by Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC)
Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 at 6:01 PM epcc_la@hotmail. com 818-749-0272 337 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026
“I was in the East End of London (a working-class quarter) yesterday I attended a meeting of the unemployed. I listened to the wild speeches, which were just a cry for ‘bread! bread!’ and on my way home I pondered over the scene and I became more than ever convinced of the importance of imperialism.... My cherished idea is a solution for the social problem, i.e., in order to save the ..........inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands to settle the surplus population, to provide new markets for the goods produced in the factories and mines. The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists," quoted by Cecil Rhodes an English Stateman to a journalist in 1895. 1. V.I. Lenin, Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism
IMPERIALISM ITS RISE AND INEVITABLE COLLAPSE By Plaridel Inkana
“I was in the East End of London (a working-class quarter) yesterday I attended a meeting of the unemployed. I listened to the wild speeches, which were just a cry for ‘bread! bread!’ and on my way home I pondered over the scene and I became more than ever convinced of the importance of imperialism.... My cherished idea is a solution for the social problem, i.e., in order to save the ..........inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands to settle the surplus population, to provide new markets for the goods produced in the factories and mines. The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists," quoted by Cecil Rhodes an English Stateman to a journalist in 1895. 1. V.I. Lenin, Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism
A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a quote of another English stateman stating his opinion in regards to a new land that Mr. Rhodes was talking about: What is needed now is "the intelligent application of military force" alongside long-promised development strategies, Sir Sherard, the British foreign secretary's special representative for Afghanistan said, evoking what he called a dream that, by 2011, a truckload of pomegranates would be able to pass unhindered from Afghanistan through Pakistan and into India, that Western students could study Afghan archaeological ruins, and that posters in the Pashto language inviting Pashtuns to "come on over" from the Taliban would be tattered remnants - unneeded rather than unheeded - on the roadsides of southern Afghanistan. "That," he stressed, "is the dream." 2. New York Times; September 13, 2009.
In the span of 120 years since Sir Cecile Rhodes' quote, Sir Sherard's dream was instead a living nightmare for colonized people of the world.
Why only now that the British are dreaming of Afghan roads paved with pomegranates instead of improvised explosive devises and landmines? Is it because they are running out of ideas and sense that the empire is in the verge of defeat?
PAX AMERICANA, PAX EUROPA
In the mid 1800's a hundred years after the industrial revolution broke ground with the realization by advance economies that exponential growth is the key to their survival (maintaining a certain standard of living to avert upheaval), colonial acquisitions with the intent of broadening capitalist markets became more frenetic.
"It is beyond doubt, therefore, that capitalism’s transition to the stage of monopoly capitalism, to finance capital, is connected with the intensification of the struggle for the partitioning of the world," Lenin said. (3) Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917 German Edition)
Distant lands of Africa, Asia, Middle East and the rest of the Third World where conquered for the sole purpose of facilitating what Sir Cecile Rhodes had in mind: the never ending expansion of capitalism.
Today 99%, if not all conflicts are still triggered by capitalist expansion: Afghanistan, Bolivia, the Balkans, Equatorial Guinea, The Congo, Colombia, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Niger Delta, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe and even Mexico.
What all these countries have in common is the abundance of raw materials and a vast capitalist market that fuel the relative prosperity the Imperialist West enjoys.
If we can isolate one commodity that mostly will be at the center of the flashpoints it will be oil. And a good measurement to gauge the disparity of the distribution of resources in the whole world is the rate of consumption of marketable energy.
Let us look at the United States. Americans constitute 5% of the world's population and yet consume 24% of the world's energy. On average, one American consumes as much energy as 2 Japanese, 6 Mexicans, 13 Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 307 Tanzanians and 370 Ethiopians.
With relative prosperity comes relative peace as Rhodes envisioned it. While the poor of the colonized world are wallowing in never ending war relative peace prevails in the countries of Europe and America. But with the current objective condition that permeates the world today i.e. combativeness of the oppressed even within the boundaries of imperialist seat of power – that state could change rapidly.
IMPERIALISM CAN BE DEFEATED
"Colonization is in itself is an act of violence of the stronger against the weaker." - Ho Chi Minh. (3) Selected Works, Paria 1922.
Violent invasion usually precedes capitalist penetration of a targeted market but that’s not always the case.
The weaker Vietnam scored two historical victories against its colonizers: first against the French and then the Americans in 1975. The United States of America with modern and sophisticated weaponry and the most brutal tactics employed by an aggressor failed to subjugate a people relentless in their pursuit of liberation and socialism. It was unimaginable before then that a tiny socialist republic and a ragtag army of barefoot guerillas could topple the most powerful invasion army ever put together in recent history.
Three to four million Vietnamese perished, but thousands of bombs and thousands of tons of napalm and defoliants failed to dampen the fighting spirits of the red fighters. The words of the Imperialist mercenary William Lansdale summed up Vietnam: “If the only option we have in order to win this war is to wipe out the entire population of this country…….then we lost already.”
And lost they did!
CUBA
(Comrades and friends I sincerely hope that I don’t have to do a rehash of the whole history of the Cuban Revolution, knowing most us are well acquainted with the heroism of Comrade Fidel…….and of course Comrade Che whose revolutionary sojourns were the clarion call that brought me into the struggle and probably the same with some of you here tonight.)
The intransigence of the revolutionary people of that Socialist Nation proved to be frustrating to the Imperialist. From the very beginning the United States thought that in a fraction of a second it could smash the tiny island with a fly swatter. They were wrong. Cuba stood up to Goliath.
