EDITORIAL
No troops, no bombs, U.S.-NATO out!
Published May 1, 2011 6:42 AM
Four months ago it was hard to foresee that a rebellious movement in Egypt would
have a direct impact on the struggle of workers in the United States. Yet
workers and students who occupied the Capitol in Madison, Wis., were inspired
by the struggles in Tahrir Square. Activists in Egypt went online and bought
pizzas for those sitting in at Wisconsin’s Capitol.
The rebellion against the status quo had started in Tunisia, then spread
quickly to Egypt and throughout the region. In Tunisia and Egypt, the rulers
had worked hand in glove with the U.S., Britain, France and other NATO powers.
So this mass movement threatened the domination of the imperialist ruling class
— the same class of multi-billionaires that is coming down ever more
savagely on the workers here at home.
What have these exploiters done in response to the peoples’ movements?
They have developed a strategy to maintain and even extend their domination of
the region.
In Egypt and Tunisia — and perhaps now in Yemen — when they can no
longer keep the favored ruler in power, the imperialists work to keep the
system intact, changing only the faces on top. In Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait, however, they are still defending the old rulers, no matter if they
are absolute monarchs or a quasi-military dictatorship. In Palestine they
support Israel’s long-term campaign to crush a popular liberation
movement.
Their tactic toward Libya and Syria is different. The U.S. and the other NATO
powers see an opportunity to oust governments they never liked and replace them
with ones that are more compliant, that will open the entire country to foreign
rule and plunder.
So the Pentagon, the CIA and other U.S. agencies that serve the super-rich are
now launching bombs and rockets at Libya. It has become yet another country
under siege by imperialism in the energy-rich region of North Africa and
Southwestern Asia.
For workers to succeed in defending our rights here at home, we have to
understand what is going on there. This is no easy task. Each country has its
own recent history, its own ruling groups. Some were colonized by Britain,
France or Italy but won a measure of independence during the period of national
liberation struggles. Some are states whose rulers stay in power because they
serve U.S. banks and corporations and get Pentagon weapons in return.
On top of the complexities in the region, there is a torrent of misinformation
in the corporate media and from politicians. These are the same forces we have
already learned to mistrust based on what they say about our own struggles,
from New York to Wisconsin to California.
U.S. foreign policy is easier to understand, however, when you consider that it
comes from the same elite social grouping that is pushing the attack on
workers’ rights and livelihoods here in the U.S. Behind all the
politicians and their compliant media stands the capitalist ruling class with
its enormously powerful corporations and banks. This is also true in Europe,
where the rulers are carrying out the same anti-worker policies as here.
Whether they’re demanding austerity from the workers at home or using
military force to topple governments that defy them, the motive is the same:
profits, the lifeblood of capitalism.
At one time the existence of the Soviet Union acted as a deterrent to the
global ambitions of the rich and super-rich. Now those who command the powerful
states and military machines of the Pentagon and other NATO countries are
quicker to go on the offensive. They feel freer to cut down whatever was won by
workers at home. And they feel freer to unleash their troops and bombers to
re-conquer and loot those countries and peoples who managed to win liberation
from colonial rule when the socialist camp existed.
We need to start with this truth: The U.S./NATO intervention in this
energy-rich region of the world has nothing to do with the character of the
individual rulers or the individual governments of the states there.
The failure of the capitalist system to produce stable growth is what is
driving the rich ruling class to foreign adventures. The demonization of an
individual ruler, whether it be in Libya or Syria, for example, is merely a
pretext for invasion and conquest, as happened in Iraq.
The politicians and media here want to convince us that our taxes should be
spent on “regime change” through acts of war. They want to send our
youth to kill and die there. So they demonize first and then attack.
The money it costs for each bomb, each missile of the thousands launched at the
people there could be used to hire scores of teachers or nurses here. The arms
dealers, the oil corporations and the banks share the plunder, but the workers
here and the people being bombed are forced to pay the costs.
For the people of that region and for the workers in the U.S. and Western
Europe, there is absolutely no reason to support any intervention by the
exploiting powers. Our role should be to fight against intervention, especially
military intervention, in any of these countries. That is the only way to show
solidarity with the legitimate people’s struggles there and at the same
time to fight for the interests of the workers here.
No arms, no bombs, no rockets, no advisers, no troops! U.S., Britain, France,
NATO, out of Africa and Western Asia!
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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