Statement on the Woolwich Murder

Woolwich, London yesterday

This blog condemns unconditionally the brutal slaying of a young British soldier in London yesterday.  This event will strengthen the British fascist and nationalist movement and weaken the unity of the working class in our struggle against the capitalist offensive and austerity agenda. It will be used as an excuse to ratchet up the police state tactics -- Homeland security etc. -- in the U.S. and the UK.

But as a leading Muslim spokesperson in Britain pointed out immediately after the killing, while condemning such acts of individual terrorism, they are not unique to Muslims and have to be understood within the context of British foreign policy if they are to be prevented in the future.

British capitalism’s involvement in the mass slaughter of Muslims and occupation of Muslim lands directly or indirectly through stooges, cannot be left out of the equation. The death and displacement of millions of people in the Muslim world as part of US and western imperialism’s efforts to control the resources of the world under the guise of a War on Terror has to be understood as the backdrop to such savage and barbaric actions. This killing is truly horrible, but no more so than the daily drone killings -- that are personally overseen by Barack Obama. The Palestinian issue, Guantanamo, all of this is relevant.

We do not get in western media, the deep, penetrating and extensive coverage of the atrocities committed by imperialist forces in Muslim countries for obvious reasons; we would be moved by them as we are moved by the coverage of the events in Woolwich. They learned that media-marketing lesson in Vietnam.

Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan where hundreds upon hundreds of civilians, women and children, have been blown to bits by US drones; further incursions in to Saharan Africa to control the area’s natural resources, this is the backdrop to what happened in Woolwich. When we add British support for Gaddafi and training of his secret police and the American support for the butcher Mubarak and financing and arming of his torturers, the people behind the killing of this young soldier are Cheney, Bush, Obama, Blair, Rumsfeld and other fine gentlemen.  And let’s not forget Madeline Albright who told ABC news that the death of 500,000 Iraqi’s (mostly women and children and Muslim) was “worth it”. These people commit acts of barbarism on a mass scale.  State terrorism is a very efficient form of terrorism.

As we wrote yesterday we recognize this for what it is, the inevitable savagery of imperialism's attempt to control the world. Such actions are inevitable because of the actions of 
imperialism. Listen to the young man in the video yesterday. He actually says this as he apologizes that women have to witness such barbarity that he says is carried out by imperialist forces in these lands all the time.

US imperialism supported and funded the Islamic fanatics including bin Laden. Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, Gaddafi, thugs like Tunisia’s Ben Ali who was overthrown in the Arab Spring, the absolute monarchy in Bahrain and the Saudi thugs, all these murderers have been funded and supported by the US and British taxpayer.  Up until 1999 every Taliban official was on the payroll of the US government. 

Despite this we condemn this act.  The young soldier, a worker in uniform, was 20 years old and like young workers that join the military in the US, mostly do so for economic reasons. His death is a “gift” to the right wing fascist and nationalist forces.

Included in the context we are outlining here is the role of the leaders of the mass organizations of the 
working class who support imperialism. As a result they give no lead to
 the enraged youth and workers in these countries, no alternative that can show a way out and to fight back against the Cheneys, Blairs, Bushes and Obamas of this world. So among the most desperate and despaired emerges this very savage and reactionary act in Woolwich.

The leaders of the workers organizations due to their support of imperialism’s policies refuse to organize mass anti-war movements, or movements in the armed 
forces for union rights for soldiers and to end all wars and 
occupations. These mass workers' leaders have blood on their hands also.

The Cheney’s, Bushes, the Obamas, the Camerons, 
the Blairs, the oil and gas companies, the military forces of 
imperialism all have their hands on the weapons that killed that young working class soldier in London yesterday.

Facts For Working People:

Unconditionally opposes the killing of this young soldier, a worker in uniform. This act will weaken and divide the working class.  

Unconditionally opposes the agents of imperialism who send young workers into harms way in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere to seize the resources of these countries for the major profit addicted tax dodging corporations. .

Unconditionally opposes all invasions and wars carried out by US imperialism and its allies internationally as they seek to seize the wealth of the planet.

We call for an immediate cessation of illegal drone attacks and the drone program that has murdered thousands of innocent civilians abroad and is being introduced in the US to include domestic police and security forces in order to suppress dissent and opposition to the US corporations’ austerity agenda at home.

Opposes any effort by the fascist and nationalist groups to exploit the death of this young soldier.  We must not let the racists and fascists take this event under their banners. The left and the workers movement must act. Workers of the world unite against the forces of the corporations and their armies and the reactionary alternatives that are springing up in the vacuum.

It is not enough for the labor movement, the left and progressive forces to comment on this reactionary act. They must mobilize. We call for demonstrations and mobilizations to end all involvement of British and other imperialist countries’ military invasions and wars in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. This is the only way to prevent new forces from being recruited to the reactionary Islamic groups and reactionary Islamic ideas.