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September 11th Retrospective by Steve Eckardt As all class-conscious workers knew the instant they saw the second airplane hit the World Trade Towers, U.S. imperialism has seized the attacks as a golden opportunity to radically alter the world relationship of forces in their favor. They struck immediately on two fronts, and are now moving on a third. The outcome of this offensive, however, is far from determined. The capitalists' most important priority was to attack the democratic rights of U.S. people not in their class. Paramount was an enormous propaganda campaign to whip up a blinding maelstrom of grief and anger. Only on that basis was it possible for them to proceed to assault hard-won U.S. democratic rights. [Aside: This was a textbook demonstration of the truth of the Marxist dictum that "foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy," as opposed to the liberal/Leftist notion that the U.S. is polluted by wrong-headed foreign policies. In fact, it's the domestic policy of U.S. capitalism --exploitation of workers, oppression of "minorities" and women, and the heartless drive for profits at any cost-- that is poisoning the world. Relatedly, it's not possible for U.S. imperialism to carry out its war policies without first politically disarming its domestic population. And so "foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy." --S.E.] Central to that propaganda campaign was --and is-- the deliberate misrepresentation of facts and the withholding of information. A vast network of terrorists and nations devoted to attacking the United States was conjured up --over 60 nations plus the shadowy, powerful, and sophisticated Al Qaeda organization (which, according to the FBI numbers no more than 200 people). Afghanistan was presented as a country that had to be attacked and occupied, despite the people of that country having nothing to do with September 11th. Cut-throats and rapists were lined up as front-men for U.S. rule and presented as saving Afghanistan from the horrors of the Taliban regime, while a complete ban on on-the-scene news coverage shrouded bloody Imperial military actions. The key reason for the deadly collapse of the World Trade Towers --shoddy fireproofing by a profit-hungry contractor Title-- has been kept almost entirely from public eyes lest it cloud the false picture justifying the imperialists' drive to exploit September 11th to wage war both at home and abroad. On the first front, a list of the attacks on democratic rights --which include the 'disappearance' of U.S. citizens into military hands, just as under Latin American dictatorships-- would be lengthy indeed. They are best summed up by the phrase "the militarization of daily life." On the second front, Afghanistan is now under U.S. occupation, its "president" closely surrounded by 300 U.S. soldiers. Military bases containing some 30,000 troops have been established in all the countries, except Iran, comprising the soft underbelly of the former Soviet Union, the ultimate invasion target of the U.S. Empire. And now U.S. imperialism is openly moving on a third front --the military invasion and occupation of Iraq. Establishing Iraq as a U.S. colony would cement direct imperial control of the Middle East, home to the world's largest oil deposits, and allow Washington to squeeze its imperialist rivals in Europe and Japan. Given this purpose, this recklessly aggressive move --being conducted under the ludicrous guise that Iraq poses a military threat to the far-distant United States-- cannot and will not occur on anything but a unilateral basis. There will be no coalition except with Washington's junior partner, the racist military-theocratic state of Israel, and perhaps traditional tag-alongs like Britain and Canada. Underlying all this --what U.S. imperialism declares to be a new "world war"-- is nothing but the normal operations of the capitalist system. The presence of a Republican in the White House, upcoming elections, the operations of a small terrorist organization or any other "explanations" have nothing to do with it. Capitalism regularly produces massive wars and economic depressions. The "crisis of overproduction" --too many goods to profitably sell-- is an inescapable consequence of a system based on profit [surplus value]. Wars inevitably result as rival capitalist classes vie to make the other take the losses. War also destroys enormous amounts of value, allowing the cycle to begin again --on the wreckage of millions of human lives, of course. The length of time since the last depression and world war was directly determined by the vastness of the destruction. By now, however, the world is once again awash in unsellable goods, and bricks and beams are falling from the international economic structure. Direct control of Mideast oil would buy the U.S. capitalist class a little time as it squeezes super-profits both from the natives rude enough to live where the oil is and from the imperialist rivals dependent on it. (That's why 'the entire world' is opposed to a