U.S. unable to rely on military force in its quest for world dominance

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Glen Ford is editor of Black Agenda Report and a member of the Black is Back coalition. Following are portions of his presentation at the Feb. 26 public rally in Hartford, Conn., sponsored by Socialist Action. O terconnected crises that can only be surmounted ur world faces a multiple of overlapping and inthrough socialism. Those crises become more acute each day, and they are the inevitable product of latestage capitalism. These species-threatening crises— of which global warming is only one—are insoluble without the dismantling of capitalism, which creates these crises.

Standing in the way of the global transformation that humanity must achieve is the edifice of U.S. imperialism. It’s an imperialism that is increasingly stripped down to its most raw and brutal elements—military force. Its options narrow, becoming fewer and fewer every day. That is the clearest sign of imperialism’s weakness—that it cannot influence events decisively except by the use of raw force.

The United States constantly seeks to achieve what it calls full-spectrum dominance, in the military sense. Their reliance on the military, which is more expensive than all the rest of the militaries of the world combined, is necessitated by the inability of finance capital to play anything but a destructive role in the world today.

Finance capital, which rules in the United States, can only survive by rigging and distorting world markets. It has become a weight that suppresses the productive forces of the world, and from which other capitalist classes of the world recoil. It is a very inflexible instrument for global rule; it can’t win hearts and minds. In fact, the developing world is compelled to form compacts among themselves to organize against U.S.-dominated finance capital. Dollar dominance is something to be feared, avoided, and overcome.

And so the imperialists are increasingly reliant on their weapons. But their weapons are failing them now as well. America’s growing impotence to shape world events by non-military means is what drove the United States to roll the dice in 2003 with an offensive that was designed to project American power deep into the energy-producing regions of Asia. The Iraq invasion was to have been just the beginning of that offensive. The goal of the offensive was to neutralize Russia, and to potentially cut off Chinese access to oil and gas. It was also, of course, to restore the United States to a dictatorial position in the world. So they rolled the dice, and then they lost.

... Convention (continued from page 6: “14th national convention”) the restoration of capitalism by the Cuban leadership. While there is always a danger that such measures could foster individualism in conflict with socialist principles, the establishment of new, privatized small concerns should help improve the lives of Cuban citizens in the immediate future.

The biggest weakness of the Cuban revolutionary government, Foley said, is its lack of institutions allowing real workers’ democracy. That makes it difficult to deal with incipient bureaucratization and demoralization. And it has also led to a depoliticalization of Cuban society, despite the mass enthusiasm that the Cuban Revolution has inspired.

In her antiwar report, Christine Marie pointed to the many positive opportunities to build a reinvigorated antiwar movement in this country—one that would be capable of building truly mass protests. The recent revolts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, she said, can aid the antiwar movement in gaining broad support.

“It is now much more difficult to avoid the truth,” she said. “It is secular democracy and the agency of Arab working people that the U.S. ruling elite really fears. We can anticipate a real shift in understanding by millions of people in the United States. This shift, coming as it will in the midst of an unending economic crisis defined by unemployment, homelessness, untreated illness, and deepening alienation, most certainly lays the basis for revitalizing a movement against U.S. imperialist interventions abroad.”

Jeff Mackler reported on the mid-February meeting in Europe of the International Committee (IC) of the Fourth International. The FI is the world socialist current (with sections in some 60 countries) with which Socialist Action maintains fraternal relations.

Mackler reviewed Socialist Action’s perspectives on the major discussions and debates in the FI toThey lost so catastrophically that the ruling finance capitalists were compelled to bankroll the elevation of a brand-new face—a brown face named Barack Obama. But, of course, that was just a face. And it’s still the same moribund, increasingly desperate imperial system. It cannot bend the world to its will despite its huge war machine.

In the 21st century, U.S. imperialism can’t even bend two of the poorest nations to its will—Afghanistan and Somalia. In Afghanistan a few tens of thousands of fighters have deadlocked the United States and its NATO allies. In Somalia only a few thousand Islamic fighters have the Americans and their proxies day. He focused on the need for the Fourth International to build mass Leninist parties deeply rooted in today’s unprecedented wave of general strikes and mass mobilizations, and in the emerging independent working-class councils and other fighting formations. Building mass Leninist parties at a time when the world capitalist crisis has brought millions into the streets to defend gains won in struggle decades ago, and in defense of fundamental democratic rights, is a prerequisite to forging a leadership capable of challenging capitalist prerogatives and chartering a course toward socialist revolution.

Mackler presented a critical assessment of the FI’s present orientation to building vaguely defined “anticapitalist” parties that lack clear revolutionary socialist perspectives. He criticized the tendency of these groupings to preference electoral alliances with non-revolutionary forces over united-front mass-action campaigns.

