I see a lot of Americans begging China to “save” the US. With great power comes great responsibility, yeah, but China’s responsibility is to its people. It’s a developing nation with a much higher standard for what developed means than the standard we use. Even if it were to ho out and save other countries, we’d probably have to get in line because there are many other countries that we fucked over (and are closer geographically) that could use China’s help (which they are providing via BRI). I don’t deny that the US is a priority target to bring down. It’s the engine behind climate change which may kill all of us. But I see those of us calling for help, and I try to understand…
It’s inconsiderate, yeah. After everything China’s been through. And I think it speaks to our programming. A lot of people in the US seem fine with doing nothing for they think it’ll be alright when they’re dead. I’m an atheist and I admit I’m guilty. Not having to worry or care or know about anything anymore appeals to me. But we also live in a different world from long ago, with far more distractions. I think George Jackson mentioned the advent of this phenomenon when TVs killed revolutionary motivation among prisoners. Whether that’s a good or bad development, it’s a development. It was inevitable and it changed everything. Personally, I think it might be good. That as the US weakens, it’ll be much weaker by the time we get to the new breaking point where people can’t distract themselves anymore. Provided we don’t all die first.
And that’s the thing. This is also the country that allowed a disabling virus to run rampant. I’ve been very disabled even before COVID. Many of us are disabled. And we’re spread far apart by the country’s car-based geography. And the enemy is the US. We’ve got odds stacked against us, at least for now. In that sense, I can understand people asking for help. Communism has interdependent elements. Telling the intentionally gimped proletariat of Nazi Germany to take back their country unassissted would be a slap in the face to them.
But I’m thinking, another hurdle to action on my part is that I find even my ML comrades socially reactionary. This is not a new phenomenon. ML’s have never been immune to being reactionary. The ones I knew contributed to several patriarchal phenomena that has ended up getting even some kids I knew killed among many others. It’s not that I don’t understand. The primary focus is the primary contradiction. When people have guaranteed housing and healthcare and don’t have to be hypervigilant about the US, that may give them more mental bandwidth to progress. We’ve seen it happen. But I admit, I’m really fighting the urge to join many of my comrades abroad and fantasize about the US and everyone in it getting wiped off the map. Even if, again, it’s a slap in the face to our struggling proletariat. So yeah, these are just my shower thoughts. And my curiosity about what will end up happening. Sorry.
This tracks with the impression I get. That some of this thinking of “just wipe things away / reset / etc., even if through indiscriminate violence” comes from a kind of depressed and worn down worldview. And I think, is also an extension of the normalization of imperial violence, but turned in the other direction. In other words, there are imperialists who think indiscriminate violence is good and fine because it’s against “bad” people. How does this point of view differ from what’s being said here? It’s just changing who is categorized as “bad”. To be clear, I’m not accusing of bad intention. The point is that if you come from that socialization and you change who the target is but you don’t change the mindset, then it’s not surprising you will still have some belief in indiscriminate violence.
Indiscriminate violence benefits colonial/imperial/capitalist interests of expansion and replacement. It does not benefit those who want peace or want to value human life. What matters is ending the institutions of white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, etc. There’s no getting around the fact that violence is required in that process at one stage or another because ruling classes don’t hand over power willingly after being told “swiper no swiping.” But there is no benefit to the cause of liberation for it to be indiscriminate, wanton violence.
On the other point about “saving”, I think it’s normal for people in difficult conditions to have some desire to be saved. Maybe more so where Christian socializing and narratives of literal saviors are a thing. But also, I agree that China trying to step in to “save” the USian people would be the least of its priorities. The US’s level of notoriety is only because of its economic and military might and the way it has used that to terrorize the globe. Otherwise, it would be, to most people, just another region that they don’t know a whole lot about. Global anti-imperialist efforts have some motive to defang and stabilize the US and the imperial core in general, so that it doesn’t go even more violently rogue than it has been. International communist efforts have some motive to look after the USian proletariat, the colonized indigenous, the marginalized minorities to the extent that they can build ties with them and do mutual benefit and work toward strengthening their liberation efforts, but not in some exceptional way more so than the rest of the exploited peoples in the world. And that’s a critical point to keep in view. No matter what the socializing says, USians are not actually exceptional; neither exceptionally good, nor exceptionally bad, or exceptionally talented or exceptionally weak. The character of the actions can be better or worse (and good god are some of the US actions terrible), but the underlying humanity is much the same. Filtered through a different lens of material conditions and socializing, yes - but these things are mutable, they just don’t change all at once and often don’t change easily.
TL;DR: If you are from the imperial core, try to learn from other, non-imperial cultures, mindsets, and organized party efforts, and how they have gone about handling liberation, in both the beautiful victories and the devastating losses. Remember that changing your allegiance doesn’t immediately change how you are socialized.