Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Read: [NetworkAztlan_News] Colombia/Uribe’s Mirror-The high price of U.S. puppetry

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Gracias Hermano Cort ~ I am sure that President Obama is quite aware of the
highlights ~ or lowlights ~ of the history of Colombia and Latin America in general.
To even think otherwise would be naive. Obama knows exactly what is going on
but he is in a position that dramatically transforms one's mentality because one
is subjected to huge financial-political pressures. Corporate capitalism still rules
the roost.

What is extremely important is for those of us inside the brain of the fascist beast
to study up on and understand Latin American history. For starters we should study
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano

I am suspecting that is could be a matter of time, situation and logistics before a certain
region in Latin America is attacked, then, Chicanos-Latinos will have to take a good look
at themselves in relation to their self-identity as Americans and that land now called
Amerika that I refer to to as Aztlan. Allegiances can change, flags fall and failed states
have a way of failing people under their powers.

Education for Liberation! Venceremos Unidos!
Peter S. Lopez {aka:Peta}
Sacramento, California,Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com 
 
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From: Cort Greene <cort.greene@gmail.com>
To: ccjp-discuss <CCJP-discuss@yahoogroups.com>; IGPJ@yahoogroups.com; NetworkAztlan_News <NetworkAztlan_News@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 7:30:50 AM
Subject: [NetworkAztlan_News] Colombia/Uribe's Mirror-The high price of U.S. puppetry

http://machetera. wordpress. com/2009/ 08/31/the- high-price- of-u-s-puppetry/

The high price of U.S. puppetry

August 31, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Remember Manuel Noriega, our man in Panama?  Until he wasn't?  Somebody else down south has similar reasons to worry.  Atilio Borón explains why.

image004Uribe's Mirror

by Atilio Borón

Translation: David Brookbank for ALAI(Latin America in Movement)

August 26, 2009

The UNASUR summit in Bariloche, Argentina will have to face two grave problems weighing heavily on Latin America: the military coup in Honduras and the militarization of the region as a result of the installation of not one but seven U.S. military bases in Colombia.

Regarding the first problem, UNASUR ought to demand consistency from Barack Obama in his statements of support for a new era of inter-American relations.  As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the coup is a trial balloon intended to test the reactions of the peoples and governments of the region.  And that it happened in Honduras is precisely because that is the country most intensely subjected to the ideological influence and political dominance of Washington.

With OAS negotiations having failed, Washington has proceeded to suspend the issuance of visas to Honduran citizens, a very lukewarm measure but an indicator of the fact that the U.S. is taking note of the prevailing political atmosphere in the region.  Nevertheless, Obama ought to do much more, and abandon the fallacious argument expressed several days ago when he referred to the contradiction of the critics of imperialism who demand that the U.S. intervene in Honduras. It is "ironic," Obama said on that occasion, "that the people that were complaining about the U.S. interfering in Latin America are now complaining that we are not interfering enough".

It is clear that Obama is not well informed about the actions of his military and civilian subordinates, not to mention his intelligence services.  But he ought  to know, because it is so basic, that the U.S. has been intervening in Honduras since 1903, the year in which for the first time U.S. Marines landed in that country to protect North American interests in the midst of a political crisis.  In 1907, on the occasion of war between Honduras and Nicaragua, U.S. troops were stationed for three months in the cities of Trujillo, Ceiba, Puerto Cortes, San Pedro Sula, Laguna, and Choloma.  In 1911 and 1912, they repeated the invasions, in the latter case to prevent the expropriation of a railroad in Puerto Cortes.  In 1919, 1924, and 1925 imperialist expeditionary forces again invaded Honduras, always under the same pretext – protect the lives and property of North American citizens residing in the country.

But the largest invasion occurred in 1983 when, under the direction of a sinister figure, Ambassador John Negroponte, a huge base of operations was established from which the U.S. launched its reactionary offensive against the Sandinista government and the Salvadoran Farabundo Marti guerrilla movement.  Obama cannot ignore this nefarious history and must know that the coup against Honduran President Zelaya was only possible due to the acquiescence of his government.  What is now being asked is that the U.S. stop its intervention, that it withdraw its support for the coup government (the only thing keeping it in power), and thereby facilitate the return of Zelaya to Tegucigalpa.  The White House has at its disposal many economic and financial tools with which to discipline its ally.  If it does not do so, it is because it does not want to, and the governments and peoples of Latin America will then reach their own conclusions.

