Workers in Local 218 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union voted to approve a new contract and officially ended their nearly three week long strike. Anthony Shelton, the union's international president, stated the workers "have shown the world that union working people can stand up against the largest food companies in the world and claim victory for themselves, their families and their communities." Frito Lay workers had been on strike for nearly three weeks over working conditions including a manufacturing plant where temperatures would rise to over 100 degrees and in the parlance of the workplace "suicide shifts" where workers were assigned to work two twelve hour shifts separated by only eight hours off work. We in the Boise DSA commend and stand in solidarity with our fellow working class sisters and brothers in successfully fighting against the interests of capital and winning a vote for a more equitable contract.

An interview with Austin Gonzalez of the National Political Committee about the recent delegations to Peru and Venezuela

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How can we ever expect to change the narrative or to change the perspective that people have on socialism if we aren't very bold in the things that we do?

On July 15th, 2021, three members of the Radical’s founding editorial collective sat down with Austin Gonzalez (he/him) from DSA’s National Political Committee to talk about the organization’s recent delegations to Peru and Venezuela.

Austin is a member of the Richmond, Virginia DSA chapter, which he co-founded in 2017. His history in Virginia figures as an important theme in his becoming as a socialist organizer: as a person of Puerto Rican descent, he recounts instances of racism, police harassment, and confederate imagery as key factors to the development of his orientation towards a better world. Deaf parents subsidized by the social safety net as well as his accidental discovery of Eduardo Galeano’s “The Open Veins of Latin America” through the 2009 Obama-Chavez meeting were also decisive.

In the NPC, to which he was elected during the 2019 DSA Convention, Austin serves as a national liaison to the International Committee, among others. From what he tells us, it is clear that his time there oversaw a near-complete overhaul of the IC: formerly an insular, closed-off listserv comprised of old-timer democratic socialists, over the course of several years and several resolutions, the committee opened up to rank-and-file membership, pledged solidarity to the Cuban Revolution, adopted a position of critical engagement with leftist movements in Latin America, and became a several-hundred-strong internationalist organism. Pointing to the black-and-white Puerto Rican independence flag hung behind him, he expresses pride in what he and his comrades have achieved.

KAYA COLAKOGLU Can you tell us a little bit about the process that led to the delegations, perhaps starting with Peru? How did we set up contact? Was the DSA invited by a party or a group? And what did we hope to achieve by going to Peru?

AUSTIN GONZALEZ Absolutely. This was something that me and comrades in the NPC had talked about for a while. We asked ourselves: what could be more important than actually sending DSA members to other countries, to learn from our comrades in these countries, whether it be Cuba or Peru or Venezuela or wherever else in the world? What was more important than actually being there and being present in their struggles, and once again, doing what we can to learn from them?

For me, that was the spirit of doing these sorts of brigades, and especially for leftists in the United States right now, there's an added responsibility to network with leftists across the world because the war machine is here. We have a responsibility to them to actually be fighting our war machine here and to be networking with our comrades across the world.

As for the details of how this came about—it was early April, I want to say—the first round of Peru's presidential election was on April 11th, off the top of my head. This coincided with the presidential election that was happening in Ecuador. For anybody who was following that, the DSA did not send a delegation to Ecuador. I wanted us to, but I didn't know if we were ready for that. I lamented about this with other members and leadership, and I was pleasantly surprised that from anybody I had this conversation with, no matter what tendency or caucus or whatever they came from, they totally agreed. They said: well, why weren't we able to? Why didn't we send somebody to Ecuador?

Well, as I mentioned, simultaneously, the first round of Peru’s presidential election also took place. And, you know, I consider myself a nerd of Latin American politics. Peru, for the most part in the last couple of decades, has elected just general neoliberal centrist presidents, if not right-wing.

What happened, to the shock of the international community? To the shock of the Peruvian community? Peru was suddenly faced with a situation where they were going into a presidential runoff in a month between a candidate of the left and a candidate of the right. Peru was in a situation where they had an actual choice. This was not just a generic centrist versus neoliberal dude. This was left versus right. And for this to happen in a country like Peru, which is so critically important historically, culturally, and economically for South America; a country that has some of the largest copper reserves in the world, and some of the largest gold reserves in the world! You know, we said to ourselves, this is so critically important, we should ask our friends on the ground: how can we help them? What should we be doing to help amplify the situation?

DSA and the international left, for the most part, were all backing Veronica Mendoza and the Nuevo Peru party, which is a bit more of a proper democratic socialist Party, very similar in politics to us, and also a historical ally of the DSA. So to see this person, Pedro Castillo, win—and anybody who was watching CNN Espanol knows, they didn't even have an image for the guy when he made the runoff! So once again, this was also about learning about the situation rather than sitting here in the Global North and trying to talk over the people that were actually in Peru.

We then reached out to Nuevo Peru and our comrades and they were adamant in saying to us, if you guys can come down here, we would love that. We would love to welcome you all down. Not only that, this election is going to be critically important, and it's going to be critically important for people in the United States to know what's really going on. Because if there's any coup that were to happen, the US was going to be involved. They stressed that it was critically important for people in the United States to know what really was happening in Peru, and were very, very excited to invite us and to welcome us. And once again, Nuevo Peru are a historical ally of the DSA—they had sent people to our 2013 National Convention. Nuevo Peru would go into coalition with Peru and Pedro Castillo and announce support for Pedro Castillo. So as you know, I'm looking at this and talking with Blanca Estevez from the NPC, we say to each other, you know, we should do this! We should draw up a proposal to send an election observer delegation to Peru. And we were also toying with the idea of doing Chile at the time, as well, as they were doing their constitutional referendum vote. And we do have historical allies down there as well. Unfortunately, the turnaround on that one was too tight to send a delegation down and we were unable to pull that one. We were even wondering if we'd be able to do the Peru one in time. But luckily that worked out.

Back to Peru once again—so we thought it was critically important to have people on the ground, one, to learn from our Peruvian comrades, but also to translate what is happening into English for everybody back home in the United States. Critically important as well in making this happen was a couple of different groups—he Progressive International, which is an international institution of different progressive movements, progressive political parties, progressive leaders. One of the groups that they would also coordinate with would be the Party of the European Left, the coalition of leftist parties within the European Parliament. This three pronged delegation, I suppose, was mostly the group that we had when we went down to Peru.

KC So the visit itself; how did it go, who did you meet with, and what can we learn from Peru Libre’s immense victory?

AG Absolutely, there’s lots to unpack here. So as I mentioned, we coordinated closely with the PI delegation and the Party of the European Left delegation. The Party of the European Left brought their elected officials, their MPs from Spain, from the Portuguese Left Bloc, from the French Communist Party, there were folks from Belgium, there was somebody from Slovenia. We stayed together throughout election night.

