The Far-Right in the absence of a Strong Left: A Warning

This post actually isn't mine per say but it came from a blog called skeptic.ca, the author is an anarchist, through he has a degree of sympathy for the NDP while it was under Tommy Douglas.  This post was written as part of a longer post on that blog regarding the author's concerns about the NDP's movement to the center, which accelerated under Mulcair and his "third way politics" and cost them arguably the 2015 election. 

I decided to share it, while I may not agree fully with the ideology of the original writer, because of it's relevance to politics in both the US and arguably Canada too(not to mention that it kinda predicted Trump).  We may think that we have it so smug(despite the fact that our society was also founded as a settler colony at the expense of the indigenous population and rooted in racism too) or that we're somehow progressive and post-racial.  Yet, within days of Trump's victory, we have seen alt-right hate propaganda spreading across Canada targeting racial minorities, and a potential Trump in the wings in the form of Kellie Leitch.  Never mind we have our own racist demogorgues and maniacs in the form of Ezra Levant and Lauren Southern.  As I mentioned in my post back from my long hibernation, the rise of Trump was tied to the failings of neoliberalism.  And as Justin Trudeau is becoming more and more of just another neoliberal, maybe we ourselves need a strong progressive movement or face the same consequences as America. 

The post below.  The original post can be found here:

Back in the Bloggers Chair: Thoughts on the 2016 election.

I’m back on the bloggers chair after a long hibernation!! Yay!  Originally I wanted to update reguarly, but grad school got in the way.  I apologize for any mess that this has left and I will try to make up for it....if I can!  Below are my thoughts on what has transpired with the victory of Donald Trump.

The Election of 2016: My Thoughts

First of all, the 2016 election.  I was not surprised that Donald Trump won.  Donald Trump's victory could boil down to two different factors.  One factor was of course the racism and misogyny prevalent in America.  Trump spoke to the darker elements of American society, the alt-right, the KKK, the white nationalists, the neo-nazis and formed a far-right populist bloc catering to the worst elements of racism, ultranationalism and xenophobia.  Trump promised law and order, as well as the most extreme policies perpetuated against illegals and muslim-Americans.  He overall took advantage of the xenophobia and wounds, hidden by the myths of post-racialism, within American society and offered the idea that if a certain minority, be it Mexicans or Muslims, be removed completely from America, that things will be better.  Trump has dug up hatred, and brought it to the surface.

Yet the narrative that Trump simply galvanized dark and racist forces, while true, is not sufficient to explain everything.  Trump also reached out to elements of American society, such as the rust belt, that lost out to neoliberalism and the movement of industries and jobs overseas.  He manipulated these elements of rural and working-class America with promises that he will "drain the swamp", that he will preserve America for the working class and get jobs that were lost back.   

Do Black Lives Matter for the Democratic Party?

August 31st, 2016 saw the release of emails by the hacker Guccifer 2.0 regarding the Democratic Party's stance on Black Lives Matter.  Suffice to say that it dosen't bode well for the Democratic Party.  Why? Because the leaks exposed all to clear the notion that despite rhetoric condemning Trump's racism and the alt-right, Black Lives don't matter for the Democrats.

These documents were supposedly uncovered from Nancy Pelosi's files.  It stated Black Lives Matter was a "radical movement" and that while Democrat party leaders should meet with them and avoid snubbing them with racist terminology such as "all lives matter", they should not support the platform the BLM.

The Democratic party has tried to shrug off the implications of these leaks.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee(DCCC) has stated that BLM has evolved into a political force with a significant impact on the nation as a whole, and that they welcome dialogue and cooperation with BLM.  They sidelined the contents of the leak by stating that "they will not allow for" the contents of the leaks to negatively affect their relations with the BLM activists.

BLM leaders and activists however, were unconvinced.  Their facebook page offered the statement that the DCCC response was simply used to obfuscate the implications of the issue and silencing black communities.  They state that regardless of party lines, that elected officials in a democratic society have to make legislation reflecting the needs of their constituents.  BLM activists such as Shaun King have stated that the democrats have chosen to not focus on transformative policies to address racism and policy brutality, but instead just chose to "act polite and supportive without giving any real support".

Far-Right Political Correctness: The Hypocriscy of the Alt-Right Exposed

Colin Kaepernick of the San Fransisco 49ers's decision to stay silent during the playing of the American national anthem in a football game elicited strong reactions to say the least.  This was especially true among the alt-right.  That was because Kaepernnick decided to not stand for the national anthem on the basis that there was nothing worth it in his eyes to celebrate about America because of it's racism and "oppression" torwards blacks and other people of color, with a focus torwards police brutality and how cops could get away with dead people in the streets.

