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Colonialism Unmasked After Lebanon Blast

by A Guest Writer

In the wake of the disastrous port explosion in Beirut, western media outlets have pushed that it was caused by corruption in the Lebanese government. But there is zero mention of the French or other imperialist countries’ massive role in that corruption, no mention of EU or U.S. sanctions that are crippling the Lebanese economy, and literally zero mention of the fact that France created the sectarian system of government of Lebanon in the first place.

Lebanon is a case study of imperialism with former colonized subjects being told they are too incompetent and in need of firm and direct Western disciplining. Every article comes in the tone of a former colonial master lecturing its bumbling natives. Macron, speaking in Lebanon was quoted saying that French aid would not go to “corrupt hands” and that he would be calling on all of Lebanon’s political leaders to establish a “new political pact.” Undoubtedly one where former colonial forces would profit. No mention of the protestors at the same event calling for the release of Lebanese political prisoner George Abdullah.

Macron’s lecturing about corruption is not only to distract from real problems, like enormous debts to western banks, but is hypocritical considering the French leader’s governing party being accused of massive instances of corruption. Even more hypocritical, is the French government’s deep ties with some of the most corrupt elements in the Lebanese government with many of these figures storing stolen Lebanese money in French banks. There is also zero mention of French, EU, and U.S. support for the political campaigns of many of these corrupt leaders.

Disgustingly, Macron declared that he would return to Lebanon to take what he called “my political responsibility.” The same French president who famously told Africans “to get over colonialism” is now being praised as if he were the savior of Lebanon. Later he went on to call for increased sanctions while hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, jobs and lack of food.

Finally, in almost all reporting on Lebanon, like many other formerly colonized countries, the big business media almost always leave out the brutal colonial history that shaped these countries. Lebanon’s sectarian governing system was quite literally imposed on them by the French. The 1958, U.S invasion of Lebanon that prevented the collapse of the sectarian Chamoun government is part of a long history of former colonial powers attempts to keep Lebanon a divided and fractured country dependent on its former colonizers. The fake cries from Western countries about the inept and corrupt Lebanese government in the wake of this latest tragedy should always be understood as just the latest in a string of attempts to impose their dominance over the country.

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Defend Venezuela Against U.S. Attacks

by Aminta Zea

The U.S. government continues its war against the workers of Venezuela with harsher sanctions designed to create hardship. Whoever wins in the presidential election, Trump or Biden, the US is expected to continue its policy of regime change to oust Venezuela’s democratically elected leader, Nicolas Maduro. In cahoots with a tiny clique of wealthy Venezuelans, the U.S. wants to steal Venezuela’s oil, and claim its national resources for U.S. corporations.

The PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) is strategizing how to combat this wealthy clique of right wingers who hate Maduro and the PSUV for truly involving the workers in building their country to benefit the majority. This is no easy task as the United States continues to impose heavy sanctions and wage violent attacks that are aimed at strangling the country’s economy and threatening its socialist leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo is the once owner of a military aerospace company that profited off the $1 trillion U.S. war budget that deprives the people here of critical help—especially during this period of crisis. Pompeo, speaking about his tenure as CIA Director admitted, “we lied, we cheated, we stole.” Recently, conferring with his fascistic Brazilian military counterparts, Pompeo pledged to send even more millions of tax-payer dollars to the wealthy Venezuelan traitor elites. Pompeo also called for more warships to ring the coast, threatening the Venezuelan people with death.

The United States will continue to meddle in the domestic politics of Venezuela during their elections. Because the right wing opposition is so unpopular they call for a boycott in the elections, thereby allowing the PSUV to win an overwhelming majority, afterward claiming that the election was a fraud. This was the excuse for the wealthy to allow the U.S. puppet Juan Guaido to declare himself president. His phony claim was recognized by Trump and Biden even though working class Venezuelans did not even know who he was. Failing these interventions, the U.S. could attempt a military coup. Thanks to the Venezuelan people, prior U.S. coup attempts have been unsuccessful.

