By Satyaki Chakraborty
The victory of the Republican candidate Donald Trump in November 5 U.S. Presidential elections defeating the Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris has brought to light the big dilemma of the pro-Bernie Sanders socialist wing of the Democratic Party. Sanders is a long time senator heading the progressive wing of the Democratic Party trying to impart a pro- labour orientation to its policies.
In the last four years of the Biden regime, Sanders as the head of the finance committee of the Congress had helped in pioneering many legislations favourable to the interests of the workers and the trade unions. The New Deal of President Joe Biden in the early part of his administration gave a lot of concessions to the workers including the right to unionise. The leading trade union organisations like AFL-CIO welcomed the Biden government initiatives and officially endorsed the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the November 5 elections.
While, in labour policy issues, the Sanders group got their demands conceded by the Biden presidency, in foreign policy issues, Sanders failed to get any hearing from the US administration on his anti-war stand. He consistently demanded the stoppage of the US supplies of arms and equipment to Israel and Ukraine. There was no change in the policy of Biden administration despite the continuing opposition of some key Democratic socialist congressmen and women. Both the state department and Pentagon pursued their accepted policy based on imperialism.
But Sanders is still fighting on the foreign policy front. He has once again tabled a resolution calling for cutting off U.S. aid to Israel. This will be put to vote but like earlier occasions, the resolution may not be passed. But the socialist senator will be able to generate a debate on this serious issue and expose both the Netanyahu government and the Biden administration. Sanders has the support of the Jewish- American group which is pro-peace.
Sanders has tried twice before to cut off the aid, arguing both times that Israel’s war on Gaza is not only an international humanitarian disaster but a violation of U.S. law. He failed both times. Arab Americans during the Presidential election campaign hoped that the Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris would speak for cutting aid to the Israel government, but there was nothing such in her speeches. This disappointed the Arab American voters many of whom stayed away from voting in favour of Harris.
In fact Biden regime has not followed the law that was approved during the Kennedy administration. That law still in force, says the U.S. must withhold military aid to any ally which uses U.S. arms, aid, weapons, and other assistance in violation of international law. Bernie Sanders has argued in his resolution that the U.S. government must stop blatantly violating the law with regards to arms sales to Israel. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act are clear that the United States can not provide weapons to any country that violates internationally recognized human rights.
More recently, Netanyahu unleashed right-wing nationalist settlers on the Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied West Bank, while its army and police stood by and did nothing. Netanyahu also sent Israeli warplanes to bomb southern Lebanon, to destroy another pro-Palestinian fighting force, Hezbollah. That bombing, up to and including the Lebanese capital of Beirut, has killed more than a thousand Lebanese civilians. Like the dead Gazans, most are women and children. Presently, it is not an war against Hamas by Israeli Defence Forces, it is a war against the entire Palestine people.. So far more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
The issue of this pro- imperialist foreign policy on the one hand and some pro-labour steps on the other by the Biden government was discussed at length at the recent meeting of the Democratic Socialists led by Sanders. The conclusion was same like earlier that it is politically prudent to fight the Democratic leadership by remaining within the Party. The alternative of Trump led Republicans has all the far right trends threatening the future of democracy in the USA. So the battle has to be fought against right both within Democratic Party and outside against the Trump led Republicans. There is no point in becoming a fringe party by opting for a third force.
So, in the coming days also, the Democratic Socialists within the Democratic Party will continue with this unity and struggle policy within the Democratic Party till they are strong enough to be able to make any basic change in the foreign policy programme of the Party . (IPA Service)
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