During the Cold War , unions understood they had to be on the front lines of the fight against communism, because otherwise a left economic agenda could be easily undermined. The anti-communism of the union movement allowed the Democrats to pursue left-leaning economic goals and empowerment legislation without being labeled by the general public as “communists” no matter how hard Barry Goldwater’s acolytes tried to tar and feather New Deal and Great Society liberals.
Similarly, today’s liberals and progressives need to be aware that on global affairs, large portions of the American left now hold extreme views, which threatens to caricature all left-leaning people like myself on other issues that matter more to our everyday lives, as anti-American. The charges that we are “communists” are laughable, but become more believable to the public at large when you witness the behavior of many movement progressives.
There is nothing “progressive” about being so reflexively anti-American that you end up championing the worst terrorists and autocrats on the planet. Hamas, Putin, Maduro, Xi etc.
It’s CRITICAL those who want left domestic policies like myself and so many others concerned about working class issues, environmental justice, climate change, sustainability, etc to call out these elements.
In fact Bernie Sanders has very nuanced & responsible positions on this stuff but by being pragmatic, he’s lost his most vocal former supporters who view him as a “sellout.”
What began in February 2022 with a clear effort by some of the biggest leftist influencers on social media to excuse or even promote Russian aggression has culminated in the last few weeks with rhetoric which threatens to stain all of us that have a progressive world view and generally left-leaning goals in terms of public policy. In fact, those like Jimmy Dore, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibi and others resemble propagandists for the Kremlin, who are deliberately driving to divide Americans and make the Democratic Party brand toxic to younger voters. It all seems by design.
In the past week, I’ve been stunned by the number of left-leaning people I’ve engaged on the current dispute between Venezuela and Guyana who have defended the Venezuelan position (a naked effort to grad energy resources, not that dissimilar from what the US did in Iraq). Some have said to me this is an anti-imperialist view even though it is Maduro’s Venezuela that is the aggressor. They’ve cited British colonialism to me (there is something here, in terms of how the British drew the lines BUT international arbitration affirmed those lines once upon a time) or been perfectly honest and said as a socialist opponent of the United States, they prefer Maduro control oil resources instead of some pro-western state.
For those who do not know, Guyana is an anomaly in South America. A plurality of its population is of (Asian) Indian descent, it’s Head of State is Muslim and it’s got a huge Afro-Caribbean population as well. It could be one of the most diverse states in the Americas, yet some on the far left champion dismembering it.
It’s okay to be pro-Palestinian, and in my opinion and for the first month of the current crisis in the Middle East, I said nothing publicly because I felt the left was championing humanitarianism for the people of Gaza. I sat it out although, I personally have serious reservations about ever backing the Palestinian authority because of how deeply illiberal and theocratic the Arab world is and the Palestinian Authority has proven to be in the past (try being LGBTQ+ in these places or even have a skin tone like mine…).
At the same time I don’t like AIPAC or any foreign-government driven intervention in US elections ( foreign lobbies and American citizens serving as lobbyists representing foreign governments is something I’m adamantly opposed to). But AIPAC is a problem for another day. Though that and the entire construct where American democracy can be held hostage by foreign governments or lobbies MUST be addressed at some point.
But for today, I’m concerned about our problems on the left.
Unfortunately, much like the far left’s lurch into advocacy for Putin’s Russia, advocacy for Venezuela, the advocacy for the Palestinian people was a mere cover, to attack the west, and begin moving into some serious antisemitic territory. And to equate Jews with white European imperialists which is completely obscene if you know anything at all about history. In fact, that part is flat out offensive to me. If any group suffered at the hands of western Europeans more than any others it was Jews, starting in the 1090’s and culminating with the Holocaust 850 years later.
As I have previously pointed out, the left’s position isn’t pro-Muslim either, because they’re not championing Kosovo’s claims over Serbia’s (since Kosovo is backed by the west) nor standing up for the Crimean Tatars, indigenous Muslims that are almost universally anti-Russia (many have fled into territory still controlled by Ukraine). And now you see some elements of the left dismissing Guyana who has a Muslim head-of-state.
What does this mean people like me are? Are we suddenly stooges for the CIA, defense contractors and Pentagon as some on the far left (with massive Twitter and YouTube followings by the way) accuse us of being?
No.
This doesn’t mean we support American imperialism.
This does not mean we support the sort of American first militarism of the right, but it does mean we understand there is nuance and subtly to every dispute.
And we understand not every problem in the world is the fault of the United States or the west. But we also understand many disputes are the legacy of colonialism or American aggression and misdeeds.
