RW Online: Their Determination...And Ours\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
| \r\n\t The War on Iraq and the People's \r\n\t\tFight to Stop It \r\n\t Their Determination....And \r\n\t\tOurs!\r\n\t Revolutionary Worker #1190, March \r\n\t 9, 2003, posted at http:\/\/rwor.org \r\n\t We are in the rapids. Powerful \r\n\t\tforces in Washington are clearly determined to launch this war. And this \r\n\t\tmoment demands that millions of people respond with an even more powerful \r\n\t\tdetermination to resist. <\/p>\r\n\t The Revolutionary Worker \r\n\t\t<\/i>salutes all those who manifest bold resistance to this war on the \r\n\t\tNational Moratorium to Stop the War on March 5 and in the days ahead.<\/p>\r\n\t The people of Iraq are standing \r\n\t\tin the cross hairs of the \"Shock and Awe\" bombing plans -- while \r\n\t\tU.S. war planners rev up the troops, plot the occupation, and secretly \r\n\t\tplan to carve up Iraqi oil reserves.<\/p>\r\n\t And, in the global arena of \r\n\t\tpublic opinion, the warmakers are now pulling out the stops. They are \r\n\t\tpumping out rivers of war-time disinformation -- to portray themselves \r\n\t\tas \"liberators\" and to demonize anyone who opposes them. We \r\n\t\tcan expect them to manufacture incidents and rumors to generate a war \r\n\t\tfever in their \"homeland.\" <\/p>\r\n\t The U.S. government has been \r\n\t\tstung by its isolation -- both from the governments and people of the \r\n\t\tworld. They are looking for Iraqis who welcome and endorse their invasion. \r\n\t\tAnd U.S. agents are ruthlessly arm-twisting governments all over the world. \r\n\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t Their so-called \"coalition \r\n\t\tof the willing\" is truly \"a coalition of the bullied and the \r\n\t\tbought.\" <\/p>\r\n\t The world was forced to watch \r\n\t\tthe ugly bartering between the U.S. and Turkey's oppressive government \r\n\t\t-- haggling over how many billions of dollars Turkey needed to join an \r\n\t\tinvasion of its southern neighbor. While the U.S. demanded permission \r\n\t\tto use Turkish bases, airspace and troops, Turkey's ambitious ruling class \r\n\t\tdemanded their<\/i> cut of the spoils -- including a slice of Iraq's \r\n\t\tnorthern oil production. <\/p>\r\n\t Then there is the hour-by-hour \r\n\t\tdrama of the United Nations Security Council -- where the U.S. is seeking \r\n\t\tto pound together approval for a pro-war resolution. <\/p>\r\n\t The extortion used against \r\n\t\tAngola, an African country on the Security Council, is a raw example: \r\n\t\tAfter 1975 the U.S. government poured military and financial support behind \r\n\t\tUNITA, a brutal, contra-style, anti-government force, and helped plunge \r\n\t\tthe country into 15 years of civil war. Angola was left in ruins -- hundreds \r\n\t\tof thousands of people were killed, and a million desperate people live \r\n\t\tas refugees. Now, after all this, the U.S. hints it may provide funds \r\n\t\tneeded for reconstruction -- but only if Angola's government votes to \r\n\t\tgive the U.S. permission to devastate yet another third world country. \r\n\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t It is not just the world's \r\n\t\tpoorest countries like Angola or Guinea that are being arm twisted to \r\n\t\tsupport this war. Britain's Tony Blair often pauses in his hyped moralist \r\n\t\tspeeches to coldly argue that only by standing at the side of the U.S. \r\n\t\tin whatever wars it launches can Britain maintain global influence in \r\n\t\tthe future. France, Germany and Russia publicly oppose this war, but they \r\n\t\tfeel heavy pressure from the U.S. gangster logic of \"with us or against \r\n\t\tus.\" Few ruling classes in the world are eager to piss off the world's \r\n\t\tonly superpower -- and virtually all of them are vying and shoving for \r\n\t\tthe best place within any \"new world order.