Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Rep. Keith Ellison, the Personification of the Phony, Pro-War “Progressive”
01 May 2013
🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

Hard right Republican Senator John McCain and Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison both support no-fly zones over Syria. That's because, on U.S. imperial policy, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between between the pro-war Left and the Right.

 

Rep. Keith Ellison, the Personification of the Phony, Pro-War “Progressive”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“Ellison is part of the pro-war Left, whose primary mission is make self-described liberals and leftists comfortable supporting imperial wars.”

Keith Ellison, the Black U.S. House member from Minneapolis who is co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, says the U.S. should push for a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas in Syria. Ellison, who is also one of only two Muslim members of Congress, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, as did Republican Arizona Senator John McCain. It is a measure of how far to the right the Democratic Party has come under President Obama, that McCain, the war monger who likes to sing about bombing Iran, and Ellison, who claims to be a progressive, are in basic agreement over Syria. Both McCain and Ellison want no-fly zones, and both claim to prefer that there be no U.S. “boots on the ground” in country. Both are raving American imperialists who believe that the U.S. has not merely the right, but the obligation to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries. As Ellison, the phony progressive, puts it, “I don’t think the world’s greatest superpower, the United States, can stand by and do nothing” – which is, essentially, John McCain’s position.

Ellison has been advocating a no-fly zone for Syria for at least a year. Last May, he told U.S. News and World Report that so-called “safe zones” should be set up by the U.S. and its allies around the borders of Syria. Ellison made it quite clear that he sees such zones as a prelude to regime change. “I think the Libyan action was a good example of that,” he said.

“Both are raving American imperialists.”

On U.S. imperial policy, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between McCain, the hard-right Republican, and Ellison, who purports to be a progressive Democrat. Neither gives a damn about international law or the rights of smaller people’s to shape their own destinies. Ellison went to Saudi Arabia, the most socially backward rich country on the planet, and described the King as a “visionary leader.” He rejected George Bush’s troop “surge in 2007, by calling it “too little, too late.” Like Obama, he quibbles about whether U.S. wars are smart or dumb, too late or right on time, but never about the inherent right of the United States to wage war against the weaker nations of the world.

Ellison is part of the pro-war Left, which includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, whose primary mission is make self-described liberals and leftists comfortable supporting imperial wars. McCain can’t do that, but Ellison can. Amnesty International is shameless enough to use women’s rights as an excuse to support continued occupation of Afghanistan.

Much of the pro-war left has been forced by events to recognize that the U.S. and its allies are backing jihadist Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in Syria – people they wouldn’t like to have brunch with. Therefore, they now demand that the U.S. intervene to make sure that the jihadists don’t get their hands on chemical weapons. Thus, the pro-war left starts off by advocating U.S. intervention to facilitate the coming to power of the rebels, but in the end winds up demanding that the U.S. do whatever it can to stop these guys from taking power. Either way, it ends with U.S. intervention. John McCain and Keith Ellison pretend to be on opposite ideological ends, but they are like Jack and Jill walking up the same hill when it comes to the obligations and privileges of U.S. imperialism.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

 



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20130501_gf_EllisonProWar.mp3

More Stories


  • Kemi Badenoch
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Woman Chosen to Lead UK Conservative Party
    15 Nov 2024
    Roger McKenzie joins us to discuss Kemi Badenoch, a member of parliament in the UK, who was recently chosen to lead the Tories, the conservative party.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Liberal Arrogance and Hatred on Display After Trump Victory
    13 Nov 2024
    While Donald Trump is frequently called a fascist and is even compared to Adolph Hitler, some angry democrats are engaging in their own racist and eliminationist rhetoric in the wake of his impending…
  • The Editors, Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Peril of Mispronouncing “Parsley,” Sorayda Peguero Isaac, 2021
    13 Nov 2024
    Dominican author Sorayda Peguero Isaac on the persistence of anti-Haitianism.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Implications of a Second Trump Term for Working Class and Oppressed Peoples
    13 Nov 2024
    Irrespective of the rhetoric that characterized the campaign, the world’s majority will continue to be compelled to struggle against imperialist exploitation and oppression.
  • Jon Jeter
    Why Kamala Lost: The Democrats’ Anti-Black Electoral Strategy
    13 Nov 2024
    The Kamala Harris campaign for the 2024 presidential election was a display of the democratic party's willingness to abandon the most loyal segment of their base to remain fully committed to their…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us