imperialism dwarfs any domestic concerns you have
if you disagree with this then youve got american leftist brainworms
people who have shitty or bizarre domestic policy opinions but are active anti-imperialists, not in the fake "no more intervention because brown people dont deserve my help" libertarian fasc way, but in the real "hey the us empire should end" way and actually take steps to disrupt that empire are more important and helpful to the world than people who have demsoc or even leftist domestic opinions but standard or null foreign policy (this includes AOC etc)
u can do both, but one of them is required to even be passably useful
it wouldn't balkanize because there's no entity to redraw lines, it would turn into syria and you'd have barely defined (if at all) pockets where 600 different militia groups all duke it out with utterly inscrutable goals such that the entire landscape would be impossible to follow
The food chain would be so insane too. Like north east would probably be screwed hard without major support
isnt some insane amount of us food production local to california lmfao, in like the deep red part of cali too
Yeah the whole greater armpit area of CA is farm and livestock land. It's a lot, even towards the coast in less populated areas there is long stretches of it.
This take is not particularly useful, because the two spheres are inextricably linked. Any anti-imperialist project in the U.S. will depend on the participation and leadership of U.S. minorities and recent immigrants, whose political potential is currently stifled by the ruthless domestic regime. Even succ dem reforms like universal healthcare, even executed by people like AOC, would substantially lessen the pressure, increasing our ability to build the international working class coalitions necessary to dismantle the empire. Ilhan Omar is one of the best in Congress on anti-imperialism (very faint praise), but she didn't get elected on that, and it's no coincidence that she is an immigrant.
I also don't think this happens very often. The same solidarity that leads people to good domestic politics often leads them to good international politics. I'd love some examples of the kind of people with "shitty or bizarre domestic policy opinions" who you feel are worth defending by this logic.
i agree with everything except the "i dont think this happens very often"
bernie sanders has garbage foreign policy as does aoc and basically everyone except ilhan omar who barely is ok
we just think they're great by contrast to everyone else, but their foreign policy scope is still trash
as for regular people, you'd be amazed how many comfortable "progressives" there are who think couping venezuala or HK is a good idea, or that we should sincerely consider invading china or whatever
go back to the iraq war days and check out how many "progressives" supported war
we killed like 2 million people there
but as for the idea that these two things are linked, i totally agree. As long as youre not suggesting that we cant stop empire until the imperial core has no homelessness, then yes i agree with you. These spheres are linked.
I don't disagree at all, but considering how little power the average citizen has over even local or domestic issues, how can they do anything about foreign policy?
the same tiny (or great if you believe in that) effect you have over domestic issues at the federal level should be the same effort put upon international ones because the same officials are responsible for both. if your concern is "what can be done" then that same exact concern applies in exactly the same way to the domestic issues. im not gonna say "vote" or "riot" or "unionize" or anything else because while i personally fall on the "voting means nothing" end of the spectrum that's irrelevant to this because it applies identically to federal domestic policy. so once you figure out whats effective, apply that power to international politics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War
That has so many elements that don’t exist. A draft, a guerrilla army fighting back, a prosperous middle class, etc
I am not saying people should do a carbon copy of the anti-vietnam war movement, but is pretty clear evidence of people in the imperial core having an effect on foreign policy, even if it was a small one. As far as I am concerned, saving one kid from getting blown to bits is worth a lot of work.
as far as the racist imperialist us government is concerned that may as well count as foreign policy
either way its about killing people
Yeah, I wasn't sure if you were taking that in consideration. They suffer just as much as any other nation from the global south.
Its important because our imperialist foreign policy is what is used to keep this death empire going so it doesnt have to turn in on itself internally.
So what are you going to do about it and how are you going to get the average working class citizen on your side? Just sit here and post "death to AmeriKKKKKKKKKKA" over and over?
Most Americans are overworked. They work 40+ hours living pay check to pay check struggling to put food on the table for themselves and their families. They don't have time to worry about what is going on overseas. None of this counting the actual domestic problems that are hurting them like lack of healthcare, out of control police brutality, and debt.
These kind of posts are exactly what is wrong with the left. Instead of looking to relate with your fellow man, just sow divisions and infighting over stuff completely out of your own control and everyone else's control. None of us are in a position to do anything about US imperialism and again, the average person don't fixate on it cause they're already overburdened with their own problems.
telling AOC to have good foreign policy positions (or any at all) en masse isn't the same as telling your union friend that he's a dumbass for not knowing the difference between trotsky and stalin
also i agree that if youre walking up to random people and screaming about the Truth About Syria then youre probably not helping but if youre getting on the case of comfortable "progressives" (especially the ones who are in office!!!) to actually have a foreign scope to us policy then you are probably are helping
what you do about it on an individual level, if youre in the US which im not, is the same thing you do about anything else in the US that affects the federal level. the same levers of power you have to affect what the fed does about your life are the same levers of power you have to affect what the fed does to millions of other people around the world.
strikes, unions, rioting, etc all can apply pressure to stop homelessness as well as genocide
you can relate to your fellow man in the same way the student protestors did in the 70s, since your fellow man if he's worth a damn probably doesn't want to kill 3 million people in se asia either
Gonna have to let ya know that people are fundamentally selfish until their needs are met, bucko.
You want people to vote on imperialist concerns?
They have to all be secure in their food and housing and wealth first. Otherwise they won’t care.
"if less people in the us were homeless we wouldn't have genocided iraq"
Abolish the AmeriKKKan Empire and slaughter its domestic police state.
This was tried with the Red Army Faction in Germany. In the end the group ended up getting wrecked by German intelligence and eventually dissolved due to inactivity. You need support from the broad masses of people if you want to make lasting change, and that means paying attention to matters that directly concern them.
(this includes AOC etc)
If you want a picture of the future, imagine this struggle session stamping on a human face---forever.
Maybe fertilize then with the bones of the imperial bourgeoisie while they're at it
Imperialism isn’t a foreign policy choice for US politicians. Imperialism is how US capitalism has to operate at this stage of development, it’s not like a separate issue you can address via foreign policy.
Want to get rid of US imperialism? You have to overthrow capitalism in the United States.
