Ferguson and the Islamic State: Two Sides of Malcolm's American Nightmare
by Danny Haiphong
“Ferguson's rebellion is exposing the deepening contradiction between America's Black elite and the eroding conditions of the oppressed masses.”
Malcolm X's work remains prophetic nearly five decades since his assassination. In a 1964 speech at the University of Ghana, Malcolm proclaimed that "for the twenty million of us in America who are of African descent, it is not an American dream; it's an American nightmare." It was Malcolm's staunch internationalism, however, that spoke to the global character of America's nightmare. Malcolm X connected the struggle of African people, Vietnamese people, and that of anti-colonial forces all over the world to the internal oppression of Black America in the US. For the last few weeks, the Black rebellion in Ferguson and the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria have dominated corporate media airwaves. These developments necessitate a revival of Malcolm's analysis of the "American nightmare" in the 21st century.
The Black rebellion in Ferguson has arisen from the ashes of the Black liberation movement. Domestic state repression and reform put a halt on the growing Black liberation movement during the mid 20th century. Malcolm's teachings inspired many Black Americans, especially young Black Americans, to take whatever means necessary to achieve lasting freedom. Organizations such as SNCC, the Black Panther Party, and the Black Liberation Army were a direct threat to the nightmare of American white supremacy and capitalism. However, despite the joint efforts to "neutralize" the Black liberation movement, state repression was not enough to dampen Black upheaval. It was the combined failure of repression and America's transition into a post-industrial, finance capital-ruled empire that forced a change in the character of white supremacy.
The establishment responded by creating a sharp class distinction in the Black community while preparing the conditions for a policy of mass incarceration and austerity. The Black misleadership class was a new and improved buffer between Black revolution and white supremacy. Black misleaders occupied seats in Congress, police administrations, and municipal offices reserved for willing defendants of white capitalist crimes. For many years, the service of this class of Black misleaders created a formidable barrier to radical political organization. However, Ferguson's rebellion is exposing the deepening contradiction between America's Black elite and the eroding conditions of the oppressed masses.
“The Black misleadership class was a new and improved buffer between Black revolution and white supremacy.”
Ferguson is a profound indication that only "stronger stuff" will truly redress the nightmare of white supremacy and American capital. Black Ferguson's courageous stand is deeply rooted in the fact that presently, conditions for Black America are in many ways worse than the nightmare Malcolm described. Black Americans make up the vast majority of the nearly three million people locked up in the largest prison state in the history of humanity. Law enforcement murders a Black American nearly every day. Surveillance and police harassment encompass every block of the Black urban landscape.
In the economic realm, the financial oligarchy has stripped Black people of public education, gainful employment, and whatever wealth Black America accumulated in the industrial period of US capital. Entire Black cities are being sold off to the financial ruling class as America reaches the highest stage of its gentrified, privatized nightmare. The Civil Rights era victories Black misleaders celebrate so enthusiastically have been whittled down to near irrelevancy by the Supreme Court and Washington. These conditions should make it no secret as to why Black Ferguson has yet to leave the streets. Michael Brown represents the true face of Black America's exploited majority.
What does the Islamic State (IS) have to do with Ferguson? When Malcolm spoke of the American nightmare, he made it explicitly clear that Black America and the peoples of the world shared a common enemy. This was during a period in the early to mid 60's where the globe was embattled in anti-colonial struggles for national independence and socialism. Whether it was Ghana, Vietnam, or the Black American ghetto, resistance forces were in a life and death war for liberation against American imperialism. In 2014, the enemy of white supremacy and global capital is the same. However, the rise of IS in Syria and Iraq is the most blatant sign of American imperial decline, a development that must be part of a new narrative reviving Malcolm's internationalism in this period.
