We have stressed on this blog
that there has been a significant change in the political landscape in the
United States and that the era of the domination of the two capitalist parties,
Democrats ad Republicans, over US political life is over.
We have been witnessing this
process over time as tens of millions of people in the US have opted out of the
process altogether. The trade union hierarchy continues to encourage members to
continue voting for a party that they abandoned long ago. A stalwart Democratic
Party voter, if they’re honest, will tell you that they hold their nose and go
vote while in the 2016 election, when the undemocratic Electoral College put the
sexual predator Donald Trump in the White House, some 100 million
people stayed home.
After the mid-terms last
November, the Democratic Party right wing were elated with their success and
their ability to place some restraints on the Predator in Chief. Pelosi was championed as the most powerful
woman in the US (and by that account the world) as she reminded an idealistic young fella questioning
her on socialist policies that "We're capitalists, and that's just the
way it is" Confidence was definitely high.
Some of the new
Congresspersons, notably Alexandia Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib have been
presenting a few problems for the party power with Ocasio-Cortez, while making
waves, also softening her approach a little. But Ilhan Omar with her defense
of Palestinians and her calling out the war criminal Eliot Abrams has opened up
a hornet’s nest. Prior to nailing Abrams, Omar criticized the Zionist regime for
its brutality and also Israel’s lobbying arm AIPAC. She was accused of Anti-Semitism for her
remarks and unfortunately, with pressure from the Democratic Party led by
Pelosi and co. she apologized.
After the Eliot Abrams affair
and Omar’s comment that, "I want to
talk about the political influence in this country that says that it is OK for
people to push for allegiance to a foreign country." with regard
to members of Congress and support for Israel, there was an uproar over
Anti-Semitism again. This accusation has been used in European history (and
here as well) to discredit Jews as legitimate citizens. Omar responded to
criticism for those remarks tweeting, “I should not be expected to have
allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in
Congress.”
The fact is that you sort of
do if you don’t want a heavily financed campaign to dislodge you next election cycle.
And it is not just Jewish politicians, and most of them are Zionists to a
certain extent, but the Christian Zionists, they are far more numerous and more
rabid in their defense of Israel especially as support for Israel among young Jews is not as strong as it was. The Evangelical Christian movement which
strongly supports Israel, far outnumbers Jewish Americans.
Ilhan Omar should refrain
apologizing again. She has simply spoken the truth about the US relationship
with Israel. I put a video
on our You Tube Channel yesterday and in it explained that the Democrats
were introducing a resolution condemning Anti-Semitism in the wake of Omar’s
remarks and there had been at that time a lot of
pressure to actually name her.
In an indication of the
changing state of US politics, within 24 hours, not only is any resolution that is
introduced not going to name Ilhan Omar, the resolution is going to condemn
Islamaphobia, Homophobia, White Supremacy and so on. The Democratic Party right
wing led by Pelosi, Schumer etc, is having to back off a little bit. This is
important and reflects the mood in US society which is not as conservative as
people think, and the disdain that millions of people have for the two
parties and their entrenched leaderships.
This outcome is of some
concern not only in the the Democratic Party but also Republicans. Newt Gingrich
waded in claiming Pelosi is losing control of her party: "She's clearly losing -- look, she is
losing control of the House. They may be forced in a desperation move to change
the House rules, to block Republicans from offering anything which would, I
think, lead to chaos. But she can't get her party to stay together” The US
ruling class is clearly in a bit of a panic over the state of its political
parties.
Listen to Pelosi’s pathetic
backsliding in the video. She says she doesn’t believe that Ilhan Omar’s
comments had any Anti-Semitic intent but puts the blame squarely on Omar’s
shoulders, saying she “…doesn’t believe
that (Omar) understood the full weight of her words.” Omar needs to come back in on this
conversation and make it clear she understood exactly what she was saying and
so does Pelosi. Pelosi is avoiding the issue, the real content of Ilhan Omar’s
remarks and that is the US/Israeli relationship and the US support for this
vicious Apartheid regime. I share my views on why the US/Israel relationship is
so tight despite Israel’s brutality in the video linked above.
This is a small victory for
the new Democratic members of Congress, in particular Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib and they and others need to take advantage of it. No more apologies for
telling the truth. They need to confront Pelosi on her statements basically
claiming Omar wasn’t aware of what she was saying.
When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated the Democratic machine candidate
in her election wedescribed this as a positive result. While we do not support the Democratic
Party as a party that can represent the interests of working class people, we
believed that her victory and the others would increase the likelihood of a
left split.
I think this is inevitable at some point but it’s hard to say when and around whom. It would be best for all of
us if Bernie would just go home after his announcement of his loyalty to this
party that was evident with his endorsement of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his recent confirmation of it.
I think the caliber of some
of these new elements is somewhat higher. One can’t be absolutely sure because
there will be a lot of temptations and treasures coming their way. Ilhan Omar
has been approached and supported by Chelsea Clinton and I bet we will see the
likes of Anne Hathaway and other petit bourgeois feminists reaching out to them
as well as some of the left bureaucracy in the unions. None of these new forces are as yet recognizing that there is no future in the Democratic Party and remaining in it will prevent them from fighting for a better life for working class people. The Schumer, Pelosi
right wing in the party is having a hard time of it though that’s for sure.
One final note. On the
question of dual loyalty, a criticism aimed at Jews throughout European
history, and the Zionist experiment, the German Jewish philosopher Hannah
Arendt had this to say:
[T]he Zionists, if they continue to ignore the
Mediterranean people and watch out only for the big faraway powers, will appear
only as their tools, the agents of foreign and hostile interests. Jews who know
their own history should be aware that such a state of affairs will inevitably
lead to a new wave of Jew-hatred; the antisemitism of tomorrow will assert that
Jews not only profiteered from the presence of foreign big powers in that
region but had actually plotted it and hence are guilty of the consequences…
[T]he Zionists ended by making the Jewish national
emancipation entirely dependent upon the material interests of another nation.
The actual result was a return of the new movement to
the traditional methods of shtadlonus
[court Jews], which the Zionists once had so bitterly despised and violently
denounced. Now Zionists too knew no better place politically than the lobbies
of the powerful, and no sounder basis for agreements than their good services
as agents of foreign interests…
[O]nly folly could dictate a policy which trusts a
distant imperial power for protection, while alienating the goodwill of
neighbors.
Read
the article in full: Hannah
Arendt would agree with Ilhan Omar
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