\"<\/p>\r\n\t If the U.S. wins approval for \r\n\t\ta UN war resolution, it will not be \"the voice of the world community\" \r\n\t\t-- it will be an ugly victory of the most naked bourgeois power politics.<\/p>\r\n\t *****\r\n\t The U.S. government wants to \r\n\t\tmake this war seem like an inevitable and \"liberating\" thing. \r\n\t\tAnd it is all the more important for us to keep a firm grip on what this \r\n\t\twar for and why it must be opposed. <\/p>\r\n\t First of all, this war would \r\n\t\tbe a great injustice against the people of Iraq. For its predatory purposes, \r\n\t\tthe U.S. government is willing to batter the Iraqi people again, shatter \r\n\t\ttheir cities, and decide what their future will be. <\/p>\r\n\t The public justifications of \r\n\t\tthis war are rooted in colonial logic -- on the outrageous idea that this \r\n\t\tsuperpower has the right to pick the rulers of other countries. It is \r\n\t\topenly said that third world countries, like Iraq, have no right to self-defense \r\n\t\tand self-determination -- if the U.S. chooses, they are to be disarmed \r\n\t\tand ruled by military conquerers. <\/p>\r\n\t Second, it is important to \r\n\t\tpeel away the layers of rhetoric and uncover the larger purposes this \r\n\t\twar serves for those running the U.S. empire and what this war will mean \r\n\t\tfor the people of the surrounding region and the world. <\/p>\r\n\t The real, underlying motives \r\n\t\tfor this war are imperialistic -- they are about using a moment of military \r\n\t\tsupremacy to promote U.S. domination in the world. If the U.S. succeeds \r\n\t\tin crushing Iraq's defiance -- it will only be emboldened to threaten \r\n\t\tand bully many more countries. <\/p>\r\n\t In addition, the U.S. also \r\n\t\twants to cement its control over this whole Persian Gulf region -- with \r\n\t\tits highly strategic oil production and reserves. This is not only, or \r\n\t\teven mainly, to make more money off oil or to secure more petroleum for \r\n\t\twasteful domestic consumption. Control over Persian Gulf oil would make \r\n\t\tthe U.S. better able to control all those people and countries that rely \r\n\t\ton Persian Gulf oil -- including much of the third world and major powers \r\n\t\tlike France, Germany and Japan. <\/p>\r\n\t This is a power move intended \r\n\t\tto help cement the U.S. position of \"sole superpower\" for decades \r\n\t\tto come -- and preemptively make it difficult for rival powers to challenge \r\n\t\tU.S. domination.<\/p>\r\n\t *****\r\n\t In short: a U.S. victory over \r\n\t\tIraq would have a profound impact on the future for billions of people, \r\n\t\tincluding on how the labor of working people is exploited, on where the \r\n\t\twealth of the planet flows, on who is served by the governments and armies \r\n\t\tof the world. <\/p>\r\n\t And, for that reason, such \r\n\t\ta victory would be deeply against the interests of the people of the whole \r\n\t\tworld. And it will not become \"better\" or \"supportable\" \r\n\t\tif there are adjustments in how it is waged or who joins in.<\/p>\r\n\t Let's be clear: It is the \r\n\t\tantiwar resistance that represents the interests of the people of the \r\n\t\tworld, not the United Nations. <\/b><\/p>\r\n\t It is important to grasp that \r\n\t\tthis war would still be totally illegitimate -- even if the U.S. coldly \r\n\t\tarm-twists a pro-war resolution (or a dozen resolutions) from the U.N. \r\n\t\tsecurity council. <\/p>\r\n\t This war would be unjust and \r\n\t\tcolonialist -- even if the rulers of France, Russia or Germany all<\/i> \r\n\t\tclimb onto the war-wagon, in hopes of a slice of the action. <\/p>\r\n\t This war would remain unjustified \r\n\t\t-- even if the UN inspections provide the invaders with some \"trigger \r\n\t\tfor