Review: Arun Gupta asks, “what anti-war movement?”

Review: Arun Gupta Asks, “What Anti-War Movement” (presented by Democracy Now!, September 24th, 2009)

(http://raimd.wordpress.com)

A year after Barack Obama’s presidential election and with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan still raging (and spreading into Pakistan), many within anti-war circles are engaged in dialogue about which way the movement should go. A large part of the problem faced by anti-war activists is that their once relatively large movement is now far smaller and less vibrant. Much focus has been given as to why this is. Many of those still dedicated to the anti-war cause are now taking a critical look at the movement’s preceeding years, attempting to find lessons which can help them recover from a major slump in organizing and mass action.

One such activist is Arun Gupta, editor of the New York City ‘left’-oriented newspaper, the Indypendent. In a speech presented by Democracy Now!, another nominally left media outlet, Arun Gupta attempts to answer some of the hows and whys of the death of the anti-war movement and offers prescriptions for future organizing.

Talking about his background, Gupta says he cut his political teeth as part of solidarity activism for the South African anti-apartheid movement and Latin American struggles. In explaining thoughts at the time about wider radical organizing, Gupta states, “there’s always been this notion that the left would re-found itself into a mass base movement if we only had some sort of imperialist war that we could oppose, something on the scale of Vietnam; that this would radicalize the population enough and it would show the true face of imperialism.” Gupta begins by noting how this never came to fruition.

Gupta on the death of the Amerikan anti-war movement

In attempting to answer why a mass, radical anti-war movement never came into being, Gupta reflects on one of the main US anti-war organizations, United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ). Gupta rightly pegs UFPJ as a shill for the war-mongering Democratic Party, something most remaining Amerikan anti-war activists are aware of. Citing mostly anecdotes and quotes, Gupta describes UFPJ’s role inside the anti-war movement as one of shepherding activists towards the reformist morass of mainstream electoral politics.

After the Democratic Party gained a congressional majority in 2006, UFPJ supporters, including Gupta, were advocating a ‘power of the purse strategy,” urging Democrats to use their federal budgeting power to cut funding to the war. Gupta says the leader of UFPJ, Judith LeBlanc, characterized that strategy, reformist as is was, as being “on the outside shaking our fists,” and told supporters that the way forward was working within the Democratic Party. Gupta also notes how long-time ‘leftists’ such as Carl Davidson, who campaigned for Barack Obama, hailed his presidential victory as a milestone for “class struggle.” According to Gupta, UFPJ and leaders such as Carl Davidson are why the anti-war movement collapsed.

Gupta also says there was a failure on the part of the “great hope” that was the “direct action left,” “anti-globalization movement,” “anarchists,” “student-led groups” and “some of the parties” [most likely referring to the 'Party for Socialism and Liberation' and 'Workers World Party']. Though there was a lot of talk between these groups about reforming and refocusing on anti-war work, he states, “nothing has really come from it.” He dwells little on why this is and fails to examine the politics of any of these groups. Instead, he still thinks they could potentially come together to form a “new, radical, principled anti-war movement.” According to Gupta, because it isn’t happening, UFPJ still maintains power in the passive, anti-war movement which now supports Obama.

Where Gupta gets it wrong

While UFPJ and Carl Davidson helped lead the anti-war movement’s shift towards support for the Democratic Party, Gupta adds no analysis or understandings beyond this. His answer of why the anti-war movement never coalesced into a mass-radical movement is shallow, bordering on conspiratorial. Thus, Gupta misses the point entirely.

From the beginning, the anti-war movement was a largely anti-Bush movement, a domestic reaction to the brash, John Wayne-esque brand of imperialism. There was almost none, if any, focused internationalism coming from the largely pro-Amerika movement. Almost all internationalist actions and slogans were by accident, as parts of the anti-war movement took up anti-militarist causes: one memorable example being when Portland ‘anarchists’ burnt an effigy of a US troop while chanting “Bye bye G.I., in Iraq you’re gonna die.” It is important to note this example was a fringe rejected by the mainstream of Amerikan anti-war sentiment. Moreover, the ‘anarchists’ undertook the action based on liberal anti-militarism, never bridging over towards a long-term, principled stand with the world’s oppressed against imperialism.

One meme to come out of the anti-war movement was that Bush had turned world opinion against the US. Another was that “peace is patriotic.” Hardly internationalist or radical slogans, the anti-war movement peddled the mythology of historic Amerikan greatness and a false picture international fraternity. It actually saw itself as trying to improve Amerika’s image worldwide. More contrived was the anti-war movement’s talk about how the wars are supposedly against the interests of Amerikans. Moaning about ‘our’ wasted tax money was common throughout the anti-war movement. The obvious problem with this is that imperialism, which Amerikans do benefit from, requires imperialist wars. Amerika’s wealth is and always has been based on the oppression of other peoples. Amerikans intuitively understand this and most never joined the anti-war movement.

