"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?"
Many of us are paying attention to what is going on around the world more than we usually do. We only have to think clearly about the situation for a minute to see the hypocrisy and lies that underline US foreign policy. First, the US supported dictator in Tunisia, Ben Ali fell to a popular uprising demanding democratic reforms, an end to corruption and state terror. This then spread to Egypt where the US supported dictator Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down. A cursory glance at past blogs on this site or any news outlet writing at the time reveals how US capitalism refused to condemn the Mubarak regime referring to him as a trusted friend almost to the end.
US VP Biden said on Jim Lehrer's Newshour Jan 27th:
“Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with Israel,” the vice president said. “And I think that it would be – I would not refer to him as a dictator."
Hilary Clinton also supported Mubarak:
"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes clear in TV interviews Sunday that the United States is not demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down. She also backs away from earlier threats to pull Egypt's billions of dollars in aid." LA Times
It was widely known that Mubarak's secret police was responsible for mass torture and killing of any and all opposition. The Torturers are armed by the US taxpayer and the Egyptian military are trained by the US and receive some $2 million a year. For this, Mubarak kept the Arab masses in a state of fear and repression. He amassed $70 billion in personal assets while half of the population lived on less than $2 a day. His regime collaborated with Israel and the US in the inhuman blockade of Gaza, the largest concentration camp in the world. Mubarak protected Israel's western flank allowing the Zionist regime there, a racist and violent regime, to continue its theft of Palestinan land and displacement of its occupants. There is no "normalization" or "peace process". The nornmal situation is what exists, Palestinians living in Bantustans and the concentration camp called Gaza.
Hilary Clinton also supported Mubarak:
"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes clear in TV interviews Sunday that the United States is not demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down. She also backs away from earlier threats to pull Egypt's billions of dollars in aid." LA Times
It was widely known that Mubarak's secret police was responsible for mass torture and killing of any and all opposition. The Torturers are armed by the US taxpayer and the Egyptian military are trained by the US and receive some $2 million a year. For this, Mubarak kept the Arab masses in a state of fear and repression. He amassed $70 billion in personal assets while half of the population lived on less than $2 a day. His regime collaborated with Israel and the US in the inhuman blockade of Gaza, the largest concentration camp in the world. Mubarak protected Israel's western flank allowing the Zionist regime there, a racist and violent regime, to continue its theft of Palestinan land and displacement of its occupants. There is no "normalization" or "peace process". The nornmal situation is what exists, Palestinians living in Bantustans and the concentration camp called Gaza.
Then there is Bahrain. Bahrain is an island ruled by the same family for 200 years. It is an absolute monarchy whose rulers belong to a minority Sunni group ruling over a majority of Shia. British colonialism that ruled this area for years often left a minority ruling a majority when it created nations in the area after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq is another example.
The island is home to the US's Fifth Fleet that protects the global energy corporations interests in the area. The demands of the protesters there are overwhelmingly for democratic rights, political freedom, an end to religious discrimination and for a Republic. The regime has responded violently, shooting unarmed civilians including many women and children. The US has 30,000 troops on the island but had its friends, the Saudi's (another absolute monarchy that tolerates no dissent) invade the island and help route the protesters. So in Bahrain, the US government is supporting an absolute monarchy against forces fighting for a republic and democratic rights much like the American revolutionists did over 200 years ago.
The island is home to the US's Fifth Fleet that protects the global energy corporations interests in the area. The demands of the protesters there are overwhelmingly for democratic rights, political freedom, an end to religious discrimination and for a Republic. The regime has responded violently, shooting unarmed civilians including many women and children. The US has 30,000 troops on the island but had its friends, the Saudi's (another absolute monarchy that tolerates no dissent) invade the island and help route the protesters. So in Bahrain, the US government is supporting an absolute monarchy against forces fighting for a republic and democratic rights much like the American revolutionists did over 200 years ago.
Yemen is ruled by a ruthless dictator and protesters there have been demanding an end to corruption and for freedom of association and other democratic reforms. Similar uprisings have taken place in Jordan, where the King there is supported by the US and Britain and in Syria, which is a Baathist secular regime that is generally considered hostile to US capitalism and linked to Iran by religious association.
Bret Stephens writing in today's Wall Street Journal interviewed US secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. Gates responded to a question on regime change in Libya by stating that the invasion was "Never about regime change" Gates goes on to say that "At the end of the day this needs to be settled by Libyans themselves" The allied assault on the Libyan troops and positions are all about "stopping him (Gaddafi) from slaughtering civilians" says Gates. Slaughtering civilians isn't something that the US government has a problem doing in defense of its interests. The sanctions against Iraq cost some 500,000 lives, then there's the invasion itself followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan where unmanned drones have killed hundreds, maybe thousands of civilians including some 9 year olds playing recently that the US military said were "insurgents". And in Bahrain slaughtering civilians seems to be OK.