As far as groups we met with, we spent our entire time in Lima. We were there for a week, though I would have loved to go to the countryside where Peru Libre and Pedro Castillo supporter support is at its highest. Lima is very urban and it's home to a quarter of Peru's population and is a stronghold for Keiko Fujimori and the right wing. Despite that, we were able to meet with a lot of different groups. To describe our first meeting—humbling isn't even the word! We met with a group known as Ronderos. They're essentially peasant campesino self-defense units that provide security for rural areas that have been completely ignored by the state. And these are very interesting people because these are people that, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, protected their communities from everybody, including both the “Maoist” Shining Path and the right-wing government forces of Alberto Fujimori. A lot of these people were just average indigenous people trying to live their lives. Pedro Castillo himself was a former Rondero from Cajamarca, a city in northern Peru.

There were particular moments that I would point out from this meeting with the Ronderos that were emblematic of a lot of the meetings that we would have. It took me aback how appreciative they were of us being there. I’m taking pictures and selfies everywhere. And it shocked me how eager they were to also take selfies. They would say, “Oh, you people from the United States, come over here!” It struck me [that] these are people who are, for the most part, ignored in their own country. So to have an audience with us—where some of us were elected officials from the United States—it meant so much to them. It was a reminder of how important it is to send people to these countries. It was a reminder of the power of actually being there in person to network with these people, to hear their stories. I got a deeper understanding of the Ronderos, because one might think, “Oh, Ronderos protecting themselves from The Shining Path and the government, what does that even mean?” Through this you get a sense of where they're coming from. They were all people that would talk about plurinationalism and socialism. These are people that talked about twenty first century socialism. They even talked about Chavez and their admiration for him. And fundamentally, they were all united behind Pedro Castillo and his call for a new constitution.

This was a common theme for all of our meetings. We met with basically all of the progressive and leftist political parties within Peruvian politics. We met with our dear friends in Nuevo Peru and we met with Veronica Mendoza herself. We met with the Communist Party of Peru, Patrick Aroha, literally the party founded by the Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariategui. They took us on a tour of the Mariategui house, it was a beautiful moment. We also met with what's known as the Socialist Party of Peru, which is a party that's in coalition with Juntos por el Perú, the grand left coalition that Nuevo Peru was leading.

Critically, these parties—the Socialist Party of Peru and Nueva Peru in particular—are feminist and pro LGBTQ+ parties. I think a lot was made in the United States about Peru Libre, who we did meet with as well, and Pedro Castillo, and perhaps their more, let's say, questionable social policies. Well, once again, this is something that's important to us, right? Our organization is feminist, is pro LGBTQ+. So we wanted to talk to them about this. Is Pedro Castillo machista? Is he a homophobe? And what they would say to us is out of these two presidential candidates, only one of them has met with feminist groups and groups from the gay community of Peru. And it ain't Keiko Fujimori. Pedro Castillo worked out an alliance with Nuevo Peru. But before they gave their support to Pedro Castillo and Peru Libre, they made an agreement for Pedro Castillo and Peru Libre to moderate their views on some of the social issues. I think it's critically important to listen to the gay community of Peru, to listen to the feminists. What are they doing? Every single one of them was backing Pedro Castillo, every single one of them. And I think it's critically important once again to listen to that rather than talk over that, rather than say, “Oh, I don't know, I saw this quote that Castillo made one time, I think he's bad.” Let's listen to them. These are the people that are actually going to live under a Castillo presidency. And they were all firmly, firmly supportive of Pedro Castillo and his call for a new constitution.

As I mentioned, we did meet with Peru Libre and they were historically a regional political party in Peru, not a national political party. And this was essentially a ballot line, for all intents and purposes, that Pedro Castillo utilized in his presidential race. Pedro Castillo himself has only been a member of the party for a couple of years. I think it is absolutely fair to say that Peru Libre is a Marxist-Leninist political party. But more importantly than that, Peru Libre is a reflection of the indigenous community, of the rural communities, of the forgotten communities of Peru. I got that from any interaction with Peru Libre, whether in person or in the lead up to meeting them. It was truly remarkable to me how these people in Peru Libre are literally just average people who have been thrust into the national spotlight due to this amazing moment. Peru saw massive upheaval last year, like many places in the world did, and Pedro Castillo and Peru Libre were able to tap into that in ways that a lot of places in the world simply were not able to—like us in the United States, for example.

We met Pedro Castillo, we did meet the man himself. As a fellow short king, I'm proud to say that he is an inspiration to short kings everywhere. Perhaps we'll talk about this a little bit later. Unlike Nicolas Maduro, who's like six 6’6” or something like that, you know, Pedro Castillo is even shorter than me! So I was like, “Oh beautiful, here we go. We got one of ours here.” He's an amazing guy. In our meeting with him, it's amazing how good he is at knowing his audience. We met him in a very formal atmosphere with a very small group of people. And you could tell he is a former teacher. They call him “El Profesor”. He spoke very softly but also very directly. What’s very interesting was to see the contrast a day later when we went to one of his rallies. If any of you have seen any of his rallies, you know this man could throw a rally. Right. He'll wear these big cowboy hats and he'll wave around his giant inflatable pencil—and the entire time speaking hot fire. It's an amazing experience. For anybody who's curious about what that meeting was like in greater detail, Jacobin put out an article written by Pedro Castillo. What it really is is a transcription from the words that he gave our delegation.

IAN SCOTT So Pedro Castillo is still not certified following this election. What is our position on this? Do you believe that there's an imminent danger to Peruvian democracy right now?

AG This is a critically important question. We're over a month out, 100% of districts have reported and he still hasn't been certified. That’s stunning. During Election Day itself, we did not receive election observer certification. This meant that we were unable to actually go into ballot booths and actually see the physical process of people writing. What we were able to do was poll watching in Lima alongside some of the other political parties. As a legacy of the 1990s [Alberto] Fujimori dictatorship, elections in Peru are known for being clean. Our greatest fear on Election Day was that Keiko Fujimori would try to declare victory early since the urban areas reported sooner than the rural areas, similar to what happened in Bolivia in 2019 before the coup. Luckily, that did not happen, and though we knew it was going to be tight, it seemed clear to us that Castillo was going to win.

As soon as we returned to the United States, all of the people we met with in Peru began raising alarm bells to us. They said that Keiko is refusing to concede and they’re worried that Pedro will be stopped before he can take office. They’re still relaying information now. I think people are getting to a place where they're a little bit more confident that Pedro Castillo will be certified. Perhaps even by the end of the week (as of July 14th, 2021). Last week, I had heard that [it was going to happen this past Monday] and then Monday came and went so we'll see. Keiko has no legs to stand on. Fundamentally, this is somebody who is a known political criminal. She was literally imprisoned last year for corruption. This is somebody who knows she will be going back to prison if Pedro Castillo is elected. Even the infamous OAS put out a statement saying the elections were clean. Even a couple of days after the election the Peruvian navy put out a statement saying the military will not intervene. Those signs are encouraging.