Into 2005, as the war dragged on, and with Bush’s incompetence and instability in Iraq dominating attention, more Amerikans began seeing the wars as becoming overly costly and offering less in the way of long term returns, even describing them as a burden to Amerika’s interests. However, this is not an anti-imperialist view. Afterall, even ardent imperialists, such as Obama, have described the Iraq war in this light.

In the end, UFPJ didn’t simply act as a pied piper, marching the anti-war movement to grave of the Democratic Party. UFPJ is simply on the same page with those nominally opposed to the war. While Gupta thinks there is mass, radical potential within First World, UFPJ has a better understanding of where most Amerikans stand on. Thus, groups like UFPJ are able to maintain leadership of the anti-war movement despite the appearance of a seemingly radical fringe. The anti-war movement’s shift towards Obama was a natural one, not principally engineered by UFPJ.

Gupta’s “anti-imperialism”

Gupta, under mistaken notions about Amerika and the anti-war movement, says that the way forward is building a mass “anti-imperialist” movement.

From the beginning, Gupta defines imperialism in a metaphysical, abstract way. According the Gupta, capitalist-imperialism is “the defining if not dominant inter-state relation and flows of power in the world today.” Gupta points to the Iraq war as an example of Western imperialism’s attempt to secure Mideast oil against gains by the lesser imperialist bloc of Russian and China. While this is true to an extent, Gupta misses the point.

Capitalist-imperialism, today’s “flow of power,” is the process of capital accumulation on a global scale: it is the exploitation of the global majority, the Third World masses, to the effect of benefitting and buying-off virtually all of the First World. A primary feature of the current capitalist-imperialist system is vast global inequality between the exploiter First World and the exploited Third World.

Gupta is also wrong to say that imperialism is the “defining inter-state relations.” In actuality, states are propped up over the course of class struggle to enforce class rule. With few exceptions, Third World states are extentions of imperialism, surrogates to the process of capital accumulation. Also, while divisions between the imperialists of different countries exist, they are rarely a principal feature. What is significant about the Iraq war is not possible ambitions to wedge out lesser imperialist forces, but rather a multi-national, U.S.-led force invaded and occupied to country to secure a greater stake in oil reserves against the interests of the Iraqi and Third World masses.

Throughout his speech, Gupta never does come to terms what imperialism really is. Rather than stating the obvious– First Worlders enjoy greater rates of consumption, more leisure time, little repression, are visibly better off than most of the world’s people and thus have little reason to radicalize or become anti-imperialists– Gupta uses a ridiculous abstraction, “consensual hegemony,” to explain why First Worlders support the imperialist system. Gupta simply refuses to approach reality: the First World masses support imperialism because it supports them.

Because of this, Gupta’s “anti-imperialism” remains hollow. Not based on serious analysis, Gupta posits an “anti-imperialism” which almost anyone can embrace. Gupta’s “anti-imperialism” changes nothing in terms of practical implications for those who do uphold it. In this case, “anti-imperialism” is an abstract tag-on phrase, a meaningless slogan, for ultimately First Worldist, movementarian politics. Gupta is not concerned with doing a serious study of imperialism, including coming to terms with its consequences. For Gupta, his goal has always been to organize Amerikans.

The magic key theory

According to Gupta, there is a magic key that can unlock a radical potential in Amerikans. First Gupta thought it would be an imperialist war. Then he decides that supporting UFPJ and doing ‘independent’ journalism would somehow radicalize Amerikan masses. Now Gupta calls for “principled anti-imperialism” as part of his latest attempt to inspire a radical idealism into Amerikans. Gupta’s calls for “anti-imperialism,” like his calls for other moralistic positions, will fall on deaf ears as long as he sees Amerikans and the First World as a social base for radical, progressive change.

Because Gupta is a proponent of the magic key theory, his critique of other groups are petty. He claims that the more radical sectors of the anti-war movement never really confronted the state. He says that the anti-war movement was really never able to break free from the limitations of the state, and thus was never able to expand as a radical movement. But what does this mean and is it true? Just in Denver, for example, anti-war graffiti popped up. Khristopher Kolumbus and other statues have been vandalized multiple times. During the DNC, a protest led by a black bloc took the streets and marched downtown. Denver has solidarity networks for prisoners and victims of police brutality and active chapters of Copwatch. Most recently, a nominal anarchist has been accused by the pigs of breaking windows at the Democratic Party Headquarters.

What does Gupta think was missing? “A golden opportunity was missed in the counter-recruitment movement,” he says. Surely, counter-recruitment was another one of Gupta’s magic keys: another one that didn’t work supposedly because the “left” wasn’t turning hard enough.

Like Gupta’s “anti-imperialism,” his prescribed necessity to confront state power is abstract. Besides his counter-recruitment spiel, Gupta never defines “confronting state power.” He doesn’t give other examples, historic or modern. “Confronting state power,” for Gupta, is another movementarian fantasy, speculatively postulated in a way that ignores the real social and material basis of mass apathy and reaction-ism in Amerika.

