Liberals, Democrats and the Synthetic Left Have Killed the Anti-War Left
Liberals, the Democratic Party, and the self-described progressives and Leftists of the Synthetic Left have killed the Anti-War Left
“And then they call themselves “progressive”…what the fuck does that mean? You’re an Imperialist who wants Healthcare.”-Richard Medhurst
The anti-war Left is dead. It was on life-support by the end of the George W. Bush presidency, and was effectively killed under the presidency of Barack Obama. The Liberals and Democrats hypocrisy on war and military intervention, on Imperialism and Militarism, is to be expected, but many progressives and Leftists are also hypocritical on this. They are a part of what many of us on the Left call, the Synthetic Left (also known as the Pseudo-Left, the Faux Left or the Boutique Left).
When the Iraq War began, there were widespread protests across not just the United States, but all over the world. The anti-war movement was a coalition of many people from many different political ideologies, but was most often associated with Democrats and the Left. After the 2006 midterms, however, things began to change. The Iraq War helped the Democrats pull off big victories in the midterms. After the midterms however, the Democratic Party, many of whom had voted for the Iraq War, stopped campaigning on an anti-war message, and many Liberals and progressives also stopped preaching an anti-war message out of fear that it would hurt the Democratic Party. This made it clear that many were only anti-war for strictly partisan reasons.
In 2008, then Senator Obama campaigned on a non-interventionist message, promising to get the US out of Iraq and bring the Afghanistan War to a successful conclusion. However, this isn’t what happened. Instead, Obama took the number of countries the US was bombing from two to seven, escalated the Drone War far beyond what Bush did, expanded the mass surveillance state, armed and funded Jihadists, continued US support to dictatorial regimes around the world, and continued US support for the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land. Obama did all of this while also putting much of the anti-war Left to sleep, as many were only anti-war for partisan reasons.
In hindsight, this shouldn’t have been surprising. Both World Wars, as well as Korea and Vietnam can be laid on the doorsteps of Democratic presidents. Liberals and Democrats have consistently supported Imperialism under the pretext of “humanitarian intervention”. “Humanitarian Intervention” has been defined as a state's use of military force against another state, with publicly stating its goal is to end human rights violations in that state. This has been used to justify Imperial wars including the Gulf War, the NATO Interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and regime change in Libya.
In the case of the Gulf War, (which was launched by a Republican president, but was still done under the guise of humanitarian intervention and was supported by many Democrats), one of the main justifications was the testimony of a 16-year-old Kuwaiti nurse who claimed that she saw Iraqi soldiers take “babies out of incubators. They took the incubators and [they] left the babies to die on the cold floor”. George H.W. Bush and many in Congress used this as justification to terror bomb Iraq, killing over 100,000 Iraqis. However, this justification was a lie. After the war, an investigation revealed that the Kuwaiti nurse was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, and her testimony was part of a $10 million propaganda campaign launched in conjunction with the PR firm Hill & Knowlton to sway the American people to support going to war.
In the cases of Bosnia and Kosovo, the justifications ranged from concentration camps to intentional massacres. However, subsequent investigations concluded that many of these allegations were false. In fact, some of the massacres in Bosnia and Kosovo were staged to provoke a military response from NATO. Even these cases often cited for “Humanitarian Intervention”, were based on false pretenses.
In the case of Libya, the Obama Administration and NATO claimed that Muammar Gaddafi was planning to massacre his own people. This was proven false by a 2015 UK Parliament Report which stated that allegations that Gaddafi was planning to massacre civilians were exaggerated, extremist elements of the rebellion were ignored, the rebellion wouldn’t have succeeded without foreign military aid, the intervention was motivated by political and economic interests, and that the intervention transformed Libya into a failed state.
