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“The bumbling empire?”: the murderous US empire trudges on

Published on August 22, 2018January 11, 2019 by leftistcritic2Leave a comment

Originally published on the Leftist Critic blog on July 10, 2016.

This post was analyzed for mistakes and other content in January 2019, as part of an effort to engage in self-criticism.

Recently, President Obama extended the imperial war and occupation in Afghanistan beyond his time in office, leaving more troops “than planned” as bourgeois CNN declared on their website a few days ago. This, if one follows events of the last few years, is not a surprise. Still, some may say that the murderous empire is falling down/“bumbling” (like Jeremy Scahill) or on the road to collapse. This view is widespread across bourgeois “Left” circles: famed journalist Chris Hedges talks about the “failures and discontents” of the US empire, that democracy and imperialism are “incompatible,” and that the empire has been “declining” since the end of the Vietnam War; political theorist Sheldon Wolin says that “American imperium” can be rethought; former CIA analyst Chalmers Johnson says that not dismantling the empire will lead to “likely collapse similar to that of the former Soviet Union” and that “decline and fall [of the empire] is foreordained.” [1] This article aims to point out why these approaches and perspectives are flawed, while looking at what the actual nature of the murderous empire.

Regardless of what some think, the empire is as strong as ever. Sure, there is a growing U$ debt from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the U$ is still the “neighborhood bully” of the world neighborhood, and it still carries a big stick. Perhaps this is because of the lack of domestic opposition to the adventures of empire. Some Gallup polls show opposition to the Afghan and Iraq wars due to war-wariness caused by the cost and length of those wars but there is no firm public opposition to war. At the president, such opposition can easily be softened by imperialist propaganda projected by the military establishment and bourgeois media. The imperialist ideals can become ingrained in people’s minds, but likely not as much as in 1961. The U$ public is currently politically demobilized, as you could put it. As for the “peace movement” in the United States, it is basically a joke and non-existent. There are few groups like CodePink, United for Peace and Justice, Veterans for Peace, the War Resisters League, and others but for the most part these groups are bourgeois in nature. There’s also the Answer Coalition, led by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a neo-Trotskyist group, and likely includes many Workers World Party (WWP), also a neo-Trotskyist group, members, but that is also little hope.

As comrade Emma Quaragel (EQ), who was doxed and exposed by imperial agents mainly centering around Molly Crabapple, argued in a recent post, the U$ government “acts as the hired guns of a global class of jet-setting billionaires, imprisons 2.3 million of its own people,” that the Black Panther Party was arguably “the highwater mark for American revolution in the 20th century” (which is understating U$ history in the 20th century) and that in the U$, a revolutionary movement can “only exist when there is praxis that recognizes the relationship between oppression in the US and imperialism.” EQ goes on to argue that today there can’t be an “antiwar movement…because we live in a media environment that seeks to destroy it in its nascence,” that since it is hard to find reliable figures on U$ empire, it opens the door for propagandists to deride/discredit “any remaining “Left” antiwar sentiment in the US,” meaning that building “an anti-imperialist antiwar movement will remain an uphill battle,” even among those small groups that currently exist. This argument is valid and should be listened to.

Some may see the continuing actions of empire with dismay. After all, with the U$-backed coups in Ukraine (201 4), Honduras (2009), Paraguay (2012), Maldives (2012), and Brazil (2016) [finalized in late 2018 with Bolsanaro], coupled with drone strikes across the Muslim world from secretive drone bases, shadowy attack teams (JSOC, CIA, and so on), private mercenaries-for-hire, and imperial proxy states such as Saudi Arabia, one may begin to lose hope. The murderous empire does not exist in a vacuum. However, without a country like the Soviet Union, there is no force, with organized (and equal) strength, to oppose this continuous empire. Sure, there are countries dubbed as “enemies” of empire such as Bolivia, Belarus, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Syria, and the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), but they have little strength.

It must be acknowledged that that Russia and China cannot be depended on to form part of the anti-imperialist front. Russia may have low approval of US leadership, be opposed to NATO’s movement near its borders, and thwart actions of empire but it is a capitalist state and has a bourgeoisie which is often called “the oligarchs.” These bourgeoisie are content to work with US bourgeoisie on certain issues such as anti-terrorism actions and the Syrian conflict, meaning that Russia is not fundamentally opposed to US empire.

As for China, it has removed itself from its communist roots, as it has a thriving market economy. Since the Nixon visit to China in 1973 and Mao’s death in 1976, the Chinese government has been willing to work with the United States, which, during the Cold War, used China as a wedge to undermine the Soviet Union.

There are only a few countries which can truly be described to be part of an anti-imperialist front. These countries are Cuba and the DPRK. Meanwhile, Venezuela is under threat from imperial forces overtly (ex: public support to the opposition by NED and State Department for example) and covertly (ex: CIA agents pushing for a coup) which is exacerbating and contributing violent situation within the country. While Venezuela would fall into the same category as Cuba and the DPRK, it has been, basically compromised as the government, which one could call socially democratic, is hanging on by a thread. Perhaps I do not know as much about Venezuela as I should but, to me, the current situation could have been mitigated, if not prevented, if the bourgeoisie had been expropriated. Obviously this action, which is not as simple as flicking on a light switch, could have changed the current predicament since the expropriation would have weakened the bourgeoisie in Venezuela, making it harder for the “opposition” backed by NED, USAID, and other imperial organs to gain a foothold and destabilize the country, like has been done in other countries dubbed “enemies.”

As it currently stands, there is no vote in the U$ presidential contest against the murderous empire. Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary, who should accurately be called Killary, Clinton is a “hawkish” imperialist who contributed to the destruction of Libya after the 2011 imperialist war and turned the State Department into an arm of the war machine as even Ralph Nader noted. Republican Party presidential candidate the orange menace is sought by some as a “lesser evil” or “corrective” to the elitism (and warmongering) of Clinton, but he is an unpredictable, bigoted, and fascist monster. Still, Clinton is no better than the orange menace as both are basically egoists and megalomaniacs. From the edges of “acceptable debate” one may be shouting: “What about Bernie!” As it turns out, like the orange menace and Clinton, Bernie is also an imperialist, even if he is of a “moderating” or “dovish” flavor. Sanders, as the record shows, supports the continuation of the Afghanistan War, drone strikes of a “selective” quantity, and pushed for a policy to defeat ISIS via imperial proxies. To some it may have seemed that only person talking about “peace” was former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee even though his rhetoric clearly was wrapped in jingoism. Even in the October debate where one may think he was farther “Left” than Sanders on war, he just talked about the Iraq war, ending “perpetual wars,” was against arming Syrian “rebels,” and then talked about imperial “failures” along with repairing “American credibility,” finally casting himself as a “proven peacemaker.” He was almost like Dennis Kucinich who seemed very “pro-peace” but comfortably situated himself within the bourgeois Democratic Party, meaning that he cannot be relied upon to be part of an anti-imperialist front. There is no hope in the Socialist Party USA, WWP, or PSL, as they are almost splinter parties, the last two of which are neo-Trotskyist.

One can say that the Green Party is the most successful alternative party to the bourgeois Democratic and Republican Parties, which can be classified correctly as one capitalist party with “right” and “left” wings. However, the Green Party has tried to court the Sanders campaign and has reflected the campaign’s rhetoric, especially the laughable call for “political revolution” which was, as it turned out, just code for increasing voter turnout for his campaign and not at all revolutionary. So, this puts the Green Party into question itself as another bourgeois party.

Some have asked if it is possible to maintain an empire without imperialist methods. This question is important to keep in mind considering that old established and informal national security “wise man” Zbigniew Brzezinski language of U$ imperial power so he could advocate for U$-coalition building, then, as a result, incorporate and subordinate those countries considered “potential rivals.” Sure, one could define imperialism as forming and maintaining an empire, sometimes by conquest, in order to control world markets and raw materials or as the policy and practice of “seeking to dominate the economic and political affairs of underdeveloped…or weaker states.” [2] However, this definition could easily pop up in the column of some bourgeois “radical” writer as it is divorced from capitalism and ignores how imperialism is an activity for the benefit of the bourgeoisie. In his classic work, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir Lenin writes about the concentration of production in bigger enterprises, rise of monopolies (and cartels) and centralization of production as essential parts of capitalism, and that imperialism is the highest stage of development (and the monopoly stage), historically, of capitalism. [3] Many years before those bourgeois writers, like Matt Taibbi or Glenn Greenwald, would balk about corporate concentration in society, Lenin wrote that monopoly had become a fact, that capital and banking were becoming concentrated, that competition had been “transformed into monopoly,” and that a “handful of monopolists control all operations…of the…capitalist society.” [4] To any informed observer this sounds familiar to the same types of calls today, to some degree. On the topic of imperialism, Lenin argued that capitalists divide the world not due to greediness but because they are forced to by concentration of forces within capitalism and such concentration occurs in the powers of “monopolist capitalist combines” which place a few wealthy countries in a “monopolist position” in the world market, which was created by capitalism. [5] Lenin went further and said that capitalism itself had grown into a “world system of colonial oppression and financial strong violation” of much of the world’s people by a small group of so-called “advanced” states which involve the world “in their war over sharing of their booty.” [6] Beyond his comment that imperialism is “striving for annexations” and that the world is divided between usurer states and debtor states, Lenin proposed five essential features of imperialism. [7] These features are as follows [8]:

“concentration of production and capital”
“the merging of bank capital with industrial capital”
“export of capital”
“formation of international capitalist monopolies”
“territorial division of the whole world among the greater capitalist powers”

There is no doubt that at the current time, a society, like in the early 20th century as Lenin put it, “for the benefit of monopolies,” still exists as does these essential aspects of imperialism. [9] The Amerikanized form of imperialism is not the same as European imperialisms before, during, and after the Berlin Conference. The U$ certainly has colonies like the “empires of old” manifested in its inhabited territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa (supposedly “self-governing” since 1967), Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. [10] However, the mainstay of the murderous empire comes in the hundreds of military bases, numbering 500 at minimum (most of which the military calls “installations” [11]), scattered across the world. The U$ imperial monster is building upon the colonial policy of capitalist states that Lenin described as completing the seizure of unoccupied territories, or those territories that do not belong to any state, on the planet. [12] U$ military bases, in foreign states that are not formally territories/colonies, states that are politically independent, can serve the same purpose of “old” imperialism: they enmesh such states so they are financially and diplomatically dependent on the United States. [13] The best example of this at the current time is the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The country is formally independent but its economy, and the state itself, its dependent on foreign aid from Western capitalist powers as even “mainstream” sources admit. [14] While none of those in bourgeois circles will say it, at least not openly, there is no doubt that such dependence means that Afghanistan is effectively a colony of Western capitalist powers, mainly of the U$, despite those resisting this imposition.