Gupta’s chauvinism

Gupta’s “anti-imperialism” is not anti-imperialism at all. Instead, Gupta’s politics is one of chauvinism wrapped in loosely-construed, “anti-imperialist” slogans.

As a matter of narrowness and “left” Amerikan exceptionalism, Gupta never once mentions resistance efforts on the part of oppressed peoples in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Third World. Gupta, now a self-described “anti-imperialist,” not once mentions those exploited by imperialism in the Third World! Instead he focuses solely on the “radical potential” of the largely defunct anti-war movement in the First World. We ask, how can this possibly be anti-imperialism?

Gupta uses his privilege and broadcasts a phoney “anti-imperialism,” objectively to the disservice of real anti-imperialism. Those in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in the Third World, for whom anti-imperialist struggles are often ones of life and death, do not have the luxury to freely and openly broadcast their ideas and experiences on their common struggle against imperialism. Instead, this is a luxury for Gupta, who not only speaks the colonizer’s language but has the privilege of doing so without repression. Does he take this privilege seriously? No. For Gupta, “anti-imperialism” is another phrase, liberally thrown around to see if Amerikans bite. Without a second thought, he uses his membership of the world’s richest 15% to broadcast an effective lie, that Amerikans are friends of the Third World, calling it “anti-imperialism.” Again, we ask, what is Gupta doing besides objectively blunting real anti-imperialism worldwide?

Revolutionary anti-imperialism

The difference between Gupta and ourselves is obvious. Gupta conceives of unity between the Third and First World masses where none meaningfully exists; he insists that Amerikans are potentially revolutionary when they clearly are not. Thus, his politics will always be implicitly pro-Amerikan and not representative of the immediate interest of the world’s people.

Real anti-imperialism, the politics of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement, derives its strength from and seeks to inspire the global masses, the 80% of the people in the Third World for whom resistance is a way of life. Real anti-imperialists see Amerikans for what they are– class enemies of the Third World masses– and understand this: imperialism will only come crashing down through the advancements of the struggle by Third World peoples for liberation.

Our strategy

While Gupta is wasting time trying to radicalize Amerikans, the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement (RAIM) is engaged in real strategies for real revolutionary change. Whereas “anti-imperialism” is just a buzzword for Gupta and First Worldists, RAIM understands that imperialism is the crux of world dynamics and proceeds from there. A hallmark of RAIM’s strategy is accounting for limitations imposed on us by the fact that Amerikans support imperialism and using our privilege to develop real aid in the revolutionary struggle.

We don’t water down genuine anti-imperialist politics to pander to First Worlders. Above all, RAIM speaks the truth and says it loud and clear: First Worlders maintain their decadent lifestyles via imperialism; are class enemies of the real masses in the Third World; the complicit ‘Volk’ in a murderous global empire; and must be overthrown along with imperialism. We openly represents anti-imperialist politics and broadcast our analysis to a global audience, using our own privilege to do so, even if most Amerikans don’t like or ‘get’ it.

First World mass movements come and go, along with most of its participants. Rather than trying to build an “anti-imperialist” mass movement in the First World, RAIM is a politically sophisticated and technically versatile one, with the aim of best serving the Third World masses and their struggle. We want dedicated, determined comrades who are all in for the long haul. RAIM broadcasts a consistent message of anti-imperialist solidarity globally and is a focal point of revolutionary agitation, education and political development within the belly of the beast, Amerika. Through RAIM, we seek out and educate those few First Worlders who can be best won over the consistent anti-imperialist politics. Through RAIM, we develop both politically and technically, becoming more of an asset to the revolutionary struggle.

RAIM is important as a national network which openly represents anti-imperialist politics, but it should be seen for what it is: an appendage to the vast Third World struggle; our collective effort to contribute to this larger revolutionary movement. RAIM’s message is huge, too big for RAIM alone. We encourage constant political and technical development, specialization and the application of Third World-oriented, revolutionary politics to different types and forms of work. We support those who support the movement of the exploited Third World against the imperialist First.

The scorecard

Arun Gupta and RAIM represent two very different types of “anti-imperialism.” Gupta’s is one of magic keys and preeminent, potentially ‘radical’ First World ‘masses.’ He brings little new to the table. His explanations of everything from why the anti-war movement collapsed to what is imperialism seem shallow or abstract. His analysis is neither real anti-imperialism nor a strategy for revolutionary change.

Nearing the end of his speech, after talking for thirty minutes, in the typical manner of First Worldist intellectuals, asking how to build a genuine, radical mass movement, Gupta says it’s something he’s thought about a lot about, but doesn’t have any real answers for. Typical.

RAIM posits an anti-imperialism that is new, that explains things in a way Gupta can’t. Our anti-imperialism is groundbreaking and changes the focus and look revolutionary political work for those in the First World.

RAIM won’t lead a revolutionary mass movement, nor do we intend to. Nevertheless, we still have a positive role to play in the global revolutionary struggle. By working together, representing and broadcasting a consistent anti-imperialist message, operating as a school to our own and others’ political and technical development and promoting Third World-oriented, revolutionary unity, we can act as agents of global revolutionary change in a way that First Worldists such as Gupta can’t.