What's not encouraging is seeing the director of the CIA meeting with Bolsonaro [three weeks ago] and seeing some of the events happening in the Caribbean right now. These things make the hair on the back of my neck kind of stand up. Part of me thinks some of that is a reaction to what is inevitable in Peru, in small part from his support in the rural communities. Cities like Ayacucho voted over 80% for Pedro Castillo. Fujimori and the right wing would be extremely naive if they think they could start a coup. Those rural communities know that they won. They will descend on Lima if they try to coup Castillo. I can tell you: the people we met are prepared to fight. But I'm beginning to get to a place where I'm a bit more optimistic that it's going to be OK. And if anything the thoughts moving forward should be kind of twofold. One, how does Pedro Castillo relate to a Congress that will be hostile to him? A Congress that has impeached presidents left and right in the last couple of years. And how can Pedro Castillo push forward on the demand to write a new constitution? Because to me, that's just going to be critical. If you're going to actually have a government that is by and for Peruvians, that's where it's going to start.

KC So perhaps with that, I think we can move towards Venezuela, which we all followed the proceedings of, both our delegation and the Congress, with really great interest. So once again, what was the process leading up to that and how did we assemble the delegation and, perhaps most interestingly, were there any debates leading up to it?

AG Sure. So, so last year—one of my fellow NPC members, Abdullah Younis, who was with me as part of the Peru delegation, actually went to Venezuela as technically a DSA delegate, but not really; he was there with a group known as the People's Forum. And the reason he was there was to attend what's known as the International Che Guevara Youth Brigade. When Abdullah was down there, he was able to establish contact with some of the people within the government; a contact we were able to maintain throughout the year. So there's always been some sort of correspondence there.

It wasn't until the beginning of this year—and I want to say maybe February—that we on the International Committee were contacted with a formal invitation to the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples of the World. What the hell is that? Well, the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples of the World marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, which was the battle led by Simón Bolívar and José Antonio Páez which basically guaranteed Venezuelan independence. This was going to be a large international gathering, right. The 200th anniversary of Venezuelan independence, for all intents and purposes, seemed important to us on the International Committee as being something worth pursuing—especially because this was an event that was going to be attended by leftist political parties and movements from across the world, you know, even the Green Party sent a delegation. So there were different parties in the United States; PSL, that probably wouldn't surprise anybody, sent a delegation. There were parties from the United States; parties from Europe. Parties from everywhere, movements from everywhere that went right here. And once again, we thought, “OK, this would be a good networking opportunity. We'll be able to meet leftists from across the world.”

As I mentioned earlier, our 2019 convention passed a resolution talking about paying more attention to more focused networking with the leftists in Latin America. So we thought “this just makes sense.” Right? Well, as far as debates going into this: I'd say the way we looked at this on the National Political Committee was, once again, pairing this with the Peru delegation—both, for all intents and purposes, were trial runs. As in, trial runs for if these are things that DSA can actually pull off, or something that DSA can do more in the future. Peru being a trial run for election observer delegations and, in this case, Venezuela being a trial run for what we call brigades. Sending a brigade abroad to learn from political movements, whether they be in that country or, once again, other political movements that are there to network with other peoples.

And, you know, I suppose I have to say things got a bit testy—is the word I'm going to use—on Twitter. Between, you know, certain folks. I have to say, within the International Committee, and within the National Political Committee, the debates were very cordial and very much just like, “Oh, OK. Well, are we good? This is good. We just need to make sure that we have, like, robust reports back. So that people know exactly what our delegation did that I should plug.”

I don't know when you guys are going to put this out, but I should plug there's going to be a panel this Sunday [July 18, 2021] from our Venezuela delegation reporting back. That's mostly what the conversation revolved around within our own internal structures. Which is: let's just make sure it's transparent. Let's make sure people know what we're doing and let's make sure we're actually doing work down there.

We were working once again directly with what's known as the Institute of Símón Bolívar. This was the organization within Venezuela that invited us down there. Once again, they’re promoting networking and sharing knowledge between movements—specifically with the communes in Venezuela trying to share their experiences with other political groups. That's precisely why the majority of our time spent there was doing two different things. We were there for two weeks. The first week was to attend the Congress. The second week was to visit communes. The vast majority of our time spent was engaging with communes. Even during the Congress, different commune representatives had moments to speak during plenary. I would be remiss without saying that during the Congress, I had the honor of meeting Evo Morales. That was pretty cool. An interesting little moment that happened, because this was an international gathering of political leaders, political figures from across the world.

In my mind, this is exactly the sort of place that the largest socialist organization in the United States should be: side by side with Evo Morales. Side by side with Jaime Vargas from the CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador). Side by side with these people saying, “hey, you know, we take these talks seriously. We can learn from each other. We can learn from the successes and failures of socialism in Venezuela, or Bolivia, or Ecuador, or anywhere.” We can learn from all of that. We can approach these things from a nuanced perspective. But, as far as the background going into it—most debates, I would say, centered around: “let's make sure this is transparent. Let's make sure this is something the members can sink their teeth into. And actually be as part of as much as we possibly can.”

KC There were two things we were really interested in. One of them is, obviously, the communes, and there's also the Chavistas and members of the PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela). What were major themes in discussions with Chavistas and the people there? What did they think of the US delegation?

AG Absolutely. So not not too dissimilar from Peru—in fact, very similarly to Peru, people were so happy to meet leftists from the United States. And I should add, the added layer that I'm of Puerto Rican descent was also a factor. For Venezuelans, who have a very Caribbean culture—whenever I would tell them, “oh, yeah, I'm from the United States of Puerto Rican descent,” oh, they would be so happy. They would be so happy to network with not just people from the United States, but people from different ethnic backgrounds in the United States. So they were very happy to see that, as far as opinions we got—whether it be people who consider themselves to be Chavistas, people who actually came from PSUV, people who came from different political parties, people who came from the communes.

The consistent theme to me was that everybody had a very nuanced opinion of the situation in Venezuela. Everybody had, in my mind, a remarkably high level of political consciousness right now. What the hell do I mean by that? Let me give an example in Caracas. Just like any, you know, major urban environment—an urban environment or any major city—there's a lot of graffiti. In Caracas, every single graffiti was political. Every single one. It was remarkable. Every single graffiti was always a big picture of Bolívar or Chavez or Maduro, or anything. You would see Communist Party graffiti. You would see opposition graffiti. And it was all political. It was a stark contrast from what I saw in Peru. In Lima—I should mention, the first political billboard I saw when I got to Lima [was] big, big letters on a big blue billboard: “FIVE DAYS TO VOTE NO TO COMMUNISM.” This was Keiko's fear-mongering campaign. You want to know what was the first billboard I saw when I got to Caracas? “Arriba la izquierda.” “Onward with the left,” right. So [a] complete, complete opposite in so many different ways, and an interesting dichotomy.

But once again, going back to the conversations that we would have with people, I don't think a single comunero, or the communards, whatever, or single Chavista said to us anything to the effect of, “yes, we have uncritical support for Maduro and everything the government has done and we love everything about it.” I don't think a single person said that. Every single person had a very nuanced view of their government. Every single person would say something to the effect of: “Hey, we are on the road to socialism. Venezuela is a capitalist society that we're trying to build towards socialism. There's a lot of contradictions in our society. There's a lot of mistakes that our government has made. But as long as this government, as long as Nicolas Maduro supports the commune project and supports the power of people on the ground, we're going to continue to support this government.” We would hear that a lot from coming [from] comuneros—the communards or whatever. So it's a very nuanced opinion. You know, anybody who tries to portray this as this dystopian, weird “Dear Leader” kind of thing going on could not have been further from the truth.