The video of James Foley's decapitation at the hands of IS, whether real of fake, is one catastrophe in a line of many since the US imperialist alliance declared a "War on Terror" in 2001. America's "War on Terror" is a nearly thirteen-year war to create terrorism in the service of the imperialist ruling class. In 2011, "War on Terror" imperial strategists calculated that direct military intervention had produced neither the economic nor military advantage sought by the ruling class. Iraq was regaining stability after US-made lies brought the nation under imperialism's murderous occupation. Over this same period, Iran, Russia, China, and Syria were compelled to make moves toward an independent economic and political bloc to counter the US imperial alliance of Israel, NATO, and the Gulf states. Something had to be done to preserve US imperial hegemony.
“The rise of IS in Syria and Iraq is the most blatant sign of American imperial decline.”
So in 2011, the CIA worked in collaboration with the NATO-GCC-Israeli alliance to launch a proxy offensive in the Middle East and North Africa. The imperial alliance funneled millions of dollars worth of covert intelligence and military support for a jihadist terrorist network trained in the border regions of Syria, most notably Turkey and Jordan. NATO bombed Libya to put the jihadists in power. This ruined a socialist economy and created an uncontrollable chaos in the region. Imperialism continued to fuel mercenary terror in Syria, only be pushed back by the Syrian people. Now, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has emerged as the most powerful Takfiri group in a cesspool of imperialist-backed terror organizations. Abu Bakr Al-Bagdadi, the proclaimed leader of IS, has threatened to destabilize Iraq, Syria, and the entire Middle East region to achieve its ultimate objective of establishing a global Islamic Caliphate.
According to Eric Snowden, Israel’s Mossad trained Al-Bagdadi while he was imprisoned in Iraq during the US occupation. Covert imperialist sponsorship of IS as a whole is part and parcel of a larger imperial strategy. Israel, US-NATO, and the GCC each share the desire to balkanize the Middle East. This is well documented in NATO's circulated map of a "New Middle EAST" and Israel's "Yinon Plan" and "Clear Break" documents. Proxy war in Syria and Iraq is paving a path to destabilize Iran, which if successful, would provide an imperialist-friendly terrain for permanent military and economic activity for the US-NATO-GCC alliance. A carved up Middle East would also give Israel the needed political space to complete its project of regional expansion from Egypt to the Euphrates, an imperial mission the Zionist entity labels "Greater Israel."
It should come as no surprise then that US imperialism is revisiting the possibility of conducting airstrikes on Syria as a response to IS's growth. Yet, just as Washington won't admit its complicity in the occupation of the Black community by local police, it certainty will not and cannot admit its complicity in the creation of IS. US imperialism cannot afford regional Libya-like scenario where IS takes regional political power. The fear of terrorism's imperial architects is a clear indication that the rulers of the "American Nightmare" and its regional allies are stuck in a contradiction they cannot resolve.
“The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has emerged as the most powerful Takfiri group in a cesspool of imperialist-backed terror organizations.”
IS understands the political leverage it has over its imperialist sponsors. It knows that imperialism must continue supporting IS or risk independent development in the region. The imperial military and intelligence apparatus cannot eliminate the march of the Caliphate, yet must make pathetic attempts to curb it. The current quagmire imperialism finds itself in threatens to send the entire imperialist alliance into self-inflicted demise, all in the name of "humanitarian intervention."
Because imperialism's "humanitarian" demise will make much of the globe its cannon fodder, it is time for the left to prepare the conditions for a new social system. This will require the formation of international alliances envisioned by Malcolm X. White supremacy daily assassinates Michael Brown's humanity at the same time that it erases the Iraqi and Syrian people's self determination in the fight against IS. The oppressed peoples of imperialism's savagery are the natural allies of oppressed people in the belly of the nightmare. It will be up to resistance forces in the US to build alliances with the peoples of the world fighting both US imperialism and its proxy foot soldiers. We need a strong movement at home, but we also need friends abroad. Nothing less is required to defeat the American Nightmare.
Danny is an activist and case manager in the Greater Boston Area. Danny can be reached at wakeupriseup1990@gmail.com.
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