This is a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. Last week’s thread is here.
The book we are currently reading through is Empire’s Workshop by Greg Grandin. There are two main editions, to my knowledge: the original one with a yellow cover from 2006, and an updated version from 2021 with an orange cover. I am reading the latter version.
Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group, or if you no longer wish to be pinged.
This week, we will be reading Chapter 4.
Next week, we will be reading Chapter 5.
Imperalism Reading Group ping!
In Chapter 4, the beginning of the Cold War (and especially the Chinese Revolution), as well as the creation of the CIA, marks a shift from the Good Neighbour policy. The wave of constitutional democracies are gradually overthrown as the US seeks more pliant regimes that are entirely anti-communist and thereby pro-imperialist, with Arbenz’s Guetamala successfully couped after a propaganda and terror campaign. Meanwhile, Cuba’s Batista is himself overthrown by Castro, who successful resistance (Bay of Pigs) and popular support providing a beacon of resistance around which Latin American revolutionaries can be guided and aided by. Kennedy’s inauguration, despite the rhetoric of progress, institutes only a new wave of anti-democratic terror and kidnappings throughout the continent.
This continues the cycles of the US growing heavy-handed, inspiring pro-democracy insurgents to resist them, which then causes major problems for the US both materially and legally, which causes the US to back off a bit, and then new people come to power who do not understand the lessons of a decade prior. All the while, hundreds of thousands of people are killed and many millions more live in fear of America-backed death squads.
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This chapter underlined for me something that I first started thinking while reading the jakarta method: Do not under any circumstances try to effect positive incremental change from the inside of the imperial government.
At best your efforts will be wasted, but in many cases, you will actually strengthen the imperial machine in unpredictable ways, and enable it to commit even greater atrocities, as happens with the FDR admin’s reformers here, and the more sympathetic ambassador in Indonesia in the jakarta method.
Audiobook ping! It’s two chapters this time, catching up with the threads
Chapter 3:
Ch. 3 Mirror: https://vocaroo.com/142XNgpLWMQR
Chapter 4:
Ch. 4 Mirror: https://vocaroo.com/1lUiQIDZSxex
Edit: also please don’t mind the mispronunciations, I’m trying to break the habit on a few of them
libgen is fucked still right? what’s everybody using these days?
honestly, browsing libgen and/or annas archive, then getting the actual file from the source torrent is workable and reliable, but it takes probably an extra 60 seconds (or more if you don’t have a torrent client already)
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