Progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush raised signs calling on President Joe Biden to “stop sending bombs” to the Israeli military as he pledged during his State of the Union address Thursday night to provide more humanitarian aid to Gazans and decried the war’s grisly death toll.
“This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” Biden said. “Thousands and thousands of innocents, women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement.”
“A U.S. port delivering meager amounts of humanitarian aid and empty rhetoric mean nothing when they are delivered alongside U.S. bombs,” said Jewish Voice for Peace Action late Thursday.
The progressive remnants of whatever the Democratic progressive caucus has become need to seriously take to the media.
For all intents and purposes, the progressive movement that started in earnest with occupy and led pretty directly to Bernie 2015-16, the squad, and Bernie 2020, is basically embers as this point. Bernie made the right decision in stepping back, but I really think he expected some of this younger generation to step forwards, and they simply haven’t. Its shocking to me how some of this group have become so complacent in their ‘positions’ as progressives champions, that they seem to think they can do with out the movement that got them there ( looking at Fetterman and to a lessor extent AOC).
Hell I wanted Fetterman to run for president if not for that “I’m not a progressive” bullshit he pulled. Regardless, the movement is rudderless without a figurehead as almost all movements are. The infrastructure is all there, but Democrats have basically shunned progressives throughout, inspite of their uphill victories over the last 10 years. I mean Bernie had the singularly largest rise in delegates a Democratic primary had ever seen in 2015. It needs to be acknowledged that the Democratic party is a fundamentally anti-democracy institution when they won’t let democracy into their primary system. I mean look at what happened to New Hampshire. There are real costs the Democratic party will exercise against you if you “vote wrong”. The Democratic party has done more to frustrate the progressive movement than any other political institution, and yet progressives are still being brow-beat into caucusing with them.
I think a mid-western, led by a prominent Minnesotan or Michigander progressive could step out and form a third party with some success. They would caucuses with Democrats, but be independent and have their own primaries. It would need to form from the ashes of Our Revolution and the frankly massive volunteer base that has supported progressive and leftist candidates in this country. No I don’t think DSA is sufficient. It needs to be something new and focused on Social Democracy as the underlying philosophy. The time is ripe. The generation of 14 year olds who first started paying attention in 2015 are graduating college right now and are almost assuredly thinking along the lines of Extinction Rebellion and the like. There definitely needs to be some rebranding (too much 1980s peace and justice in the Our Revolution branding). Democratizing the power base and empowering young people. A decent software stack to make organizing easy. Clever and creative approaches to fundraising and GOTV. The infrastructure is all present, and wasted on a Democratic party that doesn’t really want its constituents involvement.
To circle back, what this really needs, is to blur the line between podcaster and politician. The Bush’s and Tlalibs need to take a step more into the digitally native world and become regulars on the major podcasts in the progressive left circles. Its the strategy Bernie used, its the strategy Trump used, and it works for populist candidates. There is a groundswell of popularity for progressive policy that isn’t going away simply because Democrats choose to ignore it (unless its campaign season of course, then we get a nice lip servicing). Bernie was especially good at using social media in a way that the other progressives simply haven’t. Tlalib should get on Hasans channel and start having conversations. But it can’t be that sanitized DCCC fake ass bullshit. We need to get away from the Democrats if we ever want to have success as a movement. We can and should caucus with them, but we should be seeking to maintain an independent political identity. You only have power if they have to come get your vote.
Sadly, I don’t think any of them have the charisma to take up Bernie’s mantle. Jon Stewart might be able to do it, but I wouldn’t wish that on him.
Also, I don’t think America will ever be ready for really progressive things. Yes, they say they like them, but when given the choice Americans choose not that.
For progressives to create effective strategies they need to recognize that they’re insurgents, even inside the Democratic Party. Thinking that you have the people behind you if you could just convince them isn’t going to happen: America is not progressive.
The Squad and Bernie really proved that they were just controlled opposition all along. At least Tlaib is willing to stand up.
Imagine sitting in a room with all those genocidal maniacs trying to send israel more bombs, and you’re the only person that speaks out. And they all know what’s going in by now and still continue it.
Wut. Bernie has been extremely vocal about opposing a one state solution and he’s been consistent about that stance forever.
