Three ( That's The Magic Number )
Space Karens, Culture Warriors and Bootlickers
Afternoon Comrades.
A little personal housekeeping first - my elbow and thus arm is still out of action, it’s this horrid thing called bursitis which is an inflammation of a bursa, in my case, the left elbow so as with last week’s dispatches I ask your for patience / understanding for dispatches and the potential spelling mistakes and tangents, I am not made for drugs and these antibiotics / painkillers make my mind confused.
With that, there is three bits I wanted to write about today, obviously all interconnected in the grand scheme of US-led bourgeoise hegemony and I’ll do my best to explain how they all work together.
To start, the Olympics. Or rather, yet another engineered moral outrage over well, nothing really. To those that missed it, the opening ceremony was long but specifically included what the bootlicking rightoids considered queer hogwashing and affronts to christianity - hilarious if you ask me - specifically, again, with several drag performances and a bit that was ( unlikely on purpose as that would have required studies in history and art history ) seen as a persiflage on the famous depiction of the Last Supper, which it wasn’t.
The parody of the biblical scene, performed against the backdrop of the River Seine, was intended to interpret Dionysus and raise awareness “of the absurdity of violence between human beings”, organisers wrote on X but here you have it. I don’t want to get into the ignorance of history, let alone consider the fact that the outrage may have been in error because it has happened and is done, the organiser had to apologize and the fascist lunatics best represented by their moron in chief Musk got to spew their mind-rot fascination for all things fascist to the behest of everyone else.
There is something to be said about moral panics, and if you are old enough like this cat you will remember a slew of them since then-the point of these engineered moral outrages is that they are dangerous. Sure, hilarious on a superficial level ( ok, go space karen! ) but the fact remains these outrages are being spread, created and supported by influential people in service and support of the ruling class idea of cultural hegemony and do, in fact, cause significant harm and thus are vital to point out, correct and ridicule at all times.
Secondly, and this probably flew under a lot of people’s radar because of the above, a story that is being published by the Washington Post ( and yes, definitely ask why they are allowing this to be published, whom they serve and for what end ) by the work of Jeff Stein and Federica Cocco that is most brilliantly researched and as far as I am concerned should be mandatory reading for generations to come in regards to the US empire:
The article on U.S. sanctions highlights the dramatic and often devastating impact these measures have on targeted nations, including Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea. The article underscores several key critiques of the capitalist system and the role of imperialist policies in maintaining global hegemony.
Firstly, the use of sanctions is a tool of economic warfare that disproportionately affects the working class and impoverished populations of the sanctioned countries. For instance, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have led to an economic contraction three times worse than the Great Depression in the United States, exacerbating humanitarian crises and increasing poverty and inequality. This aligns with Marxist theory, which posits that capitalist nations employ economic tools to exploit and control less powerful countries, ensuring their own economic dominance and the perpetuation of global capitalism.
Moreover, the sanctions have not succeeded in their political objectives, such as regime change or significant policy shifts in countries like Cuba, Iran, and North Korea. Instead, they have often strengthened the resolve of the targeted regimes while inflicting severe economic pain on ordinary citizens. This inefficacy highlights the contradictions within capitalist foreign policy, where the pursuit of geopolitical goals through economic means leads to widespread suffering without achieving desired outcomes.
Additionally, the article mentions the concentration of power within the U.S. Treasury Department, which acts as the "guardian of global banking operations" due to the central role of the U.S. dollar in international trade. This illustrates the neo-imperialist control exerted by the U.S. over global financial systems, enabling it to enforce its economic will worldwide. Such dominance is a key feature of capitalist imperialism, where economic and financial mechanisms are used to maintain and extend control over other nations.
Furthermore, the imposition of sanctions is portrayed as a form of structural violence that perpetuates inequality and hinders the development of sanctioned nations. This is evident in the significant humanitarian consequences reported, such as increased migration due to economic collapse in Venezuela and widespread hardship in Iran. Marxist critique would argue that these outcomes are not accidental but inherent in a system designed to safeguard the interests of capitalist nations at the expense of global equity and justice.
Again, I do think it is really worth trying to find out why the Washington Post is publishing this as it doesn’t align with US Capitalist demands, on the contrary.
Lastly, and speaking of aligning with US capitalist interests, and I think I spoke about this briefly in Friday’s dispatch
especially in regards to the apparent Democratic Presidential Candidate, Harris. I am not giving them the benefit of doubt here, because, fuck giving any politician anything but seeing that the VP of the US is being managed by the most powerful propaganda machine ever to exist on this planet in our human history this cannot be an oversight. Out of curiosity and access to more time than usual, I checked out the official website for Harris to see if I had to correct my statements from last week, when I said that there is no official program from the VP who wants to become the President of the US.
Lo and behold: Crickets. Nothing. A Donate button, that’s it. No policy, no plan, just vibes and OH, a new TikTok account, which means that there will not be a TikTok ban, but was, similar to the above, just another engineered panic about Commies, who aren’t commies, but you know, Asians. Jesus. Fucking. Wept.
I genuinely could go on for days with this crap and there is a part of me that genuinely despises this work, since we should never, not even once, believe that that apparatus’ of the ruling classes exist for our benefit let alone can be held accountable as they solely exist for our continued servitude to those in power.
Speaking of which, Manduro just won his third election in Venezuela, the CIA and their hysterical bootlickers are having palpitations at the fact that the country with larger oil reserves than their journalist beheading, women hating friends in Saudi Arabia.
We live in interesting times Comrades.
Until Wednesday.
Yours, not vibing,
V.