Libyan masses heroic revolt.
Our blog unreservedly supports the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. They represent the revolt of the youth, the working class and the middle class against the right wing dictatorships kept in place and supported by the imperialist countries for decades. They represent a struggle against the looting of the region by imperialism and its stooge regimes and dictatorships. They are a great step forward for the working class internationally.
In some of these countries the right wing dictatorships which have been supported by imperialism do not want to respond to their new orders from their imperialist masters and give up power and allow imperialism to put in less hated regimes which can continue more effectively to continue with the looting and stealing of the resources.
One of these is Bahrain. This murderous regime where the US 5th fleet is based is slaughtering its own people. Now it is being backed in this by an invasion of the Saudi regime from next door. The Saudi regime are close friends of the Bush family. Imperialism is trying to talk the Bahrain regime into making some concessions to placate the revolution and to get the Saudi regime to go back inside its own borders. Things are threatening to get just too much out of hand for them. Hillary Clinton is near frantic.
Now they have got the UN security council to pass a resolution which will allow air strikes against Gadhafi's forces, other nations to board Libyan ships at sea to enforce an arms embargo, and for "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians. But apparently there is not agreement on any actual invasion of Libya.
There is no doubt that all decent people want the murderous freak Gadhafi stopped from slaughtering his own people and to be overthrown. We want this also. We are emphatic on this. But life is complicated and it is not only the need to stop and overthrow Gadhafi that is an issue here, but it is how this should be done and by whom.
This brings us back here to the role of the working class and its leadership. There are tens and tens of millions of organized workers world wide. They are in the most concentrated and powerful industries. There are tens and hundreds of millions more who would organize if they were given leadership. Imagine the potential in China alone. They have the potential power to stop the world economy in its tracks. The question that has to be asked is what role this force is playing in the Libyan events. Tragically the answer is none. Why is this so and what flows from this?
The why first. The reason this great force is playing no role in the Libyan events is because of its leadership. The unions are controlled by conservative union bureaucracies who take their lead from capitalism and operate entirely within the context of capitalism. They see no independent role for the working class, they do not believe the working class can build an alternative society. So when crises develops they at best retreat, or more usually support imperialism, in its handling of matters.
Look at the results here. The imperialist countries will bomb Gadhafi. They may or may not overthrow him, this is not clear. They might have to put boots on the ground and there are already imperialist boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan so they are getting a bit scarce in boots and in support for more boots. But let us consider the options. If the imperialist bombings do help the rebels to overthrow Gadhafi then these imperialist forces will have a lot of credit with the rebels who will then be the new government. The result will be the imposition of a new regime which will cooperate with imperialism in installing a regime which will continue to loot the oil and gas wealth of the country. This new regime will inevitably be corrupted as it plays this role as agents of imperialism.
If the attack on Libya leaves the freak and his regime in place he will have more authority in the region as he poses as the man who stood up to imperialism. He will use this to continue to loot his own country on behalf of imperialism and his own ruling clique and to increase his influence in the region. And of course as soon as it was seen that Gadhafi would remain in power, the big oil companies and the imperialist forces would be making sure that they had their connections still active and would continue to trade and deal with Libya. The dollar comes first.
The other option is a prolonged stalemate of fighting which have no short term victor and would leave the country close a wasteland. In this situation also the imperialist forces would continue to trade with the regime and with forces which controlled other oil producing areas outside of the control of the Gadhafi regime while at all times probing for the potential overall victor with whom they could loot the greatest amount of wealth.
I can hear many people say. Yes you are probably right but what is the alternative. The threat of the slaughter of the rebels must be stopped. We do not want the rebels slaughtered. And neither do we. The alternative is the independent organized power of the working class. The union leaders could have, and still should, call mobilizations, conferences, in all the countries of the world and in all sectors of industry. Explain the issues and how if the rebellions in Libya and the Middle East and North Africa are defeated this will be a defeat for the world working class. Then having explained this take action.
The workers movement in alliance with rank and files in the various militaries can acquire weapons and ship them to the rebel areas in Libya. The bank workers can seize all Gadhafi funds. Not freeze them, seize them permanently. And put them into a rebuild Libya fund to be overseen by respected leaders of the revolt and the workers movement internationally. The dock and sea workers internationally can stop every Libyan ship at port and refuse to let it move. Oil and gas workers can refuse to take any oil and gas into their facilities until the regime is brought down. This is the way the independent movement of the working class can lead and become the dominant force in the situation.
In this way also it can begin to be seen as the force to be looked to to solve all kinds of problems, the force to be looked to for solutions. Not as now when the overwhelming majority of people never even consider the organized workers movement as a solution to problems. . We stand for the independent movement of the working class to solve problems and to challenge the capitalist and imperialist organizations and forces and to challenge their economic system. The leaders of the workers organizations with their capitalist policies are preventing this from happening.
We also have to look at the role of the left and radical forces. They too are an obstacle to the development of an independent mass movement of the working class. In their case the obstacle usually takes the form of left sectarianism which prevents them working together in effective united fronts, ultra leftism which prevents them making a solid connection with the broader mass layers of the working class and opportunism which when by accident they do get influence with wider layers they are not able to withstand the pressures that they face. We on the left and radical movement have to seriously consider how we work, we have to seriously consider the mistakes we have made. why there are so many more left and radical people outside the left organizations than inside. We have to consider issues such as what is today's equivalent of demands such that of the Bolshevik': "Bread Peace and land."
Sean.
No comments:
Post a Comment