Taking this into account, along with what was said earlier, it is important to chart a way forward or at least provide some thoughts. In 1939, some argued it was time for the British working class to change the British colonial system by helping to liquidate capitalist imperialism, showing they stand in a different camp than those seen as imperialist robbers” and said that imperial exploitation of South African natives is worse than the tragic condition of Jews under Nazi oppression and that such natives can easily sympathize with victims of Nazi oppression such as Jewish people. Years earlier, MN Roy (Manabendra Nath Roy), before he moved away from Marxism after World War II, had argued that the British empire was tottering, in a “state of decay,” and that it must be broken up and replaced with a “union on a socialist basis” that frees the “present industrial organism” from capitalist ownership and transforms the empire into a “voluntary economic commonwealth.” Commonwealths of that nature were created by the French and British after their respective formal empires fell with the wave of anti-colonial movements in Africa and Asia from the 1940s to the 1960s, and these commonwealths have basically become a form of neo-colonialism. So, Roy’s conception does not seem to be a workable solution. Since the imperialist monster of the United States is a unique beast in many ways, different approaches will have to be tried. But, at minimum, the United States would need to close down all “foreign” (overseas and in colonies) military bases and free its colonies, formally called “territories,” from subjugation. The size of the military would need to drastically reduced, possibly turned into a defense force, as would the number of “domestic” military bases situated within the United States. The latter would require an economic re-orienting of communities dependent on the military and such. Of course, these aspects will not happen on their own. We can’t wait for the empire to fall on its own or hope that it will. Such waiting would be like boiling spaghetti without water and hoping it cooks: it isn’t going to happen unless you add water.

Sure, the ideas I floated could easily be construed as reforms and limited in their scope. That is a valid criticism. After all, the empire is more than colonies and military bases, and is more complicated, basically acting almost like a living being. Like the British empire, the US empire is “indeed in danger” but is not a “self-contained economic unit” unaffected or not threatened by “economic and industrial conditions of other countries.” An anti-imperialist front against the murderous empire is only possible if it is not only anti-capitalist but interlinks with other movements in the U$ and those standing against imperial presence in other parts of the world. Specifically such anti-imperialism could easily interlink with Black Lives Matter, regardless of what some could categorize as a diffused and sometimes bourgeois nature, or anti-racist actions since people of color are killed by the murderous empire, an empire that is inherently ingrained with White supremacy. Additionally, with the spread of “excess” military equipment, the military and “local” police are interlinked, bringing together different struggles for justice. Many groups in the past, including the Black Panthers, the Brown Berets, the Young Lords, and the Red Guard, engaged in such interlinking, so this idea is not a new one in the slightest.

They way forward isn’t even possible by looking at definitions or word origins. As noted earlier, an empire is much more than a state that unites “many territories and peoples under a single sovereign power” but it is a stage and part of capitalism itself. [15] Even defining war was an open-ended hostility, conflict, armed conflict, or prolonged fighting does not go far enough either as such a definition is absent in mentioning of capitalism or even class. [16] Still, the origins of the word empire (and imperialism) derive from a Latin word meaning “command” which implies authority, a helpful reminder that empire and imperialism are dominating and authoritarian structures. [17] Beyond all of this, those that care about bringing the empire to its knees should participate in trying to make connections of imperialism to race, class, and whatnot. At the same time, an important component is critically supporting those peoples and countries standing up to imperialism while countering those on the “Left” that scoff about “human rights” and refuse to stand in solidarity with active anti-imperialists.

Notes

[1] Chalmers Johnson. Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010. p. 184, 190; Chris Hedges. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. New York: Nation Books, 2010. p. 103, 147-148, 150-151.

[2] Webster’s New World College Dictionary (Fourth Edition, ed. Michael Agnes). Cleveland, OH: Wiley Publishing, 2007. p. 715

[3] Vladimir Lenin. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. New York: International Publishers, 1972. Reprint from 1939. p. 13, 16, 20, 22, 34, 59, 88.

[4] Lenin, Imperialism, p. 20, 25, 32, 25, 37.

[5] Ibid, 62, 68, 75, 82.

[6] Ibid, 10-11.

[7] Ibid, 91, 101.

[8] Ibid, 89.

[9] Ibid, 53.

[10] The U$ also controls a number of uninhabited territories all acquired before 1900: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Navassa Island (claimed by Haiti), Palmyra Atoll (partially owned by The Nature Conservancy), and Wake Island. Additionally, the Guantanamo Naval Base is an illegal outpost of “extraterritorial jurisdiction” in Cuba and the U$ exercises a high degree of control in three countries, almost treating them like colonies: Palau, Marshall Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia. There are also two territories administered by Columbia but claimed by the United States: Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo Bank. Magical Ben Norton thought he would have a short and silly post about the “5 US colonies” in which he talked about the Insular Cases, along with colonial exploitation briefly, piggybacking off what bourgeois liberal John Oliver said, and claiming that colonies can become independent by voting to do so which assumes that the vote would be honored by the U$ and discounts revolts against the colonial status by assuming the approach for independence needs to be nonviolent. This is utterly ridiculous. It also seems that Norton does not understand how capitalism and imperialism are interlinked, not even mentioning the world in his silly little article.

[11] On page five of the PDF it says that the military counts 513 “active installations” worldwide but on page 7 of the PDF the number of “DOD sites” worldwide (not inside the United States) is 704, a number that combines such sites “overseas” and in “territories.” This number apparently does not include the 42 Army National Guard Sites, noted on page 17 of the pdf, which brings the number up to 746. Now, this number is completely different from what is noted on page 19 of the PDF: that there are overseas and in US territories: 24 large military sites, 16 medium military sites, 561 small military sites, and 101 other military sites, which combine to a grand total of 701 military sites worldwide!

[12] Lenin, Imperialism, 76.

[13] Ibid, 85.

[14] Sources include: “Afghanistan’s Addiction to Foreign Aid” in The Diplomat, “Money Pit: The Monstrous Failure of US Aid to Afghanistan” in World Affairs Journal, “Afghanistan at the Crossroads” in The Diplomat, “A decade of Western aid in Afghanistan: mission unsustainable?” in Reuters, “A Blessing or a Curse? Aid Rentierism and State-building in Afghanistan” in E-International Relations, “Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy,” report by Congressional Research Service, CIA World Factbook entry on Afghanistan which says under economy heading: “…Afghanistan will remain dependent on international donor support over the next several years,” “Afghanistan’s Dependence on Foreign Aid,” Council on Foreign Relations, “The Limits of U.S. Aid in Afghanistan” in Foreign Policy, “The Hand that Feeds” in The Economist, “The Afghanistan Mess: Fed Report Says We’ll Pay Up The Nose Long After Troops Return” in New York Daily News, “Fiscal Sustainability and Dwindling Foreign Aid” in Outlook Afghanistan, “After 10 years of Karzai’s rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?” in NBC News and Allissa J. Rubin’s article in the New York Times titled “World Bank Issues Alert on Afghanistan Economy” (Nov. 22, 2011).

[15] Webster’s New World College Dictionary (Fourth Edition, ed. Michael Agnes). Cleveland, OH: Wiley Publishing, 2007. p. 465

[16] Ibid, p. 1611; Roget’s II The New Thesaurus (Expanded Edition, ed. Anne H. Soukhanov). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988. p. 1164-1165; Marc McClutcheon. Roget’s Super Thesaurus. Cincinnati, OH: Writers Digest Books, 1998. p. 643-644.

[16] John Ayto. Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1990. p. 200. The word “war” derives ultimately from a German prehistoric word meaning “strife” (p. 566) but this origin does not enhance the understanding of the word war in a meaningful way to be used in anti-imperialist struggle.

Feeling a “Berning” dose of honesty

Published on August 10, 2018January 10, 2019 by leftistcritic2Leave a comment

This was originally published on Leftist Critic on Apr 7, 2016.

This post was analyzed for mistakes and other content in January 2019, as part of an effort to engage in self-criticism. At times, this is a bit over the top, but it also tells another side of Bernie often ignored by his supporters.

Editor’s note: This is a speech Bernie Sanders would give if he was honest about his record and his run for president. I wrote this to set the record straight, not to expand on my articles about mass surveillance and a criticism of Ta-Nehisi Coates. Some may cry that Sanders is a social democrat and that he should be supported for U.S. President even though he is within the capitalist Democratic Party but I refuse to acquiesce to that position whatsoever. This is not intended to be pro-Killary piece either, for those Sanders supporters trolling the net. This is not a manifestation of my personal view, by my interpretation of what Sanders would say, hypothetically at times. There may be some aspects that I would say otherwise, but all in all, it is my interpretation of Sanders.

Hello fellow capitalists,

The one-man political revolution has reached its end. I am glad that the group, Capitalists for Bernie hosted this event. I won’t let you down one bit. I will do everything in my power to listen to the concerns of the well-to-do, the ruling capitalist class of the United States! (wild cheers from audience). Hillary Clinton may have been funded by all of you, but I intend to work with you as much as I can in my capacity as President.

You may remember in my campaign I had that promise of free college tuition. I must remind you that my argument was that it would create strong economy, the best educated work force in the world, rebuild our middle class and allow the US to be “competitive in the global economy.” I also promised to expand programs like Pell Grants. As you may remember, my idea only applies to public colleges and universities, not to private ones. Additionally, even with a financial transaction tax, the cost of room and board and the cost of textbooks won’t be covered under my plan. All you will still be able to exploit students with high textbook prices and keep them in debt servitude. (wild cheers from audience). I announce today that my plan to make public colleges tuition-free will be paid not through a financial transaction tax as I claimed in my campaign but by seizing some of those frozen assets of the Russian government and keep those sanctions in place because the entire world has got to stand up to Putin! (cheers from audience).

As all of you know, we have to beat those Chinese. Otherwise, we will be left in the dust, like a second-rate imperialist power. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN! (cheers from audience). My wife, Jane Sanders who was ousted from Burlington College, for unknown reasons, leaving the college in a state of near financial collapse. Even we sink deep into debt, just like that college, I can assure you that like my wife, any college presidents fired will receive a $200,000 severance package from the federal government. We’ll just steal some of Russia’s oil and sell it on the world market. Otherwise we are nothing better than television ad buyers who get $30,000 in commissions each year. Regardless, we will make sure that the status quo in the education system remains in place, stopping people with force who try to confront presidents of their colleges or demand policy reforms. All of you can get your money from private security contracts to defend the colleges of this country from these pesky types, you know who they are. (cheers from audience).

On the campaign trail I said that I was a democratic socialist. But anyone who knows, I’m a social democrat, not a socialist. All of you know that the talk of socialism was just a facade. It might have punctured a few times, like when I called the late Hugo Chavez, a man who loved the poor with all of his heart, a “dead communist dictator” but the Sandersnistas or Bernie Bros believed it without question. How dumb they were, that they bought into that lie. Weren’t they so naive? (laughs from the audience).

As you all know, I have supported neoliberal policies more than my loyal supporters would admit. I voted to deregulate derivatives two times, once in October 2000 and another time in December of that year. I’m glad to have served all of you and voted to create an unregulated derivatives market despite the threats to the overall U.S. economy. I also voted not that long ago for an extension of the harsh neoliberal African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which really does, as the International Trade Administration put it, offer tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. I’m glad to play my part to open the U.S. market to African products and continue in the NAFTA tradition, to strengthen the hand of transnational corporations, while simultaneously restricting the ability of host countries to tax them. I may have voted against a number of free trade agreements in the past, like the one with South Korea, and even the Export-Import Bank, but I’m definitely not going to pass off an initiative that was pushed by a coalition of U.S.-based multinational corporations, including oil companies. People might think I’m pretty progressive, but I’m willing to serve the capitalist class if it is in the national interest of the United States, especially if it benefits US-based companies! (cheers from audience).

