the rising aspect of this contradiction. As they rise in more regions of
the world, they undercut capitalist profits and imperialist militaries
become overextended. That is how the exploited majority will become
victors and gain control over their own destiny.
Iraqi-American oncologist and kapitalist Rafil Dhafir is serving a
22-year sentence in Amerikkkan prisons.(1) Being a wealthy kkkapitalist
did not prevent the united snakes from convicting Mr. Dhafir for his
charitable contributions to the people of his native country in
violation of economic sanctions during the U.$.-led attacks of 1991 and
2003. During that time Mr. Dhafir was an outspoken public opponent of
the U.$. war against Iraq.
Mr. Dhafir continues to experience harassment inside the white man’s
dungeon. Last year, just before Ramadan, he was moved to isolation and
had privileges revoked for several weeks for an “investigation” of
allegations that were eventually proven to be maliciously made and
utterly false.
But hypocrisy is a common trait of the imperialists. It is common
knowledge that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and other
occupied territories are illegal. They are in violation of United
Nations resolutions as well as treaties brokered by the united snakes.
Yet as far back as 1982 the united snakes knowingly sent tax dollars to
I$rael. Billions of dollars in U.$. economic aid went to fund those
Jewish settlements. From 1978 through 1982, Israel received 48% of all
U.$. military aid and 35% of U.$. ekkkonomic aid.(2) The united snakes
gives grants, low-interest loans, and weapons free and at reduced prices
to I$rael. Additionally, citizens such as Alan Dershowitz, Arthur
Goldberg, and hundreds of thousands of others regularly send charitable
contributions to I$rael that are used to fund these settlements, knowing
these settlements are a major cause of conflict in the Middle East.
Amerikkka claims that peace in the region is “vital to our security
interests.” If this is true then why aren’t the supporters of I$rael
charged and convicted for economically supporting these illegal
settlements?
Los E$tados Unido$ y Cuba recientemente acordaron restaurar sus lazos
diplomáticas después de medio siglo de hostilidad, tomando pasos para
finalizar uno de los últimos enfrentamientos en el mundo de la Guerra
Fría. El anunciamiento del Presidente Obama, hecho en coordinación con
el Presidente Raúl Castro, declaró que estos países alejados por largo
tiempo volverán a comenzar cooperaciones en una serie de temas
económicos y de viaje y el restablecimiento de la embajada Amerikana en
La Habana, la cual fue cerrada después de la revolución Cubana en 1961.
Aunque la Revolución Cubana fue un golpe contra del imperialismo
Amerikano, el cual mantuvo bajo llave a la economía Cubana, Cuba se
volvió dependiente del estado capitalista de la Unión Soviética después
de la revolución de 1959. Para entonces una nueva burguesía había subido
en la Unión Soviética y se había alejado de su orientación socialista
hacia el estado capitalista. En vez de construir socialismo en Cuba,
Castro y su gobierno terminaron por construir una colonia satélite de la
Unión Soviética.(1)
El rechazo Amerikano de asociarse con Cuba fue una reacción al exitoso
alto de la denominación Amerikana de parte de la gente Cubana y una
concesión a los tantos inmigrantes Cubanos ricos que se fugaron a los
EE.UU. después de la revolución, en vez de una postura política seria.
Los imperialistas Amerikanos no han dudado en asociarse con gobiernos y
países que son fuertemente anti-Amerikanos cuando los beneficios
económicos de la relación son imperiosos.
Los recientes cambios de póliza forjan lazos económicas significantes
entre los dos países permitiéndole a instituciones financieras de EE.UU.
