Doing Miami’s Dirty Work (Wittingly or Not): Responding to “New Politics”
cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable
by Bob Buzzanco
A few days ago, the self-described socialist magazine New Politics put out an editorial, penned by Lois Weiner and Daniel Fischer, titled “NP on Cuba: Consistent Oppostion to US Imperialism and Support of Democratic Rights.” The image attached to the editorial was a Green and Red Podcast Facebook post that I had put up featuring an article by Greg Shupak titled “Solidarity With Cuba More Important Than Ever,” and I indelicately finished my post by writing “Viva Cuba and F**k You to New Politics and other jargon-laden ‘leftists’ who are on the wrong side of history.”
It wasn’t the first time either I or the Green and Red Podcast had specifically endorsed articles or essays in support of the Cuban people and the Cuban state amid a 60-year war of aggression coming from the United States and more specifically after a series of protests in Cuba on July 11th that many self-described leftists supported.
Indigenous women led movements have continued to disrupt the construction of Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 pipeline with over a thousand arrested. Police have escalated in a multitude of ways (felony charges, high bails, rubber bullets, tear gas, etc) against water protecting pipeline opponents.
Last week, Hurricane Ida, a category four storm, made landfall on the Gulf Coast. Over a million people were without power and 16 were killed. The hurricane then moved up the east coast hitting New York and New Jersey with powerful winds and floods. At least 52 people are reported dead in the Northeast. Ida made landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a category 5 storm that caused over 1800 deaths and $125 billion in damage.
Welcome to G&R’s (Griping and Ranting) new series–the Week in Review. 
Jessica Reznicek is a land and water defender who worked with the Catholic Worker Community in Des Moines, IA.
Two weeks ago, we’ve seen the Taliban seize Kabul abruptly ending the 20 year war and occupation of Afghanistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The sudden and dramatic Taliban gains came as the U.S. withdrew its ground troops from Afghanistan.
America’s forever war in Afghanistan ended with the withdrawal of U.S. troops after a twenty year war and occupation. A speedy summer offensive by the Taliban through quickly led to the fall of Kabul.
Sign up to get updates on scrappy politics, scrappy history and our scrappy podcast.