Dan Kovalik Reveals How “Progressive Imperialism” Captured The US Left
In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Kevin Gosztola, Managing Editor of Shadowproof, Co-host of the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast, to discuss the 45-month prison sentence handed down recently to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency whistleblower Daniel Hale, the ways that Hale’s revelations regarding the US drone warfare program “challenged the nature of 21st century warfare,” why Hale believed 80-90% of those being killed by US drone attacks were not suspected terrorists, and why the case seems to reveal that “if you reveal the dirty secrets of the US empire, then you’ll get a target on your back.”
In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Cathy Rojas, a Queens native, teacher, and organizer running for Mayor of New York City with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, to discuss reports that half a million New York households are behind a total of $2.2 billion in rent payments as eviction moratoriums are set to expire, and why gentrification and systemic factors have long caused many New Yorkers to struggle to pay the rent.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by New Africa Institute executive director Simon Tesfamariam to discuss the efforts by imperial powers and corporate media to manufacture consent for regime change in Ethiopia, how the US government has historically counted on the so-called Tigray People’s Liberation Front to keep the country under its thumb, and why regional cooperation within the Horn of Africa undercuts US efforts to maintain “full-spectrum dominance” in the geopolitically strategic area.
Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dan Kovalik, author of “No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests,” to discuss how headlines about supposed ‘drawdowns’ in US troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being used to obscure the reality of imperial domination, new reports that the US plans on militarily occupying Syria indefinitely, and how the US government’s inability or unwillingness to address the various political, economic, and ecological crises facing working people mean “the social fabric is falling apart,” and the recent passing of Black Agenda Report co-founder Glen Ford.