In relation to the second problem – U.S. bases in Colombia – the following must be said.  First, the U.S. empire does not maintain 872 bases and military missions spread across the entire planet so that its troops can experience the delights of multiculturalism or breathe life's fresh air.  It maintains them at enormous cost, as Noam Chomsky has said on numerous occasions, because they are the principle instrument in a plan of global domination comparable only to that which obsessed Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

To think that those troops and weapons systems are based in Latin America for any reason other than to ensure U.S. territorial and political control of a region that experts consider to be the planet's richest in terms of natural resources – water, energy, biodiversity, minerals, agriculture, etcetera – would be unforgivably stupid.  These bases are the front-line of a military aggression that may or may not occur today or tomorrow, but will certainly occur when the imperialists consider it convenient.

For this reason, UNASUR must forcefully reject their presence and demand the suspension of the installation of these bases.  Furthermore, it should make clear that this is not an "internal matter" of Colombian sovereignty.  No one in their right mind can invoke rights of national sovereignty to justify the installation in their territory of troops and military equipment that can only bring destruction and death to its neighbors.   During the 1930's, as Hitler rearmed Germany, the U.S. and its allies screamed to the high heavens, knowing that the next step would be war, and they were right.  Why should it be any different now?

Secondly, as long as Uribe is president of Colombia there will be no solution to this problem.  Uribe knows, as does the rest of the world, that the U.S. has put together a growing dossier that identifies him as a narcotics trafficker and accomplice to the crimes of the Colombian paramilitaries.  In 2004, the National Security Archives released a 1991 document in which the U.S. accused the then-Senator Alvaro Uribe Velez of being one of Colombia's principle narcotics traffickers, ranking him number 82, just behind  Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the head of the Medellin cartel, who ranked number 79.

The report, which can be read here, makes clear that the current president of Colombia "was dedicated to collaboration with the Medellin cartel at high government levels.  Uribe was connected with a business involved in narcotics activities in the U.S.  His father was murdered in Colombia for his connection to narcotics traffickers.  Uribe has worked for the Medellin cartel and is a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar Gaviria … (and) was one of the politicians who, from the Senate, have attacked all forms of the extradition treaty."

As a result, Uribe has no margin of freedom to oppose any demands coming from Washington.  His task is to be the empire's Trojan horse and he knows that if he resists that ignominious role his fate will be no different from that of another Latin American figure, also a president, Manuel Antonio Noriega.  Noriega, having completed the mission that the White House had set out for him, was arrested in 1989 after the bloody U.S. invasion of Panama and was condemned to 40 years in prison for his connection with the Medellin cartel.

When Noriega ceased to be useful to the interests of the imperialists, he went in short order from being president to being a prisoner in a U.S. maximum-security cell.  This is the mirror into which Uribe looks day and night, and explains his constant tenseness, his lies, and his desperation to be re-elected president of Colombia.  At the same time, Uribe is converting that Latin American nation into a U.S. protectorate and himself into a sort of proconsul-for- life of the empire, willing to cast a shadow of despair over an entire continent to spare himself the same fate as his Panamanian counterpart.

Atilio Borón is professor of political theory at the University of Buenos Aires.  He is the recipient of the 2009 UNESCO International Jose Marti Award for outstanding contribution to the unity and the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean and to the preservation of their identities, cultural traditions and historical values.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Colombia · El Salvador · Honduras · Nicaragua
Tagged: alvaro uribe, drug traffickers, global domination, john negroponte, manuel noriega, manuel zelaya, medellin cartel, pablo escobar, UNASUR

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Monday, August 31, 2009

Speech to Chautauqua: The Communist Party—A work in progress

http://cpusa.org/article/view/1061/

Speech to Chautauqua: The Communist Party—A work in progress

Archive Front Page

Author: Sam Webb, National Chair

First published 07/30/2009 16:13 by {article_topic_desc}

 

( CPUSA_work_in_progress.pdf 101.59 KB )
Report in PDF format

A presentation to the Chautauqua Institution's Heritage Lecture Series, July 21, 2009

Thanks for the kind introduction. I am happy to be a part of this prestigious conference and want to thank you and others for the invitation to be a participant.

