If China has socialism with Chinese characteristics, then what characteristics will America have? (assuming it goes that way)
If China has socialism with Chinese characteristics, then what characteristics will America have? (assuming it goes that way)
Imo, American socialism (as distinct from the US just becoming a European-style social democracy) would look very different to that in contemporary China, because a revolution in the US would mean a drastic transformation of the global economy. Unlike China, a socialist US wouldn't have to negotiate a position within an existing and powerful neoliberal world order. The pivotal role that the US plays in the global economic and political order would mean that an actual socialist revolution in the US would likely kick off numerous other revolutions across the globe, as well as bolstering the power of those already in existence. Genuine socialism in America would probably mean the beginning of a global socialist revolution because it would completely fracture the established forces of reaction and prove that revolutions are possible in rich, developed nations.
What form this would take is incredibly difficult to imagine, because it would involve the creation of an entirely new paradigm. However, I'm not sure about the idea that liberation theology would provide the basis for it. In my view, the fundamentalist Christian right are likely to be the last vanguard of the capitalist status quo in the US and are likely to provide the base of the forces of reaction in any revolutionary moment.
Well of course fundamentalists on the right will be part of the forces of reaction, but we also don't need Christians reluctantly siding with them or staying neutral because they are convinced a socialist government will kill them or something.
Better to show them a way out that allows them to retain their relationship with God then abandon them to these forces imo. A Chinese example would be the Three Self Movement I dunno if I would handle it exactly like this, and maybe a better more comparable example would be with a more dominant religion in the country, but I think it shows that religion and more specifically Christianity doesn't have to be a counter-revolutionary force.
For sure and I'm not American, so don't really have much understanding of the dynamics of American Christianity other than in its most prominent expression as evangelicalism. I still wonder if liberation theology would play a terribly prominent role because my sense is that progressive forces in the US are largely secular, but this is a hypothetical scenario that would involve a pretty radical transformation of American society in order to make it possible, so I feel like it's pretty difficult to speculate on its exact cultural composition.
Liberation Theology specifically isn't huge in the US rn.
In the past and still today (though overshadowed by right-evangelicalism in terms of political power now) there existed a "Christian Left" that supported the "Social Gospel" but this was mainly liberal and amounted to support of labour unions and policies to alleviate poverty and so on.
Idk how movements work, I imagine to a certain extent these things naturally arise, so it's possible when an actual revolution becomes possible there won't be a huge need for LT or things like that to win people over. Even if it's not a huge aspect of this organizing or movement building I don't think we should completely abandon using religious language when talking to certain demographics or embracing religious people sympathetic to socialism.
Definitely. We should talk to people in language they relate to.