alanjjohnstone
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I also referred to the Right-wing who use the slogans “A Just War” and “humanitarian intervention” so we have to reach out to workers who fall for those concepts, as well.
I know it is not only ourselves that face this problem, after all, prevailing ideas in society are invariably the ruling class’s until we have the effective means to combat them in the battle of ideas.
Maybe we could design a banner that we can hold up when these pro-war supporters stage their marches.
But even so, only a very tiny number actually go on these demonstrations except for the very notable exception of 2003 anti-Iraq invasion one. It was a new experience for me not to have to explain to people I knew or worked with that the war had an economic cause. The war for oil argument couldn’t be defeated by all the government and media pro-war propaganda. Oil was widely recognized as the reason for UK/US involvement. But memories are short.
I don’t think generally there exists an appetite for military action of any sort, any where. It is one reason the emotive appeals to poison gas and civilian atrocities are more and more resorted to in attempts to build up a war fever. So yes, all we can do is keep responding with reasoned explanations of why the working class have no interests in war and should never take sides and maintain the case that it is the capitalists who declare war but the workers who die in them. But even so, every time there is a war or threat of war, I have this deja vu sensation of being there before.
“It was a bit embarrassing in fact when they asked us if the SPGB would join the group.”
While we could not formally join a group where we had not 100% control over what was said and written, couldn’t we have offered to contribute an analysis or two, clearly showing the authorship, to any future website or newsletter?
Or volunteered our printing facilities (if we still retain that ability) as a logistical helping-hand.
Even let HO premises be used as a discussion meeting place.
Perhaps a willingness to cooperate more on commonly shared positions might be a remedy to “why we are so few.”
China and Russia
China is believed to have invested around $70 billion, in the form of loans as well as social projects and maintenance of the country’s oil production infrastructure. Most of those loans are set to be paid back to China in the form of Venezuelan oil. In addition, China and Venezuela have formed several joint ventures involving the production of automobiles, mobile phones and computers, among other goods. These investments and connections make China by far Maduro’s largest creditor.
“If Venezuela collapses …, China faces a large risk of diplomatic and financial blowback. Opposition politicians are well aware that China propped up … Maduro rule. A new Venezuelan government could well refuse to honor the Maduro-era obligations entirely and look to Washington for support instead.”
Russia is believed to have lent and invested around $17 billion in Venezuela over the past 20 years, significantly less than China. However, Russia — through state-run companies such as Rosneft — has gained significant ownership stakes in at least five major Venezuelan oil fields along with several decades worth of the future outputs of Venezuelan-held natural gas fields in the Caribbean. In addition, and most significantly from the U.S. perspective, in 2017 Venezuela offered 49.9 percent of Citgo — its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary — along with three Gulf Coast refineries and its pipeline network as collateral to Rosneft for $1.5 billion.
Rosneft’s interests in Venezuela are so great that its executive chairman, Igor Sechin, stated in 2017 that “we will never leave and no one will be able to kick us out of there.” Yet, as Leonid Bershidsky recently wrote in Bloomberg, “If Maduro falls and a U.S.-backed government takes his place, it’s highly likely that the Russian projects will be suspended and Venezuela’s debts won’t be repaid.”A new U.S.-backed government in Venezuela endangers the billions of dollars in loans that Maduro’s government owes to both countries. Russia and China are aware that their interests in the country are under threat as a direct result of this U.S. push. This greatly increases the likelihood that any escalation from Washington will trigger strong responses from both countries and could quickly devolve into a tit-for-tat that could eventually develop into a major military conflict. Russia and China are unlikely to stand idly by as the U.S. installs a government that could undo their years of investment in the country and refuse to pay back billions in loans. Indeed, Russia has already sent military contractors (mercenaries) into Venezuela.
An attempt at regime change may mean a proxy civil war as in Syria.
Don’t know much about them and they may be a deliberate distraction but there now exists the foulards rouges – or Red Scarves.
Your point is well taken Wez, but isn’t the real issue that in all my political life, ever since the Vietnam war, it has been the very same problem we have encountered. We have not succeeded in presenting the alternative interpretations, either to the left or the right.
If I can broaden the argument to encompass the IS/SWP slogan formulated in the 1950s Korean War, Neither Washington nor Moscow. Are we going to hear a similar slogan Neither Washington nor Caracas? I very much doubt it. It is denigrated as “third-campism”
Other than doing what we always do, is there another strategy we can employ to counter the polarization of views and emphasise the socialist position of plague on both houses?
Once again, Marcos, where is the legality under international law? For yet another time, the UN and the Security Council, are things to be by-passed. As always Might is Right.
However, our bigger problem is that too many “progressives” view anti-Americanism as the same as anti-capitalism. It is the lingering ideology of anti-imperialism which prevails on the Left and, of course, our position of a plague on both Trump and Maduro is seen as being apologist and is unpopular in liberal circles. We won’t be able to throw off such accusations so we will suffer the slings and arrows of left-wing criticism.
