By Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog
There is an incredibly entrenched political non-reality in the US: a perception that having black skin makes one a reliable and righteous leftist. The US cannot talk honestly about politics – this is just another aspect of that.
Looting can indeed have political motivations and messages, and I’ll get to that later, but the looters looting their own poor neighborhoods are not leftists – those looters are motivated by, in the overwhelming majority, poverty. Nobody with money ever risks looting except a tiny fringe percentage.
But being poor, or being Black, and even – shockingly to American “liberals” – being poor and African-American does not mean one has the post-1917 political values which constitute modern leftism.
The reasons many Americans assume all African-Americans are righteous leftists are manifold, but all are based around ignorance: ignorance of what 20th century leftism is, ignorance of (due to segregation) any African-American culture they cannot watch on TV, and the ignorance produced by deliberately refusing to discuss politics honestly.
The limitations of making racism your political raison d’etre
A fatal flaw of US leftists (and especially the far, far more numerous US fake-leftists) is that they often assume that Blacks are leftists because they are more likely to suffer from poverty, governmental neglect & oppression and racism both casual & institutionalised: it is assumed en masse that black skin makes one “politically hip”. (So then why did the hippest African-American ever, James Brown, support Nixon?)
Not true.
People who do not view politics primarily through the lens of race see this immediately: US “liberals” – in their non-leftist and latent racism – are obsessed with the “African” in “African-American”; Blacks are Americans, and Americans are often hugely, hugely anti-leftist.
In fact the modern African-American community has been so brutalised, dehumanised and rendered desperate by America’s innumerable reactionary structures that a significant proportion of US Blacks could not be more dedicated to upholding the most virulent capitalist ideals – this could not be more easily proven simply by pointing to hip-hop music. We cannot stress enough how often jaw-droppingly reactionary, fascistic, Scarface-capitalist political ideals inundate modern African-American culture today via hip-hop music.
Take, for example, one of hip-hop’s founding fathers – Ice Cube. He was a voice which articulated exceptionally clearly the political failures and crimes of American society which we saw personified in the 1992 Rodney King Los Angeles Rebellion. But, on the other hand, in 1993 he would write songs like Cave Bitch, which is an atrocious, racist, misogynist, irredeemably reactionary & fascistic diatribe against White women.
There is no political reconciliation possible to be had between these two contradictions. The only thing Ice Cube supporters can do is ignore it or rationalise it, but that is more typically dishonest US political talk.
The explanation is simple – Ice Cube is not a leftist: he may analyse certain aspects of the US socio-political landscape supremely well, but publishing such dehumanising trash shows how very limited his leftism reaches. We can excuse Ice Cube, perhaps, because he was an African-American who grew up amid such dehumanised, brutalised, murderous conditions, but there is no excuse for Cave Bitch.
Those aforementioned conditions were (and still are) truly record-level bad in human history, and I don’t think that is appreciated properly. I think many fail to realise that mass incarceration, CIA-fed crack cocaine, the state’s refusal to establish security and the stray bullets from military-grade weapons (to name just some of these record-level bad issues) has done exactly as the US 1% intended: it has turned many in the African-American community into the most dedicated capitalists, as they are too desperate to have time for the long march required to achieve leftism. These conditions explain why hip-hop is the way it is, but it does not mean hip-hop is not overflowing with reactionary & anti-leftist ideas.
Admirers of hip-hop don’t want to honestly explain its abundant, incredibly anti-leftist, pro-capitalist, reactionary, trash lyrics – it prefers to falsely think of it as “woke” and artistically vanguard. Sure it is – for a bankster ideology in the US bankocratic system.
The problem of assuming classes of identities, not minds and ideologies, can lead
The progression of Western fake-leftism from the 20th to 21st century has shown that many Western fake-leftists believe that identity politics has firmly established that any minority opinion – be the holder Black, female, gay, etc. – is inherently “woke”, instead of being merely worthy of no longer being ignored. At some point conversations such as this article need to be had: agreeing that historic repression of minority voices had tragic consequences, but also agreeing that minority individuals can be just as fascistic, capitalist and politically backward as any White Westerner.
