by TATIANA COZZARELLI
While speaking out against the ultra-right white supremacist mob that stormed the Capitol last week, AOC referred to the Capitol as the “citadel of democracy.” Organizing and speaking out against the right should not mean glorifying the imperialist, capitalist U.S. Capitol and what takes place within its walls.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram Live on Tuesday to speak about the right-wing attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. To her credit, she correctly highlighted the long history of white supremacist violence in this country — the storming of the Capitol is only its latest iteration. She pointed out the discrepancies between how the cops treated peaceful BLM protesters and an overwhelmingly white murderous gang. And she highlighted that some members of Congress supported the attacks and suggested that some may even have been in communication with the white supremacist protesters.
Without a doubt, the events of January 6 put on full display the emergence of a radicalized far right. The crowd that day was a broad coalition of white supremacists, neo-fascists, cops, and conspiracy theorists. Some carried the flag of the Confederacy — “traitors to the United States,” she said — which she noted hadn’t even happened during the Civil War. Though it is clear that most people who stormed the Capitol were unarmed and lacked a clear plan, others came prepared for violence and, in particular, to do harm to leaders of Congress and the vice president. Those with special targets on their backs include Nancy Pelosi, especially hated by the right wing, and the outspoken women of color in the House who make up the Squad: AOC herself, Ayanna Presley, and Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both Muslims Ocasio-Cortez was absolutely correct to point this out.
But while repudiating the right-wing attack, AOC glorifies a racist institution — U.S. “democracy” itself. AOC used the opportunity to call the Capitol — the government building most symbolic of the world’s most brutal capitalist, imperialist empire — “a citadel of democracy.” With that remark, she paints a picture of a somehow “neutral” capitalist democracy as a beacon for good in the world, glossing over that it was built on the enslavement of African people, genocide of indigenous people, and hyper-exploitation of the working class. Nothing about that was “democratic.”
The United States, since its founding, has expressly stated that it isn’t a “democracy.” This country is a republic with some democratic forms to help maintain the rule of those who own the wealth, and to prop up a government that works in service of the world’s most brutal capitalist power. Despite all that, AOC’s remarks have been touted as a model by Jacobin, which published an entire article praising them, as well as the NYC DSA, which posted a 40-second clip that ends with Ocasio-Cortez railing against the storming of the “citadel of democracy.” By doing so, they have glorified the U.S. capitalist empire just as AOC has done.
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