I said earlier about supporting free tuition for public colleges. As a reminder, private colleges can continue to exploit people all they want and even expand. I’m not going to mess with their affairs. You can do what you want. (cheers from CEOs of private colleges). The media vetted me so horribly that they missed my support for neoliberal education reform, or neoliberal capture to be more accurate. It was great that the corporate media didn’t focus on this so the general public and my supporters don’t realize my stance. So thank you. (corporate media CEOs stand and clap). I’ve supported the neoliberal No Child Left Behind initiative. In fact I voted for its first iteration back in 2001 (later I changed my mind). How my supporters could miss this is beyond me. (laughs from the audience).

In 2012 I declared to your friend, Arne Duncan, that I supported the Race to the Top Program (RTTT), pushed by the previous administration, and the next year I again asserted my approval, saying that it would significantly improve early-childhood education in our state and better prepare our kids for school and the challenges and opportunities in life. I even called for NCLB “reform” which you all know was a joke, since while I claimed it would allow schools to move away from standardized testing, but it actually kept in place the RTTT program. I am aware that this program is the direct cause of our national wave of school closings and mass teacher firings from Philadelphia to Atlanta and Los Angeles to Rhode Island. But that’s the price you have to pay for neoliberalism. I know that my deluded supporters are too naive to see the reality that is staring them in the face. I hope this makes you happy, because I’m glad to be serving the capitalist class. (cheers from the audience).

I’m glad to play my part. My supporters probably will never investigate into my non-objections to Mickey Mouse Protection Act, which passed by voice vote or the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which also passed by voice vote, both parts of the modern US copyright regime. My social democracy includes, of course, protecting the intellectual property of multinational corporations from those nasty digital pirates. (cheers from audience). I’ve even voted for that American Taxpayer Relief Act which increased payroll taxes, extended numerous corporate tax breaks, and so on. I even voted to open up the Gulf of Mexico to more oil drilling when I voted FOR the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement. But hey, my supporters won’t remember this, right? (laughs from audience).

I’m glad to do my part to protect the gun industry here in America. I know I get all of crap from those liberals for shielding gun manufacturers from lawsuits by gun violence victims, but I really do oppose federal firearms laws since this isn’t one of my major issues, after all. You may remember that I was the one to vote against the Brady Act. What good days those were. Some people said that the statement I made about difference between guns in Vermont and shootings in Chicago was a “dog whistle” that parroted points from the NRA. But let me make clear as I told Playboy, background checks won’t solve the problems we have with guns in America. Protecting gun manufacturers is as right as protecting those who make hammers. I refuse to apologize for that vote in 2005 to protect to the gun industry and I stand by it. I will support gun manufacturers from legal consequences for as long as I am in office! You’ll get your money’s worth! (cheers from audience)

And then we get to issues of race. Oh that’s been a big topic since those black women interrupted me in Seattle all those months ago. Gosh they were so rude. Their action was completely uncalled for. But hey I remedied it by meeting with that neoliberal activist, your friend, Deray, and I supported the confirmation of Loretta Lynch for an Attorney General. I know she made some harsh statements opposing marijuana legalization and so on, but hey, that’s politics. I might support decriminalizing marijuana, unless one of you has a better idea, but I definitely think that people who do hard drugs should be punished to the full extent of the law. You can count on me for that! The drug war will continue in a new form. It will not end! (cheers from audience).

Oh my record on race is so helpful to all of you, but my supporters have never recognized the reality. I did vote for the Clinton Crime Bill in 1994 and said that I regretted it. I am aware that it increased the size of the carceral state in the United States and has been broadly criticized, even giving money to states to incarcerate undocumented immigrants. While I oppose private prisons, and have talked about incarceration currently existing, I just want it to be a nicer form of imprisonment. In fact, I will replace those private prisons with public ones. All of you will be handsomely paid. (cheers from audience).

During the campaign I said that white people don’t know what its like to be poor and face police brutality. I basically said, in summary, that white people don’t know what its like to be in poor communities, experience police brutality, that the criminal justice system should be reformed, and that institutionalized racism must end. But that was all just for show. I was trying to appease the Black Lives Matter people, like the woman who challenged me. The truth is, regardless of those comments, I plan strengthen the police forces across this country with that supposed reform of body cameras so they keep in place the necessary status quo. We don’t want any riots like what happened in Baltimore or Ferguson. That would be bad for business, bad for all of you, bad for me. So help me by giving me the tools to expand their powers! (cheers from audience).

Oh and then there’s Sierra Blanca. My wife is still a Commissioner on the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission, which dealt with this matter. I worked with George W. Bush, your friend, to send nuclear waste to a poor Latino community in Texas. I knew they wouldn’t fight back. When those pesky people of the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club, a group that helps all of you from time to time, I rightly dismissed their concerns. I was aware that it was already a toxic waste dump and I told some activists that my position was unchanged. Ultimately it didn’t matter because it wasn’t even built there because of resident opposition and was put somewhere else instead. Some people even called my actions environmental racism, saying that I couldn’t be trusted because of it and that I made a cold political calculation that affected the lives of hundreds of poor people of color. The latter is preposterous. Still, I lied in saying that I was not personally responsible for sending nuclear waste to Sierra Blanca. Of course I was. I also knew the opposition in that area of the country existed and that there was an environmental justice aspect to the Sierra Blanca site. I’m glad my campaign said what I did because it was clearly threatening my progressive political brand. Any marketing executives that are here know that’s threats to a brand are a horrible thing. To be absolutely clear, I did support environmental racism in Sierra Blanca and I regret none of it. It was completely the right decision. (WE SUPPORT YOU, BERNIE bellow the capitalists).

Then we get to imperial foreign policy. I am glad that few recognized that I would leave in place the American empire. We all have to acknowledge it exists now. I’m still leaving Guantanamo Bay Prison (Gitmo) open, which is only a part of the total base there. I even voted against closing it in 2009 but my loyal supporters will never bring that up. How deluded they are. (audience laughs). Before I get to my support for militarism and how I want to maintain this imperial presence, I must outline my support for the Zionist cause. US imperialism has to bolster settler colonialism in Israel, otherwise it isn’t worth anything. Then all of you can get your money from what’s going on there and I can support you in that effort. Sound good to all of you? (A resounding YES! from the audience).

Before going on, I must make it clear that I’m as pro-Israel as they come. I believe in a modified form of Zionism, Labor Zionism to be exact. Anyway, there was some petition going around from those pesky pro-Palestinian activists, who aren’t too radical, which greatly helps our cause. Anyway, some news outlets reported on that speech I didn’t “give” to AIPAC and said that I wasn’t there in person because I was campaigning in western states. That’s true. I’ll never turn my back on AIPAC. No way in the world. I respect them as an organization, fully and truly. I never was really against Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, I just opposed it on procedural grounds. As a reminder I didn’t object to the support for Israel missile “defense” program, tested in an assault on Palestinians in 2014 and later sold to India, the Iron Dome. I also helped the cause of Zionists by shouting down pro-Palestinian voices in a summer 2014 town hall as videos far and wide across YouTube stand to show. I also supported Israel in a resolution in summer 2014 and didn’t object to the United States-Israel Partnership Act of 2014.

Most importantly was the speech I would have given to AIPAC. I may have said some things that shook the current status quo, but I am clearly a friend of Israel. I think there should be a nicer form of settler colonialism in place that takes away the right of armed self-defense by Palestinians, keeps that never-ending “peace process” going and ending some of the more brutal assaults by Israel but doing it in a nicer fashion. Additionally, I firmly oppose Hamas, think that hideous monster called ISIS must be destroyed by any means necessary, especially by helping US imperial proxies, Muslim authoritarian states like Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, to fight for the soul of Islam. In that speech let me remind you that I claimed, for public relations purposes that the US is not the policeman of the world when we all know what it is. I also touted the success of US interventionism citing the success in 1990 Gulf War, said that Assad should be removed from power, and opposed Iran’s power grabs in the region. I even said that war against Iran would be on the table, along with sanctions if they don’t comply with what the empire wants. We can’t let them threaten our interests either when they intersect with Israel or with our imperial hegemony. Otherwise our imperial position in the Middle East would be compromised and that would be disastrous. We must maintain imperialism in the Middle East by all necessary means, even it means more debt! (cheers from audience).

Before I get to my endorsement of imperial destabilization of those pesky rogue states that threaten our honored empire, I must remind all of you of my militaristic credibility. While I called out repeatedly Pentagon waste, all of you know full well that I support a strong military. What that means in real terms is that I think a huge war machine is a good thing, a thing which can defend the world since the empire is already tied to so many countries economically and legally obligated to protect 25% of the world as even the Washington Post noted. First and foremost I must say that I do not oppose the wonderful global assassination program, the drone program. I just want selective and effective strikes. More exact killings for a more dangerous age. I think the US should defend itself from terrorism but not get those Constitution-loving freaks mad about us violating their civil liberties. That would not be good. I may not support ground troops to fight ISIS, but I think that there should be Saudi forces fighting as US proxies, along with other countries. I will continue the efforts of the previous administration to bomb ISIS, which I have called in the past, a fanatical and brutal organization, which is a danger to the region and the world. We need more airstrikes like the ones I supported in the past to continue this new war. I also must remind all of you that I fully and completely support the imperial occupation of Afghanistan. There is no need to withdraw from a country we are currently exploiting. I think all of you will agree with that. I will do everything in my power to stop China gaining influence in that country. I can assure you of that. (wild cheers from audience).

As a reminder, let me go through my pro-war record. I said in the campaign that I voted against the Iraq war in 2002. That is true and I think it was a mistake and a dumb war just like a young Obama said at the time. Let’s start with Bosnia. At the time I voted in favor of “peacekeeping operations” in Kosovo and in favor of missile strikes against Yugoslavia. I even said on the House floor point-blank the following: “I have supported the NATO bombings of military targets” in Bosnia. I stand by that decision. I know I lost some supporters from endorsing the destruction of Yugoslavia in a 78 day bombing campaign which drenched Serbia in depleted uranium. But who cares. This war was important in setting a precedent for the wonderful humanitarian imperialists like your good friend, Samantha Power, as used in the Libyan war of 2011 to rid the country of the that brutal socialist dictator, Gaddafi. If he had just been neoliberal then I would have been fine with him. But, no, he had to be a socialist. How despicable. Anyway, I know there was the creation of a humanitarian pretext for intervention in Bosnia, that it was just part of a way to create favorable conditions for corporate profit-making. I’m also aware that calling this war humanitarian is a big joke since it was really, as we all know, about maintaining its imperial dominance, with the humanitarian guise part of a broader propaganda offensive, with a similar approach used in the Libyan war, since the US basically oversaw the most massive acts of ethnic cleansing to occur during the Bosnian war. But can you blame me? I had the war fever. Supporting imperialism is my lifeblood and it will stay that way as long as I hold this office of the presidency! (cheers from audience).