The difference is simple. Gupta is First Worlder who’s into nominally-’leftist’ mass movements. RAIM? The name says it all.

[Video of Gupta's speech can be found here: http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/9/24/arun_gupta_asks_where_is_the_anti_war_movement]

RAIM-Seattle: Thankkksgiving reportback on Olympic resistance organizing

(http://raims.wordpress.com)

In the name of troublemaking on the settlers’ gorge-fest known as Thankkksgiving, RAIM-S now gives a reportback on a recent presentation by representatives of No2010.com and the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN) in downtown Seattle*.  The presentation was promoting the Anti-Olympic Convergence in Vancouver in February, 2010.  The speakers from the ORN and No2010.com filled the room with inspiration as the crimes of past and continued Kanadian settlerism against the First Nations** of so-called “British Columbia” were thoroughly exposed:

(Image courtesy of No2010.com)

A Hi$tory of British KKKolumbia and KKKlanada:  False Entities Legally, Real Oppressor-Nations Materially

The underlying historical theme of the speakers goes beyond the parameters of the slogan, “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”.  In fact, as one of the speakers pointed out, the First Nations covering most of the territory within the legally fake borders so-called “B.C.” never surrendered their land and never signed treaties in the first place!  All of the so-called “Land/Indian Acts” of the late 1800’s/early 1900’s were duly never recognized. The resulting land grabs, dislocations, the resource stealing, the massive Indigenous child abuse, the poisoning of the Earth, the sexual assault and murder of Indigenous women, and the outright genocide of the First Nations were righteously resisted by the Indigenous Peoples’ Warriors, as they do to this day.  As far as the history of white settler nations go, there doesn’t seem to be a treaty they sign with First Nations that they don’t break.  If there’s no treaty for Crackers to break to begin with, them RAIM-S sees this contemporary position as bringing a radical, “no compromise” progressive nationalist spirit to the Indigenous Peoples.  This revolutionary spirit gives strength to their righteous struggle against these imperialist settler states, and in particular, the upcoming genocidal First Worldist “Five-Ring Circus” known as the Olympics.

The 2010 Olympic Game$ as a concentrated imperialist campaign of land stealing and genocide against the First Nations

The speakers laid out for the audience the ongoing conquest of Native land by the capitalist-imperialists backing the 2010 Olympics.  One of these latest settler assaults on the First Nations is the ravaging of Eagleridge Bluffs by contractors for the expansion of the Route 99 “Sea-to-Sky” highway leading to Whistler ski resort.  In 2006, about two dozen protesters were arrested blocking the highway expansion, including Native elder Harriet Nahanee.  B.C. Supreme Court pig “Justice” Brenda Brown gave Harriet Nahanee an effective death sentence for contempt of “court” for her righteous defense of Native land, and was subsequently martyred on February 24, 2007.

Harriet Nahanee died fighting the devastation to the Earth wrought to Eagleridge Bluffs and the surrounding area, and in the interest of preserving the land and traditional Native culture for these and coming generations of First Nation youth.  The resulting deforestation from the continued cracker Olympic onslaught led to an alarming increase in the deaths of black bears and other land mammals, as well as disrupted bird habitats.  Concurrently, the gravel and sand mining to supply some of the materials for the highway expansion and other Olympic kkkonstruction projects has resulted in the deaths of 2 million salmon in 2006.

The toll of the Olympic fiasco on women that happen to be involved with the sex trade will also be magnified.  Male tourists from the First World flip their polite “p.c.” patriarchal inhibitions with privileged white females into crude patriarchal privilege of sex slavery, rape, and murder upon many Native women in the B.C. area.  National oppression seems to connect itself to gender oppression here in such a way as to show where the priorities of real feminists should be; fighting imperialism.  The speakers touched on the horrific numbers of Native women gone missing, not all of whom were even involved in the sex trade per se, but were nevertheless kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered.  Some of these women heroically escaped or survived their ordeal to tell their horrific accounts of the ways these vicious, male Cracker Klanadians and Amerikkkans perpetrated their sexual assaults on Native women.  The following from “Why We Resist” on No2010.com explains the current situation and its prospects best:

Events such as the Olympics draw hundreds of thousands of spectators and cause large increases in prostitution and trafficking of women. In Vancouver, over 68 women are missing and/or murdered. Many were Native, and many were reportedly involved in the sex trade. In 2007, the trial of William Pickton occurred for six of these murders, and he is to be tried for an additional 20 more. In northern B.C., over 30 young women, mostly Native, are missing and/or murdered along Highway 16. The 2010 Olympics and its invasion of tourists and corporations will only increase this violence against women.