abrir cuentas con contrapartes Cubanas, facilitando restricciones en la
exportación de equipo agrícolas y telecomunicaciones a Cuba, permitiendo
que los ciudadanos Amerikanos usen tarjetas de crédito y débito en la
isla. El mayor alzamiento a corto plazo de los cambios vendrá por
remesas, las cuales permitirá a los parientes de Cubanos mandar $2,000
al mes a sus tierra natal, que del limite presente de $500. Las remesas
son la fuente más grande de ingreso económico de la isla. En efectivo y
productos (aparatos y ropa), cuentan por 5100 millones de dólares al año
en ingresos, casi el doble de lo del turismo que cuenta por unos 2600
millones de dólares.(2)
Los beneficios inmediatos para el país son obvios. El gobierno Cubano
reportó que el crecimiento económico para el 2014 fue al rededor de
1.4%, y que aproximadamente 40,000-50,000 Cubanos emigraron en el año
pasado. Por razones económicas, Cuba está hambrienta por efectivo, y su
mayor socio de comercio, Venezuela, está enfrentando una crisis
económica debido a la reciente caída de precios del aceite. Los
analistas dicen que la posibilidad de perder la ayuda Venezolana tal vez
jugó un papel en el alcance del acuerdo con los EE.UU.
Abundan Oportunidades de Negocios
La restauración de lazos comerciales beneficiará a la economía EE.UU.,
permitiéndole a compañías unirse a otros países que han operado por
décadas en Cuba y hecho sus propias incursiones capitalistas, como
Canadá y estados miembros de la Unión Europea. Agricultores Amerikanos,
ya ayudados con el levantamiento parcial del embargo a productos de
agrícolas, tendrán nuevas oportunidades de exportación. A pesar de las
fuertes regulaciones y limitaciones estrictas, las exportaciones de
productos agrícolas Amerikanos a Cuba crecieron de 4 millones de dólares
en el 2001 a 547 millones de dolares en el 2010.
Grupos que van desde la Agencia de la Federación Agricola Amerikana
(Amerikan Farm Bureau Federation) hasta la cámara de comercio de los
EE.UU. apoyan fuertemente el levantamiento del embargo porque ven a Cuba
como a un mercado de exportación significante. Las oportunidades abundan
en otras partes, como en la telecomunicación, la reventa, el turismo, y
recursos naturales. “Cuba necesita todo lo que hacemos en los Estados
Unidos,” dijo el director de relaciones del gobierno de Caterpillar,
Inc. La compañía espera pronto instalar una concesionaria en Cuba.
“Hemos estado pidiendo una póliza nueva hacia Cuba por 15 años.”
Compañías de hospitalidad Amerikanas también están deseosos de hacer
negocios en Cuba cuando puedan. “El minuto que sea disponible, estaremos
allá,” se reportó que dijo el Jefe Ejecutivo Oficial de Choice Hotels
Internacional, Inc.(3)
Todo esto es evidencia del sistema capitalista en Cuba. Las compañías
Amerikanas quieren acceso a este mercado que corporaciones basadas en
otros países han estado disfrutando por años.
De Yanqui a Imperialismo - Social Soviético: Negligencia de Alternativas
Socialistas
Con la revolución de 1959, Cuba buscó desmantelar la hegemonía económica
que los EE.UU. tenía sobre el país. La nacionalización parcial de
ciertos sectores de la economía, seguida por confiscaciones completas de
propiedades de propietarios extranjeros, fueron enfrentadas con fuerte
oposición de EE.UU., pues muchos ciudadanos Amerikanos mantenían grandes
inversiones allí. El tres de enero de 1961, el Presidente de EE.UU.
Dwight D. Eisenhower rompió relaciones diplomáticas con Cuba después de
que Castro culpó a la embajada Amerikana en La Habana de ser un centro
de actividades contra-revolucionarias en el país. En febrero de 1962, el
Presidente John F. Kennedy proclamó un embargo en la mayoría del
comercio de los EE.UU. con Cuba. La economía Cubana en ese tiempo estaba
en serio peligro. Las plantas industriales, confiscadas después de la
revolución y ahora en un estado destartalado, necesitaban los materiales
principales para seguir operando. Partes para los equipos de las
fábricas y vehículos motorizados hechas en EE.UU. ya no estaban
disponibles. Las cosechas eran pobres, y la racionalización de alimentos
inició en marzo de 1962. En contra de este foro, Cuba firmó un acuerdo
de comercio con la Unión Soviética por 700 millones de dólares, seguido
por un crédito de 100 millones de dólares y un acuerdo de entregar una
gran porción de azúcar dos años atrás. A mediados de julio de ese mismo
año, miles de consultantes económicas y militares iban en su camino
hacia a la isla.
