Harry Targ
During the twentieth century the dominant
circumstances of political life were clear. As capitalism evolved from
manufacturing to finance, the character of international relations changed.
Crude militarism, while constant, was increasingly aided by covert operations,
and most importantly by economic penetration. The United States as the
hegemonic actor on the world stage during most of the century was the clear
target of anti-war activism and class struggle at home. National liberation
movements rose up to resist the drive for imperial control. Since contradictions
existed in international and intra-national affairs our task was clearly to
struggle against imperialism, monopoly capitalism, racism and sexism.
Twenty-first century global political economy is also
characterized by these key features. Perhaps the “grand narrative,” as
post-modernists would call it, remains the same. But, and this is critical, the
politics of daily life is far more complicated and it is these complications
that give the appearance of chaos. The old narrative and the chaos we
experience need to be understood together; particularly among those of us who
are committed to the vision of a twenty-first century socialism.
First, the current violence in the Middle
East/Persian Gulf is escalating and spreading to other regions. The vicious
violence in Paris and Beirut by presumably ISIS followers leads to mass murder.
ISIS seems to represent a new brutal form of anti-systemic violence that shows
no mercy or humanity. It has its roots in French and British colonial rule in
the Middle East, United States collaboration with the Saudi monarchy, western
support for the creation of the state of Israel in contradiction to those
living on the land, a US-led war on Iraq in 1991, and the US wars of the
twenty-first century in Afghanistan and Iraq. Blood is on the hands of every
western power in the region but, in terms of victims of violence everywhere,
blood also is on the hands of ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Syrian government, Saudi
Arabia and the Emirates, Russia, and Iran. Violence is about economic control,
political hegemony, nationalism, resistance, and, perhaps to a lesser extent,
religious sectarianism and fundamentalisms.
The violence is also about arms transfers, racism, and hate.
Second, imperial violence proceeds as global
capitalism consolidates its control of the economies of the world. The
Transpacific Partnership creates a so-called free trade zone covering about
forty percent of the globe and is in the process prefiguring a challenge to Chinese influence in Asia. To complete
the “Asian pivot” the United States has increased its military presence in the
South China Sea by further cooperating militarily with the Philippines and
Japan.
Third, very much below the radar, the United States
expands its military presence in Africa with the establishment of AFRICOM, arms
aid, and training of militaries on the continent. Presumably, the US
militarization of Africa would check the growing economic influence of China.
Fourth, international and domestic violence,
economic decay, and threats to life itself, are inextricably connected to the
rapidly deteriorating global climate brought on by fossil fuels. Devastating
changes in climate-flooding, draught, rising sea levels, life-threatening
hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes-make life more unbearable and are coupled
with economic inequality, the global distribution of weapons, and rising ethnic
animosities leading to hopelessness, violence, and rightwing populist anger.
Within the United States the attack on workers,
Blacks, and women escalates to an almost fever pitch. Households living below
livable wages reach 35-40 percent in many states. Real wages and steady jobs
with benefits decline. Economic circumstances among African Americans and
Latinos lag behind whites by 10 to 30 percent. And the inequality in the
distribution of the wealth of US society increases.
Attacks on Blacks increase in the streets, in the
political arena, in public schools and in higher education. Black Lives Matter,
the Fight for Fifteen, and recent protests on over 100 college campuses reflect
fightbacks against the escalation of systemic assaults on people of color. And
we cannot forget that a prime mover of the toxic atmosphere of American
political life is fueled by profound racial hatred of a president who happens
to be an African American.
The assault upon women, particularly vile campaigns
to shut down Planned Parenthood, and brazen homophobia reflected in so-called
religious freedom campaigns spread throughout the nation.
And the real meanings, the master narrative about
war, violence, exploitation, racism, and sexism are masked by a media discourse
that transforms politics from concrete realities to the partial truths about
terrorism, the threats to free speech, arguments about political correctness,
and the need to be tough, vigilant, and armed to protect the so-called national
security of the United States at home and abroad. Media frames fuel and are fueled by a growing
rightwing populism in the United States and Europe that ironically mirrors the
rise of terrorism in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
As we reflect upon the movement-building of the
twentieth century and the context of a seeming “politics of chaos” in the
twenty-first century, the tasks of the Left are clear. First, it needs to
clarify, refine, and develop the “grand narrative” about the global political
economy and its connections with capital accumulation, class, race, gender,
homophobia, and the environment. The theory and practices of the twentieth
century were not wrong. But they need to be adapted to the seeming economic,
political, and environmental chaos of today.
Second, the left needs also to do what it has always
done: fightback against all reaction, international and domestic. Today this
includes resisting expanding war and imperialism abroad and challenging racism,
chauvinism, police violence, and the destruction of existing government
programs at home.
Frederick Douglass’ admonition still makes sense: If
there is no struggle, there is no progress.
