Serious Marxists Are Suspicious of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Her Cozying Up to Intelligence Agencies

 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The World Socialist Web Site, which is published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, slammed junior league socialist  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her support of internet censorship. The Fourth International is a revolutionary socialist organization that was founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938. In other words, they have been around a while and they get the dangers of censorship:

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has fully embraced the demand by the US intelligence agencies that technology monopolies censor political speech on the internet.

At a hearing Wednesday at the House Financial Services Committee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “take down lies.”

“So you won’t take down lies or you will take down lies, it’s just a pretty simple yes or no?” Ocasio-Cortez demanded.

In reply, the Facebook CEO attempted to explain: “In a democracy, I believe that people should be able to see for themselves what politicians, who they may or may not vote for, are saying.”

The most charitable interpretation of Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks is that she is totally ignorant of the American democratic tradition of free speech.


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks with other lawmakers during a break from testimony from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, on Facebook's impact on the financial services and housing sectors. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The basic assumption of the first amendment is that the government does not know what is a “fact” and what is a “lie.” It is for the electorate to decide for themselves, and not the business of the government, or corporations acting on its behalf, to force-feed ideas to the public.

This is why the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of religion—that is, the government’s determination that some ideas are “facts” and others are “lies.”

It is a damning condemnation of the politics of Ocasio-Cortez and the Democratic Socialists of America that it is up to a billionaire executive—who has for years carried out censorship at the behest of the government—to explain free speech to her.

But whether through ignorance or malice, Ocasio-Cortez has made herself the mouthpiece of the very intelligence agencies that, having lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and illegally spied on every single American, are now trying to destroy the First Amendment.

Of course, I'm sure that WSWS would see things differently if they were in power, since socialism is about control of power. But when they are out of power they understand full well the dangers of censorship. Apparently better than AOC.

 -RW