THE past few days have really thrown the role of imperialism in sharp relief.

The actions of the US — attacking a sovereign country, kidnapping an elected president, attempting to hold that country to ransom with the threat of further military force — have shocked even the most ardent supporters of the Western liberal narrative of so-called liberal democracies and failed states.

The fact that Donald Trump has been open that this is about furthering US imperialist interests and claimed that Venezuela will be “turning over” tens of millions of barrels of oil to the US as a result has made it difficult for even the US closest allies to avoid some criticism of their behaviour.

And yet somehow our own spineless Prime Minister manages to do so.

Jeremy Corbyn is right to refer to the actions (or rather inaction) of our government as “pathetic” when ministers are unable to even state whether it is illegal to kidnap a sitting president. It is hardly a complex case of international law, and our PM is supposed to be a legal expert.

However, we shouldn’t be surprised. Britain has long ridden on the coat-tails of US imperialism. The much-talked about special relationship amounts to little in international policy terms other than a slavish adherence to US priorities. In the words of Corbyn (or indeed of the Rage Against the Machine classic Bullet in the Head), they say jump and we say how high.

But for those who have tried to paint the neoliberal European Union as some kind of left alternative to adherence to US policy, their official statement must have come as something of a disappointment. The EU high representative took the opportunity to emphasise that the EU “has repeatedly stated that Nicolas Maduro lacks the legitimacy of a democratically elected president” and studiously avoided criticising the US attacks.

This simply emphasises that the European bosses’ club has no alternative to offer on this, or any other, issue. Whether you choose to tie yourself to US imperialism or to side with European imperialism, which has done so much to stoke the flames of war in Ukraine and elsewhere, whilst ramping up anti-immigrant rhetoric and strengthening external borders, there are no good guys to be found among the various ruling class alliances.

The answer, of course is to build an anti-imperialist movement founded on the basis of true internationalism. This must be an internationalism that recognises our solidarity with the international working class, like the members of the International Brigades who 90 years ago gave their lives to fight fascism in Spain. Such internationalism is not just a thing of the past. It lives on in the international medical brigades sent across the world by Cuba to fight the scourge of poverty, disease and preventable death. It was also demonstrated very clearly by the 32 Cuban heroes who gave their lives in honour and glory to defend the elected president of Venezuela against the US.

Cuba now needs our support as it faces a vastly increased threat from the world superpower that has tried to strangle it through economic warfare over the past six decades and is now closer to open attack than it has been for a generation. We must stand with the socialist island against this increased threat and pressure our own government to draw the line at further imperialist aggression, in Cuba or anywhere else.

We will only do this by building a strong anti-imperialist movement founded on international working-class solidarity. That means all out for the demonstrations this weekend against the US attacks on Venezuela, it means all out for the Latin America solidarity conference on February 7 and it means all out to build the anti-imperialist, anti-war solidarity movement right across this country.