Of course, none of this should be a surprise. The Clinton Administration increased the sanctions against Iraq, which killed half a million Iraqi children (and Madeline Albright defended as being “worth the price” of breaking Saddam Hussein) and the bombing of the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Sudan, destroying half the pharmaceutical drugs in Sudan. Likewise, Bush Sr. (a Republican, but who still used humanitarian intervention as a pretext), invaded Panama, which resulted in the deaths of 3000 people.
In 2002, during the build-up to the Iraq War, many prominent Democrats voted for the Iraq War Resolution, including Hillary Clinton (who gave a speech repeating Bush Administration talking points (lies) about Iraq), Joe Biden (who led the effort to rally Congress to support the war and snuff out those who opposed it), John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Diane Feinstein. Under Obama, many of these Democrats became cheerleaders for war and regime change (with some exceptions like Dennis Kucinich). Under Trump, Democrats cheered his bombings of Syria (despite the questionable pretenses), and some (like Hillary Clinton) said Trump didn’t go far enough. Likewise, Democrats accused Trump of being soft on Russia (despite being incredibly hawkish) and criticized him for withdrawing from Syria (even though he didn’t). They also gave a standing ovation to Trump’s coup attempt in Venezuela, approved all of Trump’s military budgets, and demanded Trump take more aggressive actions against countries like Russia. Under Biden, Democrats have supported him even during his new Cold War with China and his bombings of Sudan and Syria, and criticized him along with Neocons and partisan Republicans and Conservatives for his withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Biden has also unleashed brutal sanctions on Afghanistan, and sent troops to Ukraine in clear provocation against Russia.
Liberal Media outlets do this also. MSNBC supported the Iraq War and fired commentators who opposed it, like Phil Donahue and Jesse Ventura, and has hired Neocons to work for them (along with CNN). The New York Times pushed for the Iraq War, even publishing an article by Michael Gordon (who’s now pushing the “Lab Leak” Theory in regards to COVID) and Judith Miller about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, and has pushed for every war and military intervention the US has ever done. CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, despite claiming to be opposed to Trump, supported Trump’s military ventures. The Nation has pushed the Left to support the new Cold War with China, a tactic exposed by Danny Haiphong and The Dissident. The Intercept pushed the Establishment line on Russiagate (with the exception of Glenn Greenwald) and Syria, and is funded by Pierre Omyidar, who supports regime change and sponsors anti-government media outlets and activists alongside US government agencies in states where the US seeks regime change. Democracy Now has pushed the Establishment line on Nicaragua and other issues. The Young Turks have towed the Establishment line on Russiagate (with the exceptions of Jimmy Dore, Kyle Kulinski, Jordan Chariton, and Michael Tracey), Syria and Julian Assange & WikiLeaks. Oh, and they also tried to argue that a “Deep State” doesn’t exist (because the National Security State (as I prefer to call it) is a myth in the minds of these people).
Individuals have similar issues as well. 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate, and self-described Democratic Socialist (really Social Democrat) Bernie Sanders, who opposed the Iraq War, regime change in Libya, and has called for Palestinians to be treated with humanity, also supported the NATO Intervention in Kosovo and the Afghanistan War, said he supported the Drone War, and has voted for every major aid bill to Israel. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, despite condemning both the Iraq War and US support for the Israeli Occupation during her initial run, has also been very dodgy about foreign policy and specific condemnations of the Occupation since coming into office, and voted “present” on voting to fund the Iron Dome. The Squad as a whole has voted for increases in US Military spending. Ro Khanna opposed US support for Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen, but doesn’t have a good track record on other foreign policy issues (or domestic policy issues for that matter). Even Tulsi Gabbard, who at least claimed to be a non-interventionist, also stated her support for the War on Terror and the Drone War (and since I started writing this, she’s either lost her mind or revealed herself for what she always was).