To close out this section I must remind my audience here today at this event, hosted by my wonderful friends, Capitalists for Bernie, about my support for the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998. I voted for this law, which was about liberating Iraqis from a brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein. Perhaps we had supported that dictator when it was convenient and perhaps he had made progress in some some domains. Still, Clinton was right to sign the legislation into law, pushed by the Republican Congress at the time. Not Hillary Clinton, but your friend Bill. (laughs from audience). There is no doubt that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction back then. We are sure of it. We can’t forget how Senator Sam Brownback used it to advocate for bringing capitalism to Iran, and how it was used to argue for the Iraq War in 2003, even by George W. Bush himself that year. Even in the preamble to the 2002 bill for the war’s authorization, the law was cited. While the Iraq Liberation Act was the prelude to a war I voted against, I can’t regret giving Iraqi opposition groups millions of dollars so they could make the Middle East that much better for our existing empire.

Finally let me mention two things. For one, I voted in favor of the imperial Afghan war in 2001. I don’t regret that one bit. Let me also remind you that in 2011 I said that we couldn’t withdraw all of our troops immediately and that our men and women fighting overseas for empire, fighting for all of you, are doing a tremendous job under very difficult circumstances, since we need a victory over the Taliban, those horrid monsters. Many years later, I voted to expand the intelligence apparatus. This was a law that created the position of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center, and many other anti-terror institutions, while expanding punishment for those accused of terrorism. I even defended the Department of Homeland Security when it was at its weakest from those who wanted to deny it funding and voted to give it funding. Hey, I even told Yahoo! News said that surveillance of “potential terrorists” is ok. I’m glad all of you heard this because you can know for certain that I support these efforts because I think social control for the capitalist class by the federal government is important in these trying times of need. (wild applause, standing ovation by audience)

Let me move onto a vital subject of importance. I am in favor of imperial destabilization of rogue nations across the world that threaten not only the national cohesiveness of our grand empire but your financial assets. I have said before that we are an oligarchy. But let me be even more specific. As a capitalist government, we will protect you, the capitalist class, even if we claim to be a democracy, since we are really just a constitutional oligarchy, just no one really says it. (loud applause from audience).

Let me start with Cuba. In the past, I positively treated Cuba’s government. But that was when I was really a socialist, not like now when I head a government geared to protect your interests. As the available evidence shows, I support the democratic opposition to Cuba’s socialist government, headed currently by President Raul Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba. I know that the imperial machinations of empire such as USAID and NED, and other organs of empire, along with the allies in corporate publications ranging from the Washington Post to the New York Times call them democratic. But we all know, as USAID documents of the Cuban Transition Project have shown, the ultimate goal is to get in power a US-friendly government and privatize all the publicly-owned parts of Cuba’s economy, then destroy its socialist system. That way we can create a calm Caribbean that reflects a positive image of our empire, rather than a failing one that allows Cuba to withstand sustained assault from imperialists of the American empire since 1959. That is unacceptable. (wild applause from the audience).

I can also say that when this new government takes control we will find Assata Shakur and snatch her. We can’t let noble black liberationists make us look bad. This is why I voted to extradite her all these years ago. But few ever bring it up because it would ruin my public image. I thank my supporters for that.

There are other rogue states I want to eliminate as well. Let me make a comment first. The wonderful David Graeber, who is now my Secretary of State, once declared that he wasn’t pro-Assad and that Assad is the most murderous dictator on earth. After I found out about this statement I applauded him and realized he would make a great fit for the empire after reading his other statements, including his tweets. Some may say he is radical for his role in the Occupy movement or his book on debt, but all in all, that movement was no communist or socialist uprising, it was just a progressive sputtering. The capitalist federal government can easily handle such puny efforts. It was crushed within a number of months and then there was a level of infighting, partially instigated by agents of this government to protect, all of you, the capitalist class. (applause from audience).

The Occupy movement is so discredited now, that even publications like Adbusters, that started this supposed revolution, are a joke in and of themselves. It is good to see this outcome. In order to complement this, I appointed all the major players in those circles, ranging from a moderately successful writer, Charles Davis, a white female artist, Molly Crabapple, and Gary, the Human Rights Watcher, to high levels in my administration. They will all be vital in maintaining the glorious empire we have created. They did their part before in promoting our initiatives, serving as imperial agents whether they wanted to or not, but now they can directly serve the empire in all of their capacities. (standing ovation and applause from audience).

I fully support the imperial destabilization of Syria’s socially democratic government. As I said earlier, I am a social democrat, but I am also a fully-blooded imperialist. All of you know that, but my supporters have often forgot this, living in the land of delusion so long that they’ll just become mindless zombies for my cause, which is exactly what I want. Anyway, I think that Assad is a terrible dictator at war with his own people and that we need to provide arms to the Kurds while making sure they support our imperial cause in the future, without having perpetual war of a bad kind. Just like my combative attitude toward Russia, the record shows time and time again that I support the Syrian opposition. I know that it is hard to tell who is in the opposition at times, but I think it is clear that Assad must be eliminated at all costs and that the socially democratic elements of the Syrian constitution must be removed. That way all of you here today and many others will get a chance to exploit Syrians and create a whole new market. When this new government takes power I will make sure, in all of my efforts as President, that this comes to fruition. I will not fail you. (thunderous applause from the audience).

The methods of imperial destabilization have worked in Venezuela. If a socialist government takes power in Venezuela again then it will be time to, as I have said in the past, cut ourselves loose of oil from that country. As the record shows, I have time, time, and time again not objected to bills to destabilize the then-socialist government. Now that the former socialist government is in the opposition and former right-wing opposition is now in power, the capitalist federal government of the United States can help Venezuela. We will use every means possible to push Maduro out of power. If this means violent means, then all be it. The Venezuelan government can and should be a plaything of empire. That way Venezuela, like Syria, can become another market for wonderful capitalists like yourselves. I would have it no other way. (loud applause from audience).

There is one more rogue state that must be taken care of: North Korea or the DPRK. This anti-imperialist haven and socialist state has stopped US imperialism for too long. The sanctions on this country, which I support, must remain. However, this country, which I classify as a belligerent totalitarian state of hideous proportions must be dealt with first through diplomatic means coupled with efforts by the CIA, USAID, and NED to fund opposition in the country in order to undermine the regime. After all of those diplomatic means have been exhausted or when they threaten a vital imperial interest of the United States or its corporate partners, we will launch a full-scale invasion of North Korea by the US military. If we are ultimately successful then a US-friendly government will take power in North Korea, helping capitalists like those here today. I can tell you that destabilizing this rogue state and installing a US-friendly, pro-market regime will be one of our top foreign policy priorities. I can assure you of that 100%. (loud applause by audience).

There is one last country I wish to touch on: China. I have said in the past that we should avoid a cold war with China like that with the Soviet Union but that the US should support those elements in China fighting for a democratic society. What I mean by this is that the capitalist US government must support the opposition to the regime in place. (applause by audience). In the past, as I have used China either as a foil to promote protectionism, we must beat them at their own game, called them out on their unfair trade policies.

The voting record on bills of interest, noted in Table A-2 on the site of the State Department, shows my record. In 1999, I ultimately voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2000, even though I originally voted against it, a bill which gave millions of dollars to support Tibetan anti-communist resistance, support NED initiatives to foster democracy in China, and for more intelligence on their dealings. In 2000, I voted against normal trade with China since I didn’t want trade with a communist country. In 2001, in a number of different roll calls, throughout the year, I voted for a law which gave millions upon millions of dollars to support democracy, human rights, and much more within China’s borders. I must regret my vote in 2003 on one occasion and another to vote against a bill that provided more money for NED to destabilize China. But that bill was crap and I didn’t like it one bit. However, I recovered lost ground the next year by voting twice in favor, in one roll call then another, for a law that gave money for a Political Prisoner Database and at least $19 million to support democracy and human rights in China. In 2005 I voted in one roll call after another for a law to fund Tibetan anti-communist development and resistance, consisting of hundreds of thousands of dollars in human rights and democracy programs by NED. In 2007, I continued this trend voting twice, at one time and then another for a bill that gave millions upon millions to fund democracy and rule of law programs, along with other support for the Chinese opposition. In 2009, I again voted to fund Tibetan anti-communist resistance as a consolidated bill showed. Also that year I had no objection to a law that gave millions to distribute propaganda concerning the environment, governance, transparency, and corruption within the borders of the communist Chinese beast.

I am hopeful that this record convinces you that I am supportive of imperial destabilization of China. I am glad to report that the Chinese government has fulfilled our imperial aims by siding with our efforts to sanction North Korea to death in an effort of destabilization. Still, I will commit here and now to putting in place a friendlier government in China. That way all of you wonderful capitalists can have a share of the wealth and exploit a whole new market of consumers even more effectively. (wild cheers from audience).

To close out this speech, I must thank the Capitalists for Bernie group for hosting this event. If you had not secretly funneled money to my campaign disguised as numerous individual contributions to make me seem like a grassroots candidate, then I would not be President today. I’d also like to thank my undying supporters, people who rarely ever questioned me or my brand of politicking. I’d also like to thank the corporate media for helping the general public not know that I am an imperialist who willingly support the capitalist class, and instead painting me as some populist who will save the day. With that God Bless America and God Bless this Glorious American Empire.

Is the Star Wars series fascist?

Published on August 6, 2018January 10, 2019 by leftistcritic2Leave a comment

Originally published on Leftist Critic on Feb 13, 2016.

This post was analyzed for mistakes and other content in January 2019, as part of an effort to engage in self-criticism. At that time, some changes were made.

I recently encountered a post, promoted by “Crypto Cuddlefish,” and I decided to look into if this post, published three years ago, which has a number of movies as referents, has any basis. As a moderate Star Wars fan, it only makes sense to look at this post, which a transcript of a video by improv and standup comedian Dave Gutteridge. This article will respond to specific elements of the transcript with my own commentary. While this may not seem politically important, it is because of the effect that the Star Wars franchise has on the bourgeois public sphere and the minds of the populace, especially in the United States, and elsewhere across the world. Anyway, here it goes.

Addressing Dave Gutteridge’s argument

“I’m actually not a Star Wars fan anymore. But I want you to appreciate just how far I’ve come when I say I’m not a fan. When I first saw the very first Star Wars movie , I was so young and naive that I didn’t know that in movies the hero always wins. When Luke Skywalker was flying down that trench, and he was being chased by Darth Vader, and he had to hit that target just right… I honestly didn’t know if he was going to pull it off. I was genuinely scared the universe could be doomed. It made a deep impression on me, and to this day, when I see that scene, I can’t help but feel tense. I loved Star Wars. I had all those action figures they made, even the Boba Fett you had to write away for . I had Star Wars wallpaper in my bedroom. On Halloween I dressed as a Jawa. I watched, and enjoyed, that shitty holiday special they made. So you’d think I’d be the kind of guy going to conventions dressed like an Ewok and having furry sex or whatever.”

