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In reply to the discussion: What is the "hard left"? [View all]Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)82. Position on NK
http://www.workers.org/2017/08/14/self-defense-and-the-dprk/
Home » Global » Self-defense and the DPRK
Self-defense and the DPRK
By Editor posted on August 14, 2017
We live in a world where there are oppressors and there are the oppressed.
Inevitably, those who are oppressed and exploited will rise up and fight for liberation, will try to get the boot of their oppressor off their backs.
Right now the small country of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea is trying to keep from being crushed by the immense force deployed by U.S. capitalist democracy.
What should we, who live in this most powerful imperialist country in the world, do when the DPRK decides it needs a nuclear deterrent to keep the U.S. from trying to overthrow its government?
Because thats what the world has seen the Pentagon do to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and is still trying to do to Syria.
Some governments as well as peace groups are calling on the U.S. to step back from its threats to attack the DPRK. But they are also saying the north Koreans should freeze their nuclear weapons program.
If the DPRK were to agree, would they guarantee its safety? What if the U.S. attacked anyway? What would they say Sorry?
War is very, very real to the Koreans. They dont need to be lectured about its horrors. Some 5 million died during the Korean War, most at the hands of U.S. forces.
It has taken them years to rebuild their country, not only because of all the devastation but also because of continued efforts by the U.S. imperialists to ruin their economy through sanctions and other measures.
It is the right of oppressed people to choose the form of their struggle. As the Black Panthers put it, they have the right to resist by any means necessary. It is up to the oppressed to decide what tactic is best suited to their conditions. Those who come from the oppressor nation must not dictate how it should be done.
And the same is true on the international arena. If the people of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea have decided that the only way theyll be safe from another U.S. attack is to have a nuclear deterrent, the best thing we in the U.S. can do is try to make sure that such an attack by the U.S. never happens.
Those of us who live in the belly of the beast cannot put conditions on those living in countries oppressed by imperialism. Our job is to defend their right to liberate themselves.
We need to explain to our fellow workers how U.S. foreign policy, including the war machine, is crafted to set up the superexploitation of workers in other countries. The billionaires who run Washington, including Trump and his cronies, can then reap untold profits from war industries and by cutting wages to the bone for workers here.
We need to explain how class oppression, where the bosses exploit workers and small farmers across the world, is interlinked with national oppression under U.S. imperialism. Racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia all are ideological tools used to justify the brutal subjugation and robbery of whole peoples. This is true of the oppression of people of color inside the United States as well as whole nations abroad.
Workers have a way to fight back. Its called solidarity. We can rid the world of oppression and exploitation, but only if we realize our own strength by rejecting every form of bigotry and uniting with all those fighting for liberation from capitalism.
Home » Global » Self-defense and the DPRK
Self-defense and the DPRK
By Editor posted on August 14, 2017
We live in a world where there are oppressors and there are the oppressed.
Inevitably, those who are oppressed and exploited will rise up and fight for liberation, will try to get the boot of their oppressor off their backs.
Right now the small country of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea is trying to keep from being crushed by the immense force deployed by U.S. capitalist democracy.
What should we, who live in this most powerful imperialist country in the world, do when the DPRK decides it needs a nuclear deterrent to keep the U.S. from trying to overthrow its government?
Because thats what the world has seen the Pentagon do to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and is still trying to do to Syria.
Some governments as well as peace groups are calling on the U.S. to step back from its threats to attack the DPRK. But they are also saying the north Koreans should freeze their nuclear weapons program.
If the DPRK were to agree, would they guarantee its safety? What if the U.S. attacked anyway? What would they say Sorry?
War is very, very real to the Koreans. They dont need to be lectured about its horrors. Some 5 million died during the Korean War, most at the hands of U.S. forces.
It has taken them years to rebuild their country, not only because of all the devastation but also because of continued efforts by the U.S. imperialists to ruin their economy through sanctions and other measures.
It is the right of oppressed people to choose the form of their struggle. As the Black Panthers put it, they have the right to resist by any means necessary. It is up to the oppressed to decide what tactic is best suited to their conditions. Those who come from the oppressor nation must not dictate how it should be done.