Left-Wing Intellectuals, Media Personalities, and organizations have also supported regime change. The Democratic Socialists of America, along with Jacobin, support regime change. Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks cheered the downfall of Gaddafi, advocated bombing Syria (and then tried to lie about that), and claimed that Trump changed his position on Venezuela because of Putin. Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks gave a softball interview to Madeline Albright and accused anti-war journalist Aaron Mate of “working for dictators”. Nomiki Konst, a failed public advocacy candidate and contributor to The Majority Report with Sam Seder, supported regime change in Libya, shilled for the Dirty war in Syria and has accused Jimmy Dore, Max Blumenthal and others of taking “Assad money” (they didn’t). Sam Seder himself said that he “didn’t care” about US Imperialism. “Progressive” (really Centrist) David Pakman of The David Pakman Show argued that there wasn’t a CIA-sponsored coup in Bolivia (as did Centrist Streamer Destiny). Leftist streamer Vaush (I honestly don’t know what his political ideology is, because he changes it every other day), is an open supporter of US Imperialism and has actually admitted to being an informant for the Feds (no, seriously). Juan Cole, a Leftist and scholar on history and Islam, supported regime change in Libya. The late Christopher Hitchens, an Ex-Socialist turned Liberal Imperialist, supported the Iraq War and other military interventions (often with genocidal justifications) and accused people who opposed them (like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Norman Finklestein, Tariq Ali, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, Edward Said, and even Nelson Mandela) of being “soft on fascism”. Hitchens also called Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in the Iraq War and prominent anti-war activist, a “LaRouche Supporter”. Even Noam Chomsky, a prominent Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Capitalist Leftist, has said that US troops should remain in Syria.
Even prominent Anti-Imperialist (or at the very least Anti-Establishment) voices such as Jimmy Dore, Kyle Kulinski, Krystal Ball, Glenn Greenwald, Russell Brand, Thomas Frank, Briahna Joy Gray, Nathan J. Robinson, Michael Tracey and Matt Taibbi aren’t perfect and have fallen for Establishment propaganda. They have all pushed (or at the very least promoted) the “Lab Leak” theory in regards to COVID, even though that idea is helping to push a new Cold War with China, has been rejected by actual scientists, and the numerous problems with the theory, its origins, and the people who have and are pushing it (Max Blumenthal, Alex Rubinstein, Alan MacLeod, and Joshua Cho have all written excellent pieces debunking this theory and explaining all of this). Krystal Ball even co-hosts Breaking Points with Saagar Enjeti, who despite his populist appearance, has a history of associating with Neocons and has pushed the Establishment line on China.
None of this is confined to the American Left. In the UK, the Labor Party, an allegedly Left-Wing party (though like the Democratic Party here in the US, they are moderately right-wing), under Tony Blair supported George W. Bush in the Iraq War, and has supported subsequent interventions in Libya and Syria. Both the French New Anti-Capitalist Party and the German Left Party have supported regime change in Libya & Syria and supported the State Department funded “Color Revolutions”. Gilbert Achcar, a Lebanese Socialist who lives in the UK, has supported multiple military interventions while pushing the argument that “all Imperialisms are equally bad”, while smearing Leftist news sites, like The Grayzone and World Socialist Web Site, by accusing them of supporting Putin and Russia because of their Anti-Imperialism. The now-defunct International Socialist Organization (the precursor of the Democratic Socialists for America) consistently supported regime change in other countries.
This is especially a problem as many on the Left are currently supporting dangerous escalations with Russia and Ukraine. There’s an anti-war movement in Russia. Yet many are cheerleading for war with Russia or some other dangerous escalation.
The anti-war Left is dead. The anti-war Left has been killed by Liberals, Democrats, and the Synthetic Left. Just like the rest of the Left. Though I guess in the end, this shouldn’t be a surprise.
This is yet another failure of the American Left that I, as a proud Leftist, proud Socialist and proud Anti-Imperialist, am just disappointed in the rest of the American Left for.
Ben besides your naive take on the lab leak theory which does not point the finger at China, but points the finger at how our US military complex outsources its biohazard research to counties around the world, besides that huge assumption this piece was spot on. Being 95 percent is better than most pieces I have read.