Mackler stressed the need for the FI to correct serious errors in regard to working-class independence, wherein a number of FI sections (in Brazil, Mexico, and other countries) supported and joined electoral campaigns with multi-class, pro-capitalist formations. These policies had disastrous results.

Daniel Adam noted in his organizational report that Socialist Action has grown steadily over the last few years, and increased its geographical spread—building new branches in Kentucky, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. SA is involved in a broad range of movement activities, and played a key role in helping to organize the United National Antiwar Committee.

Socialist Action’s growth has been sparked by a new young generation of members, many of whom were elected to the incoming National Committee (the leadership body between conventions). Piper’s report, and discussion from delegates, laid great stress on bolstering the political and theoretical education of all SA members; for that purpose, a comprehensive set of educational bulletins was proposed.

The convention approved a spring subscription drive for Socialist Action newspaper, beginning imJulius Arscott / Socialist Action stymied. And so we see that U.S. imperialism’s position is eroding at an accelerating pace despite ever-increasing expenditures on weapons. They are in a much worse position than they were in 2003—when they rolled the dice and they lost.

And their economic position has been shattered by the financial meltdown of 2008. Virtually the entire world, including capitalist Europe, now views American capital as a menace to their societies.

And now comes a veritable apocalypse in the making. That apocalypse is the Arab reawakening. The resurgence of Arab nationalism cannot help but deal a decisive blow to U.S. imperialism. The reawakening will be played by fits and starts, and disappointments and tragedies—but it cannot be rolled back.

Libya may well be invaded and occupied by NATO; it could happen very soon. But that will not alter this huge new factor in the human struggle. The very geopolitical region where the United States targeted numerous countries for enslavement and invasion as part of its 2003 military offensive is now coming alive with Arab nationalist fervor. ...

Any rise in nationalism in that part of the world is a catastrophe for U.S. imperialism. U.S. imperialism is the enemy of all nationalisms except our own. Its imperative is to crush all notions of national independence. Imperialism cultivates, and creates, and imposes on nations a class of people that are willing to sell out the national interest to imperial power. That, after all, is the whole point of the imperial project. Therefore, disaster looms for U.S. imperialism with the reawakening of Arab nationalism—and that is true even if the left plays a minor role in those various countries.

Washington has no idea what to do about this. They have no viable options. The occupation of Libya may happen, but it is not viable—not in an Arab world in the fever of nationalism. n mediately and ending on May 1. The basic yearly rate for subscriptions will remain at $20, with a special introductory offer for new readers of $5 for five months. The convention also approved a $25,000 fund drive. This is necessitated by rising costs in our operations. For example, printing and postage costs for Socialist Action newspaper have risen tremendously in recent months. It is hoped that our regular readers will all contribute to the drive. n ... The Arab nation (continued from page 4: “The rest of the Arab nation steps forward”)

the rising Arab revolt, calling for the abolition of the PA and the erection of genuinely representative institutions embracing Palestinians around the globe to lead the struggle. Palestinians are urging their Egyptian sisters and brothers to act now to demand the regime end its collaboration with Israel in the genocidal blockade of Gaza.

We can expect even more concrete solidarity and even coordination of protests across the Arab nation in coming weeks. But it is the task of revolutionaries to forge parties that can make sure this process occurs quickly and broadly enough to prevent the cooptation or crushing of these proliferating upsurges.

These revolutions will be completed when they find working-class leadership, and when they link up across the Arab nation as a whole.

No one revolutionary success in any of the existing Arab countries can hold out for long against imperialist military might and economic and political subversion. But the linking of struggles under the leadership of the working class can secure victory—and inspire ongoing solidarity, and emulation, by workers in the imperialist heartlands. n Socialist Action march 2011 7

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Fares Nawfal / AFP / Getty Images (Left) Protesters face Iraqi police at Mosul rally against corruption and unemployment, Feb. 10.

“By sundown in Baghdad on Friday, security forces were spraying water cannons and exploding sound bombs to disperse protesters, chasing several through streets and alleyways and killing at least three, according to a witness.” The article noted: “The reports attributed most casualties to security forces who opened fire.”

The government responded to the protests with a witch hunt worthy of the worst of the toppled dictatorships: “Iraqi security forces detained hundreds of people, including prominent journalists, artists and intellectuals, witnesses said Saturday, a day after nationwide demonstrations brought tens of thousands of Iraqis into the streets and ended with soldiers shooting into crowds.”

Arrested journalists told a horror story all too familiar in the Middle Eastern dictatorships: “Four journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after they had left a protest at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. They said they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened. Ssairi and his three col-

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‘The resurgence of Arab nationalism cannot help but deal a decisive blow to U.S. imperialism. ... Washington has no idea what to do about this. They have no viable options ... not in an Arab world in the fever of nationalism.’