The idea that this needs to be explained, LOL, makes me feel as if I am writing to the reader as if he or she was a child – I am quite sorry! But is it not totally clear that writing “Being Black doesn’t make you a real leftist” needs to be said? I have certainly never read it in any American media.
Similarly, “Being White doesn’t make you a fake-leftist”.
These ideas are instinctively known by all good people, and this ideology is openly trumpeted in the “all are welcome (except reactionaries)” social unity which is social-ism.
It should be instructive to see how many Black mayors have totally abandoned the lower classes of all colors. The mayor of Atlanta’s pathetic scolding and defense of CNN, after it was righteously attacked by protesters, is a perfect example of how being African-American does not automatically translate into leftism. In Chicago ex-corporate lawyer Mayor Lori Lightfoot did what Paris does for every protest – send all the police resources to defend the rich areas. What added insult to (expected) injury, however, was the way she tried to deflect the constant criticisms from local aldermen and community leaders by saying that as a Black woman she merited the right to be offended by the allegations that her administration prioritised protecting downtown over poor minority communities: Lightfoot has, via the political dishonesty of US culture, been apparently led to believe that her black skin makes her not only immune from criticism but somehow prevents her from politically doing anything against the Black or poorer classes. These exact criticisms (like here) were echoed by Black leftists such as those at Black Agenda Report: News, commentary and analysis from the black left. I note that authors from Black Agenda Report have for years regularly appeared on Iran’s PressTV, but to look for them in the Western MSM is to look in vain.
Oh it certainly is a rebellion! But how can a rebellion succeed amid such cultural dishonesty about politics?
Many in America assume that the youth class will lead the struggle; or the Black class; or the gay class; what they fail to realise is that their politics continues to be dominated by biology and not ideology. This is why it is fake-leftism and not modern in the slightest.
This is also why people who oppose leftism on moral and political grounds have such contempt for leftism – they have been misled about what real leftism truly is! One would assume I would find it difficult to talk with right-wing Westerners – not really: we can always agree to criticise the Western fake-left, at least.
For leftists the class struggle and the struggle to redistribute wealth and power is the longest battle; for Americans overcoming lowly ethnic division (something Americans believe is more of their “exceptionalism”: they ignorantly fail to realise this is an issue for almost every nation) is the highest aim one can aspire to. They fail to see what a great achievement this would be for solely their 1%: even if America can achieve that racial healing about which their “best and brightest” citizens dream of every night with their heads on their pillows – it will cost the 1% none of their money and power.
The rebellion in America is indeed a “rebellion” and not mere “riots” because the latter totally negates the political ideas at play, and the existence of these ideas must not be denied. I can’t imagine how any individual could possibly have the barest handle on what is going on if this is just viewed as empty rioting….
The destruction of the CNN lobby was not looting, but political; the destruction of a local clothing store in a poor area – even if owned by non-Blacks – is not political but mere crime. Burning down a police precinct is a political expression of “down with the system”; burning down a Mom and Pop convenience store is not “down with the system” but mere crime. French protesters set some trash cans on fire, sure, but overwhelmingly their targets are political: over and over they target for destruction banks, real estate agencies, sexist advertising, government properties, corporate symbols, etc. All we can do is look on a case by case basis at each violent act in America recently and then judge if the violence had political justification or not. However, it’s totally clear: there’s a lot political here. And that’s just like hip-hop: there can be a lot political there, but also a lot of reactionary, selfish, destructive, greedy garbage.
Now do I think that this rebellion is going to lead to a revolution, coup or major political changes? Absolutely not – that’s laughable. The US?! Neo-imperial Rome?!
However… one must humbly concede that revolutions can never be predicted. And it is true that – for the very first time in my life – I think that the US and the West is on the cusp of years of no longer avoidable stagnation, stagflation, chaos, burst bubbles, social disaster and open social discontent. The Great Lockdown, LOL… man… what a total disaster and miscalculation by Western capitalist-imperialists.
Was James Brown a reactionary fascist for supporting Nixon? No, but there is zero doubt that he was definitely anti-leftist. Black skin doesn’t guarantee leftist (or even merely “liberal”) political beliefs and actions any more than it guarantees that one is funky and can dance well – both of these are racist, stupid, prejudiced and anti-leftist notions, of course!