Aunque fue un mejoramiento sobre el estado neo-colonial que tenía bajo
EE.UU, la nueva alianza que Cuba forjó con la Unión Soviética fue apenas
simbiótica en naturaleza. Esta relación con deudas-pendientes también
afectó a Castro en su manejo para diversificar la economía Cubana
atravéz de industrialización, cual al último comprobó ser sin éxito.
Históricamente, la cosecha mas valiosa de Cuba ha sido la caña de
azúcar. Bajo la tutela de EE.UU, más de la mitad de la tierra de cultivo
era dedicada a esta cosecha para exportarla a los mercados de EE.UU.
Poca cambió después de la revolución, y la azúcar contaba por casi dos
tercios de todos los réditos de exportaciones. Esta gran dependencia en
una sola cosecha continuó a obstruyendo la economía Cubana. Cuba
necesitaba azúcar para cumplir su tratado de comercio con la Unión
Soviética y sus aliados, y como resultado, su diversificación
agricultura y su habilidad de alimentar a su gente sufrió. La economía
de Cuba se mantuvo estancada, y se volvió muy dependiente en la ayuda
Soviética. Eventualmente con la caída del bloque Soviético, Cuba fue
herida económicamente severamente.
Además, la ayuda material dado a Cuba fue inferior en calidad, y no
estaba equipada para las necesidades y condiciones climáticas del país
Caribeño. La abrogación temprana de revolución violenta por todo
Latinoamerica de Castro lo puse en desventaja y debilitó las relaciones
de Cuba con la Unión Soviética. Los Soviéticos por su parte acortar la
ayuda económica cada que el gobierno de Cuba cruzara la raya, como fue
el caso cuando Cuba se opuso a la invasión y de Checoslovaquia por la
Unión Soviética y sus países en 1968. Después de una ronda torciendo en
brazo económica, Castro tomo una estancia más neutral.
A diferencia de una aparente cooperación económica de la
Soviética-revisionista, la linea de China comunista en esa época en
consideración a la ayuda material y financiera socialista estaba basado
en cooperación mutua y aconsejó que debería hacerse a la medida de la
necesidad de ambos países con la meta hacia una economía
auto-suficiente. De ninguna manera debería de ser condicional y llevar
altos intereses, lo cual perpetúa el cielo de endeudamiento en el país
recipiente. La ayuda de material debería de ser de primera calidad y no
anticuado tecnológicamente. También deberá servir sus condiciones
materiales. Implementaciones agrícolas Soviéticos exportadas a Cuba, por
ejemplo, causaron mucho daño en los campos de caña de azúcar.
¿Principios Socialistas?
En el último discurso sobre el tema de normalización de relaciones, el
Presidente Raúl Castro dijo que Cuba “no dejará sus principios
socialistas.” A pesar de su aserción nosotros contendemos que él y Fidel
ya lo habían hecho desde 1961. Ellos aceptaron la falacia de que uno no
puede tener producción sin incentivo, instituyendo varias medidas
agrarias y industriales del estilo Soviético, como la implementación de
incentivos de trabajo y diferenciales de sueldos para alzar mejor las
cuotas de producción. Viendo las implementaciones de Mao Zedong de los
incentivos morales para recompensar los logros de producción por encima
de lo normal de la fuerza laboral en China, pudieron haber sido una
alternativa viable a esta. La lucha de clases también fue puesta al
margen con su enfoque en rendimiento económico como medida del éxito del
país en construir socialismo, la cual constituye un fracaso de
deshacerse de la teoría de las fuerzas productivas - una póliza que ha
llevado a muchas revoluciones socialistas a sus perdiciones
revisionistas.
Esta es una razón crítica por el cual la Revolución Cultural en China
representa el mayor avance hacia el comunismo en la historia: teorías y
prácticas capitalistas no van a desaparecer así nada más bajo el
socialismo y deben de ser combatidos activamente. De otra manera una
nueva burguesía se levantará desde las fuerzas proletarias anteriores y
intentarán tomar el poder en contra de los intereses de las masas. Esto
pasó en la Unión Soviética, y su trato a Cuba demuestra claramente como
los capitalistas del estado ignoraron las necesidades de la gente
cubana.