U.S. war to conquer Iraq --it's aimed at them.) Whether or not Washington will succeed is far from a settled question. Indeed, in the long term --and not a very long one-- they will be defeated, and the wooden stake driven through the heart of the world's last empire y the people of the United States who, as Fidel Castro says "the entire world looks to with hope." [See 'Just Ideas vs. Brutal Force' in this issue of SeeingRed.] Meanwhile, clashes of growing size and scope have already begun to erupt --workers throughout Latin America protesting ruinous conditions, and soon, in the United States as corporations demands deep cuts in wages and working conditions from unionized workers in basic industry. Not just economic matters are driving the growing resistance --battle over critical political questions like war and national sovereignty are rising from Cuba to Palestine, and will only spread. Faced with worldwide --and domestic-- battles, stuck with a collapsing economy which they are powerless to halt, and forced to wage ever-greater wars of conquest, the imperialists are compelled to create their own gravediggers as the people of the world , sooner or later, say "Enough." 30 August 2002 _____________Editorial written 12 September 2001 [Note: the following is a piece written in 2001, less than a day after the
events of September 11th, re-presented for historical interest. In the writer's
retrospective, it bends a bit here and there to the then- enormous pressure to
conceive of the loss of American lives as a "tragedy," despite the fact that more
people were killed that day --and every day-- by the starvation, disease, and lack
of elementary services endemic to the capitalist system.
The piece is followed by a rewrite, created 17 September 2001. 1) The slaughtering of thousands of people in office buildings and on
airplanes are repugnant acts utterly alien and hostile to all fighters for justice
and equality. Killing civilians is a weapon --often used-- of the capitalist
class, enemy of humanity. There is no doubt that the hands of
imperialism/capitalism will be found involved in these inhuman acts.
All opponents of barbarity, indiscriminate murder, and injustice should clearly
and calmly speak as Havana did in its first statement: "The Cuban government
totally rejects the acts of terrorism reported today, Tuesday, in the United States
and offers its condolences to the people and authorities of that country for loss
of life. Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque informed the press that Cuba's
historical position is to 'totally condemn and reject terrorism wherever it comes
from and against whoever it is perpetrated.'"
2) Whoever the perpetrators of these attacks --and whatever their
motivation-- the sole beneficiary is imperialism, especially the most violent force
in the world: the government of the United States.
3) The U.S. ruling class will seize this enormous tragic opportunity to
drive forward their every reactionary plan and fantasy. Whether the yardage they
will gain is quantitative or qualitative is yet to be seen ... but gain they
will.
4) There will be no division within the U.S. ruling class to press
forward profound assaults on political rights, and to assert its ability to take
any violent act at any time and any place.
5) Phrases from the rulers and their propaganda engines like "Pearl
Harbor," "a schism in history," and "things will never be the same" reflect their
deadly-serious intent to seize this chance to profoundly accelerate World War #3
--a war against their own population, a war to rollback all the gains won by
workers, women, Blacks and other fighters for peace and justice. A war to burn the
Bill of Rights.
A war to establish their right and ability to use nuclear weapons against anyone
they deem foe, unscathed behind a multi-billion dollar missile shield.
A war to crush their imperialist competitors, and a war to invade the world's
non-capitalist countries to re-establish the inhuman system of capitalism...under
U.S. domination.
Driven by an insupportable system --whose normal functioning sooner-or-later
produces economic collapse, war, and fascism-- U.S. imperialism can ultimately
follow no other course.
Therefore the fight to replace their rule with that of the enormous majority is
a life-or-death question for the world's peoples and environment.
6) To begin with, we must defend political rights and oppose any and all
military action --the two key fronts of U.S. imperialism's offensive.
7) At the same time, we should not waver before the lynch-mob climate of
the propaganda offensive surrounding the so-called "Attack on America." The 800,000
Iraqi children killed by U.S. military/economic operations, the hundreds of
Palestinians killed by U.S.-supplied weapons, and the millions of Africans murdered
by capitalist poverty deserve not one atom less of solidarity than those killed in
the September 11th attacks. We can be confident that sober and patient explanation
unfogged by patriotism and other foul illusions will ring true to many ears.
No restrictions on democratic rights!