What’s different about RAIM from other groups is that we recognize that, like what is stated above, its not just the corporations but the tourist “mASSes” that will contribute to this patriarchal assault on Native women.  By attacking this aspect of gender oppression at the node, RAIM-S believes that national oppression can be attacked at the same time!  The all-round global approach utilized by RAIM makes tackling the main enemy, imperialism, as principal.  By smashing imperialism, the “node” at which gender and national oppression seem to meet, there’s no telling how far humanity can go in saving the Earth and eliminating ALL exploitation and oppression.

Fascist KKKrap a hallmark of Olympic Game$’ past

The two following excerpts from No2010.com exposes the history of these Olympics as being consistent with the current atrocities being committed today:

1. Massacres and Concentration Camps: The Bloody History of the Games

The modern Olympics have walked hand-in-hand with political repression and violence. The 1936 Olympics in Berlin (held despite a call from the Jewish community to boycott the games) actively promoted the Nazi regime. IOC members who opposed holding the Games in Berlin were dropped from the organization. Witnesses reported that there were more swastikas on stage at
the opening ceremony than Olympic flags. By the time the Games opened, a concentration camp was operating just half an hour’s journey from the Olympic site. As well, the Nazi regime initiated the modern Olympic torch relay as a way of promoting fascism throughout Europe.
Hundreds of people (mostly students) were massacred by a special forces unit called the Olympia Brigade in the Tlateloco Plaza in Mexico City ten days before the Olympics began in August 1968. A recently declassified document written to President Lyndon Johnson reported that “… the current tensions in Mexico City point toward the possibility that the Olympic games will be used as a focal point for demonstrations and actively favoring leftist, subversive, and militant radical elements.” Other documents show how the US Government directed the FBI to actively investigate any Americans planning to go to Mexico to protest the Olympics. These documents show that there was active pressure on Mexican President Diaz Ordaz to quell any student rebellion before the start of the Games.

Repressive laws and security build-ups are hallmarks of recent Olympic Games. The Games have been used as a convenient cover for permanent repressive laws and to create new police and military units. In Sydney there were four cops for each athlete at the Games for a total of 35,000 police and security guards, 4000 troops and elite commando units, and Black Hawk helicopters.

The Sydney Olympics were also used as a pretext to allow the Australian government to introduce permanent legislation that allows the military to be called out to quell domestic unrest. Steve Martin, the Labour Party’s Defense Critic, called the Olympics the “catalyst” for the bill. The Olympics Arrangements Act was passed giving the police the unfettered use of cameras and recording devices, and the powers to prevent the distribution of materials, and the powers to search and detain people in both Olympic and public spaces…

2. Racism and Racial Profiling

Increased Olympic security has also led to the increased racial profiling of immigrants and people of colour by both police and immigration authorities.
During the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, police cordoned off the mostly black neighborhood surrounding the Olympic Village and required identification from everyone entering or leaving the area. There was a similar lock-down of the Black community in Atlanta during the 1996 games.

During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Islamic communities in Greece were subjected to state surveillance of places of worship, and mass document-checks and inspections. A spokesman for the Greek branch of Amnesty International warned that “security for the 2004 Olympics is used in Greece as a pretext to systematically break international treaties on the right to refugees.”

This from the No2010.com FAQ:

FAQ: Why don’t they just leave the Olympics in Greece, where they started?

Good question… Although that would be unfair to the people of Greece. It is interesting to note that the Olympics are an archaic European tradition that have only become a global phenomenon due to the expansion of Western Civilization through colonialism and imperialism. Maybe the Olympics should just be abolished!

RAIM-S would add to that: “…and abolish KKKlanada and AmeriKKKa while we’re at it!”

Good News For First Nations

The speakers brought up a couple great points about the prospects of First Nations resistance:

1. The Native Youth Movement (NYM) is spreading among Indigenous Peoples worldwide, including solidarity with the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico.  Recent actions by NYM supporters include interrupting Olympic schmooze-fests with “native” sellouts like AFN Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, protesting the 2010 Cracker invasion and in honor of elder Harriet Nahanee.  Other heroic acts by NYM supporters of the Native Warrior Society include the taking of the Olympic flag from its flagpole at Vancouver City Hall, and releasing a statement honoring Harriet Nahanee and in defense of the Native land and Mother Earth.

2.  The other good news for the First Nations 2010 Olympic Resistance is that, today, most Natives are under the age of 25!  Let the IOC and the First World tremble…

The RAIM (Seattle) Conclusion – Resist the Five-Ring Circus!

A recent report from the Vancouver Sun reprinted on No2010.com says the following:

VANCOUVER — B.C. residents are more skeptical than average Canadians about the potential benefits of the 2010 Olympics, but a majority still believe the Games will have a positive impact on the province, according to an Angus Reid survey.

The online poll found that 57 per cent of British Columbians expect the Olympics will benefit B.C., compared with 76 per cent of all Canadians who feel the province will gain from hosting the Games.

Twenty-eight per cent of B.C. residents feel the Olympics will have a negative impact on B.C., more than triple the nine per cent of Canadians who feel that way.

