Laura Wells – Solutions

The US is moving away, deliberately or not, from our overrated position of being the strongest imperial super-power — both militarily and economically — that the world has ever known. I say “overrated” because being an empire has not done a good job of generating real happiness, health, justice, and safety. If we want better lives, for ourselves and especially for our future generations, Washington needs to reduce our bloated (and still increasing!) military budget, stop interfering in other nations, and learn from the world (more on that possibility further down).

As we stop being an empire, I hope we become a law-abiding member of the United Nations. We can end our 21st century version of war, which has relied less on soldiers and more on what the U.N. charter opposes as “unilateral coercive measures.” The US calls these coercive measures sanctions, and they are every bit as lethal as war.

CUBA: When you think about it, how ludicrous is it to continue a blockade against Cuba that’s been going on for more than 60 years? Can we not admit the US regime-change policy has failed? It has only hurt real people, both in Cuba and the US (think of the Cuban medical help that was refused after Hurricane Katrina). Can we not admire the Henry Reeve Brigade, which in 15 years has sent close to 10,000 medical professionals to dozens of countries to help during times of major disasters and health crises like hurricanes and the COVID pandemic? Here’s something meaningful we can do: consider supporting a Nobel Peace Prize for the Henry Reeve Brigade.

VENEZUELA: When you think about it, how ludicrous would it be if Mitch McConnell declared the November 2020 election fraudulent, declared himself the legitimate president not Biden, got recognized by the European Union, and got piles of US dollars from EU banks? Or substitute “Nancy Pelosi” and “Trump” after November 2016. How can both Trump and Biden recognize Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela when Venezuelans voted for Nicolás Maduro, in elections that are more reliable and verifiable than elections in the US?

NICARAGUA: That brings me to the third nation listed in former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s “Troika of Tyranny.” An email from Alliance for Global Justice inspired me to sign up for a “Yes to Sovereignty, No to Sanctions!” delegation to Nicaragua in March. I have been to the other two countries on Bolton’s list: Venezuela several times and Cuba once, and I saw that they were not tyrannies at all. I am very curious about Nicaragua. I know people who seem to share the same values against US imperialism, but who disagree strongly about Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega. I know that the US government and capitalist media have a vast ability to turn people against any head-of-state who “probably doesn’t have the interest of the United States at heart.” That’s the phrase used by CIA director George Tenet as shown in the film about the US-backed 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela; watch it here, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

By the way, all three Bolton-designated “Troika of Tyranny” countries have very good statistics regarding COVID management, even if you factor in the opposition’s disputes with the official figures, which are found here.

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WE HAVE POWER!
These international matters do affect us domestically, and we can do something about them. Biden needs unrelenting pressure to use his presidential power to undo the terrible Trump executive orders that ramped up or initiated sanctions and blockades. Exerting that pressure is our job. I highly recommend the article “It’s a myth that presidents welcome movement pressure—and Biden is no different.” As writer Ta-Nehisi Coates describes the moral of the story, “[P]oliticians respond to only one thing — power. This is not the flaw of democracy, it’s the entire point. It’s the job of activists to generate, and apply, enough pressure on the system to affect change.” Movement strategist Jonathan Matthew Smucker puts it, “We don’t persuade them morally. We persuade them with power.” The article tells us to keep the pressure on, and emphasizes that insistent demands from the outside continue to be essential, even if voters put the “right” people in office.

WE CAN LEARN FROM THE WORLD
One of my favorite documentaries is “Where to Invade Next.” It is not about war, but about ideas in other countries that the US could certainly adopt — or, ironically, as shown by filmmaker Michael Moore — re-adopt. The film was described as “one of the most genuinely, and valuably, patriotic films any American has ever made.” — Godfrey Cheshire of Roger Ebert reviews. One way to see it is via IMDB.com.

We can love this country, and help it be better.