PartISeries-Lessons Learned - ANdes : IMC Print

2005

George W Bush’s Eternal Triumph or The Andes to the Rescue of the World

"It is misguided to protest Bush without an alternative. Feeling good just to be doing “something” is selfish and no substitute for real thinking."

– J. Dole, 30 year anti-capitalist veteran who shuns anti-globalization & anti-war groups for being part of the problem.

The 5-Part Series:

Lessons Learned:

From The Failure of Politics and Vision in North America

To the Steady Victories of the Social Movements in South America,

by Mundo de Escuelas Revolucionarias (MER)

See Part II:

Tsunamis of Environmentalism’s Death: The Theft and Tricks of the USA Narrow Leftists

(Long version at: PART 2 Lessons Learnedhttp://mer130.tripod.com/index.blog?entry_id=620562)

By Jason martin and Rachel Guevara
CONTACT: c o n t a c tJasonmartin7@lycos.com

Part I. :

George W Bush’s Eternal Triumph

or The Andes to the Rescue

of the World

By Jason Martin (1400 words)

“The evidence today is that American imperialism has been in the works ever since Franklin Roosevelt encountered Winston Churchill a long time ago. Roosevelt concluded that he didn’t like the British Empire but that the world needed something like it so long as we held the reins. And the Cold War was largely a cover for this. It’s very obvious, for example, in the case of our relations with Latin America, which have always had a traditionally imperialist quality, that nothing was more convenient for us than Fidel Castro. Instead of saying we were supporting the United Fruit Company in Guatemala, we could contend that we were protecting these poor Guatemalans from the menace of Soviet influence and the influence of Fidel Castro. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration gave Central America its worst decade since the Spanish conquest. It’s a travesty what we did to places like El Salvador and Guatemala. And it worries me today that John Negroponte has been appointed ambassador to Iraq. He was the ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, when Honduras was the largest single CIA station on earth, carrying out counterrevolutionary attacks against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. He should be answering charges of war crimes carried out by the Reagan administration.”

-- Chalmers Johnson; http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/cj_int/cj_int2.html

Social movements need to embrace a practical and focused goal of accumulating power in order to takeover governments. Conventional politics and left-thinking in the USA are dead.

There is a Global War going on and the only subjects worth studying; organizing and meeting about; or doing actions against are those that can change the whole system in a short time. The target is always and primarily to stop the USA: Get USA military-espionage programs and USA-backed death squads out of all countries and to create an appealing and diverse counter-power to USA hegemony.

We can all have our personalized utopian goals - and they are pretty much all the same - but goals are not tactics or strategy and personal desires have to be delayed in the struggle for a general solution to the crises of the planet and of the human spirit. A strategy of resistance and effective tactics for the coming brutal struggles against Killer-Capitalism are what we need - not blabbering circular reasoning from shallow anarchists or the non-violence gurus with their Means-Are-the-Ends Tele-Tubbie hype.

A future of Anarchist principles? Yes, a world of decentralized power and local autonomy is possibly 25-50 years away if people start thinking and create viable strategies now. But what we face for the next 15 to 20 years is a bloody and probably futile struggle against a vicious and well-armed (weapons/propaganda) fascist regime of history: the USA Empire.

The USA movements for change, for Fair Trade and against Killer-Capitalism's wars and ecological destruction have to come together to oppose the USA Empire. To understand why this needs to happen and how it can be accomplished -- one must better understand the world.

It is limiting to think about the USA or national politics. It is better to not believe that the USA exists anymore. The USA is an empire of corporate, trade and, military alliances. This is what we fight and what should be addressed. We are engaged in a world war – what Chavez and many anti-globalization / Zapatista activists call the Fourth World War (4WW). Six hundred million capitalists against the rest of the world's 6000 million (6 billion). (Note 1)

Cheer up, it is our great fortune that what we face is a global war – a war with and without borders, fronts or rears ... a war of everything against everything. Because in such a battle it is possible to mobilize within and to win. Whereas, politics and activism are completely dead in the USA and this is a permanent condition (Truth...) The USA has been moving to the right for 30 years. Surely since Reagan's victory in the 80's politics has been dead in the USA. All education since has failed...

The popularity and re-election/coronation of GW Bush should be enough evidence, but the power of the ultra-right and the rightwing in the USA Congress (& most states) makes the debate moot and tired. Authors have witnessed this death of compassion, virtue and political being in the USA: Petras, Cockburn, St.Clair, Rosenbraugh, Jensen... (Note 2) More sign on each week: Hertsgaard, Nordhaus, Shellenberger and Tariq Ali (Note 3)

(See the fascist John Kerry & the psychosis that grows across the USA : http://americas.org/item_15926) (Note 4)
Or what does it mean that Alabama voters (2004) refused to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.