I recently took on another sacred cow of the Western fake-left in The Great Lockdown: The political apex of US single Moms & Western matriarchy? I am not against the world’s matriarchs any more than I am against the world’s Blacks (including Iran’s): both articles simply sought to remind that only God is perfect – everyone and everything else is subject to fair socio-political reproaches.
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Corona contrarianism? How about some corona common sense? Here is my list of articles published regarding the corona crisis.
Capitalist-imperialist West stays home over corona – they grew a conscience? – March 22, 2020
Corona meds in every pot & a People’s QE: the Trumpian populism they hoped for? – March 23, 2020
A day’s diary from a US CEO during the Corona crisis (satire) March 23, 2020
MSNBC: Chicago price gouging up 9,000% & the sports-journalization of US media – March 25, 2020
Tough times need vanguard parties – are ‘social media users’ the West’s? – March 26, 2020
If Germany rejects Corona bonds they must quit the Eurozone – March 30, 2020
Landlord class: Waive or donate rent-profits now or fear the Cultural Revolution – March 31, 2020
Corona repeating 9/11 & Y2K hysterias? Both saw huge economic overreactions – April 1, 2020
(A Soviet?) Superman: Red Son – the new socialist film to watch on lockdown – April 2, 2020
Corona rewrites capitalist bust-chronology & proves: It’s the nation-state, stupid – April 3, 2020
Condensing the data leaves no doubt: Fear corona-economy more than the virus – April 5, 2020
‘We’re Going Wrong’: The West’s middling, middle-class corona response – April 10, 2020
Why does the UK have an ‘army’ of volunteers but the US has a shortage? – April 12, 2020
No buybacks allowed or dared? Then wave goodbye to Western stock market gains – April 13, 2020
Pity post-corona Millennials… if they don’t openly push socialism – April 14, 2020
No, the dollar will only strengthen post-corona, as usual: it’s a crisis, after all – April 16, 2020
Same 2008 QE playbook, but the Eurozone will kick off Western chaos not the US – April 18, 2020
We’re giving up our civil liberties. Fine, but to which type of state? – April 20,
2020
Coronavirus – Macron’s savior. A ‘united Europe’ – France’s murderer – April 22, 2020
The same 12-year itch: Will banks loan down QE money this time? – April 26,
2020
The end of globalisation won’t be televised, despite the hopes of the Western 99% (2/2) – April 27, 2020
What would it take for proponents to say: ‘The Great Lockdown was wrong’? – April 28, 2020
ZeroHedge, a response to Mr. Littlejohn & the future of dollar dominance – April 30, 2020
Given Western history, is it the ‘Great Segregation’ and not the ‘Great Lockdown’? – May 2, 2020
The Western 1% colluded to start WWI – is the Great Lockdown also a conspiracy? – May 4, 2020
May 17: The date the Great Lockdown must end or Everything Bubble 2 pops – May 6, 2020
Reading Piketty: Does corona delay the Greens’ fake-leftist, sure-to-fail victory? – May 8, 2020
Picturing the media campaign needed to get the US back to work – May 11, 2020
Scarce jobs + revenue desperation = sure Western stagflation post-corona – May 13, 2020
France’s nurses march – are they now deplorable Michiganders to fake-leftists? – May 15, 2020
Why haven’t we called it ‘QE 5’ yet? And why we must call it ‘QE 2.1’ instead – May 16, 2020
‘Take your stinking paws off me, you damned, dirty public servant!’ That’s Orwell? – May 17, 2021
The Great Lockdown: The political apex of US single Moms & Western matriarchy? May 21, 2021
I was wrong on corona – by not pushing for a US Cultural Revolution immediately – May 25, 2021
August 1: when the unemployment runs out and a new era of US labor battles begin – May 28, 2021
Corona proving the loser of the Cold War was both the USSR & the USA – May 30, 2021
Rebellions across the US: Why worry? Just ask Dr. Fauci to tell us what to do – June 2, 2021
Protesting, corona-conscience, a good dole: the US is doing things it can’t & it’s chaos – June 3, 2021
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of the books ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’ and the NEW ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism’.
