Transcript
1AC Plastic TOC Doubles We affirm Plan Text: The US will end sanctions on Venezuela Framing The Role of the ballot is to vote for the team which best deconstructs American imperialist policies and capitalism – look at the past like Philippines – Cuba – Latin America – Iran - libya Justice is anti-imperial while capitalism isn’t– we are being fooled to think otherwise Zeese and flowers 18 https://www.gp.org/anti_imperialism Venezuela: Another country with vast oil resources, Venezuela has been threatened with regime change, coups and war due to US imperialism that is supported by the elites in the US. The US uses the same regime change tools, e.g. a propagandistic barrage of lies about a “dictatorship”, economic sanctions, high-levels of funding to build opposition, violent protests, terrorismand attempts to foment a civil war. Venezuela has faced a continuous coup since the election of Hugo Chavez. In 2002, a coup against Chavez was reversed by people’s protests. There has been an economic war since then. Wikileaks’ documents show Hillary Clinton sought to undermine and replace the Chavez-Maduro government. A coup in 2016 was foiled. In 2017, there was an embarrassing failed coup supported by the US. Trump is continuing long-term US policies seeking to dominate Venezuela. The economic war creates challenges for the Venezuelan government. The US economic war blocks food, medicine, and essentials, while traitors inside Venezuela, from the wealthy class, do the same. These internal traitors even call for sanctions and war. The US falsely claims a humanitarian crisis exists in order to justify intervention to steal the nation’s oil and natural resources. Sadly, this fools too many people who are not clear on opposing US imperialism, while it also unites many in Venezuela against US imperialism. The US-allied internal traitors admitted to 17 years of crimes in a proposed amnesty law in 2016, when they controlled the National Assembly. In Latin America, particularly in Venezuela, Colombia plays the role of Israel for the US as the point of the US spear threatening war. Colombia has long-worked with the CIA for regime change in Venezuela. Indeed, Colombia just brought the imperialism military tool, NATO, to Latin America. The US and its allies are looking toward war, making war preparations, conducting military exercises and are calling for a military coup. The world is saying ‘no’ to war against Venezuela as is much of Latin America. A critique of our ROB is a neoliberal facade in order to coopt any anti-imperial movements and entrench capatalism in academia Links [1] U.S. foreign policy furthers imperialist expansion through advancing the neoliberal agenda Haiphong 16 (Daniel, activist and radical journalist, “US foreign policy is the military assertion of Capitalist supremacy”, http://ahtribune.com/politics/991-us-foreign-policy.html) US foreign policy has received the least attention in the 2016 elections. When it has been mentioned, the majority of candidates have merely repeated dogma such as "Russian aggression" and the existential threat of "terrorism." Only Donald Trump has deviated from the Washington consensus, questioning the legitimacy of NATO and US belligerence toward China and Russia. Yet even his comments do not go far enough to expose the true motivations behind US foreign policy. The carnage, chaos, and catastrophe of US foreign policy are driven by the interests of capitalism. Investor wealth and capitalist profit are the motivating forces of US foreign policy. US foreign policy can be divided into two different, but related, policies. The first policy is direct military intervention by sanction, proxy, or invasion on sovereign countries. The second is indirect military intervention through the deployment of military bases, command centers, and intelligence operations to countries already under the boot of US hegemony. Both policies are geared toward creating favorable conditions in the target country for the supremacy of US capital. The US invasion of Iraq is the most blatant examples of the mutual relationship between US foreign policy and the profit motive. Prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Iraqi government was the sole owner and distributor of the nation's vast oil resources. The destabilization of the Iraqi state opened the door to privatization. Over 80 percent of Iraq's oil is currently exported out of the country under the terms of contracts wielded by corporations such as Exxon and Chevron. A quarter of Iraq's population now lives in poverty as basic services have become a luxury. Additionally, it was estimated in 2013 that defense contractors raked in 138 billion dollars worth of contracts from Washington as a consequence of the war. "Defense" and oil corporations require the destruction of the sovereign nations such as Iraq to expand market share. Once a nation is compliant, US foreign policy shifts gears away from direct military rule to indirect. In South Korea, for example, the US maintains an estimated 28,000 US troops to prevent the