Desde que Raúl Castro tomó el control de su hermano Fidel en el 2008, el
gobierno Cubano se ha tomado una serie de reformas económicas tentativas
para mover al país de un estado capitalista de cuadro a un sistema
capitalista totalmente desarrollado.
Manteniendo Solidaridad con Cuba en Perspectiva
Habiendo soportado siglos de repetidas intrusiones imperialistas, Cuba
se les ha ingeniado para alcanzar un grado de independencia y soberanía
sobre sus asuntos. Apoyamos el derecho de auto-determinación de Cuba, y
aplaudimos el notable éxito del gobierno Cubano de proveer servicios
educativos y médicos a todos los segmentos de la sociedad Cubana. La
estancia anti-imperialista de Cuba en una serie de asuntos se mantiene
fuerte, y en una confrontación con imperialismo, Cuba se merece nuestro
apoyo. Más sin embargo Cuba no es socialista, y la gente de Cuba sabe
que su gobierno hasta este punto de su historia no es un gobierno
revolucionario, sino un pragmático. Es nuestra esperanza que la gente de
Cuba experimenten un florecimiento de conciencia revolucionaria y que se
organicen por sus derechos en los años venideros conforme la intrusión
capitalista pone a su país en la mira para futura explotación económica.
Imperialism is the ravenous cancer eating away the body of humynkind.
Karnes Detention Center in Texas is owned and operated by slimy fungi in
the guise of humyns known as GEO group. And GEO group is Amerikkkan
kkkapitalists feeding at the table of suffering like worms eating the
insides of defenseless infants.
Karnes Detention Center (KDC) is one of the hundreds of torture chambers
housing lumpen who are labelled “Illegal Immigrants” by the Amerikkkan
elitists. Housed at KDC are mothers and their children. They have no
criminal backgrounds. All came to amerikkka because of persecution in
their native lands. Persecution often caused by amerikkkan kkkapitalist
intervention in the domestic affairs of those lands.
At KDC one lawyer reports seeing many children with persistent cough.
The children complained of no medical care and lack of edible food. A
three-year-old girl with asthma was told to “drink water” when her
mother sought treatment for her.
The food was pre-packaged and expired. Rotted and beyond use. The lawyer
brought cookies for them from a vending machine. One sad looking girl
held hers but did not eat. When the lawyer asked her, the tiny child
said, “I will share mine with mommy.” It was then noticed that none of
the children ate cookies until they could share with their mothers.
KDC exists because of an executive order signed by united snakes
president Obama. He reminds me of a “house nigger.” You know, the “smart
one” who looked after “Massa’s affairs,” and slept in “Massa’s house?”
The one who kept massa informed of dem dumb field niggas jes in case dey
was a plottin’ and schemin’. House nigger don’t care that his
“privilege” stands on the backs of bleeding filed workers. Chief Pig
Obama and GEO Group stock holders get tax money for crushing
undocumented children and their mothers.
Now we could discuss Obama’s overwhelming and extensive use of military
drones to kill innocent families in Third World nations. We could
discuss how house nigger plans to sell drones to other countries to
enable those countries to do “operations” that are illegal for the u.$
to perform. Or we could discuss Judge Gideon of Dewitt Town Court in New
York. He issued an Order of Protection for Colonel Earl Evans. Colonel
Evans is commander of Hancock Field where weaponized Reaper Drones are
remotely piloted to make lethal strikes in Afghanistan. These cowardly
amerikkkans fire missiles and kill innocent Afghani mothers and children
from a cozy office across half a continent and an ocean from the
victims. Slaughter without risk.
But Colonel Evans was granted an Order of Protection. He lives on a
military base surrounded by soldiers with massive weaponry who are
trained and ready to defend Colonel Evans. He needs an Order of
Protection because he wants “protection” from peace activists who stand
outside the base protesting drone warfare. And then Judge Gideon jails
those activists for violating that Order of Protection, circumventing
the First Amendment of the united snakes constipation.
Odd but I hear that old tune “London Bridge is Falling Down,” but the
word “Amerikkka” replaces “London Bridge.” May the piece of shit soon
implode. Maybe then the Afghanis can get an Order of Protection.