So what it boils down to is this issue they refer to all the time as "US interests". "There are American national security interests and American vital interests, where, in my view, we need to act decisively and, if necessary, act unilaterally" says Gates. Gates also said, "The thing that would mean the most to me when I leave this job is if those kids in uniform remember they had a secretary of defense who, from the first day, they knew had their back." They'd better be careful, they didn't have Pat Tillman's back.
This is where the nation state and patriotism and all that stuff comes in. Are the interests of American capitalists and American workers the same? We are all called Americans. Is it in our interests (American workers, or the middle class for that matter) to support the foreign policy of US capitalists? Has it been in our interests to support the invasion of Iraq, a country that never threatened or harmed us? Was it in our interests to support, prop up and arm Sadaam Hussein and his regime as the US government did for years?
This game they play that we are all Americans, one nation undivided and all that stuff is a con game just like a Ponzi scheme. We sure as hell don't support their domestic policy do we? We don't agree with cutting "our" wages, eliminating "our" democratic rights, forbidding us to build Unions and our independent political parties for example. We don't like that they take our houses away or demolish our education system or cut back our social security or entitlements. When we are on strike we urge other workers to take a clear side. No "United We Stand" there, not with the boss anyway. So why unite with them when they go abroad?
The roots of what the US government calls terrorism are firmly planted in the soil of US foreign policy. The vast majority of us understand that we should support workers on strike; at the very least, we are sympathetic to it and to Unions. The role of the Labor leadership at the highest levels in undermining solidarity and helping drive the memories of a rich militant history of struggle in to the recesses of our consciousness hasn't eradicated class consciousness altogether. It has helped the capitalist class sow seeds of doubt and resentment in the minds of many of us that are outside Unions and the obscene salaries and perks of most Union officials disgusts workers, especially organized Labor's rank and file. But Unions in general are seen as beneficial.
So foreign policy is merely an extension of domestic policy. The US and its allies are not in Libya to help the working class gain strength and control of our own destiny; they are there to install the regime that is the most reliable and cooperative in helping them plunder the resources of the region as they have done for centuries. This is against our interests as American workers and is the cause of animosity and hatred towards us. As many political oppositions to this strategy have been eradicated by exile or murder by the US installed dictators, much of the anger and organized resistance has found expression through one religious channel or another, from the Mullahs of Iran to the Islamo fascist movements that I suppose would fall under the al Qaeda unbrella.
The Communist Party of Iraq was once the most influential workers party in that country and the Iraqi workers had a history of struggle and resistance against despotism and British colonial occupation. A joint US/Sadaam Hussein effort eliminated both reformers and other leftists and oppressed trade Unions and democratic rights. The US government's role here, as in Chile, Iran, Sumatra, Congo, Haiti, all of Latin America, has been one of supporting torture, imprisonment and the deaths of millions.
It is not a Utopian idea that workers of the world have the same interests and should unite. The capitalist class are global citizens. They intermarry, they live everywhere, their patriotism is based on being able to steal wealth that others create, it is based on exploitation. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the Nike's and Wal Mart's, they are global exploiters who have no allegiance to anything but continuing their system of robbery. They have the World Bank, the IMF, the meetings in Davos and other nice places where they plan their global strategy for robbery.
Eugene Debs, the great American socialist spent much time in jail for opposing the first world war. He led the Pullman strike and ran for president of the US from prison. Most ex holders off that office should be in prison. Debs was a genuine revolutionary. It is not an accident that the overwhelming number of US workers would never have heard of him.
The US arms industry supplies almost 50% of the worlds weapons. And to remind comrades, the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council, US, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China, together with Germany and Italy account for around 85% of the arms sold between 2002 and 2009. (Global Issues) The ruling classes of these nation states are not interested in putting peace before profits.
So just like in a strike we call for help and solidarity not from other employers (Union leaders might but this is against most workers' better instincts), we reach out to other workers in order to build our side and gain the upper hand in the struggle for a better life, we look for class solidarity even if we don't call it that. It is the role of leadership to organize solidarity, to have a strategy for developing a powerful united working class movement that can resolve the never ending crises that are a product of a global economic system that is historically bankrupt but, like a wounded animal, can be extremely dangerous.
