It will be fascinating to see whether or not you will see the capitalist Southeast Asian states become positioned as -competitors- to Beijing or not. Right now the Belt & Road/String of Pearls commercial networks propose constructing a new set of financial and infrastructural relationships that are in stark contrast to the Global Northern mandates of the WTO/World Bank/IMF mafia. (Whether that will come to pass or China becomes equally exploitative in these market relations is undeniably a complex conversation).
Speaking to Michael's point about fascism and more specifically white nationalism, here is a very evident contradiction for me. Trump and Trumpism undeniably arose in the moment of public realization of America's collapsing neoliberal imperial hegemony. Trump's anti-interventionist rhetoric against regime change and his anti-Chinese reaction to their economic growth demonstrated one dimension of this realization. The fact that this emerged simultaneous with a ramp-up of white nationalism in the mainstream political discourse obviates that the empire can and will tolerate a regression towards these currents simultaneous with this imperial collapse is indicative of something quite foreboding. If we look at the history of imperial collapse in the past century alone (British Empire in Indian subcontinent, historic Palestine, Ireland, the French in Southeast Asia, Russia in the face of the revolution, German and Italian fascism to a certain degree, et. al.), it has been an utter disaster and nightmare. There have been right wing militias, genocidal pogroms, and much more. My fear is that, unless we see a very substantive independent Left movement arise, we will see a further slide into the muck. I like DSA and the Squad, I get it, no denying the importance. But to paraphrase Gregory Corso, four Congressional Reps does not a political movement make! This social democratic current is fundamentally hindered by its umbilical to the Democratic Party, its lack of traction with labor on a large scale, its very distinct class composition, and its inability to build strong cross-class coalitions that embrace the poor and working poor in the urban core. It does not have the firm anchorage into a large swathe of society equivalent to what either the Depression-era Left or the Civil Rights movement had. We are not going to see DSA leading sit-down strikes or a March on Washington anytime soon. So building a movement that can do this will be a major task as the regression continues. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4340): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/4340 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78827907/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
