“The Yankee Empire is in Irreversible Decline”: Cubans Respond to Trump’s Threats

Three weeks later, the ramifications of the unprecedented US attack on Venezuela continue to reverberate. The military action in itself provoked nearly unanimous condemnation among experts in international diplomacy and law and has been also been a tremendous source of pain for the families of the more than 100 people killed in the nearly two-hour operation on South American territory.

The illegal operation also sparked concerns about the consequences that such a unilateral measure taken by Washington will have on the region and on global geopolitics.

After the attack, several journalists asked Donald Trump directly if the next target would be Cuba, which his administration has been targeting by exacerbating the economic blockade and seizing Venezuelan tankers bound for the island. They repeated threats made by his own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, a declared opponent of the revolutionary government.

Trump’s ambiguous response to reporters sparked much speculation, until the US president himself wrote on Truth Social: “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided “Security Services” for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Despite threats, a massive march of nearly 500,000 people paraded through the streets of Havana to honor the 32 Cuban combatants who were killed in Venezuela. During the march, the country’s top leaders promised that they would not surrender in the face of renewed imperialist aggression.

Abel Prieto, Cuban writer and the president of Casa de las Américas, and Dr. José R. Cabañas, the director of the Center for International Policy Research and former Cuban ambassador to the United States, spoke to Peoples Dispatch to share their perspectives on the threats lodged by Trump and how the attack on Venezuela has transformed the region.

Regarding the regional impact of the US military action that resulted, among other things, in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Abel Prieto asserts that this is an act of extreme right-wing aggression that broke the most basic rules of international law and opens a new and dark chapter in the history of the Americas.

“What the Trump administration did in Venezuela was an act of fascist barbarism, completely illegal, against all norms of civilized coexistence between nations,” he said. “It represents the beginning of a sinister era where, as Ivan Karamazov said, ‘everything is permitted’ for the most powerful. It has been a blow to the Venezuelan people, to the Cuban people, and to all Latin American peoples.”

“However,” Prieto says, the attack has also turned the tide among the progressive movement, “I believe it has strengthened anti-imperialism and anti-fascism in all decent people, whether they are on the left or not. The Yankee Empire is in irreversible decline, and this makes it more violent and rabid.”

Dr. José R. Cabañas, for his part, affirms that the United States’ act of ignoring and destroying international law reveals a geopolitical purpose that cannot be hidden: “The full application of the Monroe Doctrine attempts to dominate the region’s natural resources, prevent countries such as Russia or China, but also the European Union as a whole, from developing preferential economic ties with Latin American and Caribbean nations. The actions of January 3 against Caracas and other subsequent actions have caused fear among certain political forces in the region, but at the same time have reinforced the independent national agenda of several governments that have demanded that the US develop bilateral relations based on greater equality and respect.”

An emboldened empire will be met with steadfast resistance

Regarding the growing danger facing Cuba following Washington’s more aggressive stance, Prieto states: “This supposed ‘victory’ [in Venezuela] has emboldened [the United States]. That is why there are threats against Cuba.”

We feel a mixture of pain and pride [for the 32 Cuban combatants killed on January 3]. Pain, obviously, because 32 Cuban families have been brutally torn apart. Pride, because we know that they faced an enemy that was vastly superior in numbers and military technology, and that they fell with courage and honor, doing their duty. They are our heroes, and they will inspire us in the face of any new aggression.”

Dr. Cabañas agrees that the killing of the 32 Cuban soldiers in combat is already an act of aggression against Cuba: “At the moment, the most significant impact on Cuba has been the loss of our 32 heroes who fell defending the same ideals as our internationalists in Africa, Grenada, or other regions of the world. The imperial forces do not understand the ties between Venezuela and Cuba, which long predate the revolutionary processes of both nations. Their roots go back to the independence movements against the European colonial powers.”

In this regard, Prieto added that the defense of the Cuban Revolution will be carried out to the bitter end: “I don’t know how far these fascists, full of hatred and lacking in morals, will go to hurt Cuba. Our people are not afraid. They will defend their Revolution in the worst circumstances, without ever giving up.”

A long history of aggression and resistance

Perhaps that is why Cuba is the country that has known the most in the history of the entire continent about US hostility and boycotts against a sovereign government. Dr. Cabañas recalls: “Over the last 67 years, the United States has used every weapon possible to destroy the Cuban Revolution. In the 1960s, there were more than 100 CIA-armed gangs in the country that caused hundreds of deaths among the civilian population; there were several terrorist actions, from the invasion of Playa Girón to the persecution of Cuban ships on the high seas.”

