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


  • The Ukraine Crisis Can't Save Biden
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Ukraine Crisis Can't Save Biden
    20 Apr 2022
    The U.S. propaganda victory over Russia will do Joe Biden and the democrats little good. Their willingness to act on their promises and meet the people's needs will be the deciding factors in…
  • Ukraine: A New Consensus on Whiteness?
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ukraine: A New Consensus on Whiteness?
    20 Apr 2022
    The Biden administration and corporate media cover up the existence of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine. They are disappeared from the official narrative in order to get public buy-in for…
  • MANIFESTO: Africa in the Post-War World, San Francisco, April 1945
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: Africa in the Post-War World, San Francisco, April 1945
    20 Apr 2022
    When a new international order came into being with the organization of the United Nations in 1945, African people proposed their own visions for the post war world.
  • The Battle Against COVID-19 in Shanghai: A Human Rights Disaster?
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Battle Against COVID-19 in Shanghai: A Human Rights Disaster?
    20 Apr 2022
    China's "zero covid" strategy prevented the large number of deaths seen in the United States. But the challenges of stopping the Omicron variant in Shanghai, a city of 25 million people,…
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Matthieu Chapman
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Matthieu Chapman
    20 Apr 2022
    This week’s featured scholar is Matthieu Chapman. Dr. Chapman is Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz.  His essay is “‘Away, You Ethiop!’: A…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us