RW ONLINE: Their Determination.and Ours\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWar on Iraq and the People's Fight to Stop It\r\nTheir Determination.and Ours\r\n<\/p>
Revolutionary Worker #1190, March 9, 2003<\/i>, posted at rwor.org<\/p>\r\n
We are in the rapids. Powerful forces in Washington are clearly determined to \r\nlaunch this war. And this moment demands that millions of people respond with an \r\neven more powerful determination to resist.<\/p>\r\n
The Revolutionary Worker <\/i>salutes all those who manifest bold \r\nresistance to this war on the National Moratorium to Stop the War on March 5 and \r\nin the days ahead.<\/p>\r\n
The people of Iraq are standing in the crosshairs of the \"Shock and Awe\" \r\nbombing plans--while U.S. war planners rev up the troops, plot the occupation, \r\nand secretly plan to carve up Iraqi oil reserves.<\/p>\r\n
And, in the global arena of public opinion, the warmakers are now pulling out \r\nthe stops. They are pumping out rivers of war-time disinformation--to portray \r\nthemselves as \"liberators\" and to demonize anyone who opposes them. We can \r\nexpect them to manufacture incidents and rumors to generate a war fever on their \r\n\"homeland.\"<\/p>\r\n
The U.S. government has been stung by its isolation--both from the \r\ngovernments and people of the world. They are looking for Iraqis who welcome and \r\nendorse their invasion. And U.S. agents are ruthlessly arm-twisting governments \r\nall over the world.<\/p>\r\n
Their so-called \"coalition of the willing\" is truly \"a coalition of the \r\nbullied and the bought.\"<\/p>\r\n
The world was forced to watch the ugly bartering between the U.S. and \r\nTurkey's oppressive government--haggling over how many billions of dollars \r\nTurkey needed to join an invasion of its southern neighbor. While the U.S. \r\ndemanded permission to use Turkish bases, airspace and troops, Turkey's \r\nambitious ruling class demanded their <\/i>cut of the spoils -- including a \r\nslice of Iraq's northern oil production.<\/p>\r\n
Then there is the hour-by-hour drama of the United Nations Security Council-- \r\nwhere the U.S. is seeking to pound together approval for a pro-war \r\nresolution.<\/p>\r\n
The extortion used against Angola, an African country on the Security \r\nCouncil, is a raw example: After 1975 the U.S. government poured military and \r\nfinancial support behind UNITA, a brutal, contra- style, anti-government force, \r\nand helped plunge the country into 15 years of civil war. Angola was left in \r\nruins--hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and a million desperate \r\npeople live as refugees. Now, after all this, the U.S. hints it may \r\n<\/i>provide funds needed for reconstruction --but only if Angola's government \r\nvotes to give the U.S. permission to devastate yet another third world \r\ncountry.<\/i><\/p>\r\n<\/i>
It is not just the world's poorest countries like Angola or Guinea that \r\nare being arm- twisted to support this war. Britain's Tony Blair often pauses in \r\nhis hyped moralist speeches to coldly argue that only by standing at the side of \r\nthe U.S. in whatever wars <\/i>it launches can Britain maintain global \r\ninfluence in the future. France, Germany and Russia publicly oppose this war, \r\nbut they feel heavy pressure from the U.S. gangster logic of \"with us or against \r\nus.\" Few ruling classes in the world are eager to piss off the world's only \r\nsuperpower -- and virtually all of them are vying and shoving for the best place \r\nwithin any \"new world order.\"<\/p>\r\n
If the U.S. wins approval for a UN war resolution, it will not be \"the voice \r\nof the world community\"--it will be an ugly victory of the most naked bourgeois \r\npower politics.<\/p>\r\n
The U.S. government wants to make this war seem like an inevitable and \r\n\"liberating\" thing. And it is all the more important for us to keep a firm grip \r\non what <\/i>this war is for and why <\/i>it must be opposed.<\/p>\r\n<\/b>
First of all, this war would be a great injustice against the people of Iraq. \r\nFor its predatory purposes, the U.S. government is willing to batter the Iraqi \r\npeople again, shatter their cities, and decide what their future will be.<\/p>\r\n
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The public justifications of this war are rooted in colonial logic--on the \r\noutrageous idea that this superpower has the right to pick the rulers of other \r\ncountries. It is openly said that third world countries like Iraq have no right \r\nto self-defense and self-determination--if the U.S. chooses, they are to be \r\ndisarmed and ruled by military conquerers.<\/p>\r\n
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Second, it is important to peel away the layers of rhetoric and uncover the \r\nlarger purposes this war serves for those running the U.S. empire and what this \r\nwar will mean for the people of that surrounding region and the world.<\/p>\r\n
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The real, underlying motives for this war are imperialistic--they are about \r\nusing a moment of military supremacy to promote U.S. domination in the world. If \r\nthe U.S. succeeds in crushing Iraq's defiance--it will only be emboldened to \r\nthreaten and bully many more countries.<\/p>\r\n