The former diplomat recalled that this year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the worst CIA-backed terrorist attacks against Cuba “which claimed dozens of civilian victims. In the 1970s, strains of animal and human diseases were introduced into the country, causing great losses.”

He also recalled that the economic and commercial blockade is a US strategy of attrition that the Cuban people know better than anyone: “The blockade against Cuba was originally established in 1962, but it was updated in legislative bodies that were approved in 1992 and 1996. Not to mention the barrage of negative information against the country, trying to isolate it from the rest of the international community and cause frustration among the local population.”

In this regard, Dr. Cabañas recalls that for six decades, despite facing diverse and persistent attacks, the Cuban Revolution has creatively resisted and continued building a society that centers people’s needs and defies US interests for the region. “They have tried to use all means to destroy us and have failed in their essential purpose. Cuba faced the COVID-19 pandemic with its own resources and had five times fewer victims than the United States, which supposedly had all the resources to prevent thousands of deaths.”

Now, Dr. Cabañas says, Cuba faces the effects of an even stronger economic, commercial, and financial blockade, “But even under these circumstances, Cuba repeats the same question: how would the country progress if it were not the victim of that hostile policy, which is much older and much more complex than the recent events we are referring to now?”

Perhaps that is why Cuba has also been the country that has most vigorously rejected US intervention in Venezuela, not only through diplomatic communiqués, but also through the mobilization of masses who rejected an aggression that seems to loom as a possibility on its borders. Dr. Cabañas states: “Havana was perhaps the capital that, in a matter of hours, mobilized its population for a mass demonstration condemning the crimes committed against Venezuela. These demonstrations have spread throughout the country… Our government has repeatedly expressed Cuba’s historic position both in terms of solidarity with our Latin American and Caribbean brothers and sisters, and in terms of the respectful and equal relationship that the United States is obliged to have with its neighbors and with the international community as a whole.”

source: People’s Dispatch

“The Yankee Empire is in Irreversible Decline”: Cubans Respond to Trump’s Threats

Three weeks later, the ramifications of the unprecedented US attack on Venezuela continue to reverberate. The military action in itself provoked nearly unanimous condemnation among experts in international diplomacy and law and has been also been a tremendous source of pain for the families of the more than 100 people killed in the nearly two-hour operation on South American territory.

The illegal operation also sparked concerns about the consequences that such a unilateral measure taken by Washington will have on the region and on global geopolitics.

After the attack, several journalists asked Donald Trump directly if the next target would be Cuba, which his administration has been targeting by exacerbating the economic blockade and seizing Venezuelan tankers bound for the island. They repeated threats made by his own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, a declared opponent of the revolutionary government.

Trump’s ambiguous response to reporters sparked much speculation, until the US president himself wrote on Truth Social: “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided “Security Services” for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Despite threats, a massive march of nearly 500,000 people paraded through the streets of Havana to honor the 32 Cuban combatants who were killed in Venezuela. During the march, the country’s top leaders promised that they would not surrender in the face of renewed imperialist aggression.

Abel Prieto, Cuban writer and the president of Casa de las Américas, and Dr. José R. Cabañas, the director of the Center for International Policy Research and former Cuban ambassador to the United States, spoke to Peoples Dispatch to share their perspectives on the threats lodged by Trump and how the attack on Venezuela has transformed the region.

Regarding the regional impact of the US military action that resulted, among other things, in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Abel Prieto asserts that this is an act of extreme right-wing aggression that broke the most basic rules of international law and opens a new and dark chapter in the history of the Americas.

“What the Trump administration did in Venezuela was an act of fascist barbarism, completely illegal, against all norms of civilized coexistence between nations,” he said. “It represents the beginning of a sinister era where, as Ivan Karamazov said, ‘everything is permitted’ for the most powerful. It has been a blow to the Venezuelan people, to the Cuban people, and to all Latin American peoples.”

“However,” Prieto says, the attack has also turned the tide among the progressive movement, “I believe it has strengthened anti-imperialism and anti-fascism in all decent people, whether they are on the left or not. The Yankee Empire is in irreversible decline, and this makes it more violent and rabid.”