The U.S. government was the hand behind the recent coup in Bolivia where another rich ruling class puppet declared herself leader. But the Bolivian masses led by the Movement for Socialism and rooted in indigenous leadership have fought back and are winning.

The persistent Monroe Doctrine policy of the U.S. that declares ownership of Latin America highlights how little respect the United States has for international democracy. Since the establishment of Chavismo in 2002, the living conditions for the working class in Venezuela have improved dramatically. The failed 2018 coup spearheaded by Trump and Venezuela’s capitalist class demonstrates that imperialists only care about seizing and hoarding profits for themselves. As workers in the south, we denounce the U.S. military and economic intervention on Venezuela and recognize the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their own national destiny.

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How Should We Fight Back and Exert Power? Women, Workers, Youth: Take to the Streets!

By Gavrielle Gemma

All eyes are focused on the upcoming presidential election to replace Trump who represents the filthy rich capitalist class. Trump has declared war on workers, women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, the environment, social security and Medicaid, and on all the species of the planet. Trump is funneling trillions of taxpayer dollars to war profiteers, private prison companies, and militarized police, and he is best friend to every racist, ultra-right, anti-working-class dictator in the world.

The Sanders campaign has unleashed a movement that is either anti-capitalist or else critical of capitalism. That many in this movement believe in some form of socialism is a breath of fresh air in the United States. This movement challenges the attacks on social programs that have become the status quo in the U.S. for the last 50 years. Hopefully this movement will grow and continue its political development so as to stimulate a struggle. Already, the movement is more progressive than Sanders himself—especially against imperialist war.

Relying on elections alone puts the movement in a precarious position. Even if Sanders wins the nomination, it’s doubtful the capitalist backers of the Democratic Party will throw their support behind him. The capitalist system is not democratic, as it is presented to be. For example, both parties agree with the undemocratic appointing of the Supreme Court and federal judges for life.

The exploitation of workers, racism, and sexual oppression are built into this system, which will continue to ravage life in order to keep profits flowing to the capitalist class.

If the Democratic Party does not see our movement in the streets on all our issues of concern, they will at best halt the attacks but not reverse them. And Sanders himself, a long-time participant in capitalist politics, needs to feel the heat. He has already indicated he would go to war with Iran, North Korea, and support “humanitarian” (what a lie!) interventions. Notwithstanding a few slipped comments about the great things Cuba has done—which he followed up with the usual imperialist slanders—Sanders ignores the right of self-determination for the people of Venezuela and has done nothing to support Bolivian workers, peasants, and indigenous people in their fight to unseat their capitalist rulers who are violent reactionaries and puppets of the U.S. We cannot separate domestic policy from foreign policy. This error always leads to disaster.

Sanders, who does not want workers to replace the capitalist state with a state for themselves, has sown confusion around his use of the term “socialism.” Sanders is setting the stage for mass disillusionment by merely promising the rewards of “socialism” without promoting the need for workers to orient their struggle towards the total seizure of power from the capitalists.

This has been the historic role of social democrats, especially in Europe, who enjoyed great working-class support and electoral victories. But once in office, their collaboration with the capitalists reversed the course of progress. Failing to really unseat capitalism has led many European workers to turn to right wing parties.

On the other hand, the movement could turn in a revolutionary mass direction.
A movement that does not look to the path ahead will falter. A movement that stays solely in the realm of electoral politics will not win. Many say, “Well, what do you call for? After all, we propose a concrete change.” So do Revolutionary Socialists. We’re not against the Sanders movement—just the opposite: it is potentially a great development. This is especially true for the thousands of young women, women workers, and oppressed women pouring into the campaign associated with socialism.

But why not take this movement into the streets? Laws have always come after the mass movements that won labor rights, civil rights, women’s or LGBTQ advances. Even if the Democratic Party wins, it will be critically necessary to unite and hit the streets so there is enormous pressure and a visible commitment to fight for the needs of the people in solidarity with the workers and oppressed nations of the world.