Do you mean the one-state solution where it’s a binational state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians or the One-state solution Israel prefers where there are no Palestinians?
Bernie has opposed the latter. I think the former is unfortunately unrealistic.
Considering the extent of the Settlements in the west bank, I don’t see how any other option would be realistic. But it absolutely needs a lot of international pressure for it to work, and it would be quite complicated to put into practice.
The settlements represent land-grabbing, and land-grabbing and peace-making don’t go together, it is one or the other. By its actions, if not always in its rhetoric, Israel has opted for land-grabbing and as we speak Israel is expanding settlements. So, Israel has been systematically destroying the basis for a viable Palestinian state and this is the declared objective of the Likud and Netanyahu who used to pretend to accept a two-state solution. In the lead up to the last election, he said there will be no Palestinian state on his watch. The expansion of settlements and the wall mean that there cannot be a viable Palestinian state with territorial contiguity. The most that the Palestinians can hope for is Bantustans, a series of enclaves surrounded by Israeli settlements and Israeli military bases.
So a two-state solution is no longer a viable option and that is why I have become a supporter of the one-state solution, a single state with equal rights for all its citizens. Ideologically, I don’t have any problem with a one-state solution. Ideologically, it is very attractive, it is a noble vision of two communities living in harmony in one space with equal rights for all its members. But, I am not naïve enough to think that the one-state solution is a realistic prospect because there is no support for a one-state solution in Israel. And if pushed really hard I think Israel would withdraw to the wall on the West Bank and annex whatever bits it wants of the West Bank. It would annex the main settlement blocks in Ma’ale Adumim, and the whole area around Jerusalem, and it would do so unilaterally rather than have a one-state so I am not in the least bit optimistic that the one-state solution is a viable proposition. But this is where I stand and I blame Israel for eliminating the alternative of a two-state solution.
- Avi Shlaim 2017
Bernie and AOC both refuse to call it Genocide.
Go and watch Bernie’s interview on Colbert - he’s really fucking clear.
About what? The word Genocide?
Do you know how long Bernie was initially even refusing to call for a ceasefire?
With a litmus test like yours you’ll never find anyone worthy. There are political reasons to avoid calling it a genocide but I met Bernie a few times when I lived in Burlington. He sure as shit is doing everything in his power to end the war in Gaza - calling it a genocide doesn’t save lives (unless the ICJ can come down on Netanyahu) so posturing is unproductive.
So why was he warmongering for Netanyahu in the early days despite HEAVY backlash from his own base?
I find it so amusing that you can watch videos from 4 months back. Nobody seems to remember anything. Watch this video of when the word ceasefire was taboo for Bernie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8kkzQx-_rI
I have nothing but respect for Tlaib and Bush for doing this.
Bidens a Zionist, he’s said so himself multiple times. He’ll find a way to ship them more bombs if anything.
Also that last remark is damn near similar to what I was saying on another post, mad respect for whoever that person is.
The US certainly needs to stop sending arms to Isreal. But even if they do, will the middle east please fucking stop with the religious fundamentalist leaders?
Setting aside the US’s history of installing those leaders, who cares if that’s what the people want?
Do you think they’re holding fair elections to elect these leaders into power?
Ask America to stop installing them
The 1953 Iranian coup d’état was the U.S.- and British-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mosaddegh had sought to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), a British corporation (now part of BP), to verify that AIOC was paying the contracted royalties to Iran, and to limit the company’s control over Iranian oil reserves.[
Yeah, it is fucked up that they did that. Like I said, I don’t support arming Israel. I don’t support military intervention in the middle east at all. I don’t have universal healthcare because some greedy oil baron or religious fundamentalist zealot on the other side of the Earth enslaves or massacres people because he wants a bigger share of the dumpster fire.
The religious fundies keep popping up because any time a government rightfully wants to take control of their own natural resources, a Western nation or Russia overthrows them (and now China is also starting to indebt them)
in the old days, according to even ‘the bible’, if your people had resources, but just bronze weapons, your gonna get some iron-wielding visitors soon. Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.
The US has to send our old stuff to someone, or it expires on the shelf. The US has to have the latest kit. – Signed, The Military-Industrial-Complex