When our delegation even got the chance to meet with Nicolas Maduro—which was an interesting experience in and of itself—all his advisors, the translator, people like that, they were busting his bones the whole meeting. It was not at all some weird, “oh my God, I got to be on my best behavior” situation. Everybody was very, very chill, very relaxed.

This was a common opinion that I heard from pretty much anybody that we talked to: which was a very nuanced opinion of their government, one that recognized that Venezuela was going through a difficult time right now. They would talk to us about how as delegates from the United States our responsibility was to go back home and tell people to end the sanctions. Go back home and tell people to end the blockade. Tell people what you see here, write. Tell people how hard it is for us to put food on our table. How hard it is for us to get clothes for ourselves. How hard it is just to live in Venezuela. Help people to end this blockade. Tell people to end this blockade, which has put the state in a position where it can hardly provide food for its people. It has put the commune in a position where they are forced to do everything for themselves. It's remarkable.

On my perspective and my concept of the communes before I went to Venezuela… I consider myself a nerd. I consider myself somebody who did the readings, right; somebody who knows about Venezuela. I knew most about some of the big famous communes like El Maizal, where they produce corn. I knew about the Pioneros, the pioneers, who are squatters, who take over buildings. I didn't know and didn't really grasp it until I got there and saw all these communes. And I lost count of how many communes we met with. Communes I've never even heard of. What I didn't fully grasp and realize is that they do everything. They do everything. They make their own food. They make their own clothes. They clean their communities themselves. They provide protection for the communities themselves. Any money they make from the things they sell, they hold in common in a community bank. They have a community doctor. They have maternal centers in these communes. Almost all communes would have maternity centers for pregnant women to help them exercise and help them be prepared. And something I think is also important to point out: all these communes, damn near all of them, were women-led down there, damn near all of them. It was amazing to see that upfront.

And, once again, the point that I would drive home the most is that every single one of them talked to us about two big themes. One: the road to socialism is complicated. Sometimes it's not linear. Right? Sometimes you do make mistakes. You've got to learn from those mistakes and—two: end this goddamn blockade. This blockade which is strangling us, which is making it impossible for us to even truly go forward in our road to socialism.

You know, Venezuela is a country that was deeply reliant on the United States for many historical reasons. So for the U.S., which dominates global capital to, once again, do what it's doing in Venezuela was devastating for them. We got a clear picture of the way the sanctions affected them, with countries or companies in Europe or even companies in China refusing to do business with certain Venezuelan companies. Why? Because U.S. companies that have access to capital would say “if you deal with Venezuelans, we're not going to deal with you.” So even if a Venezuelan company or factory or whatever might have partners in Germany or partners in China, those partners would say, “hey, sorry, my relationship with the United States is more important in this case,” because of the access to capital that they have. “So there's nothing we can do for you.” Things like that. Right? They call it the “silent blockade.” It's not like Cuba where it's an explicit embargo. It's this intelligent blockade. This backdoor blockade. Where they communicate through their access to capital and through their domination of global finance and global business. Which is, “hey, if you deal with Venezuelans, we will not deal with you.” It makes things crippling and it makes it impossible for the state to provide for its people.

KC Finally, regarding Venezuela, what do you think we can learn from the way socialism is being built there? Obviously, what is going on there is different from the way things will work out here in the core. But in terms of strategy, techniques, and a socialist culture—what can we learn from them?

AG There's something in particular that I love about this and think is so instructive for all of us. And it's that, when you look at the history of how things came to be the way they are in Venezuela, I think there's lessons that social democrats can draw, as far as Chavez leading an electoral road to taking power. I think there are lessons that libertarian socialists or anarchists can draw, which is to look at communes; these are people, this is true grassroots. This is not the state monopolizing resources or whatever. No, this is people on the ground growing corn and selling it. I think there's so many different lessons for almost anybody from the example in Venezuela.

But one of the number one lessons we can draw from there is that there is no socialism button, right? There is no handbook. There's no road map. You don't just—like if Bernie was elected, you think he clicks the socialism button and all of a sudden police stop killing Black people? No, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. We have a lot of different contradictions within our societies that we need to fully grapple with. And we need to recognize that. We shouldn't cherry-pick different issues that exist in Venezuelan society and say, “you see, socialism failed here,” or all you say is that they've deviated from the line or something like that. No, we've got to understand why these contradictions exist. We've got to understand that the road to socialism is a long one. It's a hard one. Like I said, it's not linear. It's difficult. And it takes many different facets of struggle. I'm a person that firmly believes in what I call the kitchen sink approach, which is not one road to struggle. You can use the ballot box. You can use mutual aid. You can use—you know, obviously the union movement is critically important, right? There are many different aspects of struggle that we need to be utilizing to get to a point where socialists or leftists can actually take state power. And use it effectively. And there's a lot of different levels and different steps we need to take to get to that point.

I think it's critically important. It's so important for leftists in the United States, leftists worldwide, to look at places like Venezuela where the left has come into power. Right, and once again, see what went wrong here, what went right here, what mistakes did you make here? What successes did you have here? Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater as soon as things get hard, right. Rather than run away with our hair on fire, the first second we see a contradiction. We should be proper Marxists. We embrace contradiction, don't we? That's how we get closer to the truth, dare I say. Hope that makes sense.

KC I think that made perfect sense. So what's next for IC?

AG So a couple of different things I would point out: one, as I mentioned earlier, our upcoming national convention next month, about that, two things I would put on people's radars. One, I'm running for reelection. So DSA people out there, you've got to vote Austin G for NPC, you gotta do it. Number two, more importantly, I would say there is a resolution that I coauthored. It's called Resolution No. 14, Committing to International Socialist Solidarity. And what this resolution does is a couple of things. It empowers our IC to do these sorts of things, to do election observer delegation, to do brigades abroad to different countries. As I detailed a little bit earlier, the process we went through, we had to jump through a couple of different hoops to even barely get over the line to do Venezuela. I think we should trust our IC. We should have a strong, robust international committee that is building relationships overseas. I think that's critically important. Also, this resolution begins the process of getting DSA to apply for membership in the São Paulo Fórum (FSP). The São Paulo Forum being the largest alliance of left-wing organizations within our hemisphere. I think it's about time DSA joined the left in our hemisphere rather than turning a blind eye to that. I think that's critically important as well. And as far as specific projects go, which the IC, in my perfect world, would be engaging in, imagining this is a world where that resolution has passed: (1) Colombian presidential elections in May. That's going to be critically important. And (2) Brazilian presidential elections in November. Wow. That's also going to be critically important.

And once again, I hope that's just scratching the surface. I hope we get to a place where we're able to do brigades to other places. I'd love to do a brigade to Vietnam. How cool would that be? There's so many different movements we can learn from, so many different people that could use proper U.S. support, proper U.S. socialist support. And in my mind, the socialist left in the United States, just generally the left in the United States, the progressive left of the United States, in some ways, we've been behind on foreign policy for a while now. And once again, having the war machine here, the military-industrial complex here, we have a responsibility to fix that. We have a responsibility to do more for our comrades and our friends all across the world and really, really begin to build actual sustainable, long-term links with them. Hopefully that's where our organization is headed. We'll see.