This conference provides an important site to explore a world confronting challenges both near and long term that will tax our analytical and problem solving capacities.

The title of my talk is "American Communism," which is so expansive that I could turn this presentation into a marathon. But I suspect such an attempt on my part would not be well received.

A far wiser course, I decided, would be to narrow down the scope of my remarks to this theme: "The Communist Party: A Work in Progress in a Changing World."

I hope you will find it of interest; if any of you are expecting militant rhetoric and passionate appeals to storm the barricades, you will be disappointed so I apologize in advance.

So here goes!


No organization or institution can long exist in a condition of stasis; organizations in general and political parties and social movements in particular have to adjust to new conditions.

And the reason is simple: change is constant and organizations and institutions must, if they want to remain relevant, change in the face of changing conditions.

Since the beginning of this decade, the Communist Party has been reconfiguring its theory, politics, structures of organization, and, not least, finances to the turbulent times in which we live. We did so because we had no other choice. Necessity was the mother of invention.

To be sure, not everything turned out as we hoped and many things still have to be attended to.

On the whole, however, we challenged outdated notions and practices, adjusted our policies and style of work to new conditions, and gained experience.

Had we stood still, life would have left us in the rear view mirror. A glance at history, after all, reveals that the political landscape is littered with political and social formations that didn't adapt to new realities.

But to our credit we chose change. We eagerly searched for new angles of looking at, thinking about, and reshaping the world.

Such an approach is consistent with and an imperative of Marxism. Otherwise, Marxism loses its capacity to assist people in their desire to re-imagine and remake the world – not in some sort of utopian way, but rather in a way that meets the expanding requirements of a good life at the beginning of the 21st century.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, who together developed an analytical structure and methodology that enabled the working class to comprehend and change the world, never claimed the "last word" on any subject; they never shoehorned facts to fit a preconceived theory; they never allowed abstract theoretical constructions by themselves to determine political policies or action.

Near the end of his life, Engels, in an effort to counter a dogmatic interpretation of historical materialism that was fashionable in the socialist movement of that time, wrote:

"Our conception of history is above all a guide to study… All history must be studied afresh."

A decade or so later, Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Russian revolution asserted,

"A Marxist must take cognizance of real life, of the true facts of reality, and not cling to a theory of yesterday, which, like all theories, at best only outlines the main and the general, only comes near to embracing life in all its complexity."

In other words, Marxism, if properly understood and practiced, has no affinity for lifeless schemes that squeeze contingency, contradictions, and novelty out of the process of social change. The repetition of timeless and abstract formulas, which the Communist movement has been guilty of at times, is inconsistent with Marxism's spirit and letter.

Only when Marxism takes into account concrete realities, absorbs new experience, and is open-ended to new insights by Marxists and non-Marxist alike does its analytical and political power reveal its full potential. The truth is concrete.

I belabor this point because it is this method of inquiry that we are employing to the best of our ability to today's world.

New Realities

The impulse to look at the world afresh springs from the inescapable new realities of the closing decades of the 20th and the first decade of this century that are reframing politics, economics, culture, and modes of thinking.

What were some of these realities?

To begin, the ascendency of the extreme right to political dominance signaled by the election of Ronald Reagan and continuing through the Bush years was a sobering and painful reality for anyone who favored peace, equality, fairness, and democracy.

The aim of this right wing grouping, of which the Bush administration was the last and most dangerous example, was to reestablish by any means necessary the unchallengeable hegemony of U.S. capitalism, to restore profits and wealth of the ruling elite, and to reconfigure the role and functions of the government to the advantage of the richest families and corporations.

While achieving many of their aims over a thirty-year period, their political project is now in shambles and its perpetrators have been discredited.

Of course, in the meantime, a heavy price was paid and working people and their allies were thrown on the defensive for that entire period.

The changing structure and distribution of economic activity and power across global space was something we could not ignore in our calibrations and recalibrations either.

As the Soviet Union was collapsing in 1991, thus removing one of the two states that structured world relations for nearly a half-century, China was emerging as the main rival to the global dominance of U.S. capitalism. It has been joined in recent years by India, Brazil and Russia. And East and South Asia has been the most dynamic region of capital accumulation over the past decade or so.