Fifty years later with thousands of nuclear warheads still pointed at its heart, with hundreds of assassination attempts against its leaders, after all those failed invasion, terrorism, economic sabotage and blockades – CUBA persists.
To the dismay of the imperialist instead of cranking out bearded crazy provocateurs to spread terror in its pristine cities – Socialist Cuba is spewing out thousands of doctors, teachers, engineers and social workers to mend the havoc that imperialism created on its way to perdition.
It is also safe to say that the surging Bolivarian Revolution with Venezuela at the forefront is profoundly inspired by the heroism of the Cuban people.
CHAVEZ ET AL
The surging Bolivarian Revolution with Venezuela at the forefront is clearly inspired by the heroism of the Cuban people. Anti imperialist in nature and leaning towards socialist reconstruction, this new alignment of progressive Latin American governments is a far cry from the caudillo-style regimes of the past. Chavez of Venezuela, Morales of Bolivia and Corea of Ecuador are emerging as proponents of pro-people and anti oligarch programs in their respective countries drew the ire of the bourgeoisie and their imperialist sponsors.
The formation of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) by Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro in April 2004 (4. China Peoples Daily 4/07) with the intention of building an economic alliance outside the U.S. sphere of influence in the region was met with disdain by the US and its fascist cohorts. ALBA’s proposed fair trade program among its members to counter the rapacious practices of North American Fair Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and usurious impositions by western capitalists fronts like the IMF and World Bank.
After ALBA’s conference this summer one of its newest prospective member, Honduras, has its democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya deposed and thrown out of the country by a U.S. sanctioned military coup. Which is clearly a stern warning to Chavez et al by the imperialist. The event triggered a massive outpouring of indignation in the region. Inside Honduras a sleeping giant was awaken. Tens of thousands of pro Zelaya supporters, union members, the poor and university students defied martial law and faced off with the de facto government of the ruling elite. With intense opposition to the coup worldwide, Washington back pedaled but the fate of Zelaya and his presidency still hang in the balance as of this moment.
What the Honduran event had proven is that the ground in Latin America is well primed for upheaval. Just imagine if such imperialist provocation occurred in a much bigger country like Mexico – the US will be in for a treat!
THE DAYS OF THE IMPERIALISTS IS NUMBERED
There is no one event anywhere in the world no matter how great will bring the Imperialists to its knee! It will be the confluence of events small and big and the number and frequency of such events that will.
We see the groundwork for such scenario is being laid out now all over the world. Unlike the cold war period when there are sponsor states like China and U.S.S.R. to contra-pose Imperialist thrust, today the bazaar of various peoples struggle for national liberation and socialism is carrying the day for the anti imperialist fight.
The worldwide capitalist crisis which is yet to reach its peak surely has shaken the very foundation of Imperialist superstructures and its basis.
The United States even in the face of much awaited recovery has to contend with what could permanent double digit unemployment and a growing underclass which historically have been the harbinger for social upheaval.
How in the world is Mr. Obama’s piecemeal approach can weather the quagmire this country faces today?
Here is former GAO head David Walker on the numbers that keeping Obama awake at night: "Our $56 trillion in unfunded obligations amount to $483,000 per household. That's 10 times the median household income—so it's as if everyone had a second or third mortgage on a house equal to 10 times their income but no house they can lay claim to." As for this year's likely deficit of $1.8 trillion, Mr. Walker suggests its size be conveyed thusly: "A deficit that large is $3.4 million a minute, $200 million an hour, $5 billion a day.”
FOR THE IMPERIALIST THE BATTLE FOR AFGHANISTAN IS EXISTENTIAL
Here’s Cecil Rhodes again: “The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists.”
Afghanistan is a just war if what Mr. Obama meant was if lost it could be the beginning of the end of America as a super power. In the absence of real industrial growth and tightening money supply the only thing left for America to bank on is its ability to project its military might. Losing the war could trigger a cascade of uncontrollable events, like China and India could cash in their US back bonds worth hundreds of billions of dollars that could wipe out Wall Street and main street.
The problem of Europe is critical but more mundane. Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia are seating in one of the biggest deposit of natural gas, with enough volume to supply with clean energy for decades.
For the British it is more dire. Facing an energy distribution crises brought about by an inadequate and archaic coal based system - the British, a signatory to the Kyoto treaty, defying logic, instead of sinking £100 billion to a greener energy source, went with an easy fix: building more coal plants! It met steep opposition from very power groups of environmentally conscious subjects. The UK’s pioneering attempt of capturing carbon emission and submerging them into the ocean is a fairly new system and could do more harm than good if it fails. Even though UK has access to Norwegian gas deposits and has a network of self-sustaining nuclear plants an alternative source will guarantee a more secured system.
Ed Miliband, England’s energy secretary cited the pressing need to expand the grid now or otherwise London will be thrown into darkness in seven years due to the growing demand that could bust the system. That will be a real boon to capitalist Europe. (5) Guardian, April 2008.
Dissecting Sir Shirard’s earlier musings now it is becoming clear that pomegranates is a code word for gas pipes cutting through Afghan roads towards the heartland of Europe.
Bourgeois economist knows what has to be done to fix the problem but using a tired metaphor “you cannot fix a plane while it is in mid flight” – the capitalists are frozen with fear. They can not stop consumption even for a minute because the system could go into a tailspin. Some system!
Finally in closing out of curiosity if we could take a peek at Mr. Obama’s war room, I’m just wondering if he has that wall map with red pins symbolizing upheavals. If he does, my job as an internationalist and your job as socialist are to make that map solid red.