SHEEN KIM One thing we had was, how have you kind of contended with Western chauvinism, especially working with Latin America and just anti-imperialism generally? This seems to be an important theme for those of us struggling within reactionary institutions—what lessons are there to draw, and most importantly, what can we do to help in the fight?

AG I think, if anything, that makes it doubly important to be fighting on that terrain. To be fighting within a reactionary environment, for instance, to be unafraid to be pro-Palestine. It's been amazing to me to see the way that even the national conversation has changed on that. There were people within DSA that were very wary of us doing what we did in Venezuela. They were very wary of actually meeting with Maduro. So once again, my perspective is that things like that are important. Right? How can we ever expect to change the narrative or to change the perspective that people have on socialism if we aren't very bold in the things that we do? That if we aren’t very bold in embracing socialist projects, like the ones that exist in Venezuela.

I think, critically, the way that this can manifest itself in a very real-world way—and to me, this is something that I would love to see from all DSAs and YDSAs—is an effective anti-sanctions campaign. An effective anti-blockade campaign. We don't necessarily have to be out here doing rallies, waving Venezuelan flags or like flags of Che or whatever, even though I might enjoy that. Let's drop the sanctions. Let's end the blockade right now. I think those are the sorts of conversations, ideally, that I like to think, even in a reactionary environment, people can look at those sorts of things and be like, “you know, it is kind of messed up that we're sanctioning this government. It is kind of messed up that we have an embargo on Cuba right now.” Maybe that's my optimistic, naive side coming out. I don't know. But once again, I think things like that are critically important. And I think emphasizing a commitment to foreign policy is once again doubly important in reactionary environments in the United States just because of how backward our country is on foreign policy.

IS To follow up on this, what are good ways for people that are sort of unaware or out of the loop on these things—in the ongoing developments in the Global South and stuff—to keep aware?

And then secondly, just listening to you talk, it's very interesting how it seems online and for people that are not involved directly with stuff, that there's a lot of dogmatism and much more hardline stances on different places, and people just are not willing to budge. But it seems that within the DSA, it's a lot more communicative. There's a lot more of a reasonable dialogue happening. And so, how is it that we can develop that sort of productive dialogue within our own spaces so that we can actually move forward on these questions?

AG Absolutely. So getting to that first question here, I think, our access to social media can be both a blessing and a curse—and in some ways kind of ties into the second part of your question there. I do my best, at least, to follow people on the ground. To use sources such as Twitter, through which you can follow people on the ground. Following people on the ground in these different countries, following people that are actually from these places to talk about where things are going towards... I think this is especially important for the situation that's ongoing in Haiti right now; to actually listen to Haitians and organizers and people that are living in Haiti. Well, what the hell actually is going on right now? I think finding those people is critically important. When it comes to the Venezuelan example, a book that I love to recommend to people as far as a reading, kind of to get started with that sort of thing, Building the Commune by George Ciccariello-Maher. It's just a nice little short book. It's a nice breezy read and a very simple one that I once again, I like to recommend to people as far as a kind of dipping your toes in with what's actually going on in Venezuela.

And once again, getting access to those sorts of resources: obviously, a resource like Telesur, is a decent resource when it comes to getting news, at least from that part of the world in particular. And, yes, The New York Times is not a good resource for that sort of thing. So it is very difficult. It is very difficult, especially living in the United States—living within the empire, to sift through these sorts of things.

I also went to London in late 2019 to canvas for Jeremy Corbyn and the Labor Party. Boris Johnson, of course, won. So that was extremely depressing. But when I was there, it was amazing how right-wing the media was. How if you went canvassing on the doors of average English people, it was shocking to me how many people would actually say to me, “I mean, I kind of like Labor, but Corbyn's an anti-Semite.” It was shocking to me. I actually heard people say that—like, “Jesus, is that a real thing that people have been brainwashed into believing?” So the need for more left-wing media is critically important.

And as far as the second part of your question there, regarding productive dialogue. I'm glad that we've been able to have productive dialogue like that. I would also perceive it to be productive dialogue. What are the biggest things that I've wanted to see come out of this Venezuela delegation was just that—actual dialog within the DSA. And maybe some of it on Twitter got a little testy at times, like I mentioned. I welcome these conversations rather than trying to hide in a closet somewhere. And, you know, ideological lines struggle, so to speak, so that we can confront our contradictions. Rather than act like our contradictions, even within DSA, don't exist. I just joined the national convention Slack. I love engaging with members of different tendencies. I love engaging members from, you know, a caucus or whatever who might disagree with me or whatever, because once again, I think it's so critically important for a leftist organization, for a socialist organization, to be confronting our contradictions, to be, dare I say, embracing our contradictions. So we can get to a place where we actually have where we have actual ideological struggle.

KC A final question: any advice you have for an emerging YDSA chapter like ours?

AG I think one of the biggest challenges that I see within YDSA that I think all YDSAs should be prepared for is leadership development. Preparing for people to lead the chapter when you guys are gone. I think too often I see within YDSAs you'll get a very active and engaged leadership. And as soon as they graduate, there's the engagement. Also, engaging with your community: engaging with different groups, you know, your local Black Lives Matter chapter, for instance.

KC Thank you a lot for coming and talking to us!

“I'm gonna tell all you fascists, you may be surprised/ People all over this world are getting organized”

Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote those words in 1944 and here in 2021 they ring truer than ever. The far-right is on the rise globally and socialists, communists, feminists, anarchists, and unionists are joining forces to fight back. Join Revolutions per Minute host Amy Wilson for an hour of antifascist story and song, featuring recordings from the DSA National Antifascist Working Group introductory call on July 11. We’ll hear from DSA members from Long Island, Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, and Portland on what they’ve done to build antifascist response in their community and the lessons they’ve learned. We also hear classic antifascist folk songs recorded specially for Revolutions per Minute. 

To learn more about the DSA National Antifascist Working Group, please visit https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/anti-fascist-working-group/ or follow @DSAAntifascist on Twitter.

Special credits for this episode go to Rob G for audio production, SAREEN for audio composition, and Dan Wyman of Sing in Solidarity, NYC-DSA’s music working group, for musical performance. We send our thanks as well to comrades who participated in this episode who would prefer to stay anonymous, and all those organizing to oppose the rise of fascism where they are.

Coulee DSA cares about creating a connection amongst our members, where we can form bonds that uplift one another, and our greater community. And there is no better way to build connections than spending time with one another!

Come join Coulee DSA for a late afternoon potluck at Chad Erickson Park, Sunday July 25th at 4 PM! (Facebook event here) It’s been a long year, and we hope that relaxed time together outside and with a good meal will help us connect!

CDSA will be providing the main course (vegetarian options also available) and we’d love for members and friends to bring sides, sweet treats, and drinks to share, as they are able.

If you have questions about the event, or upcoming socials and service activities through Coulee DSA, e-mail couleedsa@gmail.com

The post Coulee DSA Potluck 7/25 first appeared on Coulee DSA.