reunification of the Koran state. The US has nearly 1,000 military bases around the world. Most of the operations conducted by these military installations carry the sole purpose of maintaining oppressive but compliant governments in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The most important measure of compliance is whether a government is run by puppets willing to do the bidding of US capital. If not, then the state in question is subject to US-sponsored destabilization. At the present moment, there are two powerful nations that stand in the way of full spectrum dominance of US capital. Russia and China have been the prime targets of US foreign policy. US multinational corporations and banks see Russia and China as the primary obstacles to unfettered global exploitation and profit accumulation. Russia's vast energy resources are exported by state-owned companies such as Gazprom. China's socialist economy is heavily comprised of state-owned industries. Through aggressive national development, China has become the largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power. Russia and China have attracted lucrative economic relationships with nations all over the world. Russia has taken the initiative to form the Eurasian Economic Union which calls continental trade integration. Similarly, China has been developing an economic infrastructure project called the "New Silk Road." This project, which most notably involves the development of a transnational railway connecting China to Russia and the European market, is estimated to cost 1 trillion USD in foreign investment. The strategic plans of Russia and China have the US scrambling all over the globe to ensure the world remains locked into the exploitative grips of US multinational corporations. Washington's Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the TPP, is the counter response to the rise of China. It includes provisions that allow corporations to sue participating states should their governments do anything to impede corporate profit. The US has instituted a "pivot" to Asia to create the military conditions necessary for such a trade deal. The US pivot has virtually encircled China militarily with partnerships in the Philippines, Guam, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. The US has conducted a similar policy of encirclement with regards to Russia. A ten day NATO exercise called operation Anaconda began on June 6th in Poland. The operation comprised of thirty thousand troops from twenty four countries. Furthermore, the US has supported the reactionary proxy war in Ukraine that rendered the country ungovernable. Military installations such as AFRICOM and NATO have as their main targets Russia and China. In Africa, the expansion of AFRICOM to all countries on the continent but two has come in direct response to China becoming the world's largest investor in African wealth. The 2011 US-NATO war on Libya was conducted to prevent the Libyan government from moving forward with plans to unify the continent around a single gold currency. Yet despite the commitment on the part of the US to deploy its military around the world to protect the interests of capital, the economic system of capitalism remains mired in crisis. US GDP continues to slow and stall. US influence around the world is increasingly being seen by millions as parasitic and a fetter on real production. The US capitalist system has reached a stage of terminal decline, whereby its own need to revolutionize technology in order to increase profit has actually sent profit into a downward spiral. Billions of workers globally either work in low-wage jobs or no jobs at all. This is the world that US foreign policy protects. A new world will require a coordinated global movement led by the oppressed to suppress the forces of capital that dictate US foreign policy. [2] Sanctions between 2017 & 2019 correlate strongly with increased health problems – proof of imperialism having harm Weisbrot and Sachs 19 Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University, April 2019, Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela, http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf While it is impossible to specify the counterfactual — what would have happened if there were no sanctions — we can first look at some of the deterioration of health indicators (including health care and health-related infrastructure and capacity) between 2017 and 2018. According to the National Survey on Living Conditions (ENCOVI by its acronym in Spanish), an annual survey of living conditions administered by three Venezuelan universities, there was a 31 percent increase in general mortality from 2017 to 2018. 