Emboldened Far-Right In The USA Ditch Their Hoods

Using the excuse of the proposed removal of a statue of a civil war general, a large mob of far-right extremists assembled in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.  The purpose of the gathering was a show of force and a public demonstration of their extremism.  The extremists attended with the intent to display boldly their hatred, bigotry and intolerance, and to show how violent they are willing to be.

On Friday evening they marched around carrying torches to intentionally create images that replicate historical footage of NAZI party torch-carrying parades in pre-WWII Germany.  They yelled deliberate offensive slogans and beat opponents viciously in full view of cameras.  It was an extended promotional stunt to explain what they are and what they do.  

The following day they attempted to take possession of the park where the statue is located.  There was more marching – carrying flags with swastikas on them and salutes aping the NAZI salute, more public displays of unrestricted violence and machine gun-toting self-styled paramilitaries hanging around the streets.  

One of the yobs drove his vehicle at speed at protesters; he murdered one woman, Heather Heyer, and injured more than a dozen others.

Bold As Brass
Racist supremacism has always been a dominant feature of US politics and US society since the first boat arrived from Europe in the fifteenth century.  The slave industry created huge wealth for many people whose descendants still benefit via legacy “ownership” of land and businesses.  Racist discrimination, racist rhetoric and racist violence is normal and is ingrained in many bodies of authority and control including state governments and police forces.  

Since November 2016 those who want to promote and to use racism have been re-emboldened to be confident to operate in full view and without restraint.  Some state governors and senators are no longer secretive about direct links to far-right organisations – including the Ku Klux Klan, some police chiefs are no longer pretending (dishonestly) that they want to provide a service for everyone equally, and the flaccid boys want to be seen and seek fame.  In the streets, on TV and online, the supremacist mobs want to be in full view, hurling their racism at the country and the world.  They no longer see a necessity to wear their hoods.

This new confidence to operate publicly and without caveats is, obviously, a direct consequence of the stance of the president.  Trump used racism, bigotry and prejudice to help him get elected, he filled the White House support staff with extreme proponents of and activists in supremacism – Bannon, Miller, Gorka, and he has always acted to favour the racists: He keeps trying to demand a Muslim ban, he has cancelled funding that was used to fight against supremacism – Anti-racist funding cuts, and he has been very careful to not condemn the murder of Heather Heyer.

By his stance, and sometimes via his silence, Trump is purposefully giving assistance to the extremists.  They are part of his fan base, he owes favours to some of them, and he has no counter balance due to his own upbringing: Both his parents were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Increasing boldness?
How far will this renewed boldness extend?  The answer is probably the same as the answer to how far will it be allowed to extend?  The latter question’s answer depends on how ingrained within police and local/state government in the US is the ideology of supremacism.  A disturbing fact is that Trump is routinely appointing federal courts judges who are enablers of far-right ideology.

The Garden Bridge was always just a scam

The absurd Garden Bridge project across the Thames in London has been “cancelled.”  This is no surprise to anyone because it was never an idea that possessed any useful functionality or logic.  Its usefulness as a bridge would have been negligible, its usefulness as a park would have been miniscule compared to the actual parks in central London and its potential attractiveness for tourists was never a key facet.

However, it had never been a real project: The sole purpose of the Garden Bridge invention was to steal money from tax payers and hand it to shady made-up companies.  That was all it was for.  Over fifty millions pounds has been siphoned away.  This fake project was led by former London mayor Boris Johnson with the backing of former chancellor George Osborne, two of the most venal pieces of excrement who have ever progressed along the conveyor belts from the top public schools to Tory government.

It was a scam.  A blatant shameless scam.  It is a typical example of how the Tories steal public money to hand to their criminal friends and associates and the money can’t be reclaimed because the Tory enablers set up the contract so that, if cancelled, the recipients of the free cash could just sod off, smirking.

 

Venezuela: Pick a side

As a response to constant attempts by mercenary opposition to destroy Venezuela’s socialism, the government held an election for a new Constituent Assembly on August 1st.  The purpose of the new assembly is to prevent legacy structures from undermining socialism; it is a step tending toward communism.

Predictably, wealth terrorists and financial gangster capitalists, their enablers in gimp governments and professional PR gofers have all attacked the aims of the assembly and even criticised the existence of the election of the assembly members.  The negative response to the progress in Venezuela has included theft of assets, naked threats of invasion, verbal encouragement of terrorism and bizarre misrepresentation of the political developments.  None of these villainous acts are surprising: Nothing gives the international financial criminal network more of a fright than the continuity of socialism and one of the purposes of the new assembly is to assist with ensuring that socialism in Venezuela is continuous.

Socialists’ response to Venezuela’s new assembly 

• OPTION 1: Support the aims of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly
• OPTION 2: Oppose the aims of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly

Choosing Option 1 does not mean full uncritical support for every decision made by the Venezuelan government and it does ignore the mismanagement of the economy that has led to severe shortages of food and medicines.  Option 1 is support for the intent of the government’s changes to the constitution.  It is support for the progress of trying to ensure the continuity of socialism in Venezuela.  The constituent assembly exists as a tool to try to maintain socialism by countering the imposed restrictions of capitalist “democracy.”  It is contradictory to claim to support socialism and simultaneously to demand that a socialist government stays within boundaries set by the enemies of socialism; that is, for a socialist, Option 2 is invalid.

Countering criticism of the Venezuelan government
As a consequence of the lack of intelligence within the right-wing and centrist politicians and media, the commentary from them on the progress in Venezuela has resembled parody.  The misrepresenters, who stick their respective heads in the sands of the Arabian Desert when there is any mention of the carpet bombing of Yemen by Saudi Arabia, have tried to present themselves as shocked woeful defenders of democracy.  This “shock” included a ridiculous lead item on the BBC News TV channel wherein camera phone footage of the arrest of an opposition politician Antonio Ledezma was broadcast as a dramatic event while the BBC downplayed the fact that Ledezma had called for a military coup in Venezuela as a response to the assembly election.  Terrorist Leopoldo Lopez, also arrested, had been interviewed recently by international media as an “opposition leader.”  

The right-wing and centrist politicians and media outside Venezuela know the tack to follow but they lack the knowledge, intellect and work-ethic to do it well.  Of course, the opposition to Venezuela – regardless of events – is driven by the fear of the spread of socialism internationally and by the desire of wealth terrorists to steal the country’s huge oil reserves.

Clearly, as always, the best method to deal with the false arguments of right-wing opponents is not to play their games.  Laugh at their absurd fake “shock,” snort at their insincere defence of “democracy” and celebrate what they are criticising.

Constituent Assembly members are given credentials in Plaza Venezuela