Dr. José R. Cabañas, for his part, affirms that the United States’ act of ignoring and destroying international law reveals a geopolitical purpose that cannot be hidden: “The full application of the Monroe Doctrine attempts to dominate the region’s natural resources, prevent countries such as Russia or China, but also the European Union as a whole, from developing preferential economic ties with Latin American and Caribbean nations. The actions of January 3 against Caracas and other subsequent actions have caused fear among certain political forces in the region, but at the same time have reinforced the independent national agenda of several governments that have demanded that the US develop bilateral relations based on greater equality and respect.”

An emboldened empire will be met with steadfast resistance

Regarding the growing danger facing Cuba following Washington’s more aggressive stance, Prieto states: “This supposed ‘victory’ [in Venezuela] has emboldened [the United States]. That is why there are threats against Cuba.”

We feel a mixture of pain and pride [for the 32 Cuban combatants killed on January 3]. Pain, obviously, because 32 Cuban families have been brutally torn apart. Pride, because we know that they faced an enemy that was vastly superior in numbers and military technology, and that they fell with courage and honor, doing their duty. They are our heroes, and they will inspire us in the face of any new aggression.”

Dr. Cabañas agrees that the killing of the 32 Cuban soldiers in combat is already an act of aggression against Cuba: “At the moment, the most significant impact on Cuba has been the loss of our 32 heroes who fell defending the same ideals as our internationalists in Africa, Grenada, or other regions of the world. The imperial forces do not understand the ties between Venezuela and Cuba, which long predate the revolutionary processes of both nations. Their roots go back to the independence movements against the European colonial powers.”

In this regard, Prieto added that the defense of the Cuban Revolution will be carried out to the bitter end: “I don’t know how far these fascists, full of hatred and lacking in morals, will go to hurt Cuba. Our people are not afraid. They will defend their Revolution in the worst circumstances, without ever giving up.”

A long history of aggression and resistance

Perhaps that is why Cuba is the country that has known the most in the history of the entire continent about US hostility and boycotts against a sovereign government. Dr. Cabañas recalls: “Over the last 67 years, the United States has used every weapon possible to destroy the Cuban Revolution. In the 1960s, there were more than 100 CIA-armed gangs in the country that caused hundreds of deaths among the civilian population; there were several terrorist actions, from the invasion of Playa Girón to the persecution of Cuban ships on the high seas.”

The former diplomat recalled that this year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the worst CIA-backed terrorist attacks against Cuba “which claimed dozens of civilian victims. In the 1970s, strains of animal and human diseases were introduced into the country, causing great losses.”

He also recalled that the economic and commercial blockade is a US strategy of attrition that the Cuban people know better than anyone: “The blockade against Cuba was originally established in 1962, but it was updated in legislative bodies that were approved in 1992 and 1996. Not to mention the barrage of negative information against the country, trying to isolate it from the rest of the international community and cause frustration among the local population.”

In this regard, Dr. Cabañas recalls that for six decades, despite facing diverse and persistent attacks, the Cuban Revolution has creatively resisted and continued building a society that centers people’s needs and defies US interests for the region. “They have tried to use all means to destroy us and have failed in their essential purpose. Cuba faced the COVID-19 pandemic with its own resources and had five times fewer victims than the United States, which supposedly had all the resources to prevent thousands of deaths.”

Now, Dr. Cabañas says, Cuba faces the effects of an even stronger economic, commercial, and financial blockade, “But even under these circumstances, Cuba repeats the same question: how would the country progress if it were not the victim of that hostile policy, which is much older and much more complex than the recent events we are referring to now?”

Perhaps that is why Cuba has also been the country that has most vigorously rejected US intervention in Venezuela, not only through diplomatic communiqués, but also through the mobilization of masses who rejected an aggression that seems to loom as a possibility on its borders. Dr. Cabañas states: “Havana was perhaps the capital that, in a matter of hours, mobilized its population for a mass demonstration condemning the crimes committed against Venezuela. These demonstrations have spread throughout the country… Our government has repeatedly expressed Cuba’s historic position both in terms of solidarity with our Latin American and Caribbean brothers and sisters, and in terms of the respectful and equal relationship that the United States is obliged to have with its neighbors and with the international community as a whole.”

source: People’s Dispatch

A Role for Africans In Exile: “Revolutionaries at Large”

As a small group of revolutionary guerrilla fighters trudges down a jungle path, they crave a chance to rest. Though none of the comrades have eaten in two days and their water supply is running low, it is imperative that they stay on the move to elude enemy combatants. They cautiously pick their way through the bush and ignore the strain of carrying rifles that seem to grow heavier with each step.

