The Last Dance of an Empire

With history as our witness, are we justified in writing the requiem for the decline—and the anticipated fall—of the American Empire? Absolutely. There is no other convincing explanation for what is unfolding before us. The proof is undeniable. We see it. Everyone sees it.

The people have risen, and they are openly challenging the status quo. From the general strike in Minnesota—sparked by the fatal shooting of Renée Good by an ICE agent and spreading into a statewide protest demanding an end to aggressive federal immigration enforcement—to calls to STOP AND ABOLISH ICE AGENTS; from the growing anti-war movement across the nation, to workers demanding fair wages and collective bargaining rights; from students defaulting on loans that have become impossible to repay, to a healthcare system driven by record insurance profits and the daily loss of life caused by the denial of care—the contradictions in this society are no longer hidden. People are dying not from lack of medicine, but from lack of access and justice.

History offers no shortage of parallels. The Ottoman and Persian Empires, dynasties across continents and centuries—all eventually collapsed. Not from external invasion alone, but from internal corruption and scandals. When an empire becomes unsustainable, it decays from within and ultimately implodes. The United States is no exception. In fact, it was never the nation it claimed to be. The so-called American Dream has always masked an American nightmare.

From the arrival of European colonizers—who stole Indigenous lands and carried out ethnic cleansing across an entire continent—to the brutal system of African slavery, built on stolen labor and profits shared by North and South alike, exploitation has been foundational, not accidental. Today, that same logic continues through immigrant labor exploitation, precarious work, and entire communities forced into economic enclaves. This is the reality of the U.S. empire and the capitalist system under which we now live—one that makes daily life increasingly unbearable for millions.

So we ask: shall we dance now? Shall we confront this moment and break the system—break this paradigm? Because now more than ever, a fundamental shift is not only necessary but unavoidable.

The fall of the U.S. Empire echoes the twilight of Rome. In the fifth century, the once-invincible Roman Empire collapsed under the weight of its own overreach—military, economic, and geopolitical. Stretched thin, it failed to contain the pressures along its borders as Germanic peoples—the Angles, Saxons, Vandals, and Goths—moved across its territories. Scholars have long debated the precise causes of Rome’s fall, but all agree on one truth: empires rot from within before they collapse.¹

Today, we bear witness to the decline of another empire: the United States of America—the belly of the beast. As it weakens, it reacts violently and ruthlessly toward its own people. Diabolical as it may sound, the beast is no longer distant. It stands exposed before us, lashing out as it falls.

And so we say it clearly now—this is the last dance.
Not another cycle. Not another illusion. Not another promise of reform that preserves the same machinery of exploitation.

This is the final confrontation. The moment where the mask is torn away, where the old order can no longer sustain itself, and where the people refuse to carry the weight of a dying empire any longer. We are done dancing to its rhythm, done paying for its collapse with our lives, our labor, and our future.

This is the last dance, but this time it's—toward rupture, toward liberation, toward something entirely new.

Let the empire fall. Let the sound of chaos and destruction fade away forever. Let this be the final act—for good. Let us all now dance to a new sound, music full of revolutionary spirit and hope.

Reference:

1. Abu-Jamal, Mumia, and Stephen Vittoria. Murder Incorporated: Dreaming of Empire. Prison Radio, 2018.