The heroism of NYM against the 2010 Olympics is obviously demoralizing the local B.C. Cracker population vis a vis the Klanadian population at large, but there are still a majority of those settler descendants who support the ongoing “Whiter Games” genocide against the First Nations.  This polling information above confirms RAIM’s point about the overwhelming majority of Klanadians and Amerikans being the enemy of the world’s oppressed.

A RAIM-S comrade asked the speakers after the event what they believed would make these settlers realize the human cost of their consumerist circuses like the Olympics, and their continued privilege from stolen land and labor.  The speaker’s response was absolutely righteous with regard to the RAIM view on First World settlerist privilege (here paraphrased):  If the descendants of settlers could imagine a great tidal wave, earthquake, or some great force of nature wiping out all the privileges from stolen land they live on, perhaps then they would become conscious of how to live without exploiting humanity, other living things, and Earth itself.

RAIM also believes that justice for Indigenous Peoples ultimately relies upon the elimination of First World privilege.  The resistance to imperialism worldwide is itself like a great tidal wave that sweeps across the globe.  Ending the settler mythology around Thankkkstaking and the Olympic Game$ are two great starts to this global movement to eliminate the AmeriKKKan and KKKlanadian scourge from the Planet.

Join the convergence in Vancouver, Feb. 10-15, 2010!

* Kudos to Common Action and Democracy Insurgent for hosting this outstanding event!

** Terminology Clarification: First Nations = (Indigenous or Native Peoples/Oppressed Nations/Friends); First World = (White Settler Crackertopian Scum/Oppressor Nation/Enemies)  Crackers are good with tomato ketchup on Thankkksgiving…

RAIM Crashes Racist Tea Party

RAIM Crashes Racist Tea Party

(raimd.wordpress.com)

Racist tea baggers took their anti-migrant idiocy to the steps of the capitol building. The Saturday event in Denver was part of a national day to oppose amnesty for so-called “illegal aliens.” According to the website www.againstamnesty.com these “Tea Parties” were to be held in 50 cities, including Denver and Durango.

RAIM learned of the meeting of the pinheads only a few days before hand. That didn’t stop RAIM from organizing a counter protest. A few days before, RAIM put a shout out to oppose the fascists and to support migrant rights.

50 teabaggers, minutemen, and other racist scum gathered at the Capitol steps on the cold morning. RAIM and a few other migrant rights supporters turned out to counter the racists. RAIM showed up to give the racists a history lesson by pointing out that the land under their feet was stolen from other peoples, including the Cheyenne and Mexicans. We asked them where the border was in 1848 when the U.$. invaded Mexico. “Colorado” is, after all, a Spanish word. KKKolumbus and those who followed him from Europe to this hemisphere are the real illegal migrants. If anyone should get off the land, it should be the crackers who’ve been squatting here illegally for centuries. Slogans chanted were “Get off stolen land, deport the minuteklan,” “No minutemen no kkk no fascist usa.”

The very presence of our counter demo changed the dynamic of the teabagger protest. Despite our smaller numbers,the teabaggers were completely focused on us. Our presence provoked them, Some violently. Many threatened violence against us from across the street. Some crossed the street to confront us. One old crazed cracker with a Korean War hat came across the street to us and wanted to start a fight. He had to be held back by his wife, and then he threatened her and pushed her around. Typical pig. Another ugly old white trash women came and attempted to take our bullhorn. Despite their claims to the contrary, the racism of the tea baggers was obvious to everyone. One of the baggers threw pennies at Mexicans who were present, saying “Go buy some tacos.”

Others mocked Spanish accents. Others openly stated their hatred of Mexicans. Another cracker came over and spewed racist crap about Mexicans having 15 babies at a time and being a burden on the Amerikkkan tax payer.

As we faced off, a group of high school students came by passing out flyers for a school activity. Seeing the action, they joined our side. Kudos to the students, they had more education than the ignorant Amerikkkans on the other side of the street.

Our challenge to the teabaggers exposed their racist settler piggery. There is no point in trying to reason with deranged people. The “working class” and petty bourgeois Amerikkkans are the Social base of fascism. These people are some of the worst that Amerikkka has to offer.

Nick Brown: Anti-Imperialism, Organization and Expansion

An Interview with Monkey Smashes Heaven

[Nick from RAIM-Denver was recently interviewed by the Maoist-Third Worldist online journal, Monkey Smashes Heaven. This is a slightly editted version of the interview.]

MSH: I understand that you’re familiar with Monkey Smashes Heaven and the work we’ve done. Thus far, what have you found most interesting about Monkey Smashes Heaven?

NICK BROWN: On a personal level, I have found the analysis of the Cultural Revolution to be quite interesting. I have read about the Cultural Revolution and China before in a general way. MSH is innovative in two regards. First, it is highly sympathetic towards the then-called “ultra-left” as well as overtly anti-amerikan elements. Second, it does this while taking a critical look at the role of Mao himself. Smashing dogma coming from both the ‘left’ and right, MSH is completely unique in its analysis on the Chinese Cultural Revolution. In many ways creating a new paradigm for understanding China in its revolutionary phase, MSH has set a new standard for future work to live up to.