Through the palm fronds they are able to see a small village just ahead. One of the comrades steps carefully into the clearing and gestures toward a young woman carrying a bucket of water. There is panic in her eyes as she places an index finger over her lips to command silence. With hand gestures she directs the comrades to an area behind a cluster of small dwellings.

When the fighters and the young woman are safely concealed, she explains quickly that the oppressor regime’s soldiers have been patrolling the area. There is no need for the fighters to explain their mission. The young woman and the other villagers she quietly summons to provide food and water to the freedom fighters already know the enemy and they are committed to the success of the revolution.

Of most significance in the imagined scenario described above (which could occur in many countries in the Global South) is that everyone in that society, whether they be guerrillas, peasants, itinerant merchants or anyone else, intuitively if not consciously understands that the territory they occupy is theirs by right, and a clearly identifiable tyrant, settler minority or brutal regime deprives them of the opportunity to reap the full benefits of their land. Many icons of revolutionary struggle like Guevara, Cabral and Fanon have contemplated this type of society when they have spoken of revolutionary strategies, and this has caused frustration and confusion for those people of African descent in the U.S. who have wanted to wage revolution, but because they are a minority population not indigenous to the territory they occupy, their circumstances are very different from many areas where liberation struggles have been fought.

Specifically, because of the western hemisphere’s indigenous populations and the complicated history of settler colonialism in this country, for many Black people in the U.S. there is no universally shared belief that the land they occupy is rightfully theirs, and consequently there is no universal sense of loss of ancestral land that might fuel a fight to liberate territory. Additionally, because of devious deception, miseducation, gaslighting and propaganda, most Black people in America are unable to accurately identify their enemies. The only widely shared conviction is that Black communities suffer. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that Black people in the U.S. lack the unity of experience, thought and action found in societies where revolutions occur in an uncomplicated social, political, economic and historical context.

Because of their confusion and diversity of thought, Africans in the U.S. have alternately experimented with strategies to relieve their oppression that involve not only revolution, but also assimilation, integration, separation, repatriation, alliance, reparation, “delineation,” election, and in some cases racial treason. In this country there are Pan-Africanists, cultural nationalists, Democratic Party stalwarts, Black Republicans, so-called Foundational Black Americans, Marxists, New Afrikans, and many more. As a whole, Black people in the U.S. not only lack a unified political focus but also demonstrate no evidence that they will find one in the near future.

The Black Panther Party, the Black Power Movement, the New Afrikan Independence Movement, and many others have manifested instinctive as well as conscious resistance to oppression, and they have done what revolutionaries are expected to do with respect to their posture, rhetoric and programs. Yet, because of their circumstances, it has not been realistic for these groups and movements to single-handedly defeat the state and the capitalists who run it.

This has been a source of frustration for those Black revolutionaries who are mentally and emotionally wed to the notion that the target of their fight must be the government or regime that most directly dominates them. However, as a minority group in the U.S., Black people’s options for struggle are limited by many factors, including the chronic and perhaps incurable racial chauvinism of white workers, which limits even prospects for successful multi-racial class struggle in the U.S.

Black people may lament the fact that they are a powerless, exiled minority population with no inherent rights to the territory they occupy. But why mourn? Why not embrace the idea that their historically determined role may not be to (at this moment) seize North America, but rather to serve as revolutionaries at large rendering service to battles against imperialism elsewhere? Africans in America are part of something larger than the domestic struggle.

Huey Newton explained:

“The more territory we liberate in the world, the closer we will come to an end to all oppression. The common factor that binds us all is not only the fact of oppression but the oppressor, the United States Government and its ruling circle. We, the people of the world, have been brought together under strange circumstances. We are united against a common enemy.”

For organizations like the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and Black Alliance for Peace, international political work is nothing new. They are part of a long tradition of Black struggles for international solidarity. Nevertheless, the idea of a Black American “nation within a nation” that struggles for its own freedom here in the U.S. endures even among many who work on the international front. For purposes of managing expectations, it may be worth frankly acknowledging that, on their own, Africans in the U.S. will not bring about a day of glory when freedom fighters march triumphantly through the streets of Washington D.C. after overthrowing the government. This does not mean Black people in America lack the capacity and responsibility to fight. It is simply a question of how they can do it most effectively.

Black people in this country are in a unique position to in many ways strike lethal blows against the U.S. empire from within the proverbial belly of the beast that will contribute to victories in other countries. Already the campaign against U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has through the years become practically an institution that has almost certainly limited the expansion and impact of the U.S. military presence in Africa.

