Professor Cornel West has said that the nationwide uprising happening across the US, and the world, is a sign of an “Empire Imploding”.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Cornel west discussed how the tragic death of George Floyd, and the demonstrations that have followed, show that America is a failed social experiment.
West said: “There’s no doubt that this is America’s moment of reckoning. But we want to make the connection between the local and the global, because, you see, when you sow the seeds of greed — domestically, inequality; globally, imperial tentacles, 800 military units abroad, violence and AFRICOM in Africa, supporting various regimes, dictatorial ones in Asia and so forth — there is a connection between the seeds that you sow of violence externally and internally.”
He added: “Same is true in terms of the seed of hatred, of white supremacy, hating Black people, anti-Blackness hatred having its own dynamic within the context of a predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money, domination of workers, marginalization of those who don’t fit — gay brothers, lesbian sisters, trans and so forth.”
Regarding the death of George Floyd, and the subsequent reaction which has been sparked across the globe, West added: “The catalyst was certainly Brother George Floyd’s public lynching, but the failures of the predatory capitalist economy to provide the satisfaction of the basic needs of food and healthcare and quality education, jobs with a decent wage, at the same time the collapse of your political class, the collapse of your professional class.”
On a final comment, West said: “Rebellion is not the same thing in any way as revolution. And what we need is a nonviolent revolutionary project of full-scale democratic sharing — power, wealth, resources, respect, organising — and a fundamental transformation of this American Empire.”