war\" (which is what the U.S. demanded of them from the beginning). \r\n\t\tIn fact this war would be illegitimate even if Hans Blix puts on a powder-blue \r\n\t\thelmet and personally<\/i> helped launch the American cruise missiles. \r\n\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t This war would be wrong if \r\n\t\tthe U.S. finds powerful domestic Iraqi forces to welcome the conquerors \r\n\t\t-- and even if the TV cameras can find Iraqi crowds confused, frightened \r\n\t\tor hungry enough to wave U.S. flags in public. <\/p>\r\n\t This war would be just wrong, \r\n\t\tperiod<\/i>, because its goals are unjust, and because the stabilization \r\n\t\tof a new pro-U.S. Iraqi regime will help tighten an oppressive grip on \r\n\t\tbillions of people all over the world. The vast majority of people in \r\n\t\tthe U.S. have no interest in supporting this war. <\/p>\r\n\t *****\r\n\t We are at a moment of ends \r\n\t\tand beginnings. <\/p>\r\n\t The White House clearly intends \r\n\t\tto end the buildup and start the war. <\/p>\r\n\t Millions of people around the \r\n\t\tworld -- and in the U.S. -- have launched a huge project of resistance \r\n\t\tand protest. <\/p>\r\n\t The U.S. ruling class is hard-core \r\n\t\tand determined -- it thinks it is invincible and it thinks this is \"the \r\n\t\tmoment\" to remake the world. But wars begun by oppressive governments \r\n\t\tcan be ended by the people.<\/p>\r\n\t Two weeks ago, a young revolutionary \r\n\t\tcommunist wrote in the RW<\/i>:<\/p>\r\n\t \"As they line up their \r\n\t\tforces for invasion, we have to develop a dynamic resistance. Not just \r\n\t\tkeeping on in the face of adversity, but seeing the potential in a changing \r\n\t\tline-up, in millions of allies emerging from unexpected corners of society. \r\n\t\tNot simply persevering, but stepping it up, finding daring new ways to \r\n\t\tinspire those still on the sidelines and send a message of love to the \r\n\t\tpeople of the world. Definitely not buying their arrogant bully's stance, \r\n\t\tmeant to intimidate, but resisting and ridiculing these bloodstained 'evil-doers' \r\n\t\tfor daring to lay claim to our beautiful planet. Exposing them for the \r\n\t\tglobal power fiends they are. Now is a time for heroes. For self-sacrifice \r\n\t\tand determination to bring to bear all the fighting strength, accumulated \r\n\t\tunderstanding, love and passion of millions.<\/b><\/p>\r\n\t \"Now is also a time \r\n\t\tfor clarity. A time not to be thrown or lose sight of the glimmer of a \r\n\t\tdifferent future, even as they bring down heavy destruction and try to \r\n\t\tbreak our fighting spirit. We will keep our heads up, because we can see \r\n\t\ta better world emerging within our struggles -- because we know who really \r\n\t\trepresents the future, and who is just clawing madly to extend and tighten \r\n\t\ttheir brutal grip.\"<\/b><\/p>\r\n\t <\/p>\r\n\t \r\n\t This article is posted in English \r\n\t\tand Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online http:\/\/resistance -RW resource page on resisting the juggernaut of war and repression\r\n<\/p>\r\n http:\/\/2changetheworld.info - Discuss revolutionary strategy and the RCP's Draft Programme \r\n <\/p>\r\n\t <\/p>\r\n\t<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/rwor.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"We are in the rapids. Powerful forces in Washington are clearly determined to launch this war. And this moment demands that millions of people respond with an even more powerful determination to resist. \r\n\r\nThe Revolutionary Worker salutes all those who manifest bold resistance to this war on the National Moratorium to Stop the War on March 5 and in the days ahead.\r\n","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/32774.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]} |