Only through extending our conceptions of politics – which is another word for Power – extending it beyond the imaginary borders of nations can we create a better world. (Note 6)

The efforts of the thousands of foundations and NGOs in the USA and most countries have been extreme failures. If they do not wake up to their impotence and the raging power of GW Bush and the hungry USA consumers, then they are to blame for the genocide and ecocide that follows. (Note 7)

If USA activist groups are honest, then they will quickly admit that they have no meaningful goals and that their strategies of education or mobilization cannot overcome the strong right wing drift of US political culture. To apply outdated techniques of organizing or resisting against such a force is to make yourself and your power meaningless and impotent. To continue these strategies that knowingly waste money (power) and offer false hope, borders on the criminal. There is nothing people in the USA can do to stop USA imperialism and the destruction of the global environment from within the USA – unless you are considering armed struggle or being able to mobilize millions of protesters who want to be beaten and imprisoned.

Or so logic and frankness would suggest. But we have a new idea that could re-invigorate and make powerful the movement for change in North America:

Everyone should cease working politically at any level in the USA. They should refrain from current forms of activism (ecological, social or cultural)Instead activists must put their energy, skills and finances into groups in South America: groups in the Andes and Venezuela.

Yes.

The only activity of real value to changing the world – to defeating capitalism and militarism – is to form a fundraising group. (Note 8)

USA people give almost 2 billion dollars a year to environmental and social change groups, in the last year people gave the democratic party over 1 billion in dollars or assistance. Imagine if just 10 percent of this money went to actually building resistance in South America – 300 million dollars !!! (Note 9) By organizing across artificial borders to build a vibrant and diverse alternative, the left in the USA, EU and in Latin America can change the dynamics and escape the Killer-Capitalists’ traps. Inspiration and new spaces in which to accumulate power can be carved out of the Empire’s weaknesses.

You might think that we are being extreme to say that there is nothing you can do in the USA to
Aid the Andean Region (or anywhere) through politics or education. Think about it… where are the lasting victories against USA imperialism and injustice? How can groups claim to have had any effect given the state of domestic politics and the foreign aggression of the USA today? (Not to mention the USA’s 50 year record of international lawlessness!) (Note 10) GW Bush's coronation speech should be enough of a warning that the USA intends to accelerate and expand their wars for oil – their wars of confusion and obfuscation – and their imperial wars of control and domination.

People can get together in cities across the USA and focus on something that produces effects and real signs of progress – like raising millions for important groups in the Andes. Then they will create a positive and growing movement in the USA and build up the Andean groups too.

This success would encourage more people to get involved and in the process they would learn about struggle, about the real issues facing those who want change and about the struggle in Latin America. The movement in both regions will grow and people will see what money and cooperation can do.

Videos, articles for publication and visits back and forth can build stronger ties and spread the word and inspire even more organizing, more donations and more tangible results.

Instead of growing frustrated with the defeats that are inevitable in the USA (failure to change anything) and the reality that protests and lobbying can actually backfire and encourage the right wing or the ignorant voters to fight change more, activists can feel good and earn strategic victories. These People to People – or Pueblo a People campaigns can be proud, positive and real.

Move beyond political stalemate and make a real difference – Forget politics as you knew it – Do the politics of building resistance. Forget politics, lobbying – forget all environmental, social justice and organizing in the USA – it will never work – never change anything soon – and it causes more problems than it solves. The Andes have a lot to teach us and a world to win - a dollar a year from every person in the USA could make the difference.

Take the power where you can find it!

Conclusion –

To build a counter-power to the imperialist USA, activist groups need to reach beyond national boundaries to build strong alliances in Latin America with indigenous people (40 to 80 million people), workers in the Andes (30 to 40 million people), African descendants (100,000,000 to 120,000,000 people), and to finance aid programs with Venezuelan and Andean revolutionary groups. Solidarity with these groups and the 200 million Latin American people trapped in neoliberal (USA-imposed) poverty can yield huge dividends abroad and within the USA.

Key Points – (Outline)

1. Social movements need to embrace a practical and focused goal of accumulating power in order to takeover governments.

2. Conventional politics and left-thinking in the USA are dead.

3. The only practical or effective means of altering the balance of power in the US or the world are armed struggle; relocating activists and supporters of change to states in the USA where they can seize power; or my thesis of massive financial aid to the revolutions in the Andes. Protests, lobbying and voting are stupid. They actually aid the power elite who want the appearance of democracy and opposition – as long as it can accomplish nothing.

4. The cultish leaders of USA environmental and justice groups are the main barriers to change. Most analysts accept this and the real debate is whether to try new strategies or fall back on style and simply modify the current moderate strategy of weakly merging the various lefty issues together in a grand coalition with the moderate democrats – a strategy where victory becomes as meaningless as defeat!

(See Part II. Of, From the Failure of Politics and Vision in North America to the Steady Victories of Social Movements in South America:

Tsunamis Inside the Criticisms of the Left: Venezuela versus the Shams of the World
http://mer130.tripod.com/index.blog?entry_id=620562

or Notes 2 & 3)

5. The USA is an empire of corporate, trade and, military alliances.

6. Only through extending our conceptions of politics – which is another word for Power – extending it beyond the imaginary borders of nations can we create a better world. (Note 6)

The continuing series:

Lessons Learned:

From The Failure of Politics and Vision in North America

To the Steady Victories of the Social Movements in South America,

by Mundo de Escuelas Revolucionarias (MER)

PART II. )) Tsunamis Inside the Criticisms of the Left: Venezuela versus the Shams of the World

PART 2 Lessons Learnedhttp://mer130.tripod.com/index.blog?entry_id=620562

PART III.))

