The primary goal of our ruling elites during the new cold war is to purge the members of the anti-imperialist movement, while not provoking a catastrophic mass backlash in the process. Now that international monopoly capital is progressively losing dominance over Africa, Asia, and Latin America, its only winnable battle is the one against the internal sources of opposition; U.S. capitalism is in terminal contraction, so its sole way to survive is by degrowing the economy while preventing the people from rising up. Following Ukraine’s failed summer counter-offensive, and Washington’s economic defeat by both Russia and the wider BRICS family, there’s an urgent need for the empire to carry out this internal repressive campaign. And that campaign—which is likely to intensify either during or shortly after the 2024 election cycle—will be sold as an effort to combat right-wing elements.
How can this narrative be marketed to the left-leaning individuals which it’s intended to target? By making sure the ideological forces that share an interest in preventing the repression of anti-imperialists fail to unite, and to effectively resist the state’s attacks. The unelected intelligence officials which seek to destroy the anti-NATO movement can’t get popular support for their schemes; a majority of Americans have shown themselves to ultimately oppose the war machine, and the vast majority of Americans on both the left and the right support First Amendment freedoms. The upcoming attacks against the anti-imperialist cause depend on this pro-democratic majority being unable to sufficiently organize against the repression; which depends on the country’s socialist and antiwar elements being too isolated from each other, and too detached from the people, to be successful.
The scenario in which the national security state can carry out these maneuvers is a tragic one; it’s a scenario where too many of the people who should be allies end up fighting each other, and consequently get defeated by their shared enemy. The danger of this has become apparent with the raid and indictments of the African People’s Socialist Party, also called Uhuru.
So far, Uhuru hasn’t been a target of attack by the corporate media, or by pro-NATO politicians; if the liberals were to assail it on such massive platforms, this would gain Uhuru many new supporters, as many Americans share Uhuru’s ideas. What press coverage Uhuru has received is indeed strengthening its relationship to the people; many revolutionary-compatible individuals have newly found out that this org exists. The main instances of pro-imperialist actors trying to influence the discourse against Uhuru’s favor have occurred within niche online spaces on Twitter and Reddit, where the only people who will see the smears are those already committed to defending NATO; opportunistic “leftist” streamers have also repeated the smears against Uhuru, but their audiences are also relatively insular.
For a larger series of assaults upon the anti-imperialist movement to be marketable, it’s going to need to be strategically sound for such smears to also be put forth by more mainstream voices. And by the judgment of the narrative managers so far, the best option of the pro-NATO side is to not bring attention towards this persecution of Black revolutionaries; if the entire country were to learn about Uhuru’s story, it would become apparent to too many that our “progressive” government under Biden is not only racist, but racist for the purpose of defending a widely hated war machine.
When the type of persecution that’s been exacted upon Uhuru gets expanded to far more groups and individuals, the state will only be able to portray these heinous actions as “progressive” by characterizing the targets as right-wing agents. Which is a narrative that the state can only sell if enough of the country’s socialist movement fails to unite with the targets of the smears.
The reason why I’ve lost faith in the established “left” orgs (particularly PSL) to do this is because ultimately, whatever support they show towards orgs like Uhuru is secondary towards their goal of appeasing liberals. PSL has put out statements of solidarity with Uhuru, yet it’s attacked the Rage Against the War Machine coalition—which includes the Center for Political Innovation, an org that Uhuru has been working with. This gives those ideologically guided by PSL an incentive to start attacking Uhuru, or to at least become apathetic about being in solidarity with Uhuru; because if CPI and the coalition’s other member orgs are seen as untouchable, then Uhuru can be seen as a betrayer of “leftism.”
These attacks against the coalition from the “left” have also been based within how all the coalition’s communist members side with Russia in the Ukraine conflict, which is another construed rationale for hostility that can be extended towards Uhuru. Those who speak for Uhuru have outwardly said they view Russia’s actions as defensive and justified; and those seeking to discredit the pro-Russian stance can attack Uhuru by arguing that its support for Russia’s operation is a sign of its being a front for reactionary politics.
One of the imperialism-compatible left’s major arguments is that anyone who backs Russia’s anti-fascist war worships Vladimir Putin as an individual, and that they’re therefore helping the right by being pro-Russian. Accusations which Uhuru’s representatives need to respond to only with the statement by Eritha ‘Akile’ Cainion, APSP’s Director of Agitation and Propaganda, that: “We unite with any force that is willing to unite with our anti-colonial struggle. And that part is clear. We will not refuse to engage with others around the world who want to see this system go.”
To reaffirm the dishonest arguments against Uhuru’s mode of anti-colonial practice is to aid the state in its efforts at crushing freedom of expression and assembly. Uhuru has aligned with CPI, and with the world’s other pro-multipolar forces, for good reason. And everyone who believes in fighting systemic injustice needs to at the least respect this, or else our movement is going into this moment of peril while needlessly weakening itself. We can’t challenge the state when our movement is made up of people who fundamentally lack respect for each other, and who are ready to betray one another as soon as this becomes expedient. That’s the dangerous dynamic which PSL, and the other liberal tailist orgs, have cultivated through their sectarianism; their way of operating undermines solidarity at a time when we need solidarity the most.
This is why I’ve made it my main priority to combat the anti-solidarity, anti-popular psyops which finance capital relies upon to be able to wage its domestic war. The attacks on Uhuru have been a test for the imperial state’s planned next attempts at suppressing internal resistance; at making its policies of austerity, militarized policing, and perpetual war come to lack any effective opposition. The state has needed to test these repressive maneuvers because it can’t act with impunity, and there are moments when the popular will interferes with its schemes; when the Biden administration created its “Disinformation Governance Board” last year, it had to shut down the project after massive public blowback.
No doubt there’s going to be blowback from large parts of the public when the state escalates its war against anti-imperialists; such widespread disgust has already appeared in reaction to the Uhuru indictments, partly because Tucker Carlson denounced the indictments to his audience of many millions. Even though Carlson is obviously a reactionary, this has created a large amount of popular backing for Uhuru. And should we socialists sufficiently do our work in the information war, we’ll get a majority of Americans to be in active opposition towards the repression.
The state’s goal is to exclude this majority from not just the political sphere, but the discourse; and then portray this anti-democratic campaign as being necessary for countering fascism. The narrative managers seek to propagate the idea that only the views of liberals matter, then use censorship and repression to make this idea dominate our discourse (even though the majority of the people aren’t liberals, and won’t accept the narrative). They’re doing this by arguing that all the conservatives who oppose NATO and the FBI are fascists; and that all the socialists who take the pro-Russia stance are nothing more than agents of fascism.
This is the view of the world put forth by the Russagate psyop; a view in which people who call themselves “leftists” must enter into a united front with the neocons in both the Democratic and Republican parties, since such an alliance is supposedly essential for preventing a fascist takeover.
Reinforcing that narrative, in which it’s seen as crucial to align with finance capital or else you’re supporting reactionary politics, is ironically the best way to ensure that fascism prevails. The Democrats are themselves fascist, and since they’ve become the main tool of finance capital, they’re now more fascist than the Republicans. Compromising on anti-imperialism to appease liberals; and rejecting alliances with those who truly care about the anti-imperialist cause in favor of alliances with liberal NGOs; are how socialists can doom themselves. We must break from the forces that represent this practice, and do what’s necessary for defeating the state.
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