The Fate of Fake Friends

Cross the Proletariat at Your Peril

If you look across the world at the various elected right-wing populists in power, you can see their lies about representing the ‘working class’ or ‘little people’ eventually fall through.  While middle-class liberals never want to believe that the working class is the majority class, it is the majority nearly everywhere in the world.  Let’s see what happens to pro-capitalist right-wingers who cross that class while mouthing their undying love:

Trump is a Class Enemy - No Surprise

 1.    Donald Trump.  Thinking he is riding high and still using the term ‘working class,’ he nevertheless put his foot in it - again.   Locking out or forcing to work, unpaid, 840,000 workers brought out an underground up-swelling of noncompliance by government workers.  In addition to that, there were more strikes in the U.S. in 2018 than the last 32 years – teachers, fast food, warehouse and health care workers.  Thank you, nationalist Christian Caucasian Donald Trump.

2.    Narendra Modi.  Taking small denominations of rupees away from millions of Indian workers only set the stage for two of the largest labor strikes in world history – 180 million in September 2016 and 150-200 million in January 2019.  All over low wages, the lack of social security and an end to vicious labor laws.  Thank you nationalist Hindu Narendra Modi.

3.    Victor Orban.  Orban’s ‘Hungarianess’ finally caught up with him.  By decreeing that workers must work overtime for 400 hours, with payment delayed for up to 3 years, Orban’s slave-labor law fused middle-class Budapest and the working class of this former workers’ state, including the unions.  The movement against this law spread throughout the country.  Thank you Professional Catholic Hungarian nationalist Victor Orban.

4.    Teresa May.  It couldn’t happen to a nicer imperial power.  By not calling for another vote on Brexit, May has created a disaster for the proletariat of little England.  Her Tory allies are worried about the loss of Northern Ireland and even Scotland.  But small businessmen, truck drivers and ordinary people are facing a ‘hard Brexit’ with a looming recession, worst labor and food rules and closing factories and businesses.  An ‘international capitalist combine’ like the EU is better than a narrow nationalist entity, as it prepares the ground for a united Socialist Europe.  Opposing this ‘creeping internationalism’ is one rationale of the Tory Party in backing Brexit.  Thank you “Little Englander” nationalist Teresa May.

Filipino May Day - Marchers Burn Effigy of Duterte

     5.    Rodrigo Duterte.  The Philippine President, elected by a solidified Filipino upper class, has sic’ed his death squads on ‘drug dealers.’ These death squads are really designed to intimidate normal Filipinos, including unionizing attempts by workers in the Export Processing Zones.  115,000 workers in unions and other organizations came out nationally for May 1, 2018.  Duterte just denounced the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as 'insane' while maintaining an alliance with China.  His bloody rule makes things dicey, as more civilians were killed in the Philippines in 2018 than in Iraq, the Congo or Somalia. Here we are still waiting.

6.    Jair Bolsonaro.  Well, we are waiting here as well.  He has unleashed his war dogs on the largely African-American favelas and handed indigenous peoples' lands to corporations, increasing global warming. Increases to the national minimum wage were reduced. He’s already in hot water from a number of scandals and divisions, including personal ties between himself, his family and criminal militias and assassinations in Rio.  It has only been a bit more than a month.  The proletariat in Brazil will rise again.
7.  Tayyip Erdogan.  Turkey is in recession, the lira has fallen in value by 20% against the dollar, inflation and prices are rising by double-digits and Turkish state debt is sky high.  Turkey's application to the EU is also probably dead.  Erdogan spent massive sums on large building projects, including a grotesque palace for himself.  On March 31, Erdogan's right-wing Islamist party lost control of the Turkish capital, Ankara and several other cities, including the largest, Istanbul. Thank you, Islamist nationalist Turk and dictatorial president Erdogan.

With condolences to Late Night host Jimmy Fallon and his ‘thank you’ cards.

Red Frog

March 01, 2019