As expected, the alt-right's reaction torwards Kaepernick has been totally negative.  NFL fans have taken to burning t-shirts with Kaepernick's number on it, and the far-right has been making statements as to how Kapernick could protest against oppression, but make millions on his contract as a football player(nevermind that he himself accepted that he was privileged with his lifestyle).  The far-right also made complaints about  how football used to be "apolitical" but Kaepernick supposedly "ruined" it by bringing racial justice into the issue.

Why are Third Parties Important?

NOTE: This only at this current stage, applies to federal level elections(barring a very strong Green party or progressive independent downballot candiate).  I noticed how the Bernie Sanders campaign has spurred Berniecrats like him to run for office.  As a result, my belief is that in downballot initiatives, they should support Berniecrats running for office against establishiment democrats, establishiment Republicans, and alt-rightists.  However, progressives should vote for Stein on the federal level and from there, work to ensure that states allow for more alternatives on local elections.

The 2016 election is shaping up to be easily the most unpopular election in American history.  Both Trump and Clinton net unavailability ratings on a massive scale.  Both candidates are viewed to be not only unlikable, but also untrustworthy.  Under these conditions, it is time to consider the importance of third parties and how they may prevent American democracy from being dominated by "the candiate" the populace hate the least and the rule of "voting the lesser evil" to prevent the greater evil from emerging.

Some say that it is impossible for third parties to make a dent on America, that all they would do is split the vote and allow the greater evil to win.  While some may argue that from a right-wing libertarian or moderate prespective, building a third party has a good chance of bearing fruit this election, it seems to be harder to justify progressives building the Green Party in the wake of Gary Johnson's growing chances electoral success that Jill Stein and the Green Party does not seem to share.  This blog entry will discuss some of the reasons to vote Third Party, framing it in the context of the Green Party's struggle for electoral breakthroughs.  It ultimately argues that in an election with the most derided candidates, 2016 offers the best opportunity to start building an alternative to the two party system.

Apologies for the Delay

Hello, Daniel here, and I apologize for the delay.  Watching the Olympics, taking all the beautiful No Man's Sky pictures as well as preparing for my grad school program in September seems to have drained quite a bit of time from me.  Neverthless, this sociopolitical blog is still on, I am not quitting my bloggers' chair any time soon, and will have my next article up as soon as possible.

But first, a quick note on the Green Party Town Hall that occured yesterday.  I was more excited for the Green Party town hall to say the least then any of the upcoming Hillary vs. Trump debates.  As I feel the 2016 election will not be a progressive campaign pitted against a alt-right one, but a business-as-usual neoliberal establishment campaign pitted against an alt-right one.  Despite Bernie's efforts to inject left wing discourse into American politics, it seems that politics remains wedded to the notion of lesser of two evils.  And Hillary looks to be shaping up to be business as usual, seemingly abandoning the most progressive democratic platform in history.  The Green Party Town Hall with Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka is thus a refershing alternative to dead-end politics where voters have to pick between the maintaining of neoliberal policies or give way to the far-right and the dangers it might entail.  The dominance of the political duopoly is even more jarring considering a large percentage of young people want a third party to represent them.

The DNC: Democratic Disunity?

The theme of the Democratic Convention is "Unity".  In this case, unity against Trump and the GOP.  Yet, recent events have shown that unity be out of their reach.  This apparent disunity is because of the revelation of the Democratic Party's disenfranchisement torwards its progressive wing, represented by the supporters of Bernie Sanders.

The cracks were already showing before the convention.  An earlier article I've written discussed ways that Hillary had withdrawn on her promise of a more progressive platform even before Sanders' misguided endorsement of Clinton.  The retreat from fighting for progressive policy and a return to Third Way policies further intensified with Clinton's appointment of Tim Kaine as her Vice President pick.  This is because Tim Kaine has expressed support for the TPP as an "upgrade for labour standards"(he was one of the 13 senators that wanted Obama to fast track this act through Congress), as well as pro-fracking positions and support for the Hyde Act.  The Hyde Act prohibits federal funding for abortions under Medicaid — the repeal of which is called for in the Democratic Party’s own platform promising unlimited federal funding of abortions.  Kaine was also known to support "tough on crime" policies such as  Project Exile, which gave long prison sentences to thoseconvicted on illegal firearm ownership.  This law has bee accused of targeting the black population and feeding the prison-industrial complex.  Thus, it is contradictory for Hillary to promise a leftward shift, yet have a center-right neoliberal VP with policies contradictory to all her promises.