The Real Left is Defined by Decentralization

PART IV.))

Why the Andes is the Best Target: Pre-emptive Revolutions

NOTES:

Note I.

For Zapatistas see:
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/auto/fourth.html

For Anti-Globalization views see:
http://www.bignoisefilms.com/4ww/index.htm

For Hugo Chavez see: http://Chavez Economicshttp://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1437

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel peace prize winner for his work in raising the issue of human rights violations in Latin America, read the final conclusions of the forum, entitled "The Caracas Declaration." The declaration outlines the need to build a front of global resistance against the project of domination that today is imposed by the current government of the United States of America and global organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)."Let's get to work intensely," Chavez said. "Let's put the ideas concluded at this forum to work, let's make it a reality."

Note II. :
James Petras see:
Petras Website and Muy Mas http://www.rebelion.org

Alexander Cockburn and Jeffery St. Claire see:

COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Or: http://New Left Reviewhttp://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26301.shtml

Derrick Jensen see:

“I don’t think most people care, and I don’t think most people will ever care. We can trot out whatever polls we want to try to prove most Americans actually do care about the Environment, Justice, Sustainability – that they care about anything beyond being left alone to numb themselves with alcohol, cheap consumables, and television.
http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=336&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Or: http://WHy It Must End http://www.derrickjensen.org

Craig Rosenbraugh see:
The Logic of Political Violence:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/11/274922.shtml
Or: http://www.arissamediagroup.com

Note III. :

Mark Hertsgaard see:
http://www.markhertsgaard.com/Articles/2004/EnviroChallenge/

Michael Shellenberger see:
http://www.thebreakthrough.org/

Ted Nordhaus see:
http://www.alternet.org/story/19396/

Or: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/little-doe/

Tarij Ali see:

http://Why Activists Are Wronghttp://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1223

Note IV. :

Kerry against Chavez: http://counterpunch.org/lahey10152004.html

The Fascist Democrats of Northern California: http://counterpunch.org/anderson10302004.html

A review of how evil the USA Democratic Party can be – but a flawed analysis of progressive hopes - Turning Up the Heat on Bush, by Robert L. Borosage
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050131&s=borosage

Bush and Kerry the Same on Palestine: http://counterpunch.org/assad10082004.html

Alexander Cockburn – Surrendering : http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26301.shtml

The Cult of Clinton: http://counterpunch.org/scaramella11112004.html

Note V. :

See polls on USA citizen ignorance on geography, War in Iraq and pretty much anything you can think of. Examine USA drug abuse (legal and illegal), prisoner abuse, obesity, psychological breakdowns and John Zerzan.

For a look at the delusions and voids in the USA-dominated anti-globalization movement see:
Naomi Klein - Ray Smith (November 25, 2004) (she bashes John Kerry, but doesn’t grasp the problems of CAPITALISM! ,

http://NAomi Klein is Fearfulhttp://www.marxist.com/Globalisation/klein_meeting_london.htm

Note VI. :

Speech by Hugo Chavez:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/docs.php?dno=1011

Today, vis-á-vis the obvious failure of neoliberalism and the great threat that the International Economic Order represents for our countries, it is necessary to retake the Spirit of the South. That is where this Summit in Caracas is heading for. I propose to re-launch the G-15 as a South Integration Movement rather than a group. A movement for the promotion of all possible trends, who walks towards the Non-aligned Movement, the Group of 77, China… The entirely whole South!! I propose that we retake the proposals of the 1990 South Commission:

Note VII. :

See: PART II.
Tsunamis Inside the Criticisms of the Left: Venezuela versus the Shams of the World,

or The Nation, Jan. 3, 2005,
Mark Hertsgaard see:

http://www.markhertsgaard.com/Articles/2004/EnviroChallenge/

Note VIII.:

Andes Circle Aid Projects - http://www.andescircle.faces.com

Note IX.:

If everyone in the USA gave on average one percent of their income to building a real resistance, the sum would equal 11 billion dollars a year. If 10 percent of the USA gave five percent of their income the sum would be 55 billion dollars or if five percent of the people gave 10 percent of their income it would equal 55 billion dollars. The government budgets of several Latin American governments are: Venezuela ($24 billion), Bolivia ($3 billion), Ecuador ($7 billion) and Peru ($12 billion) total of these 4 countries is 46 billion.

Note X.:

-- Chalmers Johnson;

http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/cj_int/cj_int2.html

Or any article from James Petras

(http://www.rebelion.org)

M..E..R..
Write: Mescuelas_revolt@yahoo.com

CONNECT*NG

Power: strength that comes- mastery of fear. True for society as much as a person. This path is found in the clarity of thought and purpose.

- Jason Martin

CONNECT*NG

Power: strength that comes- mastery of fear. True for society as much as a person. This path is found in the clarity of thought and purpose.