Also, the U.S. military can’t put boots on the ground in other countries if nobody wears them, and there is precedent for the Black community discouraging its young men and women from enlisting when there is a high risk that they will be asked to die for oil or other imperialist objectives. In addition, Black people in this country can directly engage members of the military and counsel them against participation in imperialist intervention.

More generally, when we observe that attitudes toward ICE raids have changed as more people have been able to process that the brutal nature of these deportation efforts is not an abstract idea, and that real people are harmed, we can see how Black people in the U.S. can likewise play a role in raising the level of awareness of the devastating impact of imperialist intervention on real people in other countries.

Finally, notwithstanding the fact that during an era when so many people have taken their cue from Trump and have approached, or even reached a state of spiritual death, a critical mass of African people in the U.S. are still people with faith in the divine creator, or they at least have a strong commitment to love. Even without conscious effort such people stand as a last line of defense against the broader population’s complete descent into a state of callous indifference or even hatred that gives free rein to unchecked imperialist violence everywhere.

The derivative benefit of giving highest priority to international political work is that the empire will not only be weakened and more vulnerable to domestic revolution, but also, when white workers in the U.S. finally wake up and with their beloved guns seize control of the government and economy, there will hopefully be revolutionary countries in the Global South poised to protect the Black minority in the U.S. from the racial bigotry of the white working class that is unlikely to evaporate simply because they will have won a battle against the capitalists.

There is an urgency to the mission of Black revolutionaries-at-large, because notwithstanding the bluff and bluster of the Trump regime, the U.S. capitalist economy is collapsing by the day. The wild, erratic military attacks on Venezuela and Nigeria as well as the insane threats to attack Cuba, Mexico and Greenland are evidence of the empire’s desperation for resources to bail itself out. The empire is teetering on the edge of a cliff. The moment quickly approaches when Black people in the U.S. will be in a good position through their international political work to help give U.S. imperialism a final good shove over the precipice and into the abyss.

Mark P. Fancher is an attorney and writer. He can be contacted at mfancher@comcast.net.

source: Black Agenda Report

A Role for Africans In Exile: “Revolutionaries at Large”

As a small group of revolutionary guerrilla fighters trudges down a jungle path, they crave a chance to rest. Though none of the comrades have eaten in two days and their water supply is running low, it is imperative that they stay on the move to elude enemy combatants. They cautiously pick their way through the bush and ignore the strain of carrying rifles that seem to grow heavier with each step.

Through the palm fronds they are able to see a small village just ahead. One of the comrades steps carefully into the clearing and gestures toward a young woman carrying a bucket of water. There is panic in her eyes as she places an index finger over her lips to command silence. With hand gestures she directs the comrades to an area behind a cluster of small dwellings.

When the fighters and the young woman are safely concealed, she explains quickly that the oppressor regime’s soldiers have been patrolling the area. There is no need for the fighters to explain their mission. The young woman and the other villagers she quietly summons to provide food and water to the freedom fighters already know the enemy and they are committed to the success of the revolution.

Of most significance in the imagined scenario described above (which could occur in many countries in the Global South) is that everyone in that society, whether they be guerrillas, peasants, itinerant merchants or anyone else, intuitively if not consciously understands that the territory they occupy is theirs by right, and a clearly identifiable tyrant, settler minority or brutal regime deprives them of the opportunity to reap the full benefits of their land. Many icons of revolutionary struggle like Guevara, Cabral and Fanon have contemplated this type of society when they have spoken of revolutionary strategies, and this has caused frustration and confusion for those people of African descent in the U.S. who have wanted to wage revolution, but because they are a minority population not indigenous to the territory they occupy, their circumstances are very different from many areas where liberation struggles have been fought.

Specifically, because of the western hemisphere’s indigenous populations and the complicated history of settler colonialism in this country, for many Black people in the U.S. there is no universally shared belief that the land they occupy is rightfully theirs, and consequently there is no universal sense of loss of ancestral land that might fuel a fight to liberate territory. Additionally, because of devious deception, miseducation, gaslighting and propaganda, most Black people in America are unable to accurately identify their enemies. The only widely shared conviction is that Black communities suffer. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that Black people in the U.S. lack the unity of experience, thought and action found in societies where revolutions occur in an uncomplicated social, political, economic and historical context.