I must admit that one time I was as sorta that type of fan, when I was younger. I even saw two of the movies in the 2000s (Episode 2 and 3) in a local movie theater which had a huge screen, one of the last of its kind. That always made an impression on me when I watched the movies from time to time. As of now, I’m just a moderate fan but I wouldn’t buy any merchandise, toys or such from the Star Wars franchise. There’s no need.

“Sadly, those days are gone. As more movies were made, it got harder and harder to ignore the ugly truth.”

Well, this should be interesting.

I started to have doubts even before the new series of movies was made. Everyone had a “whoah, what the…?” moment when they first saw Jar Jar Binks . And for good reason. Jar Jar Binks apparently comes from a whole race of ready made Amos and Andy style sidekicks . They have built in Jamaican dreadlock-things and the whole “Me so happy massa” Uncle Tom attitude. What’s the racial message here Lucas? And what about the aliens that the Jar Jarians were fighting, these creatures that had flat faces and yellow, slanted eyes, and were all secretive… There hasn’t been this much sublimated racial stereotyping in a science fiction series since the wildly anti-Semitic Ferengi in Star Trek.

I haven’t seen Star Trek but I can say something about Jar Jar Binks. I think that Lucas did stick him in his movies as a sort of comic relief. However, I do think there is a racial stereotype in place, almost like his a modern version of Stepin Fetchit. Even if one countered this this stereotype, Binks is a horrid character in general who acts like a goof and is extremely mindless. But perhaps that is the point. I’m not sure what the racial message is there, or with the greedy Neimodians of the Trade Federation who could represent an Asian stereotype. As one writer points out, “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace clearly invokes imagery and audio from racist ethnic stereotypes. The fact that the recipient of these stereotypical characteristics are non-human aliens does not change this fact.” As a personal admission I’d need to know a bit more about racial stereotypes to see if this is the reality. Still, I think this a valid concern.

“But the clumsy racial metaphors aren’t what bugged me.”

This bothers me. The six Star Wars movies are white and male-dominated with female characters mostly pushed to secondary roles (except for Princess Leia and Padme Amidala) and male characters are put in the primary role. Literally there are only two black characters I can think of: Mace Windu, who gets pushed out a window in Episode 3, and Lando Calrissian, a black capitalist/racketeer who betrays the Rebels to the Empire in Episode 5 then turns around and “good” in Episode 6. Not a good track record. Yes, the most recent Star Wars movie does have a black main character, Finn, and a female lead character, Rey, but this doesn’t change the nature of the previous six movies in terms of racial and gender diversity.

“If anyone here has seen the movie Clerks , you might remember the scene where they are talking about Return of The Jedi . In it, one of the characters describes The Rebellion as a bunch of leftists. That got me thinking. A bunch of “leftists”.”

I don’t think I’d think of them as leftists necessarily, just a rebellious force, the details of which I’ll explain later.

“In the first movie, it was all about saving Princess Leia. Then in the new movies, there’s Queen Amalama …dabadoo , whatever her name is. If you’re a princess, you’re in a royal family… and monarchies are not democratic . Now, the far left is not always democratic either, but since the left is usually socialist in some way, I don’t know a lot of far left extremists who are pro-monarchy.”

Hmm, that’s a good point. However, Leia is only part of the rebellion, she isn’t necessarily leading it. As for Amidala, she is controlling a planet, Naboo, that likely embodies what some have called “capitalist peace” since it was, according to Wookiepedia, “considered a world of classical beauty due to the aesthetics of its population centers” and was “peaceful.” As a result, I don’t know if I’d consider the Galactic Republic, of which Amidala was part of, to be leftist in the radical sense. After all, as it is described, it sounds kinda elitist but a little like the Amerikan federal system, which could be endorsed by today’s liberals and conservatives:

“The Galactic Republic, commonly referred to simply as the Republic, and later also known as the Old Republic, was the democratic union that governed the galaxy for a thousand years prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire. The Republic was aided by the efforts of the Jedi Order, who stood as the guardians of peace and justice, enabling the Republic to be free of full-scale conflict for over a thousand years.”

Then you come to the Empire:

“Now take a look at the “Empire”. They come across as hard core right wing authoritarians. But if you look at how they operate, they have a republic, a senate… it’s not too clear if they have universal suffrage . Maybe only the wealthy planet owners can vote. But still… even if it’s a primitive Grecian style democracy, it’s still a democracy.”

I’m not completely sure about this. The reason about this, is that in Episode 3, that evil Palpatine/Sidious who killed most of the elitist force, the Jedi in what was basically a “surprise” extermination campaign, took power and created the Galactic Empire, a day referred to as “Empire Day” in other series. Palpatine in that movie declares that “In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society.” That doesn’t sound very democratic to me. After all, Wookiepedia notes that this Empire replaced the republic, with authority going to the Emperor:

“The Galactic Empire…was the government that rose to power in the aftermath of the Clone Wars, replacing the Galactic Republic. Central authority was given to Darth Sidious, publicly known as Emperor Palpatine, who was also the Dark Lord of the Sith. For nearly two decades, the legislative body was the Imperial Senate, but it was dissolved by the Emperor shortly before the Battle of Yavin. During the reign of the Empire, countless star systems were conquered and dissident actions ruthlessly stamped out by the rapidly expanding Imperial Army and Navy. The Empire also oversaw the near extermination of the Jedi, with the destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and its renovation into the newly named Imperial Palace.”

I know one could say this is a Star Wars wikia and it will biased. However, what this says makes it obvious that the Empire was a dictatorial regime. Also in Episode 4, the Imperial Senate was DISSOLVED. The legislative body was a joke, as noted in the following passage from this article:

“…By its fourteenth year of existence, the new Senate had started growing weaker as the Emperor’s planetary governors assumed more responsibility over their territories. However, the Emperor preserved the Senate in order to make the Empire’s member worlds believe that they still had a part to play in government. Secretly, he planned to disband the Senate from the start but he needed it to preserve order until the Death Star was completed.”

So, I just don’t buy the idea that Empire was a democracy. That goes against the events in the Star Wars animated series and the movies (4, 5, 6) in general. The same goes for the First Order in the new movie which is described as a military junta that was inspired by the Galactic Empire, led by a Supreme Leader and his right-hand man, Kylo Ren who “would oversee the colonization of the Unknown Regions and destruction of the last Jedi” but lacked an official capital.

So back to Gutteridge. He writes that “we’re cheering a bunch of monarchists fighting a democracy? How’d that happen?” then tweets comparisons between the Rebel Alliance, which was a “military resistance government” just like the Resistance. So, in that way the Rebel Alliance are right-wing one could argue. However, one could say they are a resistance force to the empire, almost a guerrilla movement, and don’t really constitute a state like the Empire or the First Order which has, as Max Weber notes about all states, “monopoly on the use of force.” But I’ll address this later on.

“The hints were there from the start”

Ok. Let’s see what you have to say.

“Who exactly are these “rebels”? When you look at it, they don’t seem like an uprising of working class people. When we very first see Luke Skywalker on the farm on Tattooine , his Uncle owns the farmland. It’s droids who do all the blue collar work. It seems the rebellion is led by landed gentry and dispossessed monarchists who’ve had their traditional power structure threatened by an emerging republic.”

Hmm. You could say that and perhaps the rebellion is made up of middle-class folks. By this description Luke would be part of the petty bourgeoisie since he could be arguably part of a strata that “rely entirely on the sale of their labor-power for survival…and thus can buy the labor-power of the proletariat [the droids in this case] and lumpenproletariat to work the means of production.” At the same time the Rebellion could arguably include lumpenproletariat people like gangster Han Solo and his companion Chewbacca. But I agree its not a rebellion of the proletariat in a Marxian or radical sense. That can even be said about the group of rebels in the new animated series Star Wars Rebels in one sense or another.

Now onto the other claims. According to Wookiepedia, the Rebel Alliance had their origins in a group of Senators who “were vocal opponents of Palpatine’s reformations” and was “found itself increasingly at odds with the Chancellor’s increasing executive powers, and often had trouble gaining an audience with him.” Two of the individuals were key in what became the Rebel Alliance. Jumping ahead, another page notes that this rebellion had a mission to restore “liberty” to the galaxy, at least initially and eventual establishment of a Republic like the Galactic Republic in Episodes 1, 2, and 3. Another part of the same page notes that the Rebel Alliance constituted of a government and a military command led by the Chief of State who was led an “elected dictatorship, [since] the Chief of State had virtually unlimited power over the Alliance” and was taken out of power after the Emperor died. Other parts of the Rebel government included an Advisory Council comprises of representatives from “seven Alliance governments who had given the most lives in battle to defeating the Empire” and it was “responsible for approving or disapproving the proposals of the Chief of State.” There was also an alliance cabinet which allowed the Chief of State to “maintain and run the Alliance,” Alliance Allied Commands, or the “the individual governments of worlds, organizations, and groups that were members of the Alliance” and then the military which was led by the Chief of State. In this way, the Rebel Alliance can be considered a state but also a guerrilla movement at the same time. Undoubtedly it can be considered right-wing but so can the Empire.

“There was one time I was talking about this, a guy said to me, “actually Queen Abadalamadingdong was “elected” to her seat in the senate.” I looked it up on the interwebs, and that’s technically true. She was elected. When she was 14, though. Now, I know this was probably written this way because,George Lucas wanted to line things up so that Princess Allibabababoo [actually Amidala] wouldn’t be too much older, years later when she got it on with young boy-band-era Vader. I don’t know why that was a problem, because there ain’t nothing wrong with a little cougar action, but that seems to be what happened at the script writing level.”

Yes, this is true and Anakin was a creeper. Naboo definitely had what one could call an elected monarchy.

“Whatever, though. Lucas might have been more focused on character time lines than the politics, but it doesn’t excuse anything. We’ve still got the story we’ve got.”

I guess you could say that.

“No functioning democracy elects a 14 year old girl to anything higher than hall monitor, so she has to have been ushered into power by a ruling elite.”

That’s a good point, except not everything in the world that is considered a “democracy” is not necessarily a democracy. So in this way, yes, Naboo isn’t a democracy.

“If the rebellion were just the landed gentry, that might be a excusable. Hell, George Washington was the wealthiest land owner in the colonies , but there was still some merit in his rebellion. But the situation gets worse. Because at the heart of the rebellion are the Jedi.”

Ok, I don’t know how that would be excusable. Well, the Jedi are sort of at the heart of it, but they also aren’t.

“At first glance, the Jedi seem all Zen and spiritual and peaceful. You first see Obi Wan out wandering in the desert, fighting injustices, like Caine in Kung Fu . So, you know, you think they’re all a bunch of counter culture revolutionary warrior monks. But then in the movie The Phantom Menace , which historically is further back in time, you see the Jedi in the penthouse suite of some deluxe high rise on the capital planet of the galaxy. They have this Star Chamber with bay windows overlooking the metropolis. They’re casually chatting over Earl Gray tea about how to influence politics and alter the fates of all the citizens of the galaxy.”