We don’t embrace illiberal actors because they oppose the US or UK. We have an even hand when it comes to these things and applaud President Biden’s informed approach to making policy. This stands in direct contrast with the extreme MAGA-GOPers who have a fetish for Putin’s Russia and the extreme left whose rhetoric is ill-informed based on history and who seem to be meandering into dangerous territory when it comes to antisemitism and ethno-stereotyping.
We need to have adult discussions about global affairs, not extreme college students dictating American policy, nor extreme right-wing ideologues dictating American policy. And those of us who are progressive on domestic policy and even-handed on foreign affairs need to call the extreme left out, for the benefit of our own policy preferences.
The Florida Squeeze 
What exactly are Indians doing in South America?
They were put there by British imperialists to “boss” the blacks and Hispanics that the white man deemed inferior.
Since you’re Indian, you’re backing Guyana. Is that it?
You’re backing ExxonMobil. You’re backing BP.
Maduro will give that oil to the people of Venezuela if successful in decolonizing the region.
Shame on you, playing identity politics when you tell us, we can’t. Would you even care if Guyana wasn’t an extension of India.
Many Indians think they’re white. Look at Ramaswamy. He is the most racist candidate in either party. Yet he gets Ukraine is waste of $$$ that could be spent on all the things you claimed to care about but instead are going to a Nazi regime in Kiev which once employed Biden’s son.
Israel is a pariah state. If it’s wiped off the map it’s Bibi’s own fault.
How can anyone be left and not back the Palestinian cause?
Regarding Russia they’be been encircled by western satellites and humiliated as a people. How would you react in that situation?
I don’t know about, nor do I care about Serbia or Kosovo.
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Idi Amin understood this.
The British put Indians in Tanzania and Uganda to try and control the black population.
Indians took the money, and served as loyal stooges of Empire.
Maduro will fix this in South America
The world, the Anglo-Saxon created, deliberately racist and turns people against one another is crumbling brick by brick.
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An alternate viewpoint:
By Ralph Nader
December 8, 2023
The humiliation of the U.S. government, which is actively complicit in providing the weaponry, funding, and UN vetoes backing the Israeli government’s attack on the civilian Palestinians/Arabs in tiny Gaza, is in plain view daily. All in the name of the unasked American people and taxpayers.
Earlier this week, at a House of Representatives’ hearing, Trump toady Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) repeatedly assailed three University presidents with the question of would they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews, without any evidence that this hateful speech is prevalent on campus.
Pursuing her fulminations, Stefanik was cruelly oblivious to the real ongoing genocide in Gaza with her support of unconditional shipment of American F-16s, 155mm. missiles and other weapons of mass destruction used to kill children, women and the elderly who had nothing to do with the preventable October 7th Hamas violence.
Meanwhile, a State Department spokesman continues to say that the Israeli government does not intentionally target civilians. With U.S. drones over Gaza daily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visual proof that the overwhelming bombing on civilian structures is killing innocent civilians.
The evidence is in the rubble of hospitals, health clinics, ambulances, schools, libraries, places of worship, marketplaces, water mains, homes, apartment buildings, and piles of unburied corpses being eaten by stray dogs. All this information is in the possession of bomber Biden’s regime.
The Bidenites and their bloodthirsty cohorts in Congress were forewarned when the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and other Israeli officials on October 8th shouted these chilling genocidal orders to their army: “No electricity, no food, no fuel, no water.… We are fighting human animals and will act accordingly.” (See, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide). Add an already illegal 16-year Israeli blockade of 2.3 Palestinians suffering from dire poverty, with 40% of their children down with anemia.
Now, about half of Gaza’s population are children, 85% of the entire population is homeless, wandering helplessly into nowhere, afflicted with pending starvation, sickened by spreading infectious diseases and dirty drinking water. There is little or no medicines for diabetics and cancer patients. No surgery, no anesthesia, no emergency transport, no shelter from cold weather, only American-made bombs and missiles blowing up Palestinians into bits with Israeli snipers everywhere.
The Palestinians cannot flee from their open-air prison. They cannot surrender – the Israeli government wants them gone. Bear in mind, the population that is not yet blown up is sick and dying, denied needed outside humanitarian aid. Defying feeble Biden’s wishes, Netanyahu only allows a trickle of aid trucks to enter Gaza, and those that do enter can scarcely reach their destinations.
All this raises the issue of the gross undercount of casualties. The Hamas Health Authority has restricted its count to the names of the deceased and injured supplied by hospitals and morgues. These locations are now largely rubble or inoperative. Bodies under the rubble, many of them children, can’t be counted. Thousands of missing people cannot be counted. The Ministry’s suspended count is over 17,000 fatalities, plus 45,000 injuries. With the far larger carnage unable to be tabulated, the actual fatality toll may reach 100,000 soon.