I would really like, if someone would explain, what “leftist” means!Throughout the history leftists were supposed to be the ones, supporting communism, socialism and the like, now it seams to me George Soros and the like are leftists!
George Soros and fellow conspirators among the global Anglo Zio Capitalist network control “the attack from the Left” (subvert your opponents from the inside) via such “Fake Left” organizations as the U$ Democratic Party, the British Labour Party, the French Socialist Party, the United Nations, and various minor organizations such as World Socialist Website, the White Helmets etc.
In my opinion a padre is a Christian priest, and the wider Left are followers of the humanitarian teachings of Rabbi Yeshua of Nazareth, with the narrower Left tending to concentrate on his anti-Plutocratic doctrine as recently interpreted by his fellow Jew, Karl Marx. Obviously this humanitarian aspect of Christian doctrine has also influenced the Islamic Left as represented by Mohammed’s concept of Allah the Compassionate, and the Islamic Communism of Ramin Mazaheri.
Your observation is correct and I suspect the misuse of the term left and leftist is to create confusion which aids chaos, thereby to lead people astray and confuse and / or prevent people seeking proper educational information concerning Marxism and so forth, of what the left is about. The misuse is a tactic.
Someone does, padre. See Andre Vltchek’s beautiful (latest) article at New Eastern Outlook.
https://journal-neo.org/2020/06/04/anti-communism-is-a-fundamentalist-religion-now-followed-by-billions/
Unfortunately, you are a leftist simply by being ignorant and supporting their agenda by voting for the left (Democrats) or anyone that supports communism, socialism, and Islam.
So it isn’t just the extremists such as George Soros. If you are simply a party line Democrat and vote their way, you get lumped in with them and rightly so.
Another excellent article, Ramin, but finally you say, “The Great Lockdown, LOL… man… what a total disaster and miscalculation by Western capitalist-imperialists.” It was certainly not a “miscalculation” but part of the plan all along. How else could the real looting that went on in the USA, the $6 trillion heist carried out by the banksters and the big corpse, be justified amid the hysteria induced by COVID-19?
The Great Lockdown also served as cover for the total reset of the world’s economy and the impoverishment of the lower classes, especially the lumpenproletariat in the USA. Did I say impoverishment, more like the elimination of millions of Americans who have become superfluous in the “new economy”. Many of them, of course, are playing their part well with near-suicidal behavior, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. Can you really blame them, Ramin? I can’t.
No matter what your message is, people hate whiners by enlarge. The black community has been whining as long as memory serves. Whether you agree or disagree, it becomes obnoxious. If the black community realized that they have lost a lot of support due to their non stop whining and blatant hypocrisy, they would regain support. It boils down to one word, don’t tell me I can’t say a word and your whole culture can’t seem to stop saying it and in fact embraces it as a badge of honor. Until, the black community addresses its own weaknesses within its own community there will be no progress. As is the case with most peoples they are there own worst enemies.
You might be interested in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party
Do also research their members and activities.
Why do Westerners assume ???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon
In America’s dictatorship of bourgeois denial to speak of class consciousness and authentic leftism is actually anti-American treason. The closest anyone is allowed to get to that reality is to distort the issue into a form of racial code. It translates into blacks are the proletariat and whites are the bourgeoisie. So if you are an American wishing to avoid a charge of open treason all discussion around the class divide and socialism has to devolve into the language of race. For decades nows race has been a safe code for class issues. And do they all love to stay safe.
The conventionally “leftist” party in America is the Demcratic party. African Americans vote 90% Democrat. Is this really that hard?
yeah……and from the umpteenth video on youtube, the vast majority of the looters and rioters are Blacks and Hispanics under 30 years of age. It’s gotta be the disfranchisement. Apparently, they don’t see a future for themselves in that country.
Mr. Mazaheri: It is time for you to research the impact of the Christian prophetic tradition and its role what used to be for many, many years the backbone of the Afro American community i.e. the Black community Church. ….And it still is powerful to the chagrin of the pseudo leftists who claim to speak for the oppressed masses while denigrating and hating Christianity.