In 1959 the people of the small island nation of Cuba successfully rose up to overthrow the Tyrant Batista, a ruthless dictator supported and funded by the United States at the expense of the great people of Cuba. This event was a great Revolution to defend the lives of the Cuban people and break their chains set upon them by imperialist nations who only aimed to steal the Cuban people's resources and exploit the Cuban people's labor. Yesterday, July 12th, 2021, some say a new Revolution came about in Cuba, but we know this was no Revolution at all, but the exact effects of an embargo the United States has aimed for. We know that since the foundation of the Republic of Cuba the United States has isolated, invaded, threatened and embargoed the island nation of Cuba, wishing to turn the nation into a puppet of United States Imperialism. We applaud the Cuban Government in its ability to defy the bloody spectre of American Imperialist intervention and ask for all honest Socialists to do the same.

The people of Cuba will never be able to be comfortable until the economic warfare inflicted upon them by the United States comes to an end. To be an internationalist is to stand in solidarity with the working people of Cuba against the two big parties of Imperialism, our President which hopes for the collapse of Cuba, and our Government's embargo and obvious destabilization efforts. We plea for all Socialists, anti-Imperialists and defenders of the sovereignty of peoples to stand in solidarity with Cuba against the United States embargo and destabilization efforts and proclaim to the United States Government, which does represent the American people, to keep their hands off Cuba.

Amazon is building a warehouse in Davenport. The city is spending $3.9 million on road improvements and another $780,000 in infrastructure for the project. Quad Cities DSA strongly opposes this project. This project was negotiated with the city via a third party called Seefried Industrial Properties. Amazon did not negotiate directly with the city, denying […]

On June 22, the name India Walton skyrocketed into the mainstream after the DSA-endorsed candidate won the democratic primary for the Mayor of Buffalo. Walton was endorsed by Buffalo DSA and National DSA, as well as the DSA slate in Albany. When elected in November she will be the first socialist Mayor of a large city since 1960, but she joins a number of socialist, like Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, who are winning elections in the rust belt. Today we'll be joined by Steven Jackson from Buffalo DSA to talk about India Walton’s incredible victory and the rise of socialism in the rust belt.

 

Follow Buffalo DSA on Twitter at @BuffaloDSA  and on Instagram and Facebook

 

Visit www.IndiaWalton.com to support India's campaign

 

Join the Gas Bill Strike against National Grid's North Brooklyn Pipeline at www.nonbkpipeline.org/strike

 

 

In April of 1975, the CIA learned they had vastly underestimated the strength of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (referred to then as North Vietnam) and the Liberation Front of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong). It became increasingly apparent to the US military and political establishments that the capture of Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, was imminent. By this point the Vietnam war was entering its twentieth year, as Vietnamese people, influenced by the Marxist thought of Ho Chi Minh, had fought alternately against French colonialism and US militarism. The war had devastating consequences for Vietnam including poisoning millions of people with the effects of US chemical weapons, and rendering large swaths of land uninhabitable, but now North Vietnamese victory was well in sight. President Gerald Ford ordered that US military and intelligence personnel—as well as several South Vietnamese officials—be evacuated in what would signal the official end of the Vietnam war. The evacuation was completed on April 30, 1975, after which the army of North Vietnam captured the capital in what would become known as the Liberation of Saigon (or the Fall of Saigon, as it is known in the West.)^[5]

On May 23, 2016 US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken—now the current Secretary of State—published an article on his personal Medium account with the headline “On the Future of US-Vietnam Relations” in which he praised the Obama administration’s efforts to strengthen relations between the US and Vietnam. He praised the proposal of the Trans Pacific Partnership, as well as the advancements made by the Vietnamese people in the last few decades (he did not mention the war outright.) Blinken writes, “[The] United States and Vietnam are increasingly collaborating on a range of issues of global importance from international peacekeeping to wildlife trafficking to maritime security, from climate change to civil nuclear energy to global health. Our vision for the future of the region is clear — one where disputes are settled openly and in accordance with the rule of law, businesses excel, innovation thrives, and opportunities abound especially for young people.”^[4]

Blinken’s article is a microcosm of the shift in US policy regarding Southeast Asia in the span of forty years after the Liberation of Saigon. That this shift happened in the space of one lifetime, much less that it happened at all, merits discussion and examination. Southeast Asia and the United States’ relationship with the countries therein reveal much about Washington’s goals with respect to trade, militarism, and indeed, its opposition to the government in Beijing.

Development of ASEAN

On August 8, 1967, the nations of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines signed the document that would convene the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known thereafter as ASEAN. By 2000, ASEAN had expanded to include the nations of Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Listed fifth in the ASEAN Declaration’s purposes of the association is “to collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples.”^[9] ASEAN nations are among the most resource-rich on the planet, which has not gone unknown by neoliberal economists in the United States. Southeast Asia is mainly tropical, with numerous sources of fresh water which yields vast amounts of arable land to grow warm-weather fruits and sugar cane. Southeast Asia also possesses great mineral wealth including petrochemical deposits in the South China Sea. All this is in conjunction with Southeast Asia’s geographic position between the Andaman and South China Seas, making it a hub for some of Asia’s most important trade routes.^[10]

However the nations and peoples of Southeast Asia have historically been denied the ability to gain wealth and power from these resources due to the legacy of colonialism. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries most of ASEAN countries were colonially occupied by European powers such as France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and the UK. During the second world war, the Empire of Japan colonized Southeast Asia in order to provide Tokyo with resources and labor for the war effort. And of course, the United States military has occupied Vietnam and the Philippines. Despite the deep history of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the 1967 ASEAN declaration was not explicitly anti-colonial or anti-imperialist, instead containing in the preamble that “all foreign bases are temporary and remain only with the expressed concurrence of the countries concerned and are not intended to be used directly or indirectly to subvert the national independence and freedom of States in the area,” a statement included to acknowledge concerns over the US’ expanding participation in the Vietnam War.^[9]

Socialist observers should also note the institution of ASEAN was made possible owing to the strong anti-communist sentiments of its founding governments.^[11] Both Malaysia and Singapore had elected neoliberal governments since gaining independence.^[12] The Philippine government under Ferdinand Marcos was growing increasingly amenable to US political support to entrench his power.^[13] Thanom Kittikachorn, the military dictator of Thailand had presided over numerous attacks on protesters and crackdowns against calls for democracy in the name of stomping out communist influence.^[14] And Indonesia, under the military dictatorship of Suharto, had carried out mass killings of communists and supporters of the now-ousted communist government. Most importantly, Suharto’s coup and purges were materially and logistically supported by the US military, officials, and CIA.^[8]

After the communist victory in the Vietnam War and the growth of communist influence in Cambodia and Laos, the five ASEAN countries met to clarify the purpose of the organization, and agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Articles 2 and 11 of the treaty call for each nation to be free from interference in their internal affairs from both external sources and other ASEAN governments. The treaty does not define the scope of what is meant by “interference” nor does the treaty use the language of anti-colonialism or anti-imperialism at all. The lack of this kind of specificity would ultimately leave ASEAN open to invasion by foreign capital the moment that invasion would be possible.