Pompeo appoints Elliot Abrams as US Special Envoy on Venezuela.
Who is he?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Abrams
He is the US coup orchestrator,
The Observer said that Abrams had advance knowledge of, and “gave a nod to,” the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo Chávez.
He has experience with the Nicaraguan Contras and the Iran-Contra conspiracy
Amnesty International accused him of covering up atrocities committed by the military forces of U.S.-backed governments, such as those in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and the rebel Contras in Nicaragua.
The Bank of England stopped Venezuela from taking back its gold, a refusal long before the present crisis over president recognition.
On 5 November, the London headquartered Reuters news agency reported that the Venezuelan state, fearing sanctions, is attempting to repatriate 14 tonnes of gold from the Bank of England in London, but that this gold withdrawal and transport operation has not yet been actioned
Venezuela has been selling its sizeable gold reserves, built up under Hugo Chavez, to try to address the economic crisis plaguing the country. In 2018 it sold about 26 tons, worth close to $900 million, to Turkey. In the past four years, Venezuela’s gold reserves have decreased to about 175 tons from about 400 tons
Madura given an ultimatum by Europe. Hold election within 8 days. Or else.
However, one would wonder why other countries ruled by despots have never been issued with such demands before and why Venezuela has been singled out.
Worse case scenario – British troops on the Irish border according to Irish PM.
According to Sinn Fein – A United Ireland referendum
But a rare moment of consensus
DUP MP Gregory Campbell called the taoiseach’s comments about a worst-case scenario as “deeply unhelpful”.
Varadkar’s claims were condemned as “reckless and irresponsible” by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald.
This news item could have been posted in the populism thread but it does speculate on the future of the EU after Brexit
“…as the UK lurches towards Brexit and nationalists look set to make sweeping gains in EU parliamentary elections…In the EU elections in May – the first that will not include Britain – most observers predict a rise in support for populist, nationalist or anti-immigration parties. Many of them have made significant gains in national elections”
The group of 30 writers, historians and Nobel laureates declared in a manifesto, that Europe as an idea was “coming apart before our eyes”
“…the EU elections will be “the most calamitous that we have ever known: victory for the wreckers; disgrace for those who still believe in the legacy of Erasmus, Dante, Goethe, and Comenius; disdain for intelligence and culture; explosions of xenophobia and anti-semitism; disaster”. [had to google Comenius]
While I may respect the intentions of those intellectuals, I wonder just how true their claim is
“Despite its “mistakes, lapses, and occasional acts of cowardice”, Europe remains “the second home of every free man and woman on the planet” ”
Perhaps their view from the lofty ivory towers does not permit them to see the walls of Fortress Europe against non-Europeans
Out of the news does not mean they disappeared
40 people have held a sit-in protest about global warming at the Scottish Parliament.
Robert Alcock, of the Extinction Rebellion group, claimed the protesters were not breaking the law. “We are lawfully gathered in our Parliament, to draw attention to the climate emergency and to call for a Citizens’ Assembly in the name of the land and people of Scotland.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-47001933
I found this article presented an interesting analysis
The Yellow Vests, the Crisis of the Welfare State and Socialism
“The yellow vest movement is essentially calling for a return to the welfare state, and their movement is born of the crisis of the European welfare state in its last strong bastion, France. But the welfare state is (was) an attempt to stabilize capitalism in the highly developed countries, and rather than trying to save it or bring it back, we should call for a new form of socialism.”
The disappointment is the author’s “new form of socialism” is a return to old nationalization.
“The only way to keep the results of economic activity inside the country and available for social services is to nationalize the industries, so that they become public goods, owned collectively and not by private individuals and stockholders. The only way to maintain and pay for the public programs that the population cherishes, is to finance them through state ownership of the means of production and distribution.”
More bad news
The level of climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is forecast to rise by a near-record amount in 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/worrying-rise-in-global-co2-forecast-for-2019
The Barents Sea is said to be at a tipping point, changing from an Arctic climate to an Atlantic climate as the water gets warmer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46976040
British government face a £24bn bill for tax relief awarded to oil and gas companies removing hundreds of North Sea wells, rigs and pipelines, the UK public spending watchdog has said. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the figure would climb if companies collapse and are unable to pay for cleaning up their operations, leaving the government to pick up the tab. About half of the figure comes from decommissioning reducing companies’ taxable profits, with the rest from tax reliefs based on the large sums of tax paid historically. Those reliefs allow companies to offset decommissioning costs against revenue, cutting the amount of tax they pay on their profits.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/25/british-taxpayers-bill-tax-relief-oil-gas-companies
It occurred to me that Trump’s earlier statement that the USA is no longer going to be the “policeman of the world” is fully contradicted by his policy towards Venezuela.
As the media will more likely than not ignore this open letter, I think we should be aware of Pilger’s, Chomsky’s and a host of other progressives opinion.