And the same is true on the international arena. If the people of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea have decided that the only way theyll be safe from another U.S. attack is to have a nuclear deterrent, the best thing we in the U.S. can do is try to make sure that such an attack by the U.S. never happens.
Those of us who live in the belly of the beast cannot put conditions on those living in countries oppressed by imperialism. Our job is to defend their right to liberate themselves.
We need to explain to our fellow workers how U.S. foreign policy, including the war machine, is crafted to set up the superexploitation of workers in other countries. The billionaires who run Washington, including Trump and his cronies, can then reap untold profits from war industries and by cutting wages to the bone for workers here.
We need to explain how class oppression, where the bosses exploit workers and small farmers across the world, is interlinked with national oppression under U.S. imperialism. Racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia all are ideological tools used to justify the brutal subjugation and robbery of whole peoples. This is true of the oppression of people of color inside the United States as well as whole nations abroad.
Workers have a way to fight back. Its called solidarity. We can rid the world of oppression and exploitation, but only if we realize our own strength by rejecting every form of bigotry and uniting with all those fighting for liberation from capitalism.
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the civil rights laws WERE only PASSED because of the GOP leadership under Evertt Dirksen
beachbum bob
Sep 2017
#112
A real Democrat would not elect a Republican (especially Trump) by saying the parties are the
Demsrule86
Sep 2017
#106
Yup, proud to have stood for marital gay rights before it was "cool"... same with single-payer.
InAbLuEsTaTe
Sep 2017
#96
Indeed. Furthermore, there was a hard left at the time that opposed the literal new deal. n/t
BzaDem
Sep 2017
#14
It was partially that and partially because Republicans had finally been completely disgraced
Warpy
Sep 2017
#16
Pretty much sums it up... why we need to put up a true progressive in 2020...
InAbLuEsTaTe
Sep 2017
#97
But the time for U.S. military intervention is over-especially in the Arab/Muslim world.
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#89
We could have had a non-brutal war with North Korea, or no war at all, back in the 50s...
Expecting Rain
Sep 2017
#171
Yetsin's embrace of Putin make my point that Yeltzin was not to be trusted...
Expecting Rain
Sep 2017
#173
Yeltsin chose Putin after the U.S. spent most of his term disrespecting him.
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#174
I'd suggest you are making a argument that conflates correlation with causation...
Expecting Rain
Sep 2017
#175
It is fine to say "we have to do this," but unless one can make it happen...
Expecting Rain
Sep 2017
#189
I was referring to Democrats blocking bills introduced by a Democratic president.
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#190
Nobody who calls for a new New Deal supports the return of 1930s racial values.
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#160
Not at all, women and POC have been undervalued and used for free labor for centuries....
bettyellen
Sep 2017
#34
All of women's jobs were serverly underpaid, not sure why you thinks that's by sexist...
bettyellen
Sep 2017
#37
Because were conspicuously omitted from this OP- treated as lesser yet again.
bettyellen
Sep 2017
#113
Now we're demographics, LOL. No, it's about civil rights and equal treatment under the law!
bettyellen
Sep 2017
#149
"Nobody else was mentioned" - who did you expect to be mentioned? Ask "no other causes"? What are
bettyellen
Sep 2017
#169
No, I didn't expect to. And I didn't expect any other issues other than civil rights
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#183
I see 'Our Revolution' and Turner as traitors to our cause... I will support no candidate that comes
Demsrule86
Sep 2017
#107
Once upon a time it meant the CPUSA and other marxist-leninist parties and anarchist
Voltaire2
Sep 2017
#20
You are making my points for me. That other counties have a variety of government...
Expecting Rain
Sep 2017
#142
Employer health insurance is a stranglehold that the corporations use to retain you
Not Ruth
Sep 2017
#127
The message of the primaries was simply that Bernie as a candidate was rejected.
Ken Burch
Sep 2017
#159
I would think any group that wants to eventually replace capitalism with some other system.
Willie Pep
Sep 2017
#87