At first the nations of ASEAN (including Brunei after 1984) attempted to grow their economies by trading primarily with each other, which failed because most ASEAN members could not justify such massive imports while also producing national surpluses. Thus, by the 1990s the economies of Southeast Asia began attempting to attract foreign capital and corporations under the euphemistic term “foreign direct investment.”^[11] This growth strategy culminated in the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which resulted from speculation and divestment of foreign capital from Thailand, causing a cascading crash that stagnated rising wages and collapsed the export markets of ASEAN. This crisis was compounded by US support for Southeast Asian regimes that would accede to neoliberal economic policy, as well as IMF trade policies that favored capital over the Southeast Asian working class.^[16]

ASEAN, Washington, and Beijing

The late 90’s also saw Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia each attain full membership of ASEAN. The increased membership prompted ASEAN to revise both its collective trade policy as well as the organization’s stance on human rights. Though with regards to the latter concern, ASEAN members have agreed to abide by their policy of noninterference, the organization has shifted their economic model to one largely favoring imports and exports, refining raw materials into consumable products. The story of the exploitation Southeast Asia can be seen in the structure of its exports to other countries: every member state of ASEAN (except Myanmar and Indonesia) imports and exports more as a percentage of their GDP than the global average.^[17] Of the exports of ASEAN nations the most common include electronics parts, and integrated circuits, raw metals such as copper, nickel, and iron, petroleum both crude and refined, clothing and footwear items, and tropical plant products such as rubber, bananas and palm oil.^[18] These exports are not driven by serendipitous surpluses in ASEAN countries, but rather to fulfill the United States’ desire for inexpensive electronics, tropical fruits, and oil.

Because presence in global trade is a central concern of both the governments of the United States and China, both nations have taken initiative in cementing trade relations with ASEAN countries. Both the United States and China are one of the top five export partners for every single ASEAN nation (except for Brunei).^[18] But because Washington cannot pass up a chance to obstruct Beijing’s operations anywhere, these trade relationships too have become a front in the US-China conflict.

I’ve written here before about Washington’s intrusion into the South China Sea sovereignty dispute, but one aspect frames the dispute. In December 2019 Admiral John C. Aquilino, now the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, claimed that Beijing’s installations on the South China Sea “absolutely have military purpose in order to present an optic to partners and nations in the region that show military strength and ultimately coerce and bully the nations in the region.”^[20] By using the language of bullying Admiral Aquilino de-emphasizes the US’ role in the South China Sea conflict, claiming to be acting on behalf of nations in the region whom an empowered Beijing might be a danger to. Four ASEAN nations (Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines) have conflicting claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, which Washington is eager to exploit to build an international bloc ready to conflict with Beijing. Even countries with no territorial disputes with Beijing might be persuaded to join such a bloc if the US can stoke fears of Beijing’s expanding influence well enough.

However Washington is not only in willful ignorance of the consequences of raising alarm over militarism, it also appears to be in willful ignorance of the flaws in its own strategy. For one, although ASEAN members have similarly-sized export relations with the United States and China, all ASEAN members are far more reliant on China for imports of raw materials to manufacture goods for export. Washington cannot feasibly ask the governments of ASEAN to withdraw from these relationships while maintaining their current economic models. Furthermore, China has much older and closer cultural and linguistic ties with the nations of ASEAN than the United States. And thirdly, Washington’s insistence on setting the rules for human rights (while it violates those rules both domestically and abroad) is bound to become irksome for ASEAN nations  Particularly, the governments of the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, and Brunei would be the most reluctant to subscribe to the US’ inconsistent vision of human rights.

The case of Vietnam is of particular interest as it is the ASEAN member whose relationship with both Washington and Beijing has changed the most rapidly. Hanoi has South China Sea disputes with Beijing, which Washington has capitalized on, pledging greater military cooperation with the country in maritime affairs, and becoming Vietnam’s largest export destination. The Blinken article quoted at the beginning of this piece reflects Washington’s endeavor to tempt Hanoi into an anti-Beijing bloc by deepening trade, military, and scientific ties. But even so the specter of war still remains and Hanoi remembers that it enlisted Beijing’s help to fight off the imperialism of the United States even as the direct effects of the Vietnam War grow more remote.^[6] To this end Hanoi has vocally rebuffed attempts to “undermine” its relationship with Beijing, as observers try to explain Hanoi’s tenuous position.^[3]

The Effects of Imperialism

A 2021 survey from the ISEAS-Yusok Ishak Institute gathered poll respondents from all ten ASEAN nations about ASEAN-specific political issues. The surveyors asked “If ASEAN were forced to align itself with [either China or the United States], which should it choose?” and found that 61.5% of respondents chose the United States, up from 53.6% the year prior. Immediately after, the survey team asked another question: “ASEAN is caught in the crossfire as Beijing and Washington compete for influence and leadership in Southeast Asia. How should ASEAN best respond?” The survey found an outright majority, 53.8% said that ASEAN should build “resilience and unity to fend off pressure from the two major powers.” Another 30% of respondents believed that ASEAN continuing its policy of non-alignment was best.^[15]

Many pundits and opinion writers from major news outlets were quick to give their interpretations of the first question while ignoring the second. The popular interpretation among these pundits was that the people of ASEAN have greater faith that the incoming Biden administration would serve their strategic interests, as opposed to the Trump administration who acted as if all international relations were categorically destructive to the United States.^[24] This interpretation is incomplete as the Biden administration has been wholly neglectful of Southeast Asian affairs and diplomacy. Of the ten ASEAN countries, only six have ambassadors from the United states that have been officially appointed. Of those six, only Vietnam has an ambassador nominated and appointed by the Biden administration. Both Washington and Beijing have arranged diplomatic tours of ASEAN nations centered largely on the ASEAN governments, neglecting the people.^[1][19]

As to the people of ASEAN, Washington believes it can win their popular support by stoking fears of Chinese influence, and using individual governments’ diplomatic grievances with Beijing as leverage. This approach is fundamentally misguided so long as the effects of US imperialism and economic hegemony are much more immediate to the people of Southeast Asia. It was the interests of the US capitalist class that caused the 1997 Asian financial crisis which robbed many Thai and Indonesia workers of their livelihoods. The United States has also, through its appetite for inexpensive consumer goods, altered the industry and export markets of Southeast Asia to satisfy consumer demand in the metropole. And in the case of Vietnam specifically, US corporations and their suppliers have been some of the most egregious violators of Vietnamese labor law.^[23] US military buildup in the South China Sea has also placed the people of Southeast Asia against their wishes on the front lines of a potential global armed conflict. If the best overtures Washington can make to the people of Southeast Asia is to become the primary game pieces in Washington’s new Cold War while having their industries consumed and their wealth expropriated by American interests, they’d be right to reject them.

