The Next Chapter of this Project

I spent my Thursday evening listening to a panel run by the fantastic organizers from Dissenters with Robin DG Kelley, Ajamu Baraka, Noura Erakat, and Adrian Bonifacio on US imperialism. Beyond just learning new insights from these folks who have devoted their lives to a liberatory future, without understanding the US’s role in destabilizing states across the globe, the next four years will be a setup for yet another overt fascist to win in 2024.

Two facts have fundamentally changed how I view the world, and as we proceed to enter another presidency, I feel like just sharing those once again:

1. The United States is the most powerful settler-colonial empire in the world.
2. The world is built upon a global racial capitalist hierarchy.

These are core facets of this empire that cannot and will not be changed by whoever inhabits 1600 Pennsylvania Drive. As DG Kelley noted in the panel I was listening to last week, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for there to be a reduced scale in harm this state takes on. To see a $15 minimum wage gain popular support is still something. To see universal health care is supported by an increasing number of citizens is promising. But those are not (on their own) steps towards ending the two points I made above.