I would further add that other regional groupings, nations, international bodies, and hundreds of millions of people are resisting U.S. tutelage too.

When combined with the implosion of Wall Street and the Iraq disaster, it signals a terminal crisis of U.S. capitalism's dominance of the world system of states. Or to say it differently, a unipolar world is giving way to a multipolar world, which presents both opportunities and dangers to the new administration and humanity.

In fact, an urgent question for the American people is the following: Will U.S. capitalism adapt peacefully to new world realities or will it employ massive force to maintain its standing? Bush tried force, but abjectly failed.

On the other hand, the new administration is going in a different direction. How far it will go is another question that can't be answered yet.

Suffice it to say that the redefinition of the U.S. role in the world is among the most compelling issues in the first part of the 21st century, ranking in importance to combating global warming. Unless both are attended to, they could endanger the survival of our species on Mother Earth.

Where is the sustained boom?

The new dynamics of the U.S. economy that took shape in the late 1970s and structured the economy for the next three decades were another factor that compelled us to reexamine our traditional wisdom.

While the present economic crisis was triggered by the collapse of housing markets, it is located first of all, in the outgrowth of longer-term processes of capitalism that go back to the late 1970s.

Thirty years ago U.S. capitalism was beset by seemingly intractable and contradictory problems – high inflation and unemployment, declining confidence in the dollar as an international currency, new competitive rivals in Europe and Asia, a slowing of economic growth, and a falling profit rate.

All of these problems occurred in the context of progressively growing overproduction in world commodity markets.

Faced with this unraveling, then-chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker stepped into the breech and pushed up interest rates to record levels. This spike in interest rates sent unemployment rates soaring to double digit levels, forced the closing of scores of manufacturing plants and family farms, left communities of color in depression like conditions, and negatively impacted the global economy, particularly the developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

At the same time, the spiking of interests rates upward, redirected mobile capital abruptly and massively from hither and yon into U.S. financial channels where returns were now extremely high.

Once in financial channels, banks, investment houses, hedge funds, private equity firms and so on, intent on maximizing their profits in a very competitive and increasingly permissive regulatory environment raced at breakneck speed into a
massive buying and selling and borrowing and spending spree for the next three decades — all of which led to bubble economics, the erosion of the real economy, instability, and ultimately to economic ruin.

If the cause of the ascendency of finance lies in the contractions and decline of U.S. capitalism domestically and internationally, its lubricant was the production and reproduction, seemingly without end, of staggering amounts of debt — corporate, consumer and government.

Debt is as old as capitalism. But what was different in this period of financialization is that the production of debt and accompanying speculative excesses and bubbles were not simply passing moments at the end of a cyclical upswing, but essential to ginning up and sustaining investment and especially consumer demand in every phase of the cycle. Indeed, financialization grew to the point where it became the main determinant shaping the contours, structure, interrelations, evolution and dynamism of the national and world economy.

Without speculative bubbles, generated by the federal government and Federal Reserve over the past 15 years in Internet technology, then in the stock market, and most recently, in housing – the performance of the U.S. and world economy would have been far worse. But, as we are painfully learning, financialization is a two-edged sword.

Not since the Great Depression has the economy been in such bad shape. Forecasts that economic activity will resume at the end of this year or early next year are problematic in the minds of many economists. Don't be surprised if the economy's cyclical path is L-shaped — that is, deep and prolonged.

While we don't know exactly what the contours and trajectory of the economy will be going forward, we do know the notion that capitalism isn't a self-correcting system and that lifts all boats.

The notion that it is has its roots in the so-called "golden age" of U.S. capitalism from 1945-1973, during which economic growth rates, investment levels and living standards steadily increased for broad sections of the American people.

But there is a problem here. An era of stable and continuous growth is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. Indeed, the conditions for U.S. capitalism's "golden age" no longer exist. They were specific to a historical moment — not universal and timeless features of U.S capitalism.

None of those conditions exist today; indeed just the opposite is the case and the economy is not poised either in the short or medium term to take off as it did in 1945; long-term stagnation is a real possibility unless the economy is radically restructured.

