February 20, 2026

By Arnold Schölzel

The author has played a leading role in the editorial body directing the German Marxist daily newspaper, junge Welt, over the last decades. Here, in a Feb. 17 article, Schölzel’s response to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s open appeal to restore the imperialist oppression of 19th century colonialism drips with biting sarcasm. Translation: John Catalinotto

Along with human rights, the U.S. introduced slavery on a large scale 250 years ago. It became the first “racial state” ([described by Italian Marxist-Leninist] Domenico Losurdo) before that of German fascism.

What is known as racial segregation remained in place in the U.S. until 1965, which was the earliest time the U.S. could even claim to be a democracy with equal rights for all citizens [on paper]. However, slavery continued socially. The skin color of most of the two million prison inmates in the U.S. is not white.

According to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, however, white people in the United States are endangered. In August 2025, the U.S. president accused U.S. museums [and National Park exhibits] of focusing solely on “how bad slavery was.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a standing ovation in Munich [at the Security Conference] on Feb. 14 — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Minister of War Boris Pistorius were the quickest to their feet — when he reminded Western Europeans of the 500-year history of white, Christian and therefore good, shared expansion, which was interrupted in 1945.

According to Rubio, “godless communist revolutions,” “anti-colonial uprisings,” and the spread of the “hammer and sickle” led to the decline of the West, culminating in today’s “mass migration.” “Europe” and the U.S. therefore belong together on the same side in order to stop the impending extinction of civilization, although Rubio and Co. will do it “alone if necessary.”

A year ago, Rubio’s rival for Trump’s succession, Vice President JD Vance, had praised the [neo-fascist] Alternative for Germany (AfD) and other guardians of white Christian culture as the only helpers in Europe.

Rubio did not mention the AfD and Co. He now has German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, etc. They are letting entire economies collapse in order to build up the necessary military apparatus for Western resurgence. No matter how deeply a “family first” party like the AfD bows down to Trump, it cannot compete with them.

Coincidentally and necessarily, the day after Rubio’s appearance in Munich, an African Union summit in Addis Ababa discussed a study on the consequences of describing “colonialism as a crime against humanity.” Ghana was tasked with introducing a corresponding resolution to the United Nations General Assembly in March. Ghana’s President John Mahama called the enslavement of millions of Africans until the 19th century “the greatest injustice in modern history.”

Barbarism in Munich, a call for reason in Addis Ababa — not just two worlds apart in spirit. In Washington, Trump’s nominee to lead the State Department’s outreach to international organizations, Jeremy Carl, ranted before the Senate on Feb. 12 about “white erasure,” while Mahama spoke of 15 to 20 million enslaved Africans. Each in his own way made it clear: There is no capitalism without fascism.