The demand for Justice spoken in apocalyptic tones is something which resonated with Paul Robeson plus his lived experience and perhaps it is the history of the Communist Party, USA and its campaign against racism which still colors some people’s perceptions of the Black activists being left wing. Then there is Angela Davis ( still kicking) and the Black Panthers of the 1960’s who were murdered for all their efforts to empower and serve their community. They were Definitely left wing.Most certainly revolutionary. And community based.
I presume you saw the video of the Afro American woman weeping in humiliation amidst the ruins of a store—she could not obtain medicine for her mother or food for her babies and had to get back to work. It is the forced “matriarchy” of Black women which along with the backbone of the Black churches which keep body and soul together in that community. The so-called matriarchy of capitalism is a sham one…and to even call it such is indulging in “straw-man” falsely labeling, but to each his own cultural perspective.
But that was then but this is now. No time for indulgence in nostalgia. Left and Right are meaningless terms which we all use out of force of bad habit. Don’t mourn, Organize!
Nailed it, Ramin. Looks like that ironically only people who don’t live in the US can grasp what’s going on there.
It was certainly not a “miscalculation” but part of the plan all along.
You beat me to it. And I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of it yet, either. I anticipate another wave of CV19 or whatever’s next ’round about election time to quell what’s sure to be some hard feelings no matter who wins, and what the hey, probably some more corporate bailouts too just to rub our noses in it.
The international banksters and their corporatist pals, the Davos crowd, have had population reduction as one of their primary goals for decades. Whatever plandemic or horrible war they have in mind for us next, it won’t be a pretty sight. Our only hope is that their whole financial edifice comes crumbling down. They can live in their bunkers for only so long. The rest of humanity can wait them out. May Heaven help us all.
Reminds me of an American Renaissance article I stumbled upon a few years back that impugned the loyalty of black conservatives/Republicans (and politicians) in the US under the cynical assumption that they only take ‘conservative’ positions for the sake of publicity, i.e. virtue signaling. I didn’t buy this narrative then, and I still don’t today. I mean, seriously, how is one’s skin color tied to political views, first-hand experiences notwithstanding?
Might have something to do with the fact that true, dyed-in-the-wool conservatives don’t want blacks in their crowd in the first place. They presume them to be liberal or leftist because those are both catchall terms for anything and anyone who’s not part of the conservative guild.
To my mind, Western (which is to say, US) conservatism has always been directly connected to the size of one’s bank account. Yes, they allow some po’ folk of whatever lineage to tag along as long as they donate and vote the way they’re told, but behind closed doors and behind clouds of expensive cigar smoke the old-money boys chortle and snort among their own at the breathless stupidity of their naive followers. Who can blame them?
Makes sense. I really find it telling when certain factions of the alt-right who call themselves ‘Christian’ favor segregation and oppose miscegenation on the grounds that egalitarianism is somehow anti-Christian, anti-Western and culturally Marxist. These are likely to be catch-all terms for anything they disagree with, similar to what you said. I think it’s an attempt to preserve a monopoly.
I am not sure which westerners are assuming *all* African American are leftists – definitely not in the US. We know the fake bourgeoisie black leaders in congress and senate … and most who are demonstrating/protesting are fully cognizant of their bankruptcy. There are class dynamics within African American communities – as there are in most poor communities. Thus the “mom and pop” shop owners are not necessarily of those communities. For example we know that Muslims of middle-eastern background run the bulk of liquor stores in these communites. As was the case of owner of the store outside, and as a result, of which the cops were called on George Floyd – by a 17 y/o AA girl who thought she was just doing her job -as instructed to do so by the shop owner. These stores are not looked as being part of the community – although they are in the community. Similarly Target, Walgreens, CVS etc. all are in the community – but these are hardly of the community – these are massive big corporations – not even mom and pops (petite bourgeoisie). And these are the stores that have been largely targeted. Even African American shop owners don’t necessarily belong to the same class as those living in those poor AA communities. I think that Ramin is making borad brushes without having fully understood the dynamics. This is fine and well – when doing a journalistic piece – but if you are trying to provide an analyses with the intention of being of aid to the oppressed of the earth – then that requires some seriousness and care in one’s analyses. The vast majority of African Americans absolutely are fully aware of their condition – and their alienation.