35 This would imply an increase of more than 40,000 deaths.36 This would be a large loss of civilian life even in an armed conflict, and it is virtually certain that the US economic sanctions made a substantial contribution to these deaths. The percentage of deaths due to the sanctions is difficult to estimate because the counterfactual is unknowable, but it is worth noting that the counterfactual in the absence of sanctions could even be that mortality would have been reduced (see below), in the event that an economic recovery would have taken place. [3] Sanctions and capitalism made 90% of Venezuelans poor Holmes 19 Catesby Holmes, December 29, 2019, https://www.salon.com/2019/12/29/countries-to-watch-in-2020-from-chile-to-afghanistan_partner/, Countries to watch in 2020, from Chile to Afghanistan This year will bring new depths of misery to Venezuela, which is suffering the worst economic collapse ever seen outside war. “Most Venezuelans today are desperately poor,” explains St. Mary’s College professor Marco Aponte-Moreno, citing a U.N. statistic that 90% of the people in the South American country live in poverty — double what it was in 2014. The increasingly severe U.S. economic sanctions passed last year, aimed at crippling the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro, are only making life harder for poor Venezuelans, Aponte-Moreno writes. Venezuelans today rely on monthly government food delivery to survive. “If the government runs out of money, poor people will feel it the most — not the government officials,” writes Aponte-Moreno. Impacts [1] Destroying the Venezuelan way of life US war on socialism is like the pro’s war on us – this is a war against socialism Chengu 19 Garikai Chengu is an Ancient African historian. He has been a scholar at Harvard, Stanford and Columbia University https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/sanctions-of-mass-destruction-americas-war-on-venezuela America seeks control of Venezuela because it sits atop the strategic intersection of the Caribbean, South and Central American worlds. Control of the nation, has always been a remarkably effective way to project power into these three regions and beyond. From the first moment Hugo Chavez took office, the United States has been trying to overthrow Venezuela’s socialist movement by using sanctions, coup attempts, and funding the opposition parties. After all, there is nothing more undemocratic than a coup d’état. United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, Alfred de Zayas, recommended, just a few days ago, that the International Criminal Court investigate economic sanctions against Venezuela as a possible crime against humanity perpetrated by America. Over the past five years, American sanctions have cut Venezuela off from most financial markets, which have caused local oil production to plummet. Consequently, Venezuela has experienced the largest decline in living standards of any country in recorded Latin American history. Prior to American sanctions, socialism in Venezuela had reduced inequality and poverty whilst pensions expanded. During the same time period in America, it has been the absolute reverse. President Chavez funnelled Venezuela’s oil revenues into social spending such as free+6 healthcare, education, subsidized food networks, and housing construction. [2] Sanctions are putting Venezuela at a greater deficit amid Corona – lack of masks – lack of health care – masks costs more than a worker’s month salary Long 20 https://www.ft.com/content/0e4ac921-e4ba-4098-a80a-63a0ce803f65 For health workers on the front line of Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis, the coronavirus has added a terrible twist — a lack of masks has left them unprotected. “Some workers are buying their own masks,” said Mauro Zambrano, a health worker and union leader in Caracas who has provided detailed information on the state of the city’s hospitals. “You can get one for $1 which will last you a day or you can get a proper one for $7-$8. But — just imagine — we’re on salaries of $5-$6 a month — not enough to buy a single mask.” Few countries are in a worse position to deal with Covid-19 than Venezuela. It was already reeling from US sanctions amid a worsening economic and social crisis, and has now been hit by lower oil prices which have slashed what is virtually its only legal source of revenue. Its health system is falling apart. One recent study concluded the country was the worst-prepared in the Americas to deal with a pandemic, behind the likes of Haiti and Honduras. Most clinics lack basic equipment such as gloves, soap and surgical masks and gowns — or even clean water. At the Magallanes de Catia hospital, staff are making their own masks, water is available only in emergencies, there is no soap and no disinfectant. The situation is similar at the José Manuel de los Ríos children’s hospital and at other clinics across the city. [3] Sanctions, Venezuela, and US intentions Roache, 19 (Madeline Roache, 2-26-2019, accessed on 4-26-2020, Al Jazeera, "Sanctions, Venezuela, and US intentions", https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/sanctions-venezuela-intentions-190226124044497.html) The United States ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday, issuing new sanctions against the embattled leader's allies, and encouraging regional leaders to freeze assets of the country's state-owned oil company. Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement during a meeting with the Lima Group, a bloc of North and South American countries that have thrown their support behind Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country's interim president last month. "These men worked to block aid for people in need and suppress peaceful protests, their actions will not go unpunished," Pence told the group, referring to three Venezuelan border state governors and one member of Maduro's inner-circle, who the vice president said played a role in this weekend's violence at Venezuela's border when the opposition attempted to bring aid into the country. "In the days ahead … the United States will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks," Pence added. "We will work with all of you to find every last dollar that they stole and work to return it to Venezuela." Monday's sanctions follow years of similar moves by the US designed to pressure on Maduro, who enjoys the support of Russia, Turkey and China, among other countries, as well as state institutions including the military. Maduro accuses the US-backed opposition of staging a coup. Following Guaido's self-proclamation on January 23, the US also hit PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, with sweeping sanctions designed to result in billions of dollars of last export revenue over the next year, and help "restore … democracy" in Venezuela. But some experts argue that the US government has no interest in protecting democracy or improving the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, and is mostly concerned with taking control of the oil market and maintaining US influence in Latin America. PDVSA - the primary source of income and foreign currency for Maduro's government, bringing in 95 percent of the country's export earnings - plays a crucial role in keeping Maduro in power. In November 2017, Maduro appointed Manuel Quevedo, a former National Guard general, oil minister and the head of PDVSA, despite Quevedo having no experience in the oil sector. Analysts say he won Maduro's trust by helping to crush anti-government protests in 2014, which resulted in more than 40 deaths and thousands of arrests. Critics say Maduro has bought the loyalty of the army, handing military men more power in government. Active duty or retired officers make up nearly half of Maduro's cabinet, and many other hold key posts in sectors such as mining. The US has long held off on sanctioning Venezuela's oil sector for fear it would hurt its refiners and raise fuel prices for consumers, but in announcing sanctions on the company in late January, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela's tragic decline, and will continue to use the full suite of its diplomatic and economic tools to support interim President Juan Guaido, the National Assembly, and the Venezuelan people's efforts to restore their democracy." The US maintains the sanctions are meant to "help prevent further diverting of Venezuela's assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela." The sanctions on PDVSA freeze the company's assets in the US, as well as prohibits US firms and citizens from conducting business with PDVSA. According to the Treasury Department's guidance, purchases can be made from PDVSA or its entities until April 28 provided that the payments are made into a blocked account that Maduro's government cannot access. After that date, no purchases can be made. The sanctions also target key individuals linked to Maduro, including Quevedo. "We are intent on going after those facilitating Maduro's corruption and predation," Mnuchin said. Mnuchin said the sanctions would be lifted if PDVSA were to transfer control to Guaido or a "democratically elected government". For his part, Maduro has called the sanctions a "criminal" act, and told US leaders to keep their "hands off Venezuela". He accuses Washington of robbing Venezuela of its oil revenues and hurting the Venezuelan people. According to Lucas Koerner, an editor and political analyst at Venezuelanalysis.com, the US has sought to overthrow the Venezuelan government partly because of the way Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez have used oil as an "instrument of countering US hegemony" in the Western Hemisphere. Beginning under Chavez, Venezuela helped create multilateral bodies that excluded the US, such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and PetroCaribe, through which Caracas offers oil at a preferential rate to various countries in Latin America. "These bodies are part of a broader effort to limit Washington's influence in the region and support progressive governments, for example, in Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador," Koerner told Al Jazeera. It is also no secret that Chavez and Maduro have angered the US by seeking stronger economic relations with Iran, China and Russia. Although the US historically had close relations with Venezuela, a major oil supplier, ties sharply deteriorated, first under Chavez and then