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In addition, the U.S. also wants to cement its control over this whole \r\nPersian Gulf region-- with its highly strategic oil production and reserves. \r\nThis is not only, or even mainly, to make more money off oil or to secure more \r\npetroleum for wasteful domestic consumption. Control over Persian Gulf oil would \r\nmake the U.S. better able to control <\/i><\/b>all <\/b>those people \r\nand countries that rely <\/i>on Persian Gulf oil-- including much of the third \r\nworld and major powers like France, Germany and Japan.<\/p>\r\n
This is a power move intended to help cement the U.S. position of \"sole \r\nsuperpower\" for decades to come--and preemptively make it difficult for rival \r\npowers to challenge U.S. domination.<\/p>\r\n
In short: a U.S. victory over Iraq would have a profound impact on the future \r\nfor billions of people, including on how the labor of working people is \r\nexploited, on where the wealth of the planet flows, on who is served by the \r\ngovernments and armies of the world.<\/p>\r\n<\/b>
And, for that reason, such a victory would be deeply against the interests of \r\nthe people of the whole world. And it will not become \"better\" or \"supportable\" \r\nif there are adjustments in how it is waged or who joins in.<\/p>\r\n
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Let's be clear: It is the antiwar resistance that represents the interests of \r\nthe people of the world, not the United Nations.<\/p>\r\n
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It is important to grasp that this war would still be totally \r\nillegitimate <\/i>--even if the U.S. coldly arm-twists a pro-war resolution (or a \r\ndozen <\/i>resolutions) from the UN security council.<\/p>\r\n
This war would be unjust and colonialist--even if the rulers of France, \r\nRussia or Germany all climb onto the warwagon, in hopes of a slice of the \r\naction.<\/p>\r\n
This war would remain unjustified-- even if the UN inspections provide the \r\ninvaders with some \"trigger for war\" (which is what the U.S. demanded of them \r\nfrom the beginning). In fact this war would be illegitimate even if Hans Blix \r\nputs on a powder-blue helmet and personally helped launch the American cruise \r\nmissiles.<\/p>\r\n
This war would be wrong if the U.S. finds powerful domestic Iraqi forces to \r\nwelcome the conquerors--and even if the TV cameras can find Iraqi crowds \r\nconfused, frightened or hungry enough to wave U.S. flags in public.<\/p>\r\n
This war would be just wrong, period, <\/i>because its goals are unjust, \r\nand because the stabilization of a new pro-U.S. Iraqi regime will help tighten \r\nan oppressive grip on billions of people all over the world. And the vast \r\nmajority of people in the U.S. have no interest <\/i>in supporting this \r\nwar.<\/p>\r\n
We are at a moment of ends and beginnings.<\/p>\r\n<\/b>
The White House clearly intends to end the buildup and start the war.<\/p>\r\n
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Millions of people around the world-- and in the U.S.--have launched a huge \r\nproject of resistance and protest.<\/p>\r\n
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The U.S. ruling class is hard-core and determined--it thinks it is invincible \r\nand it thinks this is \"the moment\" to remake the world. But wars begun by \r\noppressive governments can be ended by the people.<\/p>\r\n
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Two weeks ago, a young revolutionary communist wrote in \r\nthe<\/i><\/b>RW <\/b>:<\/p>\r\n
\"As they line up their forces for invasion, we have to develop a dynamic \r\nresistance. Not just keeping on in the face of adversity, but seeing the \r\npotential in a changing line-up, in millions of allies emerging from unexpected \r\ncorners of society. Not simply persevering, but stepping it up, finding daring \r\nnew ways to inspire those still on the sidelines and send a message of love to \r\nthe people of the world. Definitely not buying their arrogant bully's stance, \r\nmeant to intimidate, but resisting and ridiculing these bloodstained \r\n`evil-doers' for daring to lay claim to our beautiful planet. Exposing them for \r\nthe global power fiends they are. Now is a time for heroes. For self-sacrifice \r\nand determination to bring to bear all the fighting strength, accumulated \r\nunderstanding, love and passion of millions.<\/i><\/p>\r\n<\/i>
\"Now is also a time for clarity. A time not to be thrown or lose sight of the \r\nglimmer of a different future, even as they bring down heavy destruction and try \r\nto break our fighting spirit. We will keep our heads up, because we can see a \r\nbetter world emerging within our struggles-- because we know who really \r\nrepresents the future, and who is just clawing madly to extend and tighten their \r\nbrutal grip.\"<\/p>\r\n
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This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker \r\nOnline
rwor.org
Write: Box 3486, \r\nMerchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497 \r\n<\/p>\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"www.rwor.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"The 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.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2003\/03\/rw_online_their_determination_and_ours.htm","filesize":"10.3 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/32935.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}