Delivering this ultimatum in October last year, US President George “Dubya” Bush declared war on the Third World.
During the past 30 years, the US has had the military capability to wage war to ensure US imperialism's military, economic and political dominance of the world. But what it has usually lacked has been the political capacity to wage such wars at will.
Now the US has found a palatable excuse — a “war against terrorism” in revenge for the September 11 terror attack.
So far this righteous “crusade” has led to the needless deaths of at least 3700 innocent Afghan civilians. However the US aggression in Afghanistan, an example of gross state terrorism, only marks the beginning of the hostilities.
Bush has already proclaimed 2002 to be a”war year” and has marked out Iraq, Iran and North Korea as likely future targets.
Racism and repression
Another target of this war is the solidarity between the people of the First World and the oppressed masses of the Third World. Bush's war intends to destroy this solidarity, particularly the powerful Vietnam Syndrome, i.e., the unwillingness of the working class in imperialist countries to support imperialist military adventures, particularly those that result in substantial casualties.
The chief weapon used to do this is racism. Racism justifies the twisted arithmetic of imperialist war propaganda. It can justify the hugely disproportionate “collateral damage” of imperialist wars of retribution. It is used to sell the preposterous idea that the US has “score to settle” in Somalia because during the process of killing 10,000 Somalis in its 1993 invasion, 18 Americans were killed.
Racism is also the foundation of the belief that the world is full of “failed states” that require conquest by imperialism so that they can develop out of their “cultural backwardness”. This racist ideological offensive has also had disturbing ramifications in Australia with an increase in violent attacks on Arab and Muslim people. Combatting racist prejudices will be a big part of the anti-war movement.
But the US's war is not solely a military offensive against the Third World. It is also a war directed at the US working class by seeking to restrict civil liberties. This attempt by the US government to roll back democratic freedoms and silence critics is being promoted under the guise of “homeland defence”. Measures have ranged from the creation of secret military tribunals in the US which are empowered to enforce capital punishment without appeal to a forthcoming bill in Australia that will give ASIO the power to detain suspected “terrorists” for 48 hours without charges or legal counsel.
These measures are not designed to counter terrorist attacks, but to intimidate and marginalise activists that oppose the unjust policies of the US and other First World governments.
However, regardless of how many guns and missiles the imperialist government's have, Bush's war on the Third World can be stopped. But to do this the antiwar movement will need to mobilise many 1000s and millions around the world in mass demonstrations in the same way people did during the Vietnam War. Resistance believes that building such a mass movement for peace and justice will be a central task for activists in the next period.
Resistance is fighting for a real alternative to this system of war, poverty and exploitation — a democratic socialist society. We fight for a truly participatory democracy, not the farce that we have in Australia where democracy consists of voting for one racist, pro-war party or the other.
A socialist society will be based on the majority deciding how to allocate resources according to social need instead of corporate profit. Instead of spending billions of dollars on the military a socialist Australia would employ our wealth and resources to help eradicate poverty and suffering here and in the Third World.
George Bush, and his faithful allies like John Howard, will doubtlessly escalate their fraudulent and horrendous war in 2002. Young people have a very important role to play in opposing this injustice. The best place to begin would be to join Resistance and fight for a world without war and racism.
