00:13Welcome back. We go back to the topic of the U.S. midterm elections and to continue analyzing the
00:18political and social landscape surrounding these midterm elections let's welcome once more from
00:22Washington DC live our colleague Jorge Gestoso. Welcome Jorge once more to From the South.
00:30Thank you very much Luis Alberto. We are here to help us to put in perspective what is politics and
00:38what's
00:38turning around this midterm selection. We are counting with the presence of Jacqueline Lugman.
00:45She is the organizer of Black Alliance of Peace. Black Alliance of Peace. Jacqueline, welcome and
00:54thanks very much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Jacqueline,
00:58do you believe that the Democratic Party represents the interest of the working class?
01:06Well, the Democratic Party has not represented the interest of the working class since the
01:12Democratic Leadership Conference, what 30, 40 years ago led by Al Fromm, changed the Democratic Party
01:21platform from one that did support working class struggles and marginalized people's struggles,
01:28particularly the labor section and black people and other marginalized people. But third way politics
01:36was entered into the platform of the Democratic Party and they made a conscious decision to turn to
01:44corporatism and to appeal to moderate Republicans with a tough on crime message and abandon the working class
01:52policies that they were known for. So the Democratic Party has only moved farther and farther to the right in
02:02the
02:02United States. They could we could argue they were a center party some time ago. They were nominally left or
02:11progressive before the third way
02:15policies entered their platform. But now the Democratic Party is a center right party in this country and they don't
02:23represent the
02:24interests of the interests of the working class. They represent the interests of the same class of people that the
02:30Republicans represent. And that's the capitalists.
02:33And what the President Trump call it's the what is it like the the left or the threatening left or
02:43something like that.
02:45Yes. Yes. Yes. And the rhetoric is all it is, because every Republican knows that Democrats are just as committed
02:55to capitalism as they are.
02:57They are just as committed to imperialism and imperialist war as they are. The rhetoric serves to keep the Democratic
03:05Party as a boogeyman in the same way the Democrats use the same rhetoric against Republicans.
03:12But they always work together in a bipartisan fashion to pass legislation that continues to deprive the working class, poor,
03:21racialized, marginalized people in this country of rights, dignity, a decent standard of living and, you know, just basic decent
03:31human rights.
03:32So you've got a far right party in the Republicans. You've got a center right party in the Democrats.
03:39And then you have an actual left that is outside of both of them. And this even includes the so
03:46-called progressives in the Democratic Party.
03:49They do not qualify as left either because they are also committed to capitalism.
03:56And you better know than anyone else what it at least has been reported that happened in the elections that
04:06ended up with Hillary Clinton as a candidate of the Democratic Party.
04:10Bernie Sanders was also running as a candidate. Yes. He's an independent and he was getting much, much more support
04:20than Hillary Clinton. Yes.
04:22As a magic art, they put him aside because it was too far left for the interests of the Democratic
04:32Party and was wiped out.
04:36So that happened with Hillary Clinton. And then it repeated with Joe Biden. Yes.
04:43So even if there are some people ready to move the needle to the left, the whatever, the status quo
04:53is let's don't make waves.
04:55Yes, that that is absolutely true. Even the progressives that and the Democratic Socialists that that Trump and even Democrats,
05:03because James Carville, a key Democratic strategist, has come out and said he would rather have another Trump administration.
05:11He would rather lose to Trump than to have the Democratic Party, quote unquote, taken over by the crazy Democratic
05:18Socialists and the Muslims.
05:20But these people are not actual socialists. They do not want to destroy capitalism. They do not want a different
05:28economic system. They want more humane capitalism. But that humanity or that more humane capitalism never extends to ending war.
05:41It never extends to ending imperialism. This is what I think will happen with this election.
05:47I think that the Democrats will win some seats from Republicans. I think that will happen. But as far as
05:54foreign policy is concerned, nothing is going to change. The Democrats are not going to do anything to release President
06:01Maduro and first combatant Celia Flores.
06:04The Democrats will do nothing to do anything to increase in the Democrats. The Democrats will do nothing to end
06:08the genocide and the oppression in Congo. They will do nothing to end what is going on in Sudan.
06:15They will do nothing to end the attacks on the AES. They will do nothing to stop Israel from colonizing
06:22Lebanon. They will do nothing to stop Israel from continuing the genocide in Palestine.
06:28they will not stop bombing it on.
06:31There are people that are very, very tough in terms of denouncing what they see in the foreign policy of
06:40the U.S.
06:41They say, regardless what political party is at the helm, Democrats or Republicans,
06:51there's always the same horse running by a different rider.
06:56But the horse is just the same.
06:58Absolutely.
06:59Do you agree?
06:59That is absolutely true.
07:01And unfortunately for us in the United States, we disconnect ourselves from foreign policy because we don't know it.
07:08We're not taught it.
07:09We don't learn the history of our own country in our public schools.
07:15So we do not know.
07:17We don't understand imperialism and colonization and colonialism.
07:21We don't understand that these things are not just historically the foundation of this country.
07:26But also is at the root of every evil that is going on in the world right now.
07:32The same principles behind Zionism are settler colonialism.
07:36That is imperialism.
07:38And I have a final question for you, Jacqueline.
07:40We have seen a strong advance of the foreign right in Latin America.
07:45And again, the toughest critics on the new policy of the Monroe Doctrine 2.0,
07:53they said clearly Latin America is reliving a new chapter of colonialism or neocolonialism.
08:04Your thoughts.
08:05Yes, that's absolutely true.
08:07And Trump and Rubio and others in the administration, and even those outside of the administration,
08:12Eric Prince, the owner of, what is it, Black Water?
08:17Yes.
08:18He flat out said Africa needs to be re-colonized because they cannot govern themselves.
08:25And many in the United States agree with these things because they don't understand what colonization
08:30and imperialism and settler colonialism are.
08:33And as long as they are comfortable here, you know, as long as their physical, material comforts
08:40are stable, many people in this country really do not care what this government does to other
08:47people around the world.
08:48So the final, final thought.
08:50Yes, yes.
08:51What is the bottom line of this election?
08:54The bottom line of this election is the true nature of both parties is being exposed quite
09:02clearly.
09:03We always understood what the Republicans are.
09:05Now people should be able to see very clearly what the Democratic Party really is, especially
09:10now, since one of them has endorsed a Trump Republican.
09:15Yes.
09:16So people should be able to see that the Democratic Party is not a lesser evil.
09:22It's just an evil with a different color.
09:24And what we have to do, those of us who are truly anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, actual
09:32socialists, what we have to do is step our organizing up so we can reach more of those people.
09:39Because voting is fine.
09:41I don't want to condemn people or encourage people not to vote, especially for local and
09:46municipal elections.
09:48But there has to be organizing, movement, and plans and more after election.
09:56Fine, everybody votes today.
09:58What is everybody going to do tomorrow?
10:01That's my job.
10:03Jacqueline, thanks very much for joining us.
10:05Thank you so much for having me.
10:07We were talking with Jacqueline Lukman, precisely to help us to put in perspective what is the
10:13nitty-gritty of the American politics.
10:17And now we get back to you in studio.
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