An example of this is Lin Biao. RAIM-Denver has long distributed Lin Biao’s Long Live the Victory of Peoples War! as a historical revolutionary anti-imperialist text. However, recent studies produced by MSH have cast new light on Lin Biao’s role in the Cultural Revolution. This has made Lin Biao much more favorable in my eyes.

In terms of RAIM-Denver, what we like the most about MSH is its similar analysis of imperialism. Like RAIM-Denver, Monkey Smashes Heaven is one of the few leftist or revolutionary formations that accurately describes Amerikans as exploiters of the Third World. In this fundamental aspect, RAIM-Denver and Monkey Smashes Heaven has a clear common cause. MSH has explored various approaches to calculating exploitation and parasitism. The works of Prairie Fire, Serve the People, End Imperialism and Shubel Morgan have further illuminated global class analysis. We hope that MSH publishes more political economy in the future.

MSH: Such a view is part of Maoism Third Worldism, an emerging revolutionary trend. Where does RAIM-Denver diverge from Monkey Smashes Heaven and Maoism Third Worldism.

NICK BROWN: RAIM-Denver isn’t a Maoist-Third Worldist organization. Generally we operate around a basic points of unity of 1. seeing Amerikans principally as class enemies of the world’s exploited majority and 2. support for national liberation and resistance to imperialism. Beyond this RAIMers are free to adopt whatever ideological or philosophical line they like. That’s not to say that there aren’t some RAIMers who subscribe to Maoism-Third Worldism. But RAIM-Denver itself has a broader approach and points of unity.

MSH: How successful has RAIM been in the Denver area?

NICK BROWN: That’s a trick question. It depends on what you mean by success. Is there a growing revolutionary anti-imperialist social movement just below the surface in Denver? Absolutely not. But I really think thats a bad way of going about defining success in our context.

On a realistic level, I actually think RAIM-Denver has been quite successful. We are arguably the largest nominally leftist group in Denver area with the possible exception of a couple of non-profits with paid staff. We are probably the most active group in Denver. Also, we are active in more fields than other groups. Basically, no other group in Denver has the capacity to show up to as many protests, write as many articles, put out as many original images, distribute as many fliers, etc etc. All of this is especially astonishing because we are not the typical ‘leftist’ grouping.

MSH: To what do you attribute this success.

NICK BROWN: A few things. First, we’re all very dedicated. RAIM-Denver is not a bunch of coffee shop revolutionaries. Whether its showing up for cold February demonstrations, engaging in self-education or distributing anti-imperialist materials at high schools, RAIM-Denver does shit.

Second, we are really unorthodox in terms of the way we’ve organized ourselves. On one hand, we’re not a loose collection individuals who’ve come together for a special event such as a protest. On the other, we are not a party or even a formal organization. We are more a network organized around an ongoing project and ideology: RAIM-Denver and revolutionary anti-imperialism. This has given us a lot of flexibility in terms of working styles and the activities we engage in. One person may want to do something. Perhaps everyone else in RAIM-D is busy with other specific projects or otherwise too tied up. If the idea doesn’t raise major objections, then the person can do it as RAIM-Denver. This leads to a lot of simultaneous types of work being done, fosters personal initiative and cultivates collective leadership of RAIM-Denver. That’s not to say that this type of organizing doesn’t have its limitations. It does. But overall our non-dogmatic organizing approach has been an asset, made us more fluid and freed us from being bogged down in traditional organizational restraints.

Lastly, believe it or not, our unique worldview has contributed to our success. Most of the ‘left’ sounds the same. It all boils down to some sort of program for higher living standards for Amerikans. This leaves “communists,” “anarchists” and the Democratic Party vying for the same audience while spewing fundamentally the same message. RAIM-Denver on the other hand comes out and says that Amerikans’ living standards are based on exploitation and ecological destruction. We’re not toned down in other areas either. Thus, not only are we easily distinguishable from the ‘left’ milieu but we are the only ones who are intellectually honest. MSH: What are some of RAIM-Denver’s goals?

NICK BROWN: At this time one of our major goals is to see a larger country-wide anti-imperialist movement. We’d like to see independent, though not necessarily isolated, RAIM-like groups form in other cities and regions. Based on my experience there is limited potential for such growth.

MSH: Limited potential?

NICK BROWN: I don’t think you’re going to have groups comparable to RAIM-Denver sprouting up in many cities overnight. I would be pretty suspicious if it worked out that way. More probable is that two or three, maybe more, comrades hooks up in a city or two and begin working together. That’s how things start. Who knows where it could go from there.

MSH: What has RAIM-Denver been doing to to help facilitate such an expansion?