Environment Reeling under stress

Another factor nudging us to reexamine our policies is the potential catastrophe of global warming and environmental degradation. Almost daily we hear of species extinction, global warming, resource depletion, deforestation, and on and on to the point where we are nearly immune to its ominous possibilities.

Our planet cannot indefinitely absorb the impact of profit-driven, growth-without-limits capitalism. Many scientists say that unless we radically change our methods of production and consumption patterns in the near term, we will reach the point where damage to the environment will become irreversible.

Despite this, even the most modest measures of environmental protection are resisted by sections of the transnational corporations and their right wing extremists in Congress and in the media.

Embedded realities

Still another consideration that caused us to think afresh is the deep and persistent racial, gender, and regional inequalities that exist across the planet.

The evidence of these inequalities is obvious: massive hunger and malnutrition, dire poverty, pandemic diseases, daily and institutionalized brutality against peoples of color, systemic abuse and oppression of women, explosion of slums around mega-cities, massive migrations of workers and peasants in search of a better life and the decay of whole communities and regions.

While these conditions exist worldwide and within our own borders, the countries of the southern hemisphere experience the worst forms of deprivation and inequality. And they won't tolerate this condition for another century.

Another framing element for our reevaluation is the new communications technologies. These technologies are changing the way that we receive our news, work, do business, live, play, interact, and think. They are compressing time and distance. And their penetration into every aspect of life can only grow as time goes by.

The emergence of new social movements of considerable scope and the new vigor of the labor movement also challenged our received wisdom and actions. Over the past three decades old and new oppositional forces, including a revitalizing (it's a process and thus uneven and developing) labor movement have entered politics to challenge right wing domination, culminating in a many-layered coalition that was instrumental in the victory of Barack Obama.

Finally, we were nudged to change because the Communist Party (and the left generally) was neither big enough nor influential enough. Even before the collapse of the Soviet Union we were small, not much more than 4000 members.

But with the split that occurred in 1991 our membership fell by a third, thus making our growth in size even more imperative.

Fresh look

Now that I mentioned to you some of the framing elements that weighed into our reconfiguration process, let me tell out you about the results of so far.

We are employing a methodology free of rigid and enclosed notions that resist new experience and discourage fresh thinking. Our catch phrase is to get in the mix, to join with others, to give priority to those struggles and issues that are impelling others into action.

We are giving greater coherence and elasticity to our strategic and tactical concepts and accenting the struggle for broad unity, and especially multi-racial and working class unity.

New emphasis is being attached to the popular character of the coalition, while at the same time giving prominence to the special role of the working class and labor movement as an emerging leader of this coalition.

We are taking a fresh look at the labor movement, noting the new positive developments, even asking ourselves whether quantitative changes were reaching a qualitative turning point in terms of labor's outlook and practical activity.

The Internet is being utilized in a full-blooded way to communicate our message and organize our work. At the end of this year we are phasing out our print paper that goes back nearly 90 years and going over to daily online news.

We are shedding, what I call, a "mentality of marginalization." Because of McCarthyism, the Cold War, the long economic expansion following WW II, and a resistance to thinking anew, the left, of which we are a part, found itself on the edges of politics for more than a half century. During this time, our ability to impact on broader political processes in the country has been narrowly circumscribed – nothing like the 1930s, nothing like the left in many other countries.

While the left stubbornly fought the good fight and made undeniable contributions over the past half-century, it was not a major player; it didn't set the agenda or frame the debate; it didn't determine the political direction of the country; it wasn't a decider.

But the past doesn't have to be prelude to the future. Because of the new political landscape, the left has an opportunity to step from the edges into the mainstream of U.S. politics. It has a chance to become a player of consequence; a player whose voice is seriously considered in the debates bearing on the future of the country; a player that is able to mobilize and influence the thinking and actions of millions.

Whether we do depends on many factors, one of which is our ability to shake off this "mentality of marginalization."

How does this mentality express itself? In a number of ways – in spending too much time agitating each other; in dismissing new political openings; in thinking that moderate reforms are at loggerheads with radical reforms; in seeing the glass as always half empty; in acting as if our outlook is identical with the outlook of millions; in turning the danger of cooptation into a rationale to keep a distance from reform struggles; in enclosing ourselves in narrow Left forms; in damning victories with faint praise; and in having nothing good to say about our country.