Whenever the oppressed rise – God will help them – and even if leaderless or even if rudderless – so long as the oppressed continue this path or resistance God will help them so that leadership will rise from within. Perhaps re-read everyone from Imam Khomeini (rh) to Allama Mutahhari (rh) to Imam Khamenei (ha) to Dr. Ali Shariati (rh)… Along with Marx (rh) et al. See how optimistic and supportive they were in their writings … and never put down or had even a word of disrespect of the oppressed classes.
Hi American,
Well said, but I don’t think I had a word of disrespect to the oppressed classes either. You are welcome to point to one example.
In the fourth paragraph I made it clear that this false assumption of “African-American = leftist” is something held by people who are not familiar with actual African-Americans and who only have a superficial knowledge of African-American life. Of course African-Americans “are fully aware of their condition” – it is the non-Black, upper-class Westerner whom this piece is obviously criticising. I am criticising African-Americans who support right-wing ideas, but I do that for everyone of course.
I think Snow Leopard described the American/Western stupidity very well in her comment: “It translates into blacks are the proletariat and whites are the bourgeoisie.” This is entirely false and every African-American would immediately roll their eyes at such an absurd notion, but it is entirely in keeping with race-obsessed, fake-leftist politics. She could have added “and such-and-such” minority to this fake-leftist, identity-politics, nonsense definition of the proletariat.
I think that a looter who looted a Walgreens and then gave away what he or she looted – and this undoubtedly happened time and time again – can absolutely be viewed as a political act; I think a looter who looted a Walgreens and then resold what he or she looted via social media – that is the act of someone motivated by dire poverty but it’s not as politically sound. I’m sure there was a lot of very often righteous community score-settling going on against abusive local businesspeople who harmed the community – we saw that exact same thing happen during China’s and Iran’s Cultural Revolutions. In these cases the harsh judgment of the community was most often quite valid for precisely the reason you wrote: the local community is “fully aware of their condition”. I considered writing just these sentiments in this article, but decided against it because it’s worth a whole article on itself (and I am trying to make my usually-long articles shorter). Again, you’d have to look at the many, many aspects of each case before declaring it to be a “crime” or not, as is necessary in any trial.
The only word of disrespect I gave was towards hip-hop, but in my analysis there is no better music which the bankocracy could choose for its vanguard art. Disliking hip-hop (because there is just too much talking, for starters) and pointing out the abundance of incredibly reactionary sentiments in hip-hop certainly is never popular among my peers and the younger African-American classes, but so be it. But that is not disrespect to a person but an art, which is subject to fair socio-political (and musical) reproaches. I can also go without opera for the rest of my life quite happily (indeed, I hope to).
On the money re James Brown who was known to fine his musicians 5 bucks for every mistake made …and would turn to the offending one to let them know as it happened ,capitalist for sure.He also had great bands.!!
As for rap ….a reasonable vehicle for rhyming poetry by times but as an art form it has degenerated into what the great contemporary electrical engineer Eric Dollard describes thus”Modern popular music has been reduced to a sado-masochistic computer generated march”
This being no surprise given that the rap biz is run by Zionists…Lyor Cohen etc
I first lived and worked in USA in mid seventies …first social observation was the racial divide and that has only deepened since.Most interracial (black white) contact is in the sports and entertainment businesses.] Having also worked in South Africa I recall that the only time I seen a white speak to a black with the the attitude of a Slave driver ,outside of South Africa,was at a show load out in Savannah Georgia.
The same stage hand who was abused was also a friendly and generous man who went out of his way to help the visiting crew both professionally and socially.Isuppose this is not a surprise really,given that the IATSE (stage and theatre hands union) is completely infiltrated and controlled by Freemasonry.
Thanks again Ramin for an insightful writing
Having just read this on RT since writing the previous comment I felt it is very relevant to what is discussed above
“Decades of America’s drug wars led up to the riots of today“
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/490957-how-decades-of-americas-drug/
Just No.. blacks rioting in the US is more than a few decades old.