That is kinda true if you think about it. I can remember some scene in a Clone Wars episode when a clone calls the Jedi slavemasters literally:

“As they present Slick before the Jedi, Slick snaps that his brothers are enslaved by the Jedi, that he was striking a blow for all clones and that he loves his brothers, but Cody and Rex retort that he has now exposed them all to certain doom. Cody orders the other clones to take the traitor to lockup.”

Not only that but I can remember people in the animated series saying there’s a hypocrisy for “defenders of the peace” (Jedi) to be warriors. This part from the Episode 3 screenplay is also relevant here:

MACE WINDU: I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. The dark side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: If he does not give up his emergency powers after the destruction of Grievous, then he should be removed from office.

MACE WiNDU: That could be a dangerous move … the Jedi Council would have to take control of the Senate in order to secure a peaceful transition . . .

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: . . . and replace the Congress with Senators who are not filled with greed and corruption.

YODA: To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Hmmmmm. . . . great care we must take.

Seriously they want a coup in a republic, arguably a bourgeois democracy. Yikes! This really would make them theocrats and actually kinda philosopher kings too in a sense. However, without this they are neither of these labels.

“Nobody elected these guys. Nobody voted for Yoda. What the hell happened to the separation of church and state? They’re like the evangelical movement in the US Republican party, pushing their agenda behind the scenes.”

Ok. However, they were basically treated as elite warriors who would defend the Republic. But in some sense you could say they are religious leaders. They aren’t really like the evangelical movement in the US. Here’s a relevant passage from the Episode 4 screenplay which sounds almost like the Force is a religion in a sense:

HAN: Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

LUKE: You don’t believe in the Force, do you?

HAN: Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful force controlling everything. There’s no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

Ben smiles quietly.

HAN: It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.

BEN: I suggest you try it again, Luke.

Then the post notes that:

“Not only are we cheering for anti-democratic monarchists, they’re also fundamentalist theocrats. These guys aren’t just out to stop gays from becoming stormtroopers. These guys start whole ground wars that get who knows how many people killed.”

I wouldn’t say the Jedi started the war. I think Darth Sidious wanted the invasion of Naboo. Even if the Jedi “ambassadors” hadn’t been there, showing their high status, then the invasion and blockade of Naboo would have included. But, yes in a sense we are cheering for right-wingers/rightests. However, there is a bourgeois democracy in the form of the Galactic Republic which sorta seems like the U$ in some way or another. This “democracy” as it will, which Marx and Engels called “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,” mirrors the dictatorship that ruled Mexico with an iron fist from the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 until the 1990s which constituted a corporatist political structure led by the PRI and had the legislature as merely a rubber-stamp.

“For example, in Phantom Menace they go down to planet Jamaica where the Jar Jarians live, and convince them to fight a robot army and get mowed down like Aztecs being slaughtered by conquistadors. What do the Jedi offer in return? They send in two human white guys to rescue a human white girl.”

I guess you could say this. However, the Jedi do offer something in return. They help clear the hangar with the help of the Queen and her forces so that Naboo starfighters can destroy the Trade Federation ship of which Anakin succeeds in but by accident. Anyway, it is true they rescue a human white girl (the Queen). At the same time, the Gungans fight a robot army but are quickly surrounded and have to surrender, so I don’t think it accurate to say that they are slaughtered by Aztecs as that almost implies that the movie condemns imperialism which it obviously does not.

“Why do the Jar Jarians agree? ‘Cause the leader of the Jar Jarians is a fucking king… another monarchist. He’s got a divine right to rule to protect, so of course he’s on board.”

I guess you could say that but I think the Gungans are willing to side with the humans (“the Naboo”) because they see their planet under attack by a foreign force (a robot army led by the Trade Federation).

Now, you’re probably thinking “Yeah, but just look at the Empire, they’ve got lots of black, dark atmospheric mood lighting, and lots of heavy breathing. They’ve got to be evil, right? And the Jedi have all soft earth tones, lots of brown, long hair, and eating granola, they’ve got to be good, right? What makes them so good, all deep down?

No I wasn’t wondering that at all. Not sure who would be wondering that.

“Here’s where it gets really fucked up. In the new series of movies, George Lucas revealed to us what it is that makes a Jedi a Jedi. In order to be a part of “the force”, you have to have this stuff in your blood called “Midi-chlorians”. So… you have to be born with the right blood… Not just antidemocratic monarchist fundamentalist theocrats… they’re also racial supremacists! Holy fuck!”

I don’t think that is necessarily racial supremacy. I guess it could be considered genetic supremacy but not racial supremacy necessarily. This is because Jedi do NOT have to be humans to be Jedi. But I will agree it is strange. In fact, as they note in the movies, EVERYONE has medi-chlorians to some extent. As Qui-Gon said in Episode 1 to a young Anakin, who was literally a slave, but freed:

“Midi-chlorians are a microcopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force. [they are] In your cells. We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians [or] Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you.”

So, I don’t think this constitutes racial supremacy akin to the Nazis. In fact, this kinda just says “the Force” comes from within you, but doesn’t have to do with if you have “the right blood.” One could argue this means it constitutes eugenics, but I don’t agree.

Now it makes sense why the Jedi wear the brown shirts! We’re supposed to cheer for these fascists?

I don’t think they are fascists. Sure, you could argue convincingly they are theocrats, though I don’t agree with that viewpoint, but since the part of the movie about midi-chlorians was wrongly interpreted, this undermines that they are fascists. However, I see the Jedi and the Sith, who are basically conflicting sects of “The Force” religion, as religious warriors, not necessarily as totally theocrats since they don’t completely rule or govern “as a representative of God or a deity, or is a member of the ruling group in a theocracy, as a divine king or a high priest.” Remember there’s still the Senate and the Chancellor. True, these warriors are rogue, but I’m not sure if they can be considered totally part of a “ruling group.”

“We’re supposed to be happy, singing “yub yub”, along with the Ewoks, when these authoritarian assholes win at the end of Return of the Jedi?”

Well, the Rebels are rightists but aren’t necessarily “authoritarian assholes.” Also by this time most of the Jedi in the galaxy are killed so they aren’t leading the Rebellion.

“A victory which is ludicrous when you think about it. I don’t know what it takes to build a death star, but apparently a death star is something an empire the size of a galaxy can only build one at a time. I think it’s safe to assume that they’d devote their best troops to protecting this thing. The best troops in an entire galaxy.”

Well it could be considered ludicrous except I think the Empire was over-confident and the Ewoks helped the Rebels turn the tide of victory. So its sorta unbelievable but this is fiction. What do you expect? You could say the same about the destruction of the Starkiller Base in the newest Star Wars movie. Additionally, it is possible for the best troops to be beat by troops that aren’t the best. Its happened in world history before in military battles. It is possible.

“We’re seriously meant to believe that they couldn’t defend a shed in the woods from a pack of plush toys with pre-bronze age technology? It’s so incredulous, it defies all reason… Unless… you think about what the far far away galaxy is like after the final battle that defeats the Empire.”

Well, they couldn’t defend it because of the Ewoks who were able to destroy much of the Empire’s technology in their guerrilla tactics. Also, they only sent a legion of troopers down to Endor, and the Rebels had fought the Empire for years, so I’d imagine there were seasoned enough troops who knew how the fight the empire. Also, what’s so bad with a “primitive” force defeating a “modern,” technologically-advanced force? It happened in Avatar, a movie which had issues considering the white male savior of indigenous people, so it can happen here most definitely.

“There’s probably some tough questions being asked during Luke Skywalker’s thousand year Reich. Questions like, “We fought all these battles, all these people died, We got rid of the evil overlord Darth Vader, and now… his son is in charge? Another Skywalker and his crypto-incestuous sister are running the show now? What kind of revolution was this?””

No, no one is asking those questions. Luke and his sister were NEVER in charge, they were just part of a broader rebellion. Sure, Leia was arguably more part of the ruling class, but she wasn’t directly in charge of the Rebels and Luke most definitely was not, but basically was just like a high-ranking officer in the military. Also, Vader (whose full name could mean “dark father” but it is contested) was never in charge, that was the Emperor. I do think this part of episode 4 is relevant here:

HAN: It is for me, sister! Look, I ain’t in this for your revolution, and I’m not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I’m in it for the money!

LEIA: You needn’t worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive!

Later Han becomes a loyal footsoldier of the Rebellion, but this still relevant here.

“Not only has all the power in the galaxy been passing around within one family, but with the death of exiled Pope Yoda, Luke has moved into the position of head of the official state religion. Church and state have been unified, and Ayatollah Skywalker reigns supreme over his dystopian theocratic dictatorship.”

I just don’t think that interpretation is correct. Yoda was never the head of the “official state religion.” The Force can be argued as a religious force or feeling but was NOT the official religion of either the Empire, the Rebellion, First Order, or Resistance. Hence, there was no “theocratic dictatorship.” However, there is a convincing argument that two rightist forces were fighting each other.

“And that’s when it hit me. I saw it, man, I saw what was going on. Maybe George Lucas is the most brilliant film maker of all time.”

What in the world. This is almost half sarcastic.

“You see, think of it like this. History is written by the victors. So maybe what George Lucas is doing is writing this whole series from a meta-contextual point of view, showing us history as it would be depicted if the forces of evil had won.”

Um, ok history is written by victors. As for the next part of this quote, I just don’t think so.

“The story is shown from the point of view after Dear Leader Skywalker went all Stalin on the historical records. The photos have been airbrushed , the scrolls have been burned , the statues knocked down … we’re seeing the revisionist history the House of Skywalker wants us to believe.”

Luke Skywalker never did that. He never was really in a leading position of power. It is true he was a valued footsoldier of the Rebellion, but he was NOT the leader of the Alliance. I don’t even know what to say about the comparison to Stalin here.

“If that’s what George Lucas is doing, it’s fucking brilliant. The hints are there, but you have to peel back the layers of propaganda to look for the real story. What’s really going on?”

Oh boy here we go with the “layers of propaganda.”

“Before the story depicted in the movies begins, democracy was emerging in the galaxy in the form of a republic, with a democratically elected senate. The monarchists and elite were seeing their tyrannical rule coming to an end. They tried to maintain power by filling the sentate with their own kind, like they did with Queen Amadamadingdong. That failed, and they were marginalized.”

I don’t think its that simple. I think there was the pretense of democracy but it was, as even Sheldon Wolin puts it, a managed democracy, in the Galactic Republic. But more accurately it was a bourgeois democracy. Yet, Gutteridge doesn’t say this.

“[Referring to an above picture.] In this telling scene, Anakin Skywalker argues against the extra-judicial summary execution of a political leader by a Jedi zealot, and calls instead for a trial by jury. For this, he is depicted as a villain.”