In this peculiar mindset, politics has few complexities. Change is driven only from the ground up. Winning broad majorities is not essential. There are no stages of struggle, no social forces that possess strategic social power, and no divisions worth noting. And distinctions between the Democratic and Republican parties are either of little consequence or disdainfully dismissed.

Unless the Left—and I include communists first of all—sheds this mentality, it will miss a golden opportunity at this moment to engage and influence a far bigger audience than it has in the past six decades.

Path to socialism

We are re-envisioning the path to socialism and socialist society, based on present day challenges and a critical examination of the socialist experience in the 20th century. What are some of its main elements?

Our vision is of a society that is peaceful, democratic, economically just and efficient, and ecologically sustainable. Our socialist goal privileges social solidarity, economic security and sustainability, equality, cooperation, respect for difference, and peace.

In our view, socialism is not simply a good idea, but an overriding necessity for humankind to find timely solutions to problems that threatens its very future – massive inequality and poverty, global warming, war and nuclear proliferation, energy and resource depletion, pandemic diseases, and so forth.

There are neither universal paths to nor universal models of socialism. Socialism has to grow out of the soil of a particular country, at a particular time, and in particular set of circumstances. Our country will be no exception. We will follow our own distinct nationally specific path.

Socialism must settle the "property question" (from capitalist to socialist property relations or to put it differently, from a capitalist to a socialist mode of production) to be sure. Every revolution must accomplish this essential task, and ours will be no different.

But how this is done and the pace by which it proceeds largely depends on concrete circumstances. At socialism's dawn in any country and then long into the transition to socialism I expect that a mixed economy, operating in a regulated socialist market and combining different forms of socialist, cooperative, and private property, will prevail, albeit with tensions, contradictions, and dangers.

Such ownership relations and market mechanisms by no means preclude economic planning and democratic control. It is hard, in fact, to imagine how the transformation of the economy can be successfully tackled without democratic planning.

While political supremacy of the working class and its allies is an imperative, once acquired its task isn't to smash the state into so many pieces, but rather to transform the class content of state structures; extend democratic rights into the economic, social and cultural spheres; enact new democratic forms of participation; and finish the democratic tasks left unfinished by capitalism – especially the elimination of racial and gender inequality.

I stress this because in the American mind, the idea that socialism and democracy are incompatible has widespread currency. And this perception can't be ascribed solely to ruling-class propaganda. Socialist societies have had democratic shortcomings, too often major ones.

The path to socialism in our country will be long, laced at every turn with massive struggles on many levels and involve a wide array of class and social forces. It will proceed – not straightforwardly, not smoothly, not without reversals, but through stages and at each stage of struggle the balance of power will hopefully tip to the advantage of the working class and people.

Rather than one final conflict triggered by a generalized economic breakdown, I envision a series of connected political, economic, and social crises compressed in time and large in scale that result in a crises of confidence and legitimacy in capitalism and its institutional forms on the part of millions.

Such a rupture of power won't settle everything once and for all, but it will constitute a decisive turn in a transitional process toward socialism.

Decades ago socialist revolutions grew out of economic catastrophes and major wars. But communists, going back to the 19th Century, never believed that armed struggle and civil war were the only or the preferred avenue to socialism.

"The worker," Marx said in a speech in Amsterdam in 1872, "must one day conquer political supremacy in order… But we do not assert that the attainment of this end requires identical means. We know that one has to take into consideration the institutions, mores, and traditions of the different countries, and we do not deny that there are countries like England and America and if I am familiar with your institutions, Holland, where labor may attain its new goal by peaceful means."

I would add that in recent years radical social transformations in relatively peaceful circumstances have occurred in Latin America.

There the force of an active, organized, and overwhelming majority of the working class and its allies combined with the winning of bridgeheads in state structures, including the military, have isolated elites, dislodged neo-liberal governments from power, and cleared the ground, so far peacefully, for social and socialist transformations.

We believe that such an outcome is possible here too. In fact, it is hard to imagine a non-peaceful path to socialism in our country.

Obviously, socialism isn't imminent. As I see it, we aren't living in an era of revolution, but rather an era of reform, including possibly radical reform, marked at its beginning by the election of the first African American president.

Six months into the Obama presidency, I would say without hesitation that the landscape, atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have strikingly changed compared to the previous eight years.