It is leadership based on clear ideas that is lacking, in our domestic struggles against the capitalist offensive at home and in the struggles of workers internationally. The US and its allies will be supporting the worst elements in the Libyan opposition. When they talk of the removal of Gaddafi being the responsibility of the "Libyan people" it is not the Libyan workers and middle classes they are talking about. It is the Libyan bourgeois; and if they can't do it---Gadaffi will do and they'll make a deal with him.
So Workers of World Unite is the not a bad idea---it's the only one that will work.
This is where the nation state and patriotism and all that stuff comes in. Are the interests of American capitalists and American workers the same? We are all called Americans. Is it in our interests (American workers, or the middle class for that matter) to support the foreign policy of US capitalists? Has it been in our interests to support the invasion of Iraq, a country that never threatened or harmed us? Was it in our interests to support, prop up and arm Sadaam Hussein and his regime as the US government did for years?
This game they play that we are all Americans, one nation undivided and all that stuff is a con game just like a Ponzi scheme. We sure as hell don't support their domestic policy do we? We don't agree with cutting "our" wages, eliminating "our" democratic rights, forbidding us to build Unions and our independent political parties for example. We don't like that they take our houses away or demolish our education system or cut back our social security or entitlements. When we are on strike we urge other workers to take a clear side. No "United We Stand" there, not with the boss anyway. So why unite with them when they go abroad?
The roots of what the US government calls terrorism are firmly planted in the soil of US foreign policy. The vast majority of us understand that we should support workers on strike; at the very least, we are sympathetic to it and to Unions. The role of the Labor leadership at the highest levels in undermining solidarity and helping drive the memories of a rich militant history of struggle in to the recesses of our consciousness hasn't eradicated class consciousness altogether. It has helped the capitalist class sow seeds of doubt and resentment in the minds of many of us that are outside Unions and the obscene salaries and perks of most Union officials disgusts workers, especially organized Labor's rank and file. But Unions in general are seen as beneficial.
So foreign policy is merely an extension of domestic policy. The US and its allies are not in Libya to help the working class gain strength and control of our own destiny; they are there to install the regime that is the most reliable and cooperative in helping them plunder the resources of the region as they have done for centuries. This is against our interests as American workers and is the cause of animosity and hatred towards us. As many political oppositions to this strategy have been eradicated by exile or murder by the US installed dictators, much of the anger and organized resistance has found expression through one religious channel or another, from the Mullahs of Iran to the Islamo fascist movements that I suppose would fall under the al Qaeda unbrella.
The Communist Party of Iraq was once the most influential workers party in that country and the Iraqi workers had a history of struggle and resistance against despotism and British colonial occupation. A joint US/Sadaam Hussein effort eliminated both reformers and other leftists and oppressed trade Unions and democratic rights. The US government's role here, as in Chile, Iran, Sumatra, Congo, Haiti, all of Latin America, has been one of supporting torture, imprisonment and the deaths of millions.
It is not a Utopian idea that workers of the world have the same interests and should unite. The capitalist class are global citizens. They intermarry, they live everywhere, their patriotism is based on being able to steal wealth that others create, it is based on exploitation. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the Nike's and Wal Mart's, they are global exploiters who have no allegiance to anything but continuing their system of robbery. They have the World Bank, the IMF, the meetings in Davos and other nice places where they plan their global strategy for robbery.
Eugene Debs, the great American socialist spent much time in jail for opposing the first world war. He led the Pullman strike and ran for president of the US from prison. Most ex holders off that office should be in prison. Debs was a genuine revolutionary. It is not an accident that the overwhelming number of US workers would never have heard of him.
The US arms industry supplies almost 50% of the worlds weapons. And to remind comrades, the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council, US, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China, together with Germany and Italy account for around 85% of the arms sold between 2002 and 2009. (Global Issues) The ruling classes of these nation states are not interested in putting peace before profits.
So just like in a strike we call for help and solidarity not from other employers (Union leaders might but this is against most workers' better instincts), we reach out to other workers in order to build our side and gain the upper hand in the struggle for a better life, we look for class solidarity even if we don't call it that. It is the role of leadership to organize solidarity, to have a strategy for developing a powerful united working class movement that can resolve the never ending crises that are a product of a global economic system that is historically bankrupt but, like a wounded animal, can be extremely dangerous.
It is leadership based on clear ideas that is lacking, in our domestic struggles against the capitalist offensive at home and in the struggles of workers internationally. The US and its allies will be supporting the worst elements in the Libyan opposition. When they talk of the removal of Gaddafi being the responsibility of the "Libyan people" it is not the Libyan workers and middle classes they are talking about. It is the Libyan bourgeois; and if they can't do it---Gadaffi will do and they'll make a deal with him.
So Workers of World Unite is the not a bad idea---it's the only one that will work.
No comments:
Post a Comment