NICK BROWN: The first thing we did was start RAIM-Denver with this goal on the backburner. We wanted to organize in a way that could be roughly reproducible given similar conditions. Given our success thus far, I think that the founding of RAIM-Denver was an important first step in the creation of a loose, multi-celled revolutionary anti-imperialist network. Currently, we are beginning work on standardized versions of our more popular material. We want to make it as streamlined as possible for people to print out our material, makes copies and and distribute them. Keep your eye out for nicer looking, printer ready PDF versions of RAIM-Denver originals. Also, we are going to be expanding our web presence, adding an archive as a central place of find printer-ready materials and a kind-of general RAIM web portal to highlight the work of various emerging RAIM-like cells and proto-cells. Some of this stuff is still tentative, but keep your eye out for it. The idea behind a lot of this is that RAIM-Denver and its material can be used as a central reference point to build for other RAIM-like groups elsewhere.

We get comments and emails from all over the country from people who say that they wish there was something like RAIM in their city. Chances area, if you are reading this and live in a large city then there is someone else in your city who is equally fascinated with revolutionary anti-imperialism. The popularization of the anti-imperialist internet sources and the distribution of their materials around the country can be used as a basis to draw more people into organized revolutionary anti-imperialist efforts. Ultimately though, its up to other people to make it happen. RAIM-Denver only do so much before the responsibility to build such a country-wide movement rests on others. We’ll see what happens.

MSH: For those who have followed your work and want to get involved, what is the first step?

NICK BROWN: Assuming that one has read RAIM-Denver’s work and has a satisfactory understanding, I would tell that person to start doing anonymous agitation work. Writing and distributing articles is an excellent place to start, or one could print up RAIM-Denver materials and start distributing them at schools and universities, coffee shops, activist events, etc. Whatever you do, do something. For myself, revolution is a moral cause worth a lifetime. However, we are asking for you to put forth a minimal level of time and dedication now. RAIM-Denver has in many ways taken the first steps. Now all that is left is for people to pick up the torch to run with it.

MSH: Last question. What happened between you and Alex Jones?

NICK BROWN: It’s a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short. The confrontation stemmed from our work with Recreate ‘68 (R68), the main coalition that organized the anti-DNC protests in Denver. RAIM-Denver was one on the main groups working with Recreate ‘68, though much of our involvement was behind the scenes. Needless to say, RAIM-Denver’s local contributions R68’s efforts were considerable. Early on, Recreate ‘68 came under attacks in incidents ranging from anonymous threats, probable infiltration and not so covert agent provocateurs, as well as a media smear campaign to go along with it. Additionally, the were divisions within Recreate ‘68. A lot of it came down to rhetoric and the right to self defense.

In walks Jonathan Elinoff. Jonathan Elinoff at first glance seems like a hopelessly devoted “Truther.” He pretentiously came to a single R68 meeting, demanded an extravagant amount of publicity during the protests for his viewpoints and was unanimously rejected. During the course of the night he talked to a RAIMer and got ahold of a Troublemaker DVD. From this, he wrote an article claiming that we told him we were stockpiling blood and urine to throw at the pigs. He also claimed that Recreate was a front group for RAIM-Denver. The wild accusations spread from there. Unfortunately, the “stockpiling blood and urine” story stuck and was circulated word to mouth and through the internet. It even spread to mainstream national media. Using the non-violence issue as pretext, groups such as Colorado Communities for Peace and Justice, Tent State, the Colorado Green Party, Code Pink, and the International Socialist Organization split from Recreate ‘68. Unable to unite around the principle of letting the pigs kick your ass, they formed a coalition called The Alliance for Real Democracy, whose main activity was wrecking the real work being done against the DNC. They were de facto Democratic Party operatives. They ended up going to far as to host as Convention watching party and a friendly delegate meet-and-greet, among other things.

But it didn’t stop there. Alex Jones, nationally syndicated crackpot and white supremacist, invited Jonathan Elinoff, whom others in the 9-11 Truth Movement have told us is shady, on his radio show. There Jonathan embellished his claims even further, saying that we were planning violent acts and claiming that he had a tape of us telling him or someone else about it. Of course no such tape exists. Jonathan couldn’t keep his lies straight. Alex Jones however went ahead repeating Elinoff’s fabrications and instructed people to watch out for us and even video tape us. A situation was being put into place were RAIM-Denver could have been taken out before the DNC began. A similar situation was used against Anarchists prior to the RNC. More humorously, the “blood and urine” story made it to the Denver City Council. An ordinance was passed barring the possession of blood and urine with the intent to throw it at a pig. We thought it was funny at least.

During the Freedom March for Political Prisoners during the DNC, someone told me that Alex Jones was at the back of the crowd. He was hard to miss. Even before I got there he was yelling and flailing his arms around. I grabbed a bullhorn and got into a confrontation with him. I exposed his white supremacist and amerika-first world view and how his view implicitly supports the police state. A few reporters were on hand and it was noted in mainstream media outlets. Because of their lies, Jones and Elinoff are, for the most part, both looked at with hostility in the Denver activist scene. They never took responsibility for their pig behavior and they have never since mentioned RAIM-Denver.

MSH: Thank you for your time. Revolutionary salute!