Obama's role

So far Obama's presidency has both broken from the right-wing extremist policies of the Bush administration and taken steps domestically and internationally that go in a progressive direction.

At the same time, the administration hasn't gone as far as we would have liked on a number of issues. He is neither a socialist nor a revolutionary despite the incessant claims of the far right.

All and all, however, the new President in deeds and words – and words do matter – has created new democratic space for peace, equality, and economic justice struggles. Whether this continues and takes on a consistently progressive, pro-people, radical reform direction depends in large measure on whether the movement that elected him fills and expands this space.

The struggle going forward, much like the New Deal, will be the outcome of a contested and fluid process involving broad class and social constituencies, taking multiple forms, and working out over time.

It will pivot on the expansion of social and economic rights, the reconfiguring of the functions of government to the advantage of working people, and the embedding of a new economic architecture and developmental path into the nation's political economy.

No less importantly, it will also entail the recasting of the role of the U.S. in the global community along egalitarian and non-imperial lines.

"What's all this talk about reform?" you may be asking. "Aren't you a communist? Isn't socialism your objective?"

Yes, socialism is the objective of the Communist Party and—according to recent public opinion polls—it is increasingly attractive to the American people. But clearly it is not on the immediate political agenda. Neither the current balance of forces nor the thinking of millions of Americans—the starting point in any serious discussion of strategy and tactics—has reached that point.

That socialism isn't on the people's action agenda, however, doesn't mean that communists will zip our lips. Quite the contrary! We will talk it up and bring our modern, deeply democratic Twenty-First-Century vision of U.S. socialism to the American people. And with the use of the Internet we can reach an exponentially bigger audience than we could in the past.

As for our radical disposition, we are as radical as reality itself. And reality tells us that our main task is to assist in bringing the weight of the working class and other democratic forces to impress their interests on the struggle for reforms.

Current pase of struggle

The road to socialism is neither direct nor unencumbered. It will be complex, contradictory, roundabout, and go through different phases/stages of struggle.

It will only be reached in the course of struggles for reforms, including radical reforms and then only if tens of millions of American people embrace and fight for socialism.

If it only took the enthusiasm and energy of the left we would have had socialism long ago. Active majorities make history and social change, not militant minorities.

The left can help re-bend the arc of history in the direction of justice, equality, and peace. But only if we, and millions like us, pursue a sound strategy that unifies broad sections of the American people.

President Obama and progressive Congress people can't be the only change agents and will be change agents only up to a point. Our responsibility is to support them, prod them, and constructively take issue with them when we have differing views.

But more importantly—and this is the heart of the matter—we have to reach, activate, unite, educate, and turn millions of Americans into "change agents" who can make the political difference in upcoming struggles.

Our parents and grandparents were such bottom-up change agents in the Depression years and the sixties. The American people today would do well to follow their example.

Likewise, communists of our generation would do well to follow the example of our Depression-era comrades. Without giving up their longer-term vision of socialism, they were guided by a sound strategy that accented struggles for reforms and broad unity; they employed flexible tactics; and they didn't conflate their mood and temper with the mood and temper of the American people. As a result, they were a vital part of the political process of the Depression era.

Our nation faces great challenges as we plunge forward into this new century. But I am convinced that the people of this great land—and communists among them—will meet them as earlier generations met challenges on their watch.



Sam Webb is the national chairperson of the Communist Party, USA. From 1977 through 1988 he was the state organizer of the Communist Party in Michigan. Earlier, he was active in the labor movement in his home state of Maine. Webb currently resides in New York City.
   


 
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Read: APPROVED!!! -- samuelbest10 wants to join NetworkAztlan_News

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Thank you for joining! I am the Moderator for Network Aztlan News and do
support humane rights in general and in essence a basic humane rights agenda
in relation to social-political matters on local, national and global levels.

Immigrant rights are a key part of humane rights in general inside the United
States. Our rights are bestowed upon us by virtue of us being human beings,
being born upon Mother Earth and being of the human family. These sacred
rights are guaranteed the U.S. Bill of Rights and other internationally recognized
historical documents. More important that being recongized by legitimate
governments worldwide these rights are natural, logical and beneficial to
our being able to live free, breath free, move free and being global citizens.