When the civil rights act of 1966 was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, there were three justices who were in the KKK, and they voted for it. How do you explain that? It was the power of the people in the streets everywhere.

Women are powerful; we are the rock in every industry in every city in every state. The work of women—paid and unpaid—moves society forward. But without organized action, that power is only potential.

Our challenge is to organize, unite and exert a power that cannot be ignored. This is what the women of Chile, Iraq, the First Nations of Canada, India, Brazil, and many more countries are showing the world under difficult circumstances. We cannot be lulled into the false belief that we can change the world by pulling a voting lever alone. We must fight to win.

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Iraqis Unite To Demand End of U.S. Occupation

Baghdad, Jan. 24: Thousands of Iraqis take to the streets to demand the U.S. military leave.

By Jennifer Lin

The Iraqi people are demanding an end to over 16 years of U.S. occupation. On January 24, over 1 million Iraqis flooded the streets, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and demanding that U.S. troops leave the country immediately. This is part of an ongoing series of protests that began last October. The Iraqi people are demanding that the U.S. respect their right to self-determination, free from imperialist domination. The protests transcend religious, ethnic, and political divides.

Like the British colonizers a century before, the U.S. has pursued a “divide and rule” strategy in Iraq, inflaming religious and ethnic tensions in Iraq in order to plunder the country’s oil wealth. The latest wave of protests follows the assassination of revered Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. drone attack in Baghdad on January 3. Both were leaders in the fight against ISIS in the region. Although the Iraqi Parliament voted to expel all U.S. forces following the assassination, troops remain.

The Iraqi people have created a united front demanding an end to the repressive policies of a government that is beholden to U.S. economic and political interests. They recognize that they have more in common with one another than any ruling elite. They recognize that U.S. imperialism and democracy cannot coexist.

U.S. imperialism is a threat to national sovereignty and democracy everywhere. We have more in common with the workers of the world than the rich capitalists who will stop at nothing to steal everything that belongs to us: our land, our wealth, our freedom. We must stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people and demand “U.S. out of Iraq!”

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Cancel All U.S. Sanctions!

The U.S. imposes sanctions on more than 39 countries, restricting access to healthcare for 1/3 of the world’s population. The coronavirus makes it clear: these inhumane sanctions endanger the whole world.

U.S. sanctions have significantly hampered Iran’s efforts to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, limiting access to medical supplies, test kits and information about the virus.

In Venezuela and People’s Korea, sanctions have killed thousands of people, primarily from lack of access to basic medicines.

Cancel all U.S. sanctions NOW!

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In Demonstrations Around the World, Workers Say “No U.S. War or Sanctions on Iran!”

North Texas Chapter of Veterans for Peace.

The U.S. on behalf of the super rich, oil companies, banks, war profiteers and the whole capitalist class is once more threatening the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and at home. U.S workers, youth, and oppressed people have no stake in another rich man’s war.

Funeral and protest in Iran, Jan. 6.

We are not threatened by our sisters and brothers in Iran or Iraq or elsewhere, who have every right to defend themselves. Our national security is threatened by the White House, Congress and the assault on every social benefit we have won for ourselves. Trump and his white supremacist regime are the real threat to workers.

Protest in Philippines.

Boston, Massachusetts.

 

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Iran Is Not the Enemy: Reject Imperialist Lies! No War, No Sanctions!

Jan. 4: An emergency march and rally was called by the New Orleans Workers Group to protest U.S. imperialist war and to demand U.S. out of the Middle East.

Money for Schools, Hospitals, Jobs! No Blood for Oil!

With the support of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the Trump administration is moving to start another war—this time against Iran. We need to educate our fellow workers and stop this from happening!

The recently published “Afghanistan Papers” reveal how both Republican and Democratic administrations and generals lied to the American people for 18 years, costing the lives of thousands of U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Afghan men, women, and children. During this time, the Pentagon looted the national budget to the tune of $1,000,000,000,000. This money could have been used to meet human needs. No worker should be tricked into going along with these imperialist wars that serve no purpose other than to make capitalists rich and destroy the lives of workers.

