By Asoka Bandarag
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan.
19, 2021 (IPS) – According to the
mainstream narrative, President
Trump’s incitement of his supporters
during the certification
of Joe Biden’s electoral victory
led to the ‘insurrection’ at the
US Capitol on Jan. 6, resulting
in the banning of Trump’s social
media accounts and his second
impeachment by Congress.
According to so-called ‘conspiracy
theories,’ however, the
victory of the November Presidential
elections was ‘stolen’ from
Trump through electoral fraud
and the storming of the Capitol
was staged or allowed to happen
in order to impeach Trump and
prevent him from coming back
to power in 2024.
It may be even more complicated;
a report by the Swiss Policy
Research website, for example,
suggests that the right-wing
QAnon movement, heavily supportive
of Trump and prominent
at the event, like Russiagate, is
the product of an FBI psyop (psychological
operation) launched to
discredit Trump.
The public may never know the
truth behind the Jan. 6 events,
the mysterious ‘Deep State’ or the
growing polarization between socalled
pro-Trump white supremacist,
‘domestic terrorists’ and the
anti-Trump multicultural, progressive
liberals.
However, the search for peace,
justice and democracy at this
critical time requires transcending
simplistic polarizations and
understanding the systemic
roots of the conflict that is tearing
America apart.
Polarization
Donald Trump is a member
of the ruling elite representing
its own interests. His assaults on
the environment and mismanagement
Capitol Hill ‘Insurrection’
Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
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of the Covid pandemic
has put the entire country at
risk. While claiming to represent
the interests of the alienated and
underprivileged white population,
he introduced massive tax
cuts and corporate deregulation
worsening their social and economic
position.
His rhetoric against minorities
and immigrants has exacerbated
racial and ethnic tensions
and political extremism.
Joe Biden and the Democratic
Party, heavily funded by the billionaire
class, also represent elite
interests at the expense of the
general population. Under the
Obama administration, economic
inequality increased and Black
poverty, mass unemployment
and police brutality persisted.
The identity-focused rhetoric
of liberals has stimulated racial
and ethnic politics, and the rise
of groups like Black Lives Matter
(BLM). Often portrayed as progressive
and “radical,” BLM has
been significantly co-opted by
corporate liberal interest and has
received extensive funding from
leading corporations including
Amazon and Microsoft.
The corporate media has aided
and abetted disunity and violence
by silencing moderate and alternative
voices that seek to understand
and question the motives
and strategies of both pro and
anti -Trump extremists.
The polarization of politics
and media hinder and mask an
understanding and dialogue
needed to move forward. For
example, is there an equal risk
of fascism, albeit more insidious,
arising from the corporate liberals
opposing Trump?
Reclaiming Perspective
A handful of corporations
led by big tech and finance control
the US political process and
practically all aspects of society.
The overwhelming focus on
identity politics deflects attention
from the dangers of deepening
techno-corporate control
and the destruction of freedom
of speech.
The events of Jan. 6 have
already contributed to plans for a
federal law against ‘domestic terrorism’
and the criminalization
of dissent, which would likely be
based on the 2019 Confronting
the Threat of Domestic Terrorism
Act introduced by California
Representative Adam Schiff.
Anti-terrorism acts, such as the
Patriot Act, are notorious for
their use in crushing dissent and
marginalized groups.
Systemic violence and repression
are not new to the United
States. The noble ideals of
democracy, freedom and human
rights aside, the United States
was founded on plunder of the
land and exploitation of people
¬– Native Americans, Blacks,
Asians as well as underprivileged
whites.
Likewise, the American
Empire was established and
maintained with systematic plunder
and exploitation and massive
military and political interventions
around the world that continue
today.
The costly military adventures
(now up to 2021’s approved $740
billion military budget), along
with global economic shifts such
as manufacturing and job outsourcing
and displacement by
technology, impoverished large
segments of the US population,
both white and people of color.
Corporate deregulation and
the decimation of labor unions
weakened the working class and
strengthened corporate authoritarianism.
In recent decades,
Republican and Democratic parties
have differed little in their
pursuit of corporate and imperial
interests.
While the United States has
had a history of social movements
for people’s rights including
labor and civil rights, recent
initiatives for systemic change
have experienced serious setbacks.
The anti-globalization
movement that came to prominence
during the WTO (World
Trade Organization) meetings in
Seattle in 1999 was undermined
by the Patriot Act (with Joe Biden
being a key architect) and other
policies introduced soon after the
9/11 terror attacks.
The Occupy Wall Street movement
that emerged following the
2008 financial crisis and its slogan
‘We are the 99%’ brought
attention to the excesses of the
financial sector and growing economic
inequality. But this movement
also dissipated, largely due
to state and corporate tactics of
division, repression and propaganda
to reinstate the narrative.
In the electoral realm, despite
an unprecedented grass roots
movement backing him, Bernie
Sanders was blocked from winning
the Democratic presidential
nomination by the party elite in
both 2016 and 2020.
The ideals of true socioeconomic
reform have been squashed
and subverted by the liberal establishment
adopting the language
of the progressive left but equating
justice with racial and gender
diversity and downplaying economic
equality. This reframing
channels the progressive energy
away from threatening corporate
control and profit, into a safe
zone of identity politics, which
only further divides and disempowers
the general population.
Techno-oligarchy
Just as unemployed and uninsured
Americans are pleading for
support during the Covid crisis,
the combined wealth of US
billionaires ‘surpassed $1 trillion
in gains since March 2020 and
the beginning of the pandemic,’
according to a study by the Institute
for Policy Studies.
The top five US billionaires
– Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark
Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and
Larry Ellison – saw their wealth
grow by a total of $101.7 billion,
or 26%, during this short period.
The increasing digitalization
of life during this period represent
an enormous augmentation
of the political and ideological
power of the technocratic oligarchs.
Silicon Valley tech firms,
financial supporters of Joe Biden,
withdrew attention from issues
potentially harmful to his campaign.
Even some left-leaning
media platforms like the Intercept
refused to publish an article
critical of Biden just before
the election. It led its co-founder,
investigative journalist, Glen
Greenwald to resign from the
Intercept.
Social media companies swiftly
deleted the accounts of President
Trump and thousands of
others following the January 6
event in Capitol Hill on grounds
that they incite violence and
extremism.
While hate speech and incitement
of violence should not be
allowed, should a handful of
unrepresentative, unregulated
tech corporations, such as
Facebook, Twitter, Google and
YouTube exercise social and political
control that exceed that of
the state elected to represent people’s
interests? Who decides what
is appropriate and inappropriate
and on what grounds?
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