Because of their confusion and diversity of thought, Africans in the U.S. have alternately experimented with strategies to relieve their oppression that involve not only revolution, but also assimilation, integration, separation, repatriation, alliance, reparation, “delineation,” election, and in some cases racial treason. In this country there are Pan-Africanists, cultural nationalists, Democratic Party stalwarts, Black Republicans, so-called Foundational Black Americans, Marxists, New Afrikans, and many more. As a whole, Black people in the U.S. not only lack a unified political focus but also demonstrate no evidence that they will find one in the near future.

The Black Panther Party, the Black Power Movement, the New Afrikan Independence Movement, and many others have manifested instinctive as well as conscious resistance to oppression, and they have done what revolutionaries are expected to do with respect to their posture, rhetoric and programs. Yet, because of their circumstances, it has not been realistic for these groups and movements to single-handedly defeat the state and the capitalists who run it.

This has been a source of frustration for those Black revolutionaries who are mentally and emotionally wed to the notion that the target of their fight must be the government or regime that most directly dominates them. However, as a minority group in the U.S., Black people’s options for struggle are limited by many factors, including the chronic and perhaps incurable racial chauvinism of white workers, which limits even prospects for successful multi-racial class struggle in the U.S.

Black people may lament the fact that they are a powerless, exiled minority population with no inherent rights to the territory they occupy. But why mourn? Why not embrace the idea that their historically determined role may not be to (at this moment) seize North America, but rather to serve as revolutionaries at large rendering service to battles against imperialism elsewhere? Africans in America are part of something larger than the domestic struggle.

Huey Newton explained:

“The more territory we liberate in the world, the closer we will come to an end to all oppression. The common factor that binds us all is not only the fact of oppression but the oppressor, the United States Government and its ruling circle. We, the people of the world, have been brought together under strange circumstances. We are united against a common enemy.”

For organizations like the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and Black Alliance for Peace, international political work is nothing new. They are part of a long tradition of Black struggles for international solidarity. Nevertheless, the idea of a Black American “nation within a nation” that struggles for its own freedom here in the U.S. endures even among many who work on the international front. For purposes of managing expectations, it may be worth frankly acknowledging that, on their own, Africans in the U.S. will not bring about a day of glory when freedom fighters march triumphantly through the streets of Washington D.C. after overthrowing the government. This does not mean Black people in America lack the capacity and responsibility to fight. It is simply a question of how they can do it most effectively.

Black people in this country are in a unique position to in many ways strike lethal blows against the U.S. empire from within the proverbial belly of the beast that will contribute to victories in other countries. Already the campaign against U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has through the years become practically an institution that has almost certainly limited the expansion and impact of the U.S. military presence in Africa.

Also, the U.S. military can’t put boots on the ground in other countries if nobody wears them, and there is precedent for the Black community discouraging its young men and women from enlisting when there is a high risk that they will be asked to die for oil or other imperialist objectives. In addition, Black people in this country can directly engage members of the military and counsel them against participation in imperialist intervention.

More generally, when we observe that attitudes toward ICE raids have changed as more people have been able to process that the brutal nature of these deportation efforts is not an abstract idea, and that real people are harmed, we can see how Black people in the U.S. can likewise play a role in raising the level of awareness of the devastating impact of imperialist intervention on real people in other countries.

Finally, notwithstanding the fact that during an era when so many people have taken their cue from Trump and have approached, or even reached a state of spiritual death, a critical mass of African people in the U.S. are still people with faith in the divine creator, or they at least have a strong commitment to love. Even without conscious effort such people stand as a last line of defense against the broader population’s complete descent into a state of callous indifference or even hatred that gives free rein to unchecked imperialist violence everywhere.

The derivative benefit of giving highest priority to international political work is that the empire will not only be weakened and more vulnerable to domestic revolution, but also, when white workers in the U.S. finally wake up and with their beloved guns seize control of the government and economy, there will hopefully be revolutionary countries in the Global South poised to protect the Black minority in the U.S. from the racial bigotry of the white working class that is unlikely to evaporate simply because they will have won a battle against the capitalists.

There is an urgency to the mission of Black revolutionaries-at-large, because notwithstanding the bluff and bluster of the Trump regime, the U.S. capitalist economy is collapsing by the day. The wild, erratic military attacks on Venezuela and Nigeria as well as the insane threats to attack Cuba, Mexico and Greenland are evidence of the empire’s desperation for resources to bail itself out. The empire is teetering on the edge of a cliff. The moment quickly approaches when Black people in the U.S. will be in a good position through their international political work to help give U.S. imperialism a final good shove over the precipice and into the abyss.

Mark P. Fancher is an attorney and writer. He can be contacted at mfancher@comcast.net.

source: Black Agenda Report