Socialists and communists in the West must realize what’s at stake for the people of Southeast Asia, and the sheer breadth of education we must engage in to be understanding at all. The politics of the nations of Southeast Asia do not map easily onto typical western binaries of imperialist or anti-imperialist, capitalist or anti-capitalist, or even left vs. right. Against the wishes of the people of ASEAN, their fortunes are lassoed to those of Washington and, to a much lesser extent, those of Beijing. Imperialism has resulted, around the globe but in Southeast Asia particularly, that the peoples in possession of the greatest material wealth become the poorest as their surpluses are extracted to feed the appetites of consumers in the imperial metropole. To remedy these injustices, the governments doing business with the people of ASEAN must respect the dignity and well being of the people, which explicitly means that the extracted profits of the labor of the Southeast Asian working class must be returned to them, and  their communities be allowed to develop on their own terms. Thus anti-imperialism informs how the people of Southeast Asia deserve autonomy, and reprieve from the extractionist west, which has exploited them for several centuries too long.

Sources

1. https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/amid-chinese-push-us-official-to-visit-three-southeast-asian-nations/ – Amid Chinese Push, US Official to Visit Three Southeast Asian Nations
2. https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/china-and-the-us-who-has-more-influence-in-vietnam/ – China and the US: Who has more influence in ASEAN?
3. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/vietnam-vows-firmly-resist-schemes-undermine-relations-china – Vietnam Vows to ‘Firmly Resist’ Schemes to Undermine Relations with China
4. https://medium.com/foggy-bottom/on-the-future-of-us-vietnam-relations-fea6c43997ff – On the Future of US-Vietnam Relations
5. https://www.thoughtco.com/vietnam-war-fall-of-saigon-2361341 – A description of the liberation of Saigon
6. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lam-vietnam-liberation-defeat-day-20150430-story.html – An op-ed about the current Vietnamese peoples’ perspectives on the end of the Vietnam war (I’ve become more critical of this one as I’ve researched more so tread carefully)
7. https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/biden-leaves-asean-in-the-diplomatic-cold/ – The Biden administration’s numerous flubs with respect to ASEAN cooperation
8. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/ – An explanation of the US’s role in an anti-communist purge in Indonesia in the 60’s
9. https://asean.org/the-asean-declaration-bangkok-declaration-bangkok-8-august-1967/ – Text of the original Bangkok declaration
10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080251165500132 – A summary of the natural resources possessed by Southeast Asian nations
11.  https://www.efsas.org/publications/articles-by-efsas/the-asean-way-regional-integration/ – An explanation of “The ASEAN Way” and how the current country governments plan to mix with the global economy
12. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24491269?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents – A criticism of the implementation of capitalism in Malaysia
13. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/23/mart-s23.html – A socialist retrospective of the government of Ferdinand Marcos
14. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jun/21/guardianobituaries.johnaglionby – An obituary of Thanom Kittikachorn describing his regime’s multiple crimes against humanity
15. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-State-of-SEA-2021-v2.pdf – The State of Southeast Asia 2021 survey results
16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14672710121733 – A economist’s class-based analysis of the 1997 Asia financial crisis
17. Imports and Exports as a percent of GDP of world countries, World Bank
18. OEC trade profiles for Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia
19. https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-east-asia-china-asia-southeast-asia-cae32a9616686a6d3732326a1acff432 – China hosts Southeast Asian ministers
20. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/14/us-navy-commander-china-bullying-southeast-asian-neighbours/ – US Navy officer claims China’s SCS actions are “bullying.”
21. https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2124795/thailand-must-get-its-act-together-on-us – Bangkok Post opinion on how Thailand could take lead on US-ASEAN relations
22. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/07/indonesia-china-jokowi-natuna-sea-military-bri-cooperation-biden-united-states/ – Opinion piece on Indonesia’s relations with China
23. https://www.borgenmagazine.com/vietnamese-factory-workers/ – US culpability in the suffering of the Vietnamese working class
24. https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/04/01/what-southeast-asia-wants-from-the-biden-presidency/ – Analysis of the ASEAN survey

Thursday, July 8th, 2021, Newark NJ

This weekend in Newark, the North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) will be kicking off a very socialist summer. Local DSA members and their comrades will be leading a host of events across the city on Saturday, July 10th, and Sunday, July 11th. Between political education discussions and rallies, to tenant organizing and mutual aid, we’re painting Newark red. Here’s what’s going on, and how to get involved:

Friday, July 9th

Start the weekend off early and join our #FreeThemAll phonezap, hosted by DSA organizers and coalition partners across New Jersey and New York. Build up to Sunday’s immigration justice rally by targeting the politicians that allow ICE detention to continue in NJ jails. 12:00pm over Zoom.

Saturday, Juy 10th

North NJ DSA member and Newark activist, Chigozie Onyema, is kicking off his candidacy to represent the West Ward in Newark’s City Council! The campaign launch will be from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Akwaaba Gallery.

And our Caucus of Rank-and-file Education Workers (CREW) is meeting to discuss getting cops out of schools. Join teachers and organizers in Branch Brook Park from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Sunday, July 11th

At noon on Sunday the 11th, DSA is organizing a rally with the Abolish ICE NY-NJ coalition to demand releases, not transfers, of people from ICE detention. While the state legislature approved a bill to ban future ICE contracts, the current ICE jails in NJ are dangerously transferring people to other detention centers around the country. Join us in the fight to unite the working class against the racism and nationalism of our borders! 12:00pm at the Rodino Federal Building.

Meanwhile, our housing justice working group continues its efforts to build a tenants union and confront the landlord of Ivy Hill Apartments, which is the largest, privately owned housing complex in the state. It is rife with building issues like rodents and roaches, security issues, and tenant harassment by management, including illegal evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. DSA is joining with Homes for All Newark, Brick City Mutual Aid, and Newark Water Coalition to canvass the buildings, distribute know your rights materials, get tenants to sign a petition, and join an organizing committee. Join us at 1:00pm!

And Brick City Mutual Aid will be conducting its regular monthly food and resource share at Peter Francisco Park! We share food, water, hygiene, and self care products unconditionally with the community as well as engage people on issues happening in and around the city. On our tables you can also find water from Newark Water Coalition, Naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips, zines on police abolition, tenant’s and immigrant’s rights, where to get vaccinated and more. Come say what’s up on the second Sunday of every month. 12:00pm to 2:00pm.
Newark has long been home to radical thinking, activism, and community organizing. The North NJ DSA is grateful to play a part in this legacy today, learn from the Newark community, and grow the movement for democratic socialism together. Next weekend is just the start to what will be another summer of socialism! With so much going on, stay up-to-date by following @NorthNJDSA on Twitter and @north_nj_dsa on Instagram.

The post DSA Big Big Newark July Weekend first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Insider NJ July 8, 2021, 2:01 pm

NEWARK — This weekend in Newark, the North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) will be kicking off a very socialist summer. Local DSA members and their comrades will be leading a host of events across the city on Saturday, July 10th, and Sunday, July 11th. Between political education discussions and rallies, to tenant organizing and mutual aid, we’re painting Newark red. Here’s what’s going on, and how to get involved:…..

https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/democratic-socialists-host-action-packed-weekend-newark/

The post Democratic Socialists to Host Action-Packed Weekend in Newark first appeared on North NJ DSA.