No money for war!
Written for SeeingRed.com by Steve Eckardt, 12 September 2001.
Defend Democratic Rights, Oppose War Moves
1) The slaughtering of thousands of people in
office buildings and on airplanes are repugnant acts utterly alien and hostile
to all fighters for justice and equality. No Muslim or Arab or Arab-American or
immigrant or revolutionary or progressive-minded person should feel that they need
to hang their head.
Killing civilians is a weapon --often used-- of the tiny capitalist
class, enemy of humanity. It is not, and can never be, a weapon of the oppressed
and exploited, majority of humanity.
2) Critical as it is to make clear that mass murder is antithetical to
the struggle for justice, it is equally critical that neither revulsion nor
political rejection of such methods paint a red-white-and-blue target on Osama bin
Laden --not to mention the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, or even
Cuba. All military action by Washington is fundamentally aimed at workers and
farmers in the U.S. and around the world, just like the death penalty, even
when initially used against the perpetrator of a particularly heinous crime.
3) U.S. government tears for innocent civilians wantonly murdered are
profoundly false. Recall the 3 million Indochinese who died in U.S. carpet
bombings during the Vietnam War; the 800,000 Indonesians slaughtered by the
CIA-organized Suharto coup in 1964; the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans
from Guatemala to Argentina to Nicaragua killed by military regimes put and kept in
power by Washington; or the 100,000 retreating, unarmed, abandoned Iraqi soldiers
who were slaughtered by the U.S. military at the end of the Gulf War --and
Washington's previous backing for Osama bin Laden and the ultra-right Taliban
regime in Afghanistan.
4) Whoever organized these attacks --and whatever their motivation--
the sole beneficiary is world imperialism, especially its centerpiece in
Washington, the most violent government in the world.
5) The U.S. ruling class will seize this enormous tragic opportunity to
drive forward their every reactionary plan and fantasy. Whether the yardage they
will gain is quantitative or qualitative is yet to be seen ... but gain they
will.
6) There will be no division within the U.S. ruling class to press
forward profound assaults on political rights, and to assert its ability to take
any violent act at any time and any place in the name of fighting terrorism.
7) Phrases from the rulers and their propaganda engines like "Pearl
Harbor," "a schism in history," and "things will never be the same" reflect their
deadly-serious intent to seize this chance to profoundly accelerate towards
World War #3 --a war against their own population, a war to rollback all the
gains won by workers, women, Blacks and other fighters for peace and justice. A war
to burn the Bill of Rights. A war to establish their right and ability to use
nuclear weapons against anyone they deem foe, unscathed behind a multi-billion
dollar missile shield. A war to crush their imperialist competitors, and a war to
invade the world's non-capitalist countries to re-establish the inhuman system of
capitalism...under U.S. domination.
Driven by an insupportable system --whose normal functioning sooner-or-later
produces economic collapse, war, and repression-- U.S. imperialism can ultimately
follow no other course.
Therefore the fight to replace their rule with that of the enormous majority is
a life-or-death question for the world's peoples and environment.
8) There will be war, and it will not be small-scale. Nothing can stop it
in the short run. Many more innocent thousands will die from the coming U.S.
firepower. Even nuclear strikes can not be precluded. The coming war will have,
initially, massive support from the U.S. population and beyond. This is the gift to
imperialism given by the September 11 terrorist gang.
9) To begin with, we must defend political rights and oppose any and
all military action --the two key fronts of U.S. imperialism's offensive.
10) At the same time, we should not waver before the lynch-mob
climate of the propaganda offensive surrounding the so-called "Attack on
America." The 800,000 Iraqi children killed by U.S. military/economic operations,
the hundreds of Palestinians killed by U.S.-supplied weapons, and the millions of
Africans murdered by capitalist poverty deserve not one atom less of solidarity
than those killed in the September 11th attacks. We can be confident that sober
and patient explanation unfogged by patriotism and other deadly illusions will ring
true to many ears.
No restrictions on democratic rights!
No money for war!
____________
Written for SeeingRed.com by Steve Eckardt, 12 September 2001, revised 17
September.
_____________
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