Letters from Our Readers

Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor

06 Mar 2019

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Social imperialists and Green Party strategy were major topics of discussion this week. Strong responses came for “The Words and Deeds of Social Imperialists” and “Facing 2020 and Bernie 2.0: What the Greens Must Do.”

In “The Words and Deeds of Social Imperialists” Glen Ford critiques self-styled “socialists” like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez that have no solidarity with real strugglers against imperialism in the world.

Richard Kidd writes:

“I couldn’t agree more with everything you said, and I’m so glad someone finally said it. There’s one thing you might have added, however – Bernie’s transparent hypocrisy regarding the Bolivarian Revolution. Chavez and Maduro have made mistakes, to be sure, but there’s plenty of well-documented evidence attesting to their improvements in poverty reduction, health care, education, and housing, among other things. Aren’t these exactly the sorts of issues that Bernie keeps railing on about? But – surprise, surprise – no mention of them in his spineless assessment of the current situation! So what’s good for the U.S. isn’t good for Venezuela? Come on, Bernie.”

Brian Mier writes:

“This reminds me of the 38 consecutive articles in Jacobin that attacked the Brazilian PT party from 2014-2017.”

In “Facing 2020 and Bernie 2.0: What the Greens Must Do” Bruce Dixon presents strategies for the Green Party to wage a strong presidential campaign.

Kathleen Murphy writes

“We must demand our union reps to stop supporting billionaire agendists like the Democrat party by refusing to pay union dues. How about a workers movement that refuses to pay union dues to the Democrat party. No one should ever be forced by law to donate money to a political party that does not represent them (like the republocrats or the demoblicans, ‘right’ and ‘left’ fists of corporate rule.)

“I want my workers union to support the Green Party. I want my workers union to stop betraying us.
I heard there's a new law that says workers are no longer forced to pay dues to a union. So, if we all were to organize a new movement within the ranks of unions to withdraw our dues and force our unions to support Green Party candidates, maybe we could help affect a real move AWAY from the ‘right’ and ‘left’ fists of the 1%.”

It is great to see concrete policy proposals being added to the debate by readers. We will have to keep up discussions at a high level to find the best strategies for the Black Left in 2020 and beyond.

Jahan Choudhryis Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

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