Feel free to post related News Articles, your own original writings and any
relevant Links you may have and want to share with us. Please take the time
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this a better Yahoo Group. Keep in mind that this Group is part of a website
called Network Aztlan located on the Internet @

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Education for Liberation! Venceremos Unidos!
Peter S. Lopez {aka:Peta}
Sacramento, California,Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com 
 
Come Together! Join Up! Seize the Time!
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From: Yahoo! Groups Notification <NetworkAztlan_News-acceptsub-U8AqlUeza7tSmQnXfcCno_I@yahoogroups.com>
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Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 7:58:05 PM
Subject: APPROVE -- samuelbest10 <samimibdvs@aol.com> wants to join NetworkAztlan_News


Hello,

The following person would like to join the NetworkAztlan_News group:
Email address: samuelbest10 <samimibdvs@aol.com>

Comment from user:
As an immigrant, I also believe as your group mission in supporting all
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This membership request requires your approval because the
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Congressional Research Service: ObamaCare will cover illegal immigrants

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/28/congressional-research-office-obamacare-will-cover-illegal-immigrants/

Congressional Research Service: ObamaCare will cover illegal immigrants

posted at 10:12 am on August 28, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Mark Tapscott discovers a nugget in the analysis provided by the Congressional Research Office on HR3200, the House version of ObamaCare coming to the floor.  While Barack Obama insists that the idea that ObamaCare will cover illegal immigrants is a "myth,"
the CRS points out that the bill does nothing to prevent it.  Since HR3200 doesn't require people to establish citizenship or legal residency before applying to exchanges for health insurance, including the public option, taxpayer money will certainly flow to illegal immigrants:

In what he called the "first myth" being spread by critics of his proposal for a government-run health care system, Obama said they are wrong in claiming illegal immigrants will be covered: "That is not true. Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has not even been on the table." Obama said.

Well, Mr. President, that idea must have been tucked under a stack of background briefing papers over there in the corner of the table because the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says this about H.R. 3200, the Obamacare bill approved just before the recess by the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA:


"Under H.R. 3200, a 'Health Insurance Exchange' would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange."

CRS reports do not get released to the public.  CRS offers private analysis to members of Congress on request, but rarely do they see the light of day.  However, David Freddoso got his hands on a copy of the 11-page analysis, "Treatment of Non-Citizens in HR3200″ late last night, and confirmed Tapscott's reading:

In its subsection on health insurance subsidies (known as "affordability credits"), HR 3200 does state, "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." That would seem to solve the problem, but it's more rhetoric than reality. The bill contains no verification requirement or enforcement process for citizenship or legal residency, as exists for other federal benefit programs. The only verification required for the subsidies pertains to family income. Beyond that, as the CRS report notes, everything is left in the hands of the Health Choices Commissioner.


House Democrats defeated all attempts in committee to add an enforcement mechanism that would require proof of citizenship or legal residency for those getting subsidies.

CRS also notes that "undocumented aliens" who have a "substantial presence" in the US would be required to buy health insurance (page 4) through the exchanges in HR3200.  They would also become eligible for "emergency Medicaid," although not normal Medicaid (page 6) for up to five years.


What about Section 246, which I said would prevent the spending of money on illegal aliens?  The CRS analysis is less than impressed with that portion of the bill.  Section "246 would bar unauthorized aliens from receiving any premium or cost-sharing credit," it says, but that may be hard to enforce.  It also states later that "absent of a provision in the bill specifying the verification procedure, that the Commissioner would be responsible for determining a mechanism to verify the eligibility of noncitizens for the credits" — or in other words, HR3200 fails to provide it entirely.  I gave it a little too much credit, apparently, more than Congress' own analysts do.


Be sure to read it all.  If Congress tells us that no money will go to cover illegal aliens, we can show them the CRS report and ask them to stop spreading myths.


Update: Congressional Research Service, not Office.  Had it right in the story, not in the headline.  Sorry about that!


Relevant Research Link:

http://media.sfexaminer.com/documents/noncitizens.pdf


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Education for Liberation! Venceremos Unidos!
Peter S. Lopez {aka:Peta}
Sacramento, California,Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com 
 
Come Together! Join Up! Seize the Time!
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http://humane-rights-agenda-network.ning.com/
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