US Imperialism

November 22, 2019

Lessons from the coup in Bolivia

What is happening in Bolivia is a coup d’état by the racist, right-wing, and fascist forces
of the country. These are forces that are working to facilitate the attempts of the Anglo-
American imperialists to exploit Bolivia’s resources.

This coup is a threat to the peasants, workers, poor, women, and indigenous people of
Bolivia. It is an undisputed fact that the social programs implemented by the government of Evo
Morales have improved the lives of these people. For example, it has greatly decreased the
percentage of people that live in poverty, it has diminished the level of economic inequality, it
introduced the teleférico public transit system in La Paz, it has built new roads, and it has given
economic aid to the most vulnerable sectors of society.

November 17, 2019

by Justin Akers Chacón

Chicago Boys del Siglo 21: ¿Cómo piensa el enemigo del pueblo Chilenx?

Esta semana tuve la oportunidad a último minuto de asistir a una charla sobre las protestas en Chile, en nada más ni nada menos, que la Universidad de Chicago. No sabía exactamente con qué me iba a encontrar, pero lo que descubrí fue algo más siniestro de lo que me había imaginado. Una sala llena de tecnócratas- Chicago Boys del siglo 21- analizando las protestas en Chile. Casi llamaron a seguridad, una señora sentada a mi lado se quejó porque yo ‘gesticulaba’ mucho cuando hablaba, y hasta me acusaron de machista y ‘violentar’ a una abogada Chilena de ojos azules, por interrumpirla cuando hablaba puras mentiras. Pero al fin, me quedé en la sala con el propósito de reportar sobre cómo el enemigo del pueblo Chilenx piensa.

November 17, 2019

by Justin Akers Chacón

“We are at the beginning of the end of neoliberalism in Chile”

We can say that, in effect, the Chilean ruling classes really sold the image of a “Chilean Jaguar” as an indisputable model of economic growth for Latin America. President Sebastián Piñera even spoke of an “oasis of stability” in Latin American. Less than a week after these remarks, we witnessed the beginning of an unprecedented mobilization and then the president declared on television that: “the country is at war”. In reality, behind this showcase of “modern” and neoliberal Chile we find some of the deepest social inequalities in the world and especially in Latin America. The violence of capitalism applied since 1973 with the dictatorship and after 1975 with the “neoliberal turn” brought about by the Chicago Boys, was continued after the 1990s under the various democratic governments.

November 17, 2019

by Blas Reies

Lecciones del golpe de estado en Bolivia

Lo que está ocurriendo en Bolivia es un golpe de estado por las fuerzas racistas, derechistas y fascistas de ese país. Estas son fuerzas que están trabajando para facilitar los intentos de los imperialistas angloamericanos para explotar los recursos del país.

Este golpe de estado es una amenaza para los campesinos, obreros, pobres, las mujeres, y la gente indígena de Bolivia. Es indiscutible que los programas sociales que implementó el gobierno de Evo Morales sí mejoraron la vida de esta gente. Por ejemplo, ha disminuido por mucho el porcentaje de personas que vive en la pobreza, ha disminuido el nivel de desigualdad económica, ha introducido el sistema teleférico de transito público en La Paz, ha construido nuevas carreteras, y les ha dado bonos a los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad.

October 20, 2019

by Justin Akers Chacón

The Anti-Migrant International

In early December of 2017 the Trump Administration officially withdrew the United States from the UN Global Pact on Migration, claiming the 2016 accord “undermine[s] the sovereign right of the United States to enforce our immigration laws and secure our borders.” The aligned governments of Israel, Hungary, Poland, Australia, Austria, and several other countries followed suit in withdrawing their support, or by publicly repudiating the agreement. Rightwing parties in Germany, France, Italy and Denmark also vocalized their opposition, pledging to withdraw once in power.

September 6, 2019

by Héctor Reyes

U.S. imperialism in the Americas: the function of colonialism and racism, and how they are different

If you live in the U.S. and are not indigenous to it, you live on stolen land.

Frequently, racism and colonialism are used as substitutes for each other. The technical term for this type of conflation is metonym, as Chickasaw Nation scholar Jodi A. Byrd asserts. I want to argue that the currently popular use of the terms racism and colonialism as interchangeable qualities among social justice activists, and even academics, is not only inappropriate, but that their frequent conflation is the result of more than simple expediency.

The failure to recognize that colonialism is structurally different than and not just another manifestation of racism does irreparable damage to the victims of colonialism. In the specific context of colonialism, failure to recognize colonialism as a continuing crime of erasure and dispossession, the liberal prescriptions of inclusion and civil rights exacerbate the harms of colonialism.

August 8, 2019

by Justin Akers Chacón

Announcing puntorojo

Puntorojo is a digital magazine that publishes voices and viewpoints of Mexicanx, Chicanx, Latinx, transborder and transnational radicals. This includes workers, scholars, activists, artivists, historians, and other commentators whose historical experiences and perspectives are shaped by the effects of U.S. imperialist intervention and domination across the Americas, and resistance to all oppressive aspects of capitalism and imperialism that manifest in daily life. This struggle—the class struggle—is reaching a turning point. We are in an epoch of global crisis, conflict, reaction, and potential transformation.

The working classes and oppressed peoples across the Americas are in motion against the destructive and exploitative economic system of capitalism and the political forces that maintain it internationally. This arrangement, referred to here as imperialism, is administered by the US state and its ruling class allies and enforcers across the region. It promotes and props up corrupt dictatorships and fascist regimes that uphold Its objectives, while also attempting to overthrow non-compliant governments through coup, invasion, economic blockade and sabotage, and by giving direct material support to reactionary opposition groups and movements.