The “political leader” who speak of was actually also a theocrat in a sense and led his own branch of “The Force” religion. Hence, Palpatine was more like a religious leader who masqueraded as a political leader than the latter. He is almost more a theocrat than the Jedi since he holds a leading position in government while the Jedi don’t technically hold such a position but just kinda do their own thing, which has some consequences (good and bad). Also, Palpatine was trying to kill the Jedi warrior. Yes, Anakin was trying to call for a trial, but Windu’s point that he is “too dangerous to stay alive” if I remember the words right, is valid. In my thinking Palpatine knew something like this would happen, so he made it so the Jedi would say he should die and then Anakin would come to Palpatine’s aid. Also, Anakin is a bit selfish and out for himself, so he can’t be painted as the “good” guy here. Anyway, here’s the relevant passage showing that Anakin is painted an agent of evil for good reason, even though he advocated a right for trial of Palpatine even as the courts are corrupt (bolding is my emphasis):

ANAKIN lands his speeder, jumps out, and runs down a long corridor toward the Chancellor’s office.

In the heat of battle, MACE cuts the window behind the Chancellor’s desk, and it crashes away. MACE is forced out onto the ledge, which is twenty stories up. They fight over the precipice. ANAKIN arrives to see PALPATINE and MACE fighting.

They stop as MACE forces PALPATINE to drop his sword. PALPATINE and MACE start yelling at each other.

MACE WINDU: You are under arrest, My Lord.

PALPATINE: Anakin! I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over.

MACE WlNDU: You old fool. The oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to regain control of the Republic is over . . . you have lost . . .

PALPATINE: No! No! You will die!

PALPATINE raises his hands, and lightning bolts shoot out. They are blocked by MACE’s lightsaber. PALPATINE is pushed back against the window sill.

PALPATINE: He is a traitor, Anakin.

MACE WlNDU: He’s the traitor. Stop him!

PALPATINE: Come to your senses, boy. The Jedi are in revolt. They will betray you, just as they betrayed me.

MACE WlNDU: Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .

PALPATINE: You are not one of them, Anakin. Don’t let him kill me.

MACE WlNDU: Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .

PALPATINE: I am your pathway to power. I have the power to save the one you love. You must choose. You must stop him.

MACE WlNDU: Don’t listen to him, Anakin.

PALPATINE: Help me! Don’t let him kill me. I can’t hold on any longer. Ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . .

MACE pushes PALPATINE out to the edge of the ledge. As the Jedi moves closer, the bolts from Palpatine’s hands begin to arch back on him. The Chancellor’s face begins to twist and distort. His eyes become yellow as he struggles to intensify his powers.

PALPATINE: I can’t … I give up. Help me. I am weak … I am too weak. Don’t kill me. I give up. I’m dying. I can’t hold on any longer.

MACE WlNDU: You Sith disease. I am going to end this once and for all.

ANAKIN: You can’t kill him, Master. He must stand trial.

MACE WlNDU: He has too much control of the Senate and the Courts. He is too dangerous to be kept alive.

PALPATINE: I’m too weak. Don’t kill me. Please.

ANAKIN: It is not the Jedi way . . .

MACE raises his sword to kill the CHANCELLOR.

ANAKIN: (continuing) He must live . . .

PALPATINE: Please don’t, please don’t . . .

ANAKIN: I need him . . .

PALPATINE: Please don’t . . .

ANAKIN: NO!!!

Just as MACE is about to slash PALPATINE, ANAKIN steps in and cuts off the Jedi’s hand holding the lightsaber.

As MACE stares at ANAKIN in shock, PALPATINE springs to life.
The full force of Palpatine’s powerful Bolts blasts MACE. He attempts to deflect them with his one good hand, but the force is too great. As blue rays engulf his body, he is flung out the window and falls twenty stories to his death. No more screams. No more moans. PALPATINE lowers his arm.

PALPATINE: Power! Unlimited power!

His face has changed into a horrible mask of evil. ANAKIN looks on in horror. PALPATINE cackles.

ANAKIN: What have I done?

Hence, its not as simple as just “defending” the right to a trial. There’s a bit more there.

“Even worse for the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father and their chosen messiah, is won over by democratic values. Anakin becomes so keen to distance himself from the cult that has tried to brainwash him since childhood that he dons a Subcomandante Marcos mask and renames himself Darth Vader.”

Well, he doesn’t completely distance himself. He still accepts The Force but just in a different form. In this way he is a religious warrior who will serve an authoritarian Empire and/or the Emperor. So, NO he is not “won over by democratic values.” Don’t you remember when he KILLS all those Jedi in the Jedi Temple literally. Isn’t that basically a religious massacre or what is called a pogrom? Come on now.

“He then aggressively, and for a time successfully, tries to purge the Jedi from the halls of power, making him a champion of the separation of church and state. Which, in my books, is a good thing.”

There never really was a state religion, hence there can’t be a separation of church and state. No one was EVER forced to believed in The Force. It was almost like the Jedi were like high-level thinkers or philosopher kings to some extent, except that they didn’t really have political power but had political prestige.

“By the time we get to Luke Skywalker, democracy is everywhere and things might have gone well, except no one could have anticipated just how ruthless Luke Skywalker would be. Luke was probably moisture farmer on Tatooine as much as George Bush was a Texan rancher. No, Luke was a demagogue laying in wait.”

I really don’t think that was accurate at all. There definitely isn’t democracy everywhere. The Republic at least had a Senate of some value. However, the Empire has a useless and mock-powerful Senate which is abolished in Episode 4. Of not is an episode of the new Star Wars animated series, Star Wars Rebels where Vader orders the burning of a city (Tarkintown) on one of the character’s home planets, Lothal in order to spread fear. Then there was the massacre, which has a My Lai quality, of the town’s inhabitants and the destruction of the town in the newest Star Wars movie as noted in this screenplay:

“Lor San Tekka moves sadly through the village as STORMTROOPERS wielding FLAME THROWERS destroy structures. Surrendering Villagers are ROUNDED UP. Penned ANIMALS panic…The Troopers and villagers in battle — as one Trooper is HIT and goes down. Another — OUR TROOPER — KNEELS to help. The hit trooper raises a torn, bloody glove — his HUMAN HAND visible — and MARKS OUR STORMTROOPER’S MASK WITH BLOOD just before he dies. Our Trooper, stands — overwhelmed by the battle.”

Then this goes on.

“The Skywalker name gives Luke the backing of the Jedi, but they need the money and resources of the monarchists and land owners to fund the Jedi’s jihad against the secular government. To convince the monarchists to come along, Luke and his cohorts concocted this whole story about how he discovered a weapon of mass destruction that only he could destroy. How convenient.”

No, they didn’t concoct the story. Come on. If the Empire is secular, it is a murderous secular state. Who would want to support that?

“Was there really a death star? Everyone who supposedly witnessed a planet being destroyed by a “death star” are all dead now, except, by no coincidence, for Luke’s sister.”

Um, all the rebel pilots saw the death star. Anyway, at the end of Episode 3 the Death Star was under construction and the Geonosians were apparently constructing it or at least had the plans for its construction in Episode 2.

“It was Luke and the Jedi cabal who blew up Alderaan! It was a galactic Reichstag Fire , Gulf of Tonkin , Manchurian railway in space. Great disturbance in the force my ass. It was a great disturbance by the force!”

This isn’t what actually happened and the writer of the original post knows this. It WAS the Empire that blew up the planet. Its almost sarcasm at this point.

“The monarchists were convinced, and supplied Luke with all the resources he need to launch his bloody coup d’état . Luke then makes a huge display of blowing up a star base that could have been a medicine factory for all we know, and the monarchists adorn him with medals for his “Mission Accomplished” moment, which, like similar moments , was only the beginning of the bloodshed.”

Um, it wasn’t a medicine factory. Also, they once again were NOT monarchists. And yes, the end of Episode 4 could said the reminiscent of Nazi rallies, but this was convincingly more the case in the newest Star Wars movie with a rally of the First Order. Seriously, those First Order folks were fascists.

“The final twist of the propaganda knife is claiming that his father renounced democracy just before dying. Again, anyone on the second death star who might have witnessed Vader sacrificing the emperor in an act of atonement to his son – they’re all dead now too.”

This is ridiculous. How is a system that is led by an EMPEROR a democracy? What movies did you watch? Jeez this is so far off that all I can do is laugh.

“That’s how Luke rolls. He kills all witnesses.”

Um no he doesn’t. He blows up the first Death Star, sure, but NOT the second one which is blown up by the Rebel starfleet. Also, the second Death Star killed people on the two ships it destroyed with its blasts to show off its power.

“The whole Star Wars series is Ayatollah Skywalker’s whitewashed history of his brutal ascent to power. It’s his Triumph of the Will !”

Gosh this is getting ridiculous. Skywalker, once again did NOT hold a leading position in the Alliance but was just one of the best fighters. Come on now.

“It even explains the terrible storytelling set against incredible scenery. I mean, it’s a state sponsored propaganda film. It has all the brilliant special effects of a Chinese Olympic opening ceremony , but the stilted story telling of a North Korean news report . Even in the very production of the films the historical revisionism is hinted at. I mean, we all know that the free market neocon mercenary Han Solo shot Greedo first, but even that detail got suppressed to support the official state narrative.”

What? It isn’t a state propaganda film. It is also is not like Chinese or DPRK news reports or ceremonies. Sure, Han Solo could be considered a “free market neocon mercenary.” However, from what I remember the movie NEVER says that Greedo shot first or is this detail expressed. Come on. Jabba the Hut, the head of the underground criminal network, is mad Greedo is killed but that’s about it.

“If it’s the case that the whole Star Wars series is a post modern metacontextual propaganda for the Skywalker regime, then maybe George Lucas is a brilliant writer working on so many more levels than we’ve even discovered yet!”

You got to be kidding me. There was NO “Skywalker regime.” There was just two rightist forces fighting each other. Additionally, the Rebellion was almost a tent for those of different viewpoints. However, it is evident that neither of the forces fighting each other can be seen as truly part of the Left.

“And then I saw Indiana Jones part four , and was reminded that, Lucas is just a hack.”

I’ll agree that movie was horrible. I’m not sure if calling Lucas a hack is fair though even though I think he was broadly a conservative and wanted to reinforce “traditional” values coming from the 1950s from what I’ve read.

“Still, we’ve got the story we’ve got, the most deceptive and seductive pro-fascist narrative ever written. The Jedi mind trick has been played on all of us. “This is not the hero’s journey you were looking for.””

I just don’t agree with this at all. Considering the faulty interpretations elsewhere, this is just totally wrong. Yes, the six major movies have a conservative element and reinforces traditionalism along with arguably patriarchalism. The same could be said about the new movie, but there is some level of a corrective with a female lead character (Rey) and a black stormtrooper who refuses to commit a war crime, an equivalent of the My Lai massacre, named Finn. The same could be said about the new Star Wars Rebels series which has a number of female characters even know the cast is still male-dominated, and the second animated clone wars series, not necessarily the first one.

“So… I’m not a Star Wars fan anymore. If it ever happens again that I see that scene where Luke is going down the trench, I’ll still get tense… but I’ll be cheering for Vader.”

Good for you. Cheer for an empire, which is kinda fascist just from the name of its footsoldiers: stormtroopers. How about cheering for NEITHER side since both sides are kinda rightist? Just an idea.

