Lessons of the imperialist charade at The Hague
By Larry Holmes
New York
The imperialist charade at The Hague offers important
lessons for the anti-war and anti-imperialist movements in the
United States.
The war against Yugoslavia was not resisted resolutely by
the anti-war movement worldwide. In fact, the movement was
split. It was split over the ceaseless campaign by the
imperialists to conceal the real stakes of the war--the carving
up of the Balkans--behind the demonization of former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic and his government.
Milosevic does not have the stature in the world, or in the
movement, of Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Nelson Mandela or
Harriet Tubman.
But he is a prisoner of the imperialists who has refused to
bow to this kangaroo court and has, at least for now, turned
the tables. Remarkably, he has made some headway in putting the
imperialists on trial, to the surprise of everyone and with
little assistance.
The imperialists have no genuine interest in assessing war
crimes and apportioning the real blame for them. There's no way
they can allow that, because that would put them on trial,
along with their junior imperialist partners, who all looked
upon Yugoslavia as a piece of cake to carve up and devour. They
have waged war against this former socialist country to that
end.
But now we see the results as the imperialists proceed with
their sham trial in The Hague. Some will see it more clearly
now, perhaps, than when the U.S. and NATO bombs were dropping
on Belgrade.
Without even speaking about how absurd it is that Bush Jr.,
Bush Sr. and Co. are not on trial somewhere for their war
crimes--both recent and past--we must ask: Does this spectacle
in The Hague have anything to do with truth? With justice for
Bosnian Muslims or any other aggrieved party?
This kangaroo court is a weapon the imperialists are using
to threaten everyone, everywhere, who does not genuflect to
their conquest. "Get in our way? Try to exist independent of
our rule? You will be the next one in the docket!"
Need anyone be reminded of the gruesome, despicable stooges
that U.S. imperialism has propped up? The Somozas. The Shahs.
Papa Doc. Batista. Pinochet. The racist apartheid regime in
South Africa. The list is very long. These monsters could have
boiled their children in oil, but as long as they served U.S.
imperialism--fine. No problem.
It is time that this lesson is learned so that as a movement
we don't repeat the mistakes of the past. The U.S.
imperialist-led war against the people of Yugoslavia was not
about Milosevic, not about saving Muslims--in Bosnia or
anywhere else.
It was about breaking up and controlling a big piece of
Eastern Europe. It was about U.S. imperialist world
domination.
That reality is crystallized today as we see the Pentagon
recolonization of Afghanistan, preparations for war against
Iraq, Bush's "Axis of Evil," and the virtual declaration of war
against all governments or political entities that by their
very existence somehow impede complete domination.
We've seen the demonization campaign work before--against
Panama's Manuel Noriega; against Saddam Hussein, to a large
extent, at least in this country; against Muammar Qadaffi of
Libya. We see it working today against Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe.
Let us understand that defense of countries targeted by
imperialist militarism should not require first that their
leaders be revolutionary icons with saintly records. To demand
that is to deflect the whole struggle. Must we give 100 percent
endorsement to the politics of a union leader before supporting
workers on strike?
The anti-war movement, the anti-imperialist movement--the
workers and the oppressed of the planet, and particularly in
this country, the belly of the beast--can no longer afford to
be weakened, confused or divided by these deliberate
vilification campaigns that conceal the forest behind the
trees.
Now that the U.S. war machine is preparing an assault on the
planet of catastrophic proportions, this lesson must
resonate.
Holmes is a Secretariat member of Workers World Party and
a co-director of the International Action Center.
Reprinted from the Feb. 28, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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