Middle East. Nine countries in mass revolt.

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Women of the Revolution.

Nine countries are experiencing mass revolts in the Middle East at the present time. I cannot think of a precedent. These revolts are not led by al Qaeda or any other organization, they are mass spontaneous revolts against the regimes which have worked with imperialism in looting the oil and gas wealth of these countries and in doing so kept their own population beaten down. By imperialism we mean the major corporations of the world and the states that prop them up and are controlled by them.

When Stalinism fell and Central Asia came up for grabs US imperialism felt it had to get in to seize what it could. Using 9/11 as an excuse it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and it is still fighting there today. In the past few days mass revolts have developed in Iraq against the US stooge regime there. Some of these have been in the Kurdish area. This can spread to other countries such as Turkey and Iran. In Afghanistan the war goes on with no sign of victory for the US. Now the Zionist mouthpieces in Washington and Tel Aviv want the US to invade Libya and open up another war. Truly the Middle East and North Africa are in the midst of historic revolutionary movements and imperialism is not in a good situation. When Stalinism collapsed US imperialism was going to rule the world no problem. Full Spectrum Domination, they called it. Things look a bit different now.

The problem for these mass revolutions is the lack of an international mass leadership. This could draw all these revolutions together and give the option of a Democratic Socialist Federation of the Middle East and North Africa where the wealth would be owned collectively and a democratic socialist plan established which would ensure that the wealth of the region was shared by all. The lack of this leadership leaves a vacuum. This is the danger.

However the revolutionary process is at an early stage yet. And the process is very deep and with great progressive elements. Wages, jobs, conditions, housing, equality in the sharing of the wealth, equality between the sexes, an end to sexism, an end to the oppression of the Palestinians and all minorities are part of these movements. The reactionary leaders of right wing reactionary islam, al Qaeda and the right wing Imams are not in charge. Far from it. the youth with their new technology and the workers are in the lead. They will be hard to dislodge.

However a new leadership has to be built based on the workers and youth and on these progressive features of the movement or the vacuum can eventually be filled by all sorts of reactionary elements. The Iranian revolution which overthrew the Shah was hijacked after a time by the reactionary capitalist Mullahs. However the process is at a very early stage and the movement has the youth and the workers involved and they have their demands and their new technology and they also have confidence that having brought down regimes such as Tunisia and Egypt they can also bring down other regimes and also build alternatives which they control and prevent the reactionary forces of one stripe or another gaining control.

Finally to Libya. What should be done? The forces there who are fighting Ghaddafi in the main do not want military help from the imperialist countries. They know the record of looting and war and oppression of imperialism in the region. Imperialism itself is divided as it fears going in and being in a third war and without a clear role and being accused of invading. This could possible help Ghaddafi hang onto power. So imperialism is in a bind. If Ghaddafi would only be "reasonable" and make some compromises to the opposition. This is what the dominant thinking of US imperialism wants at the moment. Some "regime alteration" rather than "regime change" which could go too far for imperialism. After all Ghaddfai has done good for them for 40 years. But this lunatic is in danger of over playing his hand. He thinks he can slaughter enough of his own people and force imperialism to accept him. And this is not excluded.

What should the working class do for the revolution in Libya. Internationally all bank workers should not freeze his funds. But a committee of bank workers for the Libyan revolution should be set up to seize his and all his stooges funds and transfer them into an account to fund the revolutionary forces. Do not freeze, seize. At the same time all workers in every sector of the economy world wide should stop any and all work on anything to do with Libyan government activities. At the same time contact should be made with the workers committees in Libya and see if it is possible to transport weapons and supplies to these. this should be possible as many of these areas are on the coast.

The missing factor in the situation is not the willingness of the working class to fight. The working class and the youth in the Middle East and North Africa are prepared to fight as we see every day. They are magnificent, the young, the old, women and men. This willingness to fight is there in all its magnificence and power. It is the lack of a mass international leadership to coordinate these revolutions and give a channel through which they can develop a movement which becomes conscious of the need to, and how to, end capitalism and imperialism.

Two groups of people are responsible for this force not being here and for the crisis that exists and the danger of a vacuum continuing and being filled by reactionary elements.

The main force responsible is the leadership of the mass workers organizations internationally. Rather than the role they do play, that is cooperate with capitalism and imperialism, they should have been and should now build their mass organizations into mass forces to create an alternative to capitalism, that is create a Worldwide Democratic Socialist Federation. This leadership has the potential to do this but refuse to act. They have the main responsibility for the crisis. This must always be pointed out and opposition forces in the workplaces and workers organizations built to these leaderships.

The second force that has responsibility for this vacuum is the left and radical movement. While proclaiming their support for the overthrown of capitalism and imperialism over the decades these forces in the main have acted in left sectarian or ultra left or opportunist ways or a combination of all three and been unable to lay down a mass base amongst the working class. They too share responsibility. They too, including myself, from that movement must learn lessons from our past and conduct a struggle against left sectarianism, ultra leftism and opportunism.

Sean.