One
of the signs that there has been a considerable
rejuvenation of the political Left of late is highlighted
by our political opponents once again taking us
seriously enough to challenge us within the more
liberal sections of the Media. Not simply, as has
been their way since the demise of the Soviet Union,
dismissing us outright as an historical aberration,
who have been firmly dumped into the dustbin of
history by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher,
instead they have reverted to challenging some of
the Left's core beliefs, whilst of course continuing
to claim we are as extinct as dinosaurs in the modern
world. Not least because the class struggle has
been long ago decided to the advantage of Multi
National Capital, but due to the failure of the
majority of the left to recognize this supposed
fact and the changes the world has gone through
post 9/11, we have placed ourselves in the camp
of dictators, suicide bombers and the like.
I will return to these preposterous accusations
in a later article, but here I wish to concentrate
on the reasons why the intellectual hit squad of
Capital have been hired to turn their pens on the
Left at this particular time. There is little doubt
the US/UK invasion and occupation of Iraq has given
the Left internationally a major fillip. Not least
because these events took place against the wishes
of the overwhelming majority of the nations and
their peoples that make up the United Nations and
in the judgement of most judicial experts, went
against the Statutes of International Law. Revealing
starkly the one world harmonization project of the
pro-globalization movement works in the interest
of the State with the most economic and military
clout, and not in the interest of all Nations as
its advocates claim.
That
the invasion of Iraq was followed by that sad fractured
land being occupied by the USA's armed forces in
the most incompetent and brutal manner, which again
flouted international law as laid down by the Geneva
convention, has only added to the determination
of the organized left to oppose what they regard
as the obscenity of US foreign policy, and has created
a willingness amongst millions of people throughout
the world to give the Left a fair hearing as to
its alternative strategy to neo-liberal economics
and United States world Hegemony.
Thus
due to the energetic and prominent role the Left
has played in helping to organize the anti-war movement
throughout Europe and the USA, after a hiatus in
the political doldrums of a decade or more it has
returned to the political center stage in many of
the nations it was once prominent in. If you link
the role played by the Left in the Anti-War Movement
with the emergence of a number of Left of Centre
Governments throughout South and Central America,
the successful re-branding of Communist Parties
as Left Reformist Parties in the European Union
and other parts of Eastern Europe. Especially in
Italy, where the once mighty, but US blackballed
Italian Communist Party, at the head of the L'Unione
Coalition of the Left was elected to Governmental
Office in the general election of 2006.* Then add
to this the rise of the political fortunes of smaller
Left-Parties such as Sinn Fein in Ireland, the SSP
in Scotland and the Greens, Respect and various
other left parties across a number of EU States.
It is hardly surprising the Right has decided to
modify its parroting that socialism is a thing of
the past and has reverted to attacking it at an
intellectual level.
To
do this successfully there would be little point
in coming at the left from a hard right wing position,
so as happened when the Cold War first erupted at
the end of WW2, the Right has taken to recruiting
as its bagmen and women to do the dirty deed former
leftists who claim it is not they who have moved
to the right but their former comrades, plus de-mothballing
those who have a history of attacking the left intellectually.
Hence we have seen of late two groups emerge, both
of whom have been given acres of space in the mainstream
media, The Henry Jackson Society and the Euston
Manifesto Group.
The Henry Jackson Society
After
decades of silence, these intellectual advocates
of US Capital have suddenly re-emerged onto the
Irish/UK political stage on a number of fronts.
Historically these people had links in the UK with
right-wing social democrats of the Anthony Crossland-mould
and one nation Tories. Although to be fair to Mr
Crossland and his supporters, they would be hard
pressed to recognize their own brand of politics
in those who have recently formed the Henry Jackson
Society, not least because old Scoop's boys would
regard a system of state-run Health Care, Public
Housing and Comprehensive Education as being on
a par with State Communism.
Although I am sure old Scoop would be well pleased
with his protégé's current handiwork
in the UK, for all their fine words about the need
to extend democracy and equality, which few would
oppose, like the old rogue himself, they have no
qualms about doing this on behalf of US Capital,
with bayonet in one hand and the mighty dollar in
the other.