Maduro, both virulent critics of what they called Washington's "imperialistic" economic and foreign policy. In 2002, the administration of former US President George W Bush supported a failed military coup against Chavez, who was removed for two days before returning to power as an "anti-imperialist hero". For more than a decade, the US has used sanctions against the Venezuelan government and nearly 100 individuals in response to what the US has called activities related to terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, anti-democratic actions, human rights violations and corruption. In announcing the sanctions against PDVSA in January, the US Department of Treasury cites a 2014 to 2015 currency exchange scheme created launder up to $1.2bn. In October 2018, Abraham Edgardo Ortega, PDVSA's former executive director of financial planning, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in the scheme. The sanctions on PDVSA will result in more than $11bn in lost export revenue and block about $7bn in assets, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said when announcing the sanctions in late January. Bolton said that "now is time to stand for the democracy and prosperity in Venezuela". But some analysts say the sanctions against PDVSA will only worsen the harsh economic situation many Venezuelans face, and may risk solidifying support behind Maduro. Food and medicine shortages have driven more than three million Venezuelans to flee the country in one of Latin America's largest-ever migrant exodus, which has put a strain on neighbouring countries. Colombia currently shelters more than one million Venezuelans. Venezuela's inflation could reach 10 million percent this year, up from 1.3 million percent in 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund. The economic crisis is largely rooted in the government's failure to diversify its exports, as well as the mismanagement of the country’s energy assets. When oil prices dropped in 2014, the oil-reliant country went from being one of the richest countries in Latin America to one of the poorest. Maduro denies that Venezuela is facing a humanitarian crisis, only a political and economic war led by the US. Former United Nations special rapporteur and international law expert, Alfred de Zayas said that US sanctions are "economic warfare", that have compounded a worsening humanitarian crisis and led to needless deaths. "Their sole purpose is to make Venezuela's economy fail and to force regime change," De Zayas told Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, the opposition says the country's humanitarian problems are the result of corruption and years of mismanagement by both Chavez and Maduro. Rosmit Mantilla, a Venezuelan opposition leader who supports the US measures, said that the sanctions aren't "ideological". "They only block the personal accounts corrupt officials who stole from ordinary Venezuelans, and trafficked drugs," he told Al Jazeera. "The idea that sanctions are causing more Venezuelans to go hungry is propaganda used by Maduro. They exclusively target the people who have usurped power in Venezuela and I believe the sanctions will pressure them to accept elections." Mantilla said the opposition and many Venezuelans are grateful for the $20m pledge in aid from the US. "We need humanitarian aid while we focus on securing democratic changes," said Mantilla. But Koerner said, "$20m is a drop in the bucket compared with the $11bn in [expected] revenue losses, caused by the sanctions." He added that "it's cynical for the US to announce its humanitarian efforts, while recklessly destroying what little is left of the Venezuelan economy." Koerner also said that "the crushing economic sanctions that Trump ratcheted up in late January ... risk solidifying support behind President Maduro, as the population increasingly perceives the illegal US embargo as the primary cause of their deepening immiseration". Venezuela's military has so far blocked shipments of foreign aid from crossing the border with Colombia, with Maduro labelling the aid a "political show" and a cover for a US invasion. De Zayas, the former UN special rapporteur, said that if Washington's immediate interests are the well-being of the Venezuelan people, it should lift the sanctions. "If we want to help Venezuela, we need to let the country buy and sell like anyone else," he added. [4] Additionally each link is an independent impact – if we win any links we win the round UV [1] We wanted to be second speaker – we don’t like this – independent voter – democracy has failed us this is anarchy [2] Contradictions err aff a) aff has to prove a burden – neg just needs to say we are wrong – harder to prove obligation b) we are new to PF and this is our first time debating the topic [3] No team B theory – theory is “a system of ideas intended to explain something” (oxford) a) they can overload their speeches with multiple args and then we have to both extend and address their points b) having the final say in the debate gives them the ability to grand stand