More lies from U.S. warmongers
Each new war requires new lies to justify it, but they all serve the same purpose: to enrich war profiteers, oil companies, banks and dictators. Who loses? The people of all the countries involved.

In 2003 George W. Bush invaded Iraq after sanctions had killed half a million children. U.S. war hawks and their mouthpieces in the capitalist owned media cited the World Trade Center attack and weapons of mass destruction as pretexts. On Sept. 11, 2006 George Bush finally admitted, “Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with the World Trade Center attack.” The weapons of mass destruction were also debunked. Yet none of this stopped the bombings. U.S. capitalists’ desire for Iraq’s oil fields and markets outlived the lies that they sold the public.

Iraqi workers of all religions are in the Popular Mobilization Forces that were bombed by the U.S. on December 29, killing 32 people. All across the country, Iraqis are rebelling against horrible conditions, which result from U.S. invasion and occupation and a corrupt U.S. installed government. Yet the U.S. is blaming Iran for the rebellion of the Iraqi masses. This is just another lie to justify the deployment of 4,000 more U.S. soldiers to the region. What is being hidden by the corporate media, with its links to the U.S. military, is the truth.

Dec. 31: Thousands of Iraqis storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to demand an end to U.S. occupation and terror. The U.S. govt. ordered a strike on the anti-ISIS Popular Mobilization Forces on Dec. 29, killing 32 people and injuring many more.

U.S. bombed Iraq for oil again
As part of the popular uprisings sweeping the country, protesters recently seized a major oil field in Iraq to demand that the oil wealth be used for jobs and social needs. This was on December 28. After the U.S. bombing on December 29, thousands of Iraqis swarmed the U.S. embassy demanding the U.S. get out. The U.S. strategy in Iraq has been to divide the people by religious and national differences but recent protests have been bringing all the groups together. U.S. rulers fear this unity. This has nothing to do with Iran.

But for the U.S. capitalist class and its puppets in the government, the storming of the embassy provided another pretext to threaten war against Iran and send more troops and bombers to the region. So strong is the popular movement that even the U.S.-backed client Iraqi government had to condemn the bombings and troop deployments. They have stated that they will not allow their country to be used as a base against Iran.

The U.S. capitalist class wants to win back the oil revenue it lost when the Iranian people overthrew the government of their friend and brutal dictator, the Shah. The Iranians will defend their country to make sure that they never suffer another murderous U.S.-puppet government.

The Iranians have done everything to avoid war. It was the Trump administration that pulled out of the nuclear agreement which Iran nevertheless continued to abide by, as verified by the United Nations. Despite Iran’s exceptional restraint, Trump recently ordered the illegal assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military commander as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Soleimani and the PMF had been leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq since 2014. This just shows how fraudulent the claim is that the U.S. military is occupying the Middle East to “defeat ISIS.”

It’s time to take it to the streets to show that we won’t fall for the lies and deceit of the oil companies and the war profiteers, nor will we condone these imperialist wars against humanity.

No war on Iran!
End The Sanctions!
U.S. out of the Middle East!
No More Blood for Oil!

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Do Like Dr. King: Oppose Imperialist War

The United States is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Malcolm Suber

For more than two decades, the U.S. public has been treated to annual MLK marches that repeat the mantra from the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King pronounced his dream that the U.S. would be a country where one day his four little children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The racist white ruling class annually cites this vague dream as a measure of the progress that Black people have made in this country. This has prevented us from evaluating the entire scope of continued Black oppression in the U.S.

Dr. King kept moving and organizing after the March on Washington. His vision also began to grow beyond the fight for civil rights for the oppressed Black nation. By 1967, Dr. King had studied national liberation movements around the globe and had concluded that his duty went beyond the fight to reform racist U.S. domestic policies. Perhaps the best example of his growing consciousness was his speech “Beyond Vietnam,” delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City. This is a speech that the ruling class does not want you to hear and study.