One
need only analyze the man this organization is named
after to understand where they actually stand politically,
Henry Jackson was a anti communist cold war warrior
who is often sited these days as a major influence
by the likes of Neo-Cons such as Paul Wolfowitz
and Condi Rice. In saying this it is worth repeating
that it should never be over looked that anti communists
of Scoop Jackson's persuasion saw very little difference
between Communists and left Socialists, as both
wished to reign in the avarice and chaotic nature
of unregulated Capitalism and in so doing were the
enemy of Capital, whose cause he served so diligently
throughout his life.
This
organization has had some success in giving political
cover to those former leftist in the UK/US who,
due to their support for the invasion and occupation
of Iraq, have moved from the traditional leftist
position of opposing one's government when it engages
in military adventures abroad to that of supporting
such crimes, albeit by dressing their politics up
in a pretty pro-democracy frock. Nevermind this
garment quickly became splattered with innocent
Iraqi blood.
It
is no surprise the Henry Jackson Society has emerged
at this time, for the US administration and its
acolytes in the UK are desperate to keep within
their foul smelling tent those people, who, at first
supported the war on Iraq, having believed Bush
and Blairs cynical lies about WMDs etc., but who
now, having seen the tragic mess the forces of occupation
have made of the Iraq of today find themselves wracked
with self doubts and guilt. Thus along comes the
HJS and group-lets like that which put out the Euston
Manifesto, to clear the consciences of these misguided
individuals with stories about a wondrous democracy
which will emerge in Iraq and spread eventually
throughout the Middle-East, advising they should
ignore the collateral damage US forces leave in
their wake. Plus, those who supported the illegal
war have no need to beat themselves up, as it is
their former comrades on the left who have moved
their political position, not they.
In reality what the Jackson Society are doing is
much the same thing as old Scoop did during the
Vietnam war and it will meet with an equally disastrous
outcome. I do not have the space to do Jackson's
career justice but it is enough to say his democratic
credentials were epitomized by his support for internment
camps to house Japanese-Americans at the start of
WW2. When he was elected to the US Senate he quickly
acquired the nickname amongst his fellow Senators
of 'Boeing', due to his consistent support for additional
military spending and special treatment for the
Military-Industrial Complex. Not least because his
re-election campaigns were often funded by a large
donation from this body or the Petrol-Chemical industries
(so much for the environment). Many of the Multi
Nationals Conglomerates who Scoop supported via
his position as a Senator and who in return porkbarreled
his home state to keep the folks back home sweet
are either the very same companies, or a reincarnation
of them due to mergers etc., as those Multi Nationals
who are today raking in billions of US tax dollars
by administering what passes for the reconstruction
and occupation of Iraq today.
It is impossible not to conclude that the individual
this Henry Jackson Society was named after was a
war monger in the first degree, an enemy of freedom
and democracy in the Third World and beyond, and
due to his vainglorious and personally advantageous
support for the US Military-Industrial Complex,
he played his part in being a harbinger of death
and destruction to millions of the worlds most economically
poor and thus oppressed people. To name an organization
that is supposedly about extending democracy and
freedom after such a man, is on a par with the English
Monarchy giving all the people of the UK a Mug to
celebrate Elisabeth 2nd Coronation. i.e., it is
a piss take of the first order.
* The parties that make up the L'Unione
coalition,
-
Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra)
- Daisy-Democracy
is Freedom (Margherita-Democrazia è Libertà)
- Communist
Refoundation Party (Partito della Rifondazione
Comunista)
-
Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)
- Party
of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani)
- Italian
Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici
Italiani)
- Italian
Radicals (Radicali Italiani)
- Italy
of Values (Italia dei Valori)
- Popular-UDEUR
(Popolari-UDEUR)
- The
Socialists (I Socialisti)
- Pensioners'
Party (Partito dei Pensionati)
** If anyone still doubts what I write about the
HJS, I suggest they go
to their website and take a look at the names
of the organizations main signatories.
An
article on the Euston Manifesto Group will follow.