Nonetheless, about two weeks ago, the New York Times reported the death undercount of children in Gaza in two months was ten times greater than the deaths of Ukrainian children in nearly two years of Russian bombings. One of its headlines – “Smoldering Gaza Becomes a Graveyard for Children.”
There are about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and about 5,500 of them are due to give birth. Where are they going to do that? How can they be cared for and be nurtured? These mothers are sick and starving. Add the babies to the terrorists toll.
Gaza’s area is about the size of Philadelphia. How many dead, injured, and dying people would there be if 20,000 bombs were dropped on civilians and civilian structures in Philadelphia? Philadelphians trapped without food, water, medicine or any escape route. Imagine 85% of 1.5 million residents homeless, wandering in the streets and alleys. And with virtually no humanitarian aid coming from outside the city. There wouldn’t be any fire trucks or water to extinguish spreading fires.
Over a nine-week period there would have to be over 200,000 deaths and many more permanently disabled for life.
There are courageous Jewish groups (e.g., Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now) and rabbis calling for an end to the slaughter, demanding a ceasefire. There are protestors at all of Biden’s public events/trips reminding him of next November.
Veterans for Peace and other veteran groups are engaged in non-violent civil disobedience in front of the Scranton, Pennsylvania factory producing 155mm missiles for Israel. (Scranton is Biden’s hometown.) Public opinion is turning against the Biden/Israel war without limits on the Palestinians.
Biden wouldn’t want to poll the American people about his $14.3 billion genocide tax, charging American taxpayers to further prosperous Israel’s war of extermination in Gaza. They’ll likely tell Biden that poor children, unaffordable health facilities and other necessities in America need that money first.
There are some 30 Democratic Senators demanding that this Biden bill contain conditions and safeguards so that the money is not used to blow up more Palestinian children and women. But what else are these funds for other than to expand Israel’s military budget? The Israeli extremist ruling coalition under Netanyahu has made no secret of wanting to take over all of remaining Palestine as part of their “Greater Israel” mission to include what they call Judea and Samaria. As Israel’s Founder, David Ben-Gurion, frankly declared referring to the Palestinians, “We have taken their country.” (As quoted in The Jewish Paradox (1978) by Nahum Goldmann.)
It is a cruel irony of history that Israeli state terrorism is producing a Palestinian Holocaust. Netanyahu’s regime has killed over 60 journalists—three of them Israelis—120 United Nations relief workers and instituted total blackouts to keep the grisly events in Gaza out of the news in real time. Netanyahu, to shield his colossal failure to defend Israel on October 7thand to keep his job, is making sure that his country joins the world community of savage, slaughtering regimes, exemplified by the Bush/Cheney unlawful criminal destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by Hillary Clinton toppling Libya into permanent violence and chaos since 2011. (Obama later called his conceding to Hillary’s demands as his worst foreign policy decision).
Capitol Hill and the White House don’t wait for any blood-guilt to be recognized. That will surely come later with the judgment of history and the nightmarish visions of innocents being vaporized because of Washington’s unconditional backing of the Israeli blitzkrieg against what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has repeatedly called the “totally defenseless people” of Gaza.
Ralph Nader
Now from me on the issue of the establishment of a colony of European Jews in Palestine. The full history of the Jewish diaspora starts long before the Romans. It is said by some historians that more Jews lived outside of Israel than inside before the start of the common era. The Romans, in 70 CE just finalized the destruction of the remnants of a Jewish state. That means, of course, that most Jews lived in other cultures for almost 2000 years. Many did not fully assimilate, mostly, it seems for reasons of religion. They retained that aspect of their culture, although in some cases even the religion changed to some extent. The movement to escape often horrific discrimination and pogroms through a return to Jerusalem and the establishment of a Jewish homeland became known as Zionism. It varied in terms of its views of the governance of this homeland but there was strong agreement, before the second world war that the homeland would be in the area of Jerusalem. With the Balfour Declaration during the first world was, the British Government declared their support for a homeland for Jews in Palestine with full recognition of the rights of its present inhabitants. This declaration became the basis for the British mandate in Palestine giving the British the authority to rule in that area. As Jews poured in after the Holocaust resistance grew among the Arab population, who had no say in this movement of a nation of strangers into their midst. As fighting, between Jews and Arabs, and against the British mandate increased, the British pulled out and left the parties to work things out for themselves. The Jews received arms largely from Russia, Czechoslovakia and Britain while Palestinians were armed and supported by other Arabs.
The result of several armed conflicts is that the Palestinian population was left with 22% of the original land and that only nominally under their control. If this doesn’t remind you of European colonialism let me refer you to the experience of the American native tribes.
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