The struggle against imperialism continues! Despite US/UK claims to have “liberated” Iraq, it is obvious that the brutality of Western militarism has not been sated. To this day bombing continues in both Iraq and the supposedly free Afghanistan. On the day it was reported that Baghdad had fallen to US forces, US bombs killed 11 more civilians in Afghanistan. Under the auspices of the War on Terror, the US warmongers, alongside their faithful New Labour allies, seek to extend the sphere of American influence to further reaches of the globe. Already Syria, Iran, Libya and Cuba have been touted as future targets.
Talk of liberation is a lie. Attitudes towards Iraqi refugees who arrive in this country, or the failure of the US to provide the promised support to Iraqi insurgents after the last Gulf war proves this. There were only two main objectives to the war on Iraq. The first, and most obvious, is for control of oil. The second, was for America to give a message to the world, and any other possible emerging superpower (for example China) that it will fight to preserve its position of global supremacy. Taken together, it is clear that US motives are simply to defend and promote the ability of their own corporations to make unhindered profits across the globe.
We believe that it is not enough simply to attack war in of itself. The war is merely one of the most obvious symptoms of a sick a bloody system. This is a system that puts profit before people, and fights any attempt at real democracy in order to give more and more control of our lives to corporations. This is the system of capitalism. This brutal system has blighted the world for centuries leading to war, starvation and almost universal exploitation of the working class. Under modern capitalism 19,000 people die each day due to third world debt and more people today live in (literal) slavery than have at any other time in history. The ruling class controls nearly all of society, and takes nearly all the gains from what is produced, and yet does almost none of the work. Meanwhile, the majority working class (by which we mean anyone who works another, not necessarily the conventional modern sense) do nearly all the work, and yet receive only a tiny proportion of the wealth. This is clearly unjust and must be ended. In it’s unceasing desire for profit, capitalist nations will stop at nothing in order to ensure their advantageous position within the world, whether this entails destroying workers rights, poisoning the environment, or showing the bloody face edge of capitalism, through waging wars.
Capitalism seeks to expand its influence throughout the world at an alarming rate. Needing to constantly grow, capitalism seeks to take more and more power into the hands of the corporations, and away from any form of democratic institution. Through the ideology of “Neo-liberalism” and the “Free market” (free, of course, for Western corporations, and not for developing countries or for workers to organise collectively in unions), Western corporations seek to be able to exploit workers of the world with even more ease than they do now. Global institutions such as the World Trade Organisations seek little more than world domination. Our movement has risen to combat this, and has confronted these institutions and Western governments, for example the “Battle of Seattle” in 1999 or the confrontation with the G8 in the summer of 2001. The struggle against the capitalist system is a truly global fight, ranging from French activist-farmer José Bove dismantling a McDonalds, to the Zapitista's fighting against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and for indigenous rights in Mexico. We seek to continue this struggle, and build the resistance to capitalism, building in our own communities. Capitalism won’t be stopped merely by protesting at conferences, but by concrete grass roots action. This requires true solidarity and equality of all those fighting against capitalism, along with actively fighting against racism, sexism and homophobia. These are merely instruments furthered by the ruling class, to divide the workers against each other so they never unite together to fight the real enemy. Only through unity do we have strength!
In waging this war, the capitalist states are merely being true to themselves. Capitalism as a system relies on war and war economies such as the arms trade, to survive. While we wholeheartedly call for governments to spend the endless budget for war on education, health care, public sector workers (including the firefighter’s absolutely reasonable claim for a professional wage for a dangerous and vital job.) and similar items, we realise that whilst under capitalism, the primary role of the state will always be to ensure domination by the ruling class, and ensure the enrichment of their own capitalists. The perceived splits between the capitalist nations such as France and Germany with the US/UK axis are merely down to disagreements about the best way for the capitalist class of each nation to make profits. Class struggle by the working class can face down the juggernaut of capitalism. Strikes, walk outs and pickets can bring the system to a halt. The horrors World War I were only ended when the Russian and then German workers took matters into their own hands, and refused to wage war any longer.
No imperialist wars are in the benefit of the majority. They merely serve the interests of the ruling class. Even in times of “peace”, the capitalism is still a destructive force that exploits the majority of the worlds population. We believe it is not enough to merely call for an end to war, but for an end to the system that causes it and the abuses that result. We call for a CLASS WAR against the ruling class, waged by the underclass and all who side with them against this unjust and barbaric system. Only an end to capitalism can bring about an end to war. We must organise and fight against the bosses and the politicians who serve them, and strive for a truly democratic world, where human need is placed before the insane desire to consume and increase profits. Join the struggle!
-No to environmental destruction
-No to war and imperialism.
-No to racism, sexism and homophobia.
-No to immigration controls
-No to privatisation.
-No to capitalism!