By 1967 the war in Vietnam was gaining the attention of everyone, and millions of anti-war protesters hit the streets demanding an end to U.S. carnage of the Vietnamese, who were trying to gain national independence for their homeland. These mass marches were inspired by the civil rights struggle.

In 1967 the war was at its peak, with about 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam. The U.S. would drop more bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia than were dropped in all of Europe during WWII. This objective situation forced
Dr. King to conclude that the U.S. was “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”

King saw the U.S. war on Vietnam  as an enemy of the poor.

The ruling class and its press condemned King for speaking out against the war, threatening to cut off funding for the civil rights struggle. But for King, standing against racial and economic inequality meant exposing how the military-industrial complex had become an essential part of capitalist exploitation. King saw the war as an enemy of the poor. He saw the army using poor Black and white young men as cannon fodder to pursue the aims of U.S. imperialism. King said Vietnam was an unjust war meant to continue the domination of Western capitalist governments over colonial peoples.

King’s stance on the Vietnam war applies to U.S. imperialism’s present policy of forever war spread across multiple countries from its more than 800 military bases around the world. The ruling class formula for its forever war doctrine comes directly from lessons it learned in Vietnam: drone strikes instead of mass bombings; volunteer soldiers instead of draftees; censorship of images of mangled bodies returning from the battlefronts; and unquestioning reverence for the military.

The Pentagon-sponsored mantras of “thank you for your service” and “support our troops” go hand in hand with the ruling-class attempts to prevent the revival of a mass anti-war movement. This movement would demand cutting the military budget as well. King would join us today and urge us to rebuild the anti-imperialist, anti-war movement.

We ask that you honor Dr. King by joining our freedom struggle to end the rule of the capitalist class and to close all U.S. bases around the world.

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Trump Says U.S. Military In Syria “Only For The Oil”

By Sally Jane Black

In a rare display of honesty, Donald Trump has stated several times in the last two months that U.S. troops have only remained in Syria to “secure the oil.” Though Pentagon officials have tried to backtrack on his comments (since they are an admission of war crimes), the cat is out of the bag. While Trump previously claimed U.S. troops would be leaving the area—signaling a victory for the Syrian people under threat by U.S. imperialism—troops remain to maintain U.S. corporate control of the natural resources of the region.

The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades.

There is a long history of U.S. imperialism and militarism acting only to rob other nations of their natural resources. Whether it’s Bolivian lithium or Nigerian uranium or Iraqi oil they’re after, the U.S. military serves capitalist exploitation in its plunder of the world’s wealth. In Syria, it has been no different; the U.S. involvement there began when Syria tried to build their own gas pipeline and control their own resources. Since then, the U.S. has bombed hospitals and civilians, spread lies about use of chemical weapons, and backed all kinds of reactionary paramilitary organizations including the so-called “moderate rebels” now murdering the same Kurds the U.S. once backed.

The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades; the impact of imperialism is always violence and suffering for working people. Trump’s remarks expose the long-standing truth. US workers should stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and demand that Trump be prosecuted for the war crimes he admits to.

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Iraqi Workers Protest Poverty Created by U.S. Wars and Occupation

Anti-government protests have continued in Iraq since early October.

By Jennifer Lin

Protesters in Iraq are demanding the resignation of their government that is a product of U.S. imperialist occupation. Iraqis had built for themselves a highly developed country before the U.S. government destroyed it for access to its oil. After the Iraq monarchy was overthrown in 1958, British and American oil companies were kicked out and the oil was nationalized. By 1990, Iraq had the highest standard of living in the Middle East. The literacy rate was around 80% and people had access to free healthcare and education. More women were in the Iraqi parliament than in the U.S. Congress. Iraq’s children’s hospital accepted patients from all over the Middle East for free.

Determined to free themselves of U.S