The Imperialist Nature of G7, by Yanis Iqbal

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by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
June 14, 2021

The 2021 summit of the Group of Seven (G7) – lasting from June 11 to 13 – was held at Cornwall, a south-west England holiday destination. Bland globalism and insipid liberalism dominated the agenda on both pandemic and climate change. “Carbis Bay Declaration”– intended as a statement on the health situation – asserted that the “G7 is uniquely well-placed to lead global efforts in pandemic prevention – the group is home to two-thirds of the world’s pharmaceutical market and the four coronavirus vaccines licensed for use in the UK were all developed in G7 nations (the UK, US and Germany).” The concentration of medical resources in a few rich nations is not a thing to be proud of. In fact, this monopolist pattern has manifested itself in vaccine imperialism – the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines on economic lines. Instead of facilitating a substantive dialogue over the suspension of intellectual property rights related to COVID-19, G7 nations have been content to make measly donation pledges, treating the poorer nations as passive subjects of philanthropy.

South Africa: A Place Weeping

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Dandelion Salad

by New Frame
Johannesburg, South Africa
June 6, 2021

The social devastation of mass unemployment renders South Africa a non-viable society for millions. Something must give.

Unemployment in the United States peaked at 24.9% during the Great Depression. On the eve of Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power in 1933, unemployment in Germany was at 24%. The protests that launched the Arab Spring in 2011 were ascribed, in part, to what the International Labour Organization called an “extremely high youth unemployment rate of 23.4%”.

Chris Hedges: The Inner Workings of the Power Elite

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on June 5, 2021

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to Richard Falk about the inner workings of the power elite and the institutions that do its bidding. Falk is professor emeritus of international law and practice at Princeton University, and the former United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur in the Israeli-Occupied Territories.

The Memorial Day Massacre by Sharon Smith + Labor History: Chicago Memorial Day Massacre 1937

The Chicago Memorial Day Incident

Dandelion Salad

by Sharon Smith
SocialistWorker.org
Originally posted May 27, 2011, written in May 1989
May 31, 2021

The presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the reputation of the Democratic Party from the party of the Southern slaveholders to that of “friend of the working people”—a reputation that the Democratic Party, undeservedly, continues to enjoy.

Slaves to the Constitution, by Paul Street

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, May 21, 2021
May 28, 2021

Slavery lives on in U.S.-American life, crippling “our” supposed grand “democracy” in numerous ways. The massive wealth, income, and health gaps between Black and white Americans and the related persistent segregation and mass arrest and incarceration of Black Americans cannot be properly understood without reference to the two and a half centuries in which Black Americans were enslaved.

Larry Wilkerson: The US Should End Support For Israel and Saudi Arabia

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Dandelion Salad
May 27, 2021

theAnalysis-news on May 24, 2021

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson argues that American one-sided support for Israel is a danger to the region and U.S. interests. He says the U.S. should withdraw militarily from the Middle East and end support for Israel and Saudi Arabia. Doing so would encourage regional compromise, not war. Larry Wilkerson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

Michael Hudson: The World’s Absentee Landlord

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by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
May 17, 2021

In this wide-ranging discussion on the Moderate Rebels podcast, Hudson addresses US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, the policies of the Joe Biden administration, Beijing’s economic model, cryptocurrencies, and dedollarization – the potential end to the dollar as the global reserve currency.

The Revolutionary Dictatorship of the Proletariat, by Birrion Sondahl

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by Birrion Sondahl
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
May 13, 2021

“Only he is a Marxist who extends the recognition of the class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” — Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, The State and Revolution — Chapter 2

The Dawn of Labor: Commemorating May Day, by Yanis Iqbal

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by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
May 4, 2021

In 1889, Clara Zetkin wrote: “Wherever busy folk are drudging under the yoke of capitalism, the organised working men and women will demonstrate on May Day for the idea of their social emancipation.” In today’s world, the murderous claws of oppression have dug deeper into the flesh of humanity. The globalization of capital, establishment of post-Fordist economic arrangements of flexible specialization, financialization of the accumulation process and neo-colonial strangulation of the Global South have led to a barbaric situation. Amid this generalized chaos, May 1 acts as a blazing streak, inviting the wretched of the earth to reflect intensively on their own history of joy, tenacious resistance, collective courage and strong solidarity.

The Brief Origins of May Day by Eric Chase

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Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2015

Republished with permission from IWW

by Eric Chase
IWW, 1993
April 30, 2021

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

The War at Home: Part 2: Blacklist

Image by Tim Pierce via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

America’s Neoliberal Financialization Policy vs. China’s Industrial Socialism, by Michael Hudson

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by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
April 25, 2021

Nearly half a millennium ago Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince described three options for how a conquering power might treat states that it defeated in war but that “have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom: … the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you.”[1]

Abby Martin: Uganda Dictatorship: Imperialism’s Pearl of Africa

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Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Apr 11, 2021

Short documentary on Uganda’s US-backed dictatorship, the country’s freedom struggle from colonialism until today, and the geo-strategic role the regime plays for US Imperialism.

The “Innocence” Of Early Capitalism Is Another Fantastical Myth, by Pete Dolack

The Conquest of the Incas (mural by FUEJXJDK) via Wikimedia Commons

by Pete Dolack
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Systemic Disorder, Apr. 7, 2021
April 8, 2021

It is not unusual for critics of United States foreign policy, whether or not they feel free to use the term “imperialism,” to express regret that a previously rational system has soured. Such sentiments are routine for liberals and hardly unknown among social democrats.

The Anti-Social Socialist: Why Capitalism is NOT the Free Market

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“There is a misconception that capitalism and free markets are the same things. This is not the case. Capitalism relies heavily on state protection and state intervention. Capitalism and the state are twin pillars of control that have developed in tandem, supporting and reinforcing one another both deriving their power from private property (not to be confused with personal property).”