25.02.2011., petak
SLP NEWSLETTER
Diane Secor
TEA PARTY: REACTIONARY OR „REVOLUTIONARY“ ?
The Tea Party movement wasnamed after the 1773 Boston Tea Party , which preceded the American Revolution for indenpendance from British colonial rule. Capitalist financed reformist „grass roots“ movement come and go, with „conservative“, „liberal“, or „centrist“ catchy slogans. Then why is the „Tea Party“ newsworthy for the American workers? This tea Party movement has two significant characteristics. First, vast amount of capitalist money have been invested in this Tea Party over a long period of time, more than two years. On national scale. Second, and most ironic, the most reactionary trends and elements in capitalist rule have been incorporated into the Tea Party.
This Tea Party has been packaged and sold as „anti- establishment“ and „revolutionary“. On the surface, it seems like just a hodge- podge of „libertarian“, „deregulation“, and „smaller government“ advocates. However, behind the scenes, the funding and overall direction of the Tea Party comes from the billionare Koch family, and major financiers of the very „pro-establishment“ Republican Party.
The Washington Post (Jan,1.) reported that the Koches' Americans for Prosperity (AFP) brought a delegation of Tea Party activists from Ohio, Texas. California, and trounghout the United state to Mexico. Their mission was to protest a United Nation's conference on „climate change“ in Cancun. AFP provided this „grass roots“group with T- shirts and wrote their scripts, ridiculing the scientific reserch on the causes and the development of global climate change.
The theatrics in Cancun are one example of how the Koch political machine operates. Dozens of Koch foundations. From groups, and political organizations troughout the country chanell millions of dollars and send their reprezantatives to steer the direction of the Tea Party. In the August 30,2010 issue of The New Yorker, Jane Mayer reported that one of the Koch Republican colleagues said that that this Tea Party was actually „founded“ with Koch funds. For the last couple of years, David and Charles Koch have planted and watered the Tea Party seeds and then reap the harvest. The aim is to defend the material intersets of the Koch financial empire and related businesses. For instance, according to this New Yorker report the Koches have heavy investments in oil refineries and pipeline infrastructure. Charles and David Koch also own and control most of the Koch industries, a multibillions dollar parennt company of Dixie cups, paper towels, Georgia- Pacific lumber, and other subdivisions and products. David Koch himself a canser survivor, has donated millions of dollars for cancer reserch. However, Koch industries has mobilized their Washington lobbyists to try to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from classigfying formaldehyde as a substance know to cause cancer in humans and thus subject to federal regulations. Not suprisingly, georgian- Pacific 's chemical division produces formaldehyd, and also makes substantial profits from using this substance in its factories.
Also researchers from the Political Economy Research Institute of the university Massachusetts at Amherst found that Koch industries is „one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. With that American for prosperity behind this Tea Party mivement from the stra, the Koch financial epire had an armyof political activists with an agenda, which opposed government laws and regulations, which set some limits on practices that cause air polution.
This Tea Party program is called „anti-Obama“ or „anti big-governmet,“but, in reality, the aim is to stop the government from reining in the worst abises and most dangerous practices of individual capitalists or sector of the capitalist economy. The state, as the „executtive committee of the capitalist class“, mediates disputes among more specific capitalist interests and also determines what may be of general interests of the capitalist sistem as a whole . Thus the production or use of carsinogens, such as formaldehyde, may be deemed harmful to other sectors of the economy, such as imposing a greather burden on the health care industry. Likewise laws and regulations setting some limits on air polution may not be good for the bottom line of Koch's businesses, but this may aid the tourist sector and the related hotel and restoran industries, which lose business from too much air and water pollution. Thus some capitalist interests may oppose this Tea Party for various reasons. But the huge amount of money poured into the Tea Party over a period of years give these Tea Party financers more power than other reformist movements, which are hire today and gone tomorow.
Another reason why this Tea Party is important for all workers of United States is that these Tea Party groups attract and and include some of the most reactionary and repressive elements of capitalist rule. For example, on August 15. 2010, www.azfamily.com and AP reported that over 400 people attended a United Border Coalition's Tea Prty rally close to the Arizona- Mexican border in support of SB 1070. Leading the parade of „who's who of conserative Arizona's at this gathering were Arisona State Sentor Russell Pearce and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Pearce was the „primary sponsor“ and writer of this immigration bill. Private prison firms and other poverfullcapitalist interest were behind S:B 1070, along with neo-nazis and other terrorist group with racist doctrines. ( See SLP Newletters September-October, 2010) S.B. 1070 could also increas the number of undocumented workers from Maxico, who are inprisoned in the Maricopa County jail. Which Arpaio seems to regard as his own fieldom. According the Time magazine (october,13. 2009) Arpaio set up a notorious „tent city“ for Maricopa County prisoners, where he admitted that some prisoners vere housed in temperatures as high as 138 degrees. Amnesty International and other human right groups have condemned the conditions in prison in Arpaio jurisdiction. Arpaio claims that these condition have saved the government money. This may win him some support among Tea Party groups. But reportedly Arpaio's action have led to „thousands of lawsuits,“ which could cost the government as „$ 43 million in lawsuit settlement and expenses“.
In general, this Tea Party movement porteds more hardships, a more hazardous environment, and ruthless repression fer American workers and for foreing workers in the United States. As long capiatlist exists, there will be more Kochs, Pearces and Arpasios, who either create or use „grasse roots“ movements like the Tea Party. There will also be an endless parade of capitalist reformers, who try to get workers sucked into their anti-Tea Party movements, in order to divert workers ownership and control of the tools of production.
January 19.2011
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