While I think that comedian Dave Gutteridge makes some valid points about the Star Wars, but his makes a number of conclusions which are not based on evidence from the series itself (ex: that the Empire is a democracy or that Jedi are theocrats). I’m willing to be convinced otherwise, but I just think there are a number of fundamental issues that he gets totally wrong as I note above. Perhaps I interpreted this all wrong and he is trying to be really really sarcastic but I sincerely doubt it.

Some additional thoughts

There are a number of historical analogies one could make in relation to the Star Wars series. Tom Engelhardt, argued in one written piece that George Lucas challenged the view that Americans shouldn’t be reminded about the Vietnam war, “decontaminating war of its recent history through a series of inspired cinematic decisions that rescued crucial material from the wreckage of Vietnam.” Engelhart continues by rightly pointing out that Lucas started the Star Wars series in its “own self-enclosed universe in deepest space and in an amorphous movie past…an era of civil war, an evil empire, rebels, an ultimate weapon, a struggle for freedom” and that “he uncoupled the audience from a legacy of massacre and atrocity” with Skywalker’s family suffering “its own My Lai,” He writes that this allows the audience and Luke to “set off on an anti-imperial venture as the victimized, not as victimizers” and that later on, “Lucas’s white teenage rebels would glide effortlessly among the natives. They would learn from value-superior Third World mystics…and be protected by ecological fuzzballs like the Ewoks.” Engelhart writes that after the 1970s, “Star Wars-like themes also began to penetrate the world of adult entertainment” and this allowed G.I. Joe to be reintroduced along with other “action figures” to released as Star Wars knock offs.

While Englehart makes valid points, I think it important to recognize the different interpretations of Star Wars before putting forward my own analysis. Steven Belletto and Daniel Grausam argue that the film quickly undermines the reading that it is critical of the United States, saying that Episode IV’s premise “associates the Rebels with Western settlers and heroes” and then populates the Empire “with soldiers and henchmen outfited for a Stanlist regime.” [1] They further argue, on the same page, that the movie also puts forward the idea that the West is represented by “technologically inferior Rebels” rather than an invading war machine, which revives the narrative that “the South Vietnamese Army comprised the freedom fighters” and that the North Vietnamese were “agents of a monolithic, evil, Communist empire set on world domination.” In writing about Episode 5, Belletto and Grausam argue that the movie is just “dumbed down Emerson” and claiming that Yoda has a resemblance to Reagan. [2] They argue that for Episode 6, Luke is an “optimistic Reaganite” who continues to underestimate the power of the Dark Side, that the Rebels aren’t for freedom from the Empire’s grasp but they want to supplant it as the governing force of the galaxy. [3] They later write that there is the triumph of the Rebels in episode 6 means that class distinctions are dissolved, with nobility, who they describe as Luke and Leia, along with Ewok and Wookies participating, meaning that, in their interpretation, “the Eastern establishment and European aristocracy acknowledge their appreciation for the lone ranger, just as he acknowledges his commitment to their benevolent monarchy.” [4] Belletto and Grausum also write that three patriarchs, redeemed Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan, in their interpretation, return in Episode 6 at the end “to celebrate this marriage of Western adventurism [symbolized by Han Solo] and Eastern monarchy that confirm the union’s implicit hierarchy as part of the natural order.” [5]

Then, there’s Stephen McVeigh who looks at what the engine that drives the Star Wars narrative. He argues that the original trilogy (episodes 4-6) constitutes ” a post-Vietnam critique of military superiority whereby a technological superpower is defeated by smaller, more humanized forces” and that the films present “a dual reading of U.S. military might” as either a “morally bankrupt oppressor” or that U.S. interests and actions are just. [6] He also argues that while some critics tend to argue that the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany is represented by the Empire, that “the dark truth at the core of Lucas’s evil Empire is that it presents a version of America itself” and that the Star Wars movies are more than about posturing of Cold War superpowers, and by recognizing “that the rebels and Empire are one and the same side” only does Lucas’s mission come to the surface. [7] He goes on beyond this, but this alone is worth mentioning.

It is worth mentioning, last but not least that there is a group of writers that assert that Star Wars is related to Vietnam, as Englehart alluded to. McVeigh writes that Star Wars Episode 4 has to be seen in light of the Vietnam War and that instead of detailing the horrors of Vietnam, he “decided to offer a balm…ramp [of] the mythic landscape that had been so badly traumatized by American involvement in the war in Southeast Asia.” [8] His mission, as the writers argue, is to repair “the damage done by the Vietnam War on the American people.” [9] McVeigh also writes than later also argue that Episode 1 fit into fears of U.S. culture (conspiracy and paranoia) and that the relevance of Star Wars to “stories that connect to become an account of passage of American self-concept through the aftermath of Vietnam” assures the series a “unique place within American popular culture.” [10] Other than McVeigh, Dan Rubey argues that Episode 4 uses “an image ourselves from the past,” referring to dogfights during WWII which Lucas used as a basis for fights in the Star Wars movies, and that it has direct relation to Vietnam. [11] He also writes that the film feeds on the feelings of the audience of frustration along with numerous desires (escape, mobility, and power) and satisfies them with a good/evil dichotomy, numerous metaphors and endorse “traditional structures of racism, sexism and social hierarchy that have helped to create and maintain those frustrations.” [12] The same write also argues that Lucas has a “conservative ideological bias,” that Star Wars is a “chivalric romance plot” that is about power of the Force which is gendered as male, that the Rebels are restorers of the old order, and that “Lucas dooms Star Wars to repeat all the ideological cliches of our society” [13]

These assessments are validated in numerous ways by the franchise itself. In one Lucasfilm book titled Star Wars and History, Vietnam is mentioned 19 times. More directly are sections from J. W. Rinzle’s The Making of Star Wars (Enhanced Edition). In the book, it says that George Lucas originally wanted to make Apocalypse Now, which is as any viewers know, a very antiwar and anti-Vietnam War film. As Rinzle writes in a section titled “Vietnam Wars in Space,” “the Vietnam War was just too controversial” meaning that Lucas, who was apparently poor and in debt, turned to an unnamed science fiction project which became Star Wars. In the book, Rinzle quotes Lucas as saying he had “very strong feelings” about Apocalypse Now, implying that Star Wars was about the Vietnam War with political ideas he was going to put in that movie going into Star Wars. [14] The most telling quote from Lucas which basically confirms that Star Wars is about reclaiming the Vietnam War (with “selective” concepts) is as follows:

“A lot of my interest in Apocalypse Now was carried over into Star Wars. I figured that I couldn’t make that film because it was about the Vietnam War, so I would essential deal with some of the same interesting concepts that I was going to use and convert them into space fantasy, so you’d have essentially a large technological empire going after a small group of freedom fighters or human beings.”

I could go on and mention numerous other books that mention how Star Wars is a reflection on the Vietnam War. However, I think it best to give my other thoughts at this present time. The argument that the Rebels and the Empire are just two sides of the same coin, representing different elements of the United States, is relatively convincing. [15] I was thinking about this today and if the Empire represented the Soviet Union, the process of events doesn’t make much sense. I say that because there was no major military defeat of the Soviet Union by the United States before the 1970s, which would be represented by the Death Star’s explosion, and America was not defeated by the Soviet Union as they were by the Empire at the beginning of Episode 5. This would get even more confusing because the Empire was originally a Galactic Republic, which Russia was NOT before the Russian revolution of 1917. I also thought that maybe Episode 1 referred to WWI and that the Clone Wars referred to WWII but in terms of the events that happened in Star Wars, this doesn’t make much sense either. Neither does the destruction of the Death Star refer to the Korean War or the battle of Hoth in episode 5 refer to the Bay of Pigs invasion (and disaster), as one could think.

Still, there are a number of important observations to make and I don’t need to read the Star Wars and Philosophy book in order to assert them. Both forces, “good” and “evil,” are arguably right-wing. The Galactic Republic in episodes 1-3 is basically a bourgeois democracy, the Trade Federation in episodes 1-3 which was “an interstellar shipping and trade conglomerate,” while the CIS in episodes 2-3 is a confederacy led by a Sith lord. It is also possible that Lucas is condemning certain ideas since, as noted in this Wookiepedia entry, the trade groups that supported the CIS’s cause were nationalized by the Galactic Empire. As for the Rebels in episodes 4-6, they were, as noted earlier, an authoritarian government that aimed to bring back the bourgeois democracy of the Galactic Republic (of which they succeeded in Episode 6). Then, the Empire is obviously a fascist force which is authoritarian in nature as well. The same dynamic is the case in the newest Star Wars movie with the First Order as obviously fascist and after the New Republic, which representing the bourgeois democracy, is destroyed, the Resistance is just like the Rebels.

After reading through these different books on the subject, I am more critical than ever of the series. Still, I guess unlike Gutteridge and others, I guess I still have some hope in the Star Wars series and think that it has at least some value due to its deeply problematic aspects. But, this hope could obviously be shattered into many pieces, and that is why I look forward to your comments on this issue. In the end, I plan to write another article on this topic but I hope that this is the beginning of a more critical approach to the Star Wars series which is lauded too often, especially after the recent movie.

Notes:

[1] Belletto, Steven and Grausam, Daniel. American Literature and Culture in an Age of Cold War: A Critical Reassessment. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2012. 197.

[2] Ibid, 198-9.

[3] Ibid, 200, 203.

[4] Ibid, 205.

[5] Ibid, 206-7.

[6] Sweet, Derek R. Star Wars in the Public Square: The Clone Wars as Political Dialogue. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015. 8.

[7] McVeigh, Stephen. The Galactic Way of Warfare. Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, & Critics (ed. Matthew Kapell and John Shelton Lawrence). New York: Peter Lang, 2006. 38.

[8] Ibid.

[8] Ibid, 39.

[9] Ibid, 46, 54.

[11] Rubey, Dan. No So Long Ago nor Far Away: New Variations on Old Themes and Questioning Star Wars‘ Revival of Heroic Archetypes. Myth, Media, and Culture in Star Wars: An Anthology (ed Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka). Lanham: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2012. 51.

[12] Ibid, 52

[13] Ibid, 53, 57-8, 63.

[14] The book also notes that Vietnam, along with conflicts and government affected his thinking about the series. Also, in one part of the book it reprints a telling quote from a legal pad he used when writing ideas for the original movie which shows he is not necessarily against American empire: “Theme: Aquilae is a small independent country like North Vietnam threatened by a neighbor or provincial rebellion, instigated by gangsters aided by empire. Fight to get rightful planet back. Half of the system has been lost to gangsters…The empire is like America ten years from now, after gangsters assassinated the Emperor and were elevated to power in a rigged election…We are at a turning point: fascism or revolution.” Elsewhere the book quotes Lucas as saying that the movie is a reflection on the Vietnam War: “to not make a decision is a decision…what usually happens is a small minority stands up against it, and the major portion are a lot of indifferent people who aren’t doing anything one way or the other. And by not accepting the responsibility, those people eventually have to confront the issue in a more painful way, which is essentially what happened in the United States with the Vietnam War.”

[15] Also, since there is the division of the galaxywide religion of the Force which is divided into “light” and “dark”, Jedi and Sith, it is clear once again that we are talking about two sides of the same coin.