America’s Political Crisis: Dead Center Can’t Hold
David Finkel for the Solidarity National Committee
June 29, 2021
THE UNITED STATES appears headed toward a political crisis of a fundamental kind, in which the stability of a two-party system that has served its elites well for over 150 years since the end of the Civil War — through periods of intense class conflict, racial terror, wars, depressions and the country’s rise to world imperial domination — risks coming unglued. Trump, Trumpism and January 6 were warning signals, not the end of an unfolding story.
There are profound underlying social causes that we’ll discuss further, especially the massive decline of the labor movement, widening inequality, and decades of neoliberal and global “free trade” that have left much of the society, including much of rural and small-town America and millions of white workers, in economic insecurity if not ruin and despair (along with bringing mass refugee flight from Central America to the U.S. border, fleeing the destruction of their countries by “free trade” and Washington’s insane “war on drugs”). It’s these very policies celebrated by elites during the Reagan, Clinton, and both Bushes through the Obama administrations that have done much to produce the present political breakdown.
By custom the two U.S. capitalist parties compete bitterly in the electoral arena, but on the basis of certain shared assumptions — for example, that they’ll alternate in power, that there isn’t a one-party monopoly, and above all that there’s a “bipartisan” consensus on protecting the political system itself and holding the country together.
Either way, capital gets what it wants — huge military budgets, minimal regulation and favorable tax policies for corporations and the super-wealthy, subsidies and/or “stimulus” when needed, and preventing upheaval through reforms and social safety nets if necessary. This has been particularly true at the top levels of party and Congressional leadership, which are most responsive to ruling-class signals.
End the imperialist economic blockade of Cuba now!
For a free and sovereign Cuba
Down with imperialist interference in Cuba!
For socialist democracy in Cuba!
On July 11 we witnessed protests driven by the tremendous shortages that Cuba has been suffering since Trump placed it on the list of terrorist countries, cutting off remittances from the US to the island, worsened by the pandemic and the loss of income from tourism.
This is taking place on an island that has to import a large part of what it consumes,...
At the time of writing (17 July), the terrible floods in Belgium, parts of Germany and the Netherlands have killed more than 100 people. ( 1 ) Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, have lost everything and will remain traumatised forever. Others were not even that “lucky”, unfortunately, and the large number of missing persons (1300 in Germany) leaves no doubt that the final toll will be much, much higher. The material damage is immense, not to mention the impact in terms of water...
Six days after the events and after a thorough analysis, Comunistas released its official position on the protests that took place in Cuba last Sunday, 11 July.
Almost simultaneously and with greater or lesser intensity, on Sunday 11 July, Cuba experienced a series of social outbreaks that encompassed at least six of the 14 provinces that make up the country. In the 62 years since the triumph of the revolution led by comandte Fidel Castro, Cuba had not faced a situation like this.
Although the first...
This week we are joined by Jhon a member of the National Bank Employees Union in Colombia and an organizer involved with the latest round of protests in Colombia. We talk about the neoliberal agenda that has sparked this series of protests, the state’s response, the role of narco trafficking paramilitaries, and the power of a united and democratic working class movement.
In this afternoon’s demonstrations in Havana, Frank García Hernández was arrested, among other members of the Cuban left. This afternoon the Cuban people took to the streets. A people that were not summoned by any organization but by the acute economic crisis facing Cuba and the government’s inability to handle the situation. Cuba took to the streets with the ill advised slogan “Homeland and life”, but they took to the streets for reasons that go beyond a slogan, they took...
A presentation and roundtable discussion on class struggle and union organizing at Amazon warehouses with Alessandro Delfanti ( https://delfanti.org/ ), Amazonians United ( https://www.amazoniansunited.org/ ) workers and organizers Ira and Fathia, Paul Gray, Jessica Ireland, and Tanner Mirrlees.
A central political challenge for the Left today is to organize gig workers across the sectors of digital capitalism into unions. High-tech corporations such as Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook have quickly...
As this is written, the Biden Administration is holding great outdoor July 4th events and encouraging everybody to get together to celebrate the liberation, from British oppression back then and from the Covid virus today. That despite the fact the Covid Delta variant is ravaging Asia, has a foothold here, and that less than half of U.S. North American residents have been vaccinated. In the following interview environmental journalist David Quammen discusses (1) that while vaccines can be important...
The recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest shattered previous records for high temperatures. By the end of June, Seattle, Washington had hit 104F (40C), Portland Oregon reached 116F (46C), and Lytton, British Columbia, set and broke new records for the highest temperature in all of Canada, peaking at 121F (49C). The event offers another chance to reflect on the condition of our planet and the interconnections of our struggles.
The heat dome occurs because temperatures in the western Pacific Ocean...
Hundreds participated in the May 16 Nakba
march and rally in Dearborn, Michigan.
Photo by Barbara Barefield
LED BY PALESTINIAN Americans and especially young organizers, support for resistance to Israeli occupation is growing, as solidarity from other groups such as the Black Lives Matter movement has inspired them to stand up.
Many American Jews have joined the protests, including supporters of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Supporting...
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