What lies in front of us is nothing less than one of the biggest fights that humanity has ever had to take on; the war against the Russian Federation by NATO, ongoing coups and coup attempts in Peru, Argentina, Pakistan, Iran, a media campaign to demonize China, and an increase in global rhetoric of nuclear war, none of these are new, and all of these point to one central force: Imperialism. A system which can and has been overcome in the world before, but we must fight like hell to do so once and for all.
What is Imperialism? Imperialism is a certain stage in the development of Capitalist systems and relations where the globe has been conquered, colonized, enslaved and exploited, entirely, in every corner - but now the system must further profit, must further expand, and this means that it must suppress or "compete" with not only it's counterparts in Europe or North America, but also continuously and more intensely, the developing nations/people themselves. The invading or colonizing nation takes over the banks, the political organizations, the non-profits and NGOs, they try to control the political scene, the religious groups, the militias, police and military, and they try to take hold of the media, education system, pop-culture, and ideas of the people who are being colonized to this day. "Neocolonialism", "Neoliberalism", these are simply new forms of the same system, extraction of wealth, exploitation of the masses, division and separation of the people for a "guaranteed" control over them, their governments, their economies, and their militaries. That is Imperialism, and it can only come at a certain point that the colonizing nation has expanded itself to a point where it can only survive off of the further degradation and external theft of the Third World.
In a situation such as ours in North America, we know living in the "Imperial Core" confuses a majority of even the working and oppressed classes and people who should, it would seem, be able to clearly see the levels of exploitation and repression that are in action. However, it is clear that one of the main facets of an imperialist or capitalist system is the dominance over media, information, education, etc. which leaves a large portion of the population illiterate, unskilled in research, incapable of formulating their own conscious ideas, and easily manipulated. As Assata Shakur speaks on in her autobiography, no education system is going to give you the tools to overthrow it, no oppressive regime will give you the education you need to remove it, and so the education system goes on educating us in a way that is simplistic, disconnected, ineffective, and not based in real scientific study. We learn things, separately, disconnected, and without context, so as to simply memorize and absorb "accepted" information, rather than learning for the sake of understanding we learn to pass tests. But more importantly, we learn to protect and continue the Colonial, White Supremacist, Imperialist system know as Capitalism, both here in NA and across the world. The US + Europe kidnaps the children of oppressed, subjugated, colonized peoples and forces them into brainwashing exercises, authoritarian practices, forced repetition of things like the National Anthem to further propagandize them, and yet we are told this is the "best" education system around the globe; that is because it is the imperialists themselves stating this lie worldwide, and forcing impoverished communities to send their children and educated people to the imperial core, where they tend to be captured and enamored by the wealth and prosperity that is advertised to them.
We know that Liberalism, the idea that a Capitalist system can run smoothly, under the guise of "equality, liberty and freedom" has failed as a "liberatory" ideology, political system, or economic approach - we have unemployment, illiteracy, hunger, homelessness, mass suffering of health issues, mental health problems, the highest rates of incarceration globally, an ever-decreasing life expectancy and ever-increasing infant mortality rates. Where is the "Freedom" in that? But conservatives, of course, offer no better alternative. The Democratic and Republican parties serve as two sides of the same coin, or Capitalism and the US, in their true extravagance, claim to have 2 parties which are only two-sides of the same operation to repress the people's democratic and popular will for power, as well as the resistance to the continued Capitalist-Imperialism system.
As we have seen, too many politicians, ideas, political organizations, social movements, trade-unions, and other popular fronts have gone by the wayside; so many have tried and failed to overcome capitalism, oppression, imperialism, whether through the system or outside of it, who serve as examples for us today on both what to do, but especially, on what NOT to do. We know that on September 11, 1973, democratically elected Allende was overthrown by Imperialism. We know in 2014, democratically elected governments in Ukraine were overthrown by US-backed neo-fascists who call themselves "freedom fighters". We know throughout the 20th and 21st century, in Latin America, Asia and Africa there are clear signs of a constant invasion, occupation, corruption and attempts to overthrow governments of the people around the world. The US, CIA, FBI, USAID, CFR, and other foundations, thinktanks, and intelligence operations have overthrown over 100 different governments, political groups, social movements, either from direct involvement or aiding, funding, arming and training terrorist organizations, fascists, and militias to take down governments that, socialist or not, have been put in power by the people.
That is why something like revolution is incredibly necessary to truly achieve power in the hands of the people, to overthrow imperialist domination, to secure and consolidate the gains of the revolution, and to keep safe the people's will, governments, ideas, and power. A revolution takes time, before in building the forces, during in fighting the reactionaries and ruling class, and after in continuing the fight for survival of the people and the revolution.
Maurice Bishop, Jacobo Arbenz, two names to look into, of many. Please refer also to "Washington Bullets" by Vijay Prashad for more.
Revolution is coming my friends - are we ready?