Protecting Prophets
The power structure in the US is going back to old, dangerous, and deadly strategies to silence the voices calling into question the use of US military power, weapons for Ukraine, hostility toward China, support for Israel, and the efforts to increase a military presence in Africa.
These voices from the progressive left call for a world free of nuclear weapons, where conflicts are settled by negotiation, and where the US functions as part of a global community, respecting human rights, and the need to rapidly move toward sustainable, regenerative ways of living. While these visions are far away from today’s realities, they are visions that have grown for centuries as people organized for a better world. The longing for peace is as old as the world itself. We have been told, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Yet today, peacemakers are accused by the Biden administration of being foreign agents. In the mildest form, these accusations are starting to appear in mainstream media, claiming that organizations like CODE PINK and the People’s Forum are supported by Chinese money.
In response CODE PINK wrote:
The political and media establishments, both liberal and conservative, have initiated McCarthy-like attacks against individuals and organizations criticizing US foreign policy, labeling peace advocates as "Chinese or foreign agents." This campaign uses innuendo and witch hunts, posing a threat to free speech and the right to dissent.
This propaganda campaign has been coupled with an intensification of the prosecution of public dissent. Around the country those who participated in the movement for Black Lives, efforts to protect the waters and open lands, or Stop Cop City, face felony charges.
In July the Biden administration moved to overt violence. The FBI raided the homes and headquarters of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) in St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Petersburg, Florida. In the early hours of the morning, using loudspeaker trucks to demand people come out with their hands up, exploding flash grenades, and employing drones. Omali Yeshitela and his wife were greeted with high-powered assault weapons and handcuffed. Their cell phones, computers and many achieves were seized. One of the oldest and most respected organizations to have emerged out of the African liberation struggles of the mid-1900s, APSP is accused of conspiring with Russia to interfere in elections.
In an interview on Democracy Now Chairman Yeshitela explained.” I think that we’re dealing with the fact that the United States is facing an existential crisis of sorts — the whole social system is — where it was this uncontested hegemony for the longest period of time. It is now being perceived by much of the world, and I think rightly so, as a force that’s losing its grip on the world.”
The idea that those critical of conditions in the US or the use of force abroad are under the influence of foreign agents is nothing new. Some of us remember the electrifying testimony of Coleman A. Young when he was brought before the House Unamerican Activities Committee in 1952. When asked about helping the committee to uncover communist influences, Young replied, “You have me mixed up with a stool pigeon.” When asked directly if he was a member of the Communist Party and to name the names of others, he said.
I refuse to answer that question, relying upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment, and, in light of the fact that an answer to such a question, before such a committee, would be, in my opinion, a violation of my rights under the First Amendment, which provides for freedom of speech, sanctity and privacy of political beliefs and associates, and, further, since I have no purpose of being here as a stool pigeon, I am not prepared to give any information on any of my associates or political thoughts.
Coleman Young got his strength from the emerging movements for human rights and the historic struggles for Black liberation. He recognized the key role communists, socialists, and anarchists played in contributing to the Black movement and the struggles of working people.
Today, we need to join with those who forcefully reject these attacks on dissent. They are as dangerous as the efforts of the far right to destroy our understanding of our history. The only path forward is to forcefully expose and oppose these shameful efforts to silence the prophets among us.