19th Century Politics, Labor, and Socialism in Europe
An artistic and educational AP Euro journey through 19th century Europe.
By: Mikhail Adlin
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Synopsis | Elites After State Socialism: Theories And Analysis By John Higley
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Synopsis | Elites After State Socialism: Theories And Analysis By John Higley - Video
We are at risk of running out of dead horse to flog, but there's one more aspect of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's anti-Obama comments that's worth isolating. Speaking with reporters from the New York Times, Giuliani denied that his statement that President Obama doesn't love America was related in any way to the president's race. "This isnt racism," Giuliani said. "This is socialism or possibly anticolonialism."
Socialism doesn't require any further explanation (unless you're a Millennial); Giuliani is suggesting that Obamais an opponent of capitalism. But what's the "anticolonial" thing?
As with many anti-Obama sentiments, that particular charge can be traced back to Dinesh D'Souza. In September 2010, Forbes ran an excerpt from D'Souza's upcoming book "The Roots of Obamas Rage." "To his son," it reads, referring to Obama's father, "the elder Obama represented a great and noble cause, the cause of anticolonialism. Obama Sr. grew up during Africas struggle to be free of European rule, and he was one of the early generation of Africans chosen to study in America and then to shape his countrys future."
D'Souza defines anticolonialism as "the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America" -- which is somewhat more specific than others might offer. Colonialism generally refers to the era in which European nations (and others, including the United States), occupied other countries as satellite states. Think: "The sun never sets on the British empire." Anti-colonialism, in the broadest sense, is opposition to that practice.
The argument over anti-colonialism predates D'Souza, of course. For a century, opposition to imperialism was intertwined with communist politics. In part, that was a function of the place of communists outside the political power structure. And in part, it was resonant with countries seeking to declare their independence. At the Second Congress of the Communist International in 1920, the group linked colonialism and capitalism. (Among the theses: "The loss of the colonies and the proletarian revolution in the mother countries will bring the downfall of the capitalist order in Europe.") Friedrich Engels theorized about an uprising in colonial India in 1882. Ho Chi Minh complained about French colonialism in Vietnam in 1923. In a speech in 1961, Che Guevara saw Cuba as the launching point for an anticolonial wave. "Victory by the popular forces in Latin America is clearly possible," he said, which could be "the first stage in completely destroying the superstructure of the colonial world."
Anticolonialism, in that sense, meant curtailing the power of Western/capitalist nations. So when Giuliani draws a distinction between socialism and anticolonialism, it's less distinctive than it might seem.
The argument D'Souza makes to prove his point, by the way, is heavily circumstantial. He runs a thread from Obama's father (with whom, remember, Obama did not grow up) to anticolonial thinkers of the era in which he lived. D'Souza quotes one line from a book written by an academic, noting that this person taught Obama at Columbia. "It may seem incredible to suggest that the anticolonial ideology of Barack Obama Sr. is espoused by his son," D'Souza writes, correctly. But: "That is what I am saying." Obama "adopted his fathers position that capitalism and free markets are code words for economic plunder" -- despite Obama's having essentially no contact with him.
With the 2012 election approaching, Newt Gingrich embraced D'Souza's argument. To the Post's Robert Costa (then at the National Review), Gingrich declared that D'Souza had made a "stunning insight." What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension," he said, according to Costa, "that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior."
Gingrich's comments kicked up much more furor than D'Souza's, given that the former speaker of the House planned to run for president. A reporter dug up Gingrich's avowedly pro-colonial dissertation, while the Los Angeles Times lamented that "Gingrich used to be a serious figure." The topic faded.
Until this week. What prompted Giuliani to throw the expression into the mix isn't clear. It was, perhaps, simply a less contentious rationale than racism. Which is true. But that doesn't necessarily make his comments much more believable.
Originally posted here:
The Fix: A history of President Obama being called anti-colonial
I do not believe and I know this is a horrible thing to say but I do not believe that the president loves America, former New York Mayor Rudy Giulianisaid on Wednesday night at a private dinner in New York intended to boostWisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), a 2016 presidential contender. He doesnt love you. And he doesnt love me. He wasnt brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.
A day after Politico reported that statement, Democrats criticized Giulianifor questioning the presidents patriotism. Some said Giulianis rhetoric was racist, that it implied the presidents background made him different from other Americans. So on Thursday, the former mayor spoke to national media to explain his remarks.
ToFox News: First of all, Im not questioning his patriotism. Hes a patriot, Im sure.What Im saying is, in his rhetoric I very rarely hear the things that I used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things that I used to hear Bill Clinton say about how much he loves America. I do hear him criticize America much more often than other American presidents. And when its not in the context of an overwhelming number of statements about the exceptionalism of America, it sounds like hes more of a critic than he is a supporter.
ToBloomberg Politics: What I mean is he doesnt express it. I shouldnt say that the president does or does not love anything. I dont know, Im not a psychiatrist, and he doesnt have one and he doesnt need one.
To the New York Times: Im happy for him to give a speech where he talks about whats good about America and doesnt include all the criticism. Some people thought it was racist I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people. This isnt racism. This is socialism or possibly anti-colonialism.
To CNN:Theres a real attempt to make it a racial criticism. It has nothing to do with race he was brought up, by the way, by a white mother and white grandparents.
[Report: Rudy Giuliani tells private dinner I do not believe that the president loves America]
By the end of the day, his voice rasping, he was grilled by Fox News Megyn Kelly, who took him to task for his incendiary comment about Obama not loving America and asked if he wanted to apologize.
Not at all, Giuliani said. I want to repeat it.
So what about the candidate unwittingly a bystander in the drama? Though Walker first declined to comment, telling CNBCs Squawk Box Giuliani could speak for himself, he wanted it known: Walker loves America.
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How can it be racism, says Rudy Giuliani. Obamas mom was white.
Over the last 35 years, China has gone through great changes. This period of change presented major challenges to the Communist Partys ideology. Many challenges were dealt with through redefinition and ambiguity.
For example, Deng Xiaoping adroitly redefined workers to include intellectuals, arguing that while they worked with their minds and not their muscles, they were still workers.
Jiang Zemin went a step further by accepting capitalists into the Communist Party through his Three Represents theory, which says the party represents advanced social productive forces.
Through all the ideological turmoil, the party has claimed to be guided by Marxism-Leninism, though the tent has been enlarged by including Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. The last is the contribution of Hu Jintao, who stepped down as party leader in 2012 and was succeeded by Xi Jinping.
Although theoreticians had traditionally considered a planned economy to be a hallmark of socialism while the market economy characterized capitalism, the pragmatic Deng known for saying that it doesnt matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice decided that China needed to jettison its old economic model and make use of the market economy. He did this by asserting that planning and market forces are not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism.
A planned economy is not the definition of socialism as there is planning under capitalism, he said. The market economy happens under socialism, too. Planning and market forces are both ways of controlling economic activity.
And so the market was incorporated into what was ostensibly still a socialist economy, first as being only complementary but, at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the party held in 2013, it was decided that the market would play a decisive role in the allocation of resources.
Deng called what he created a socialist market economy, differentiating it from a full market economy.
Deng no doubt did not foresee that, in the 21st century, 13 years after China joined the World Trade Organization, the United States and the European Union would continue to refuse to recognize what exists in China today as a genuine market economy.
In addition to using socialist, the Communist authorities also like to hang the phrase with Chinese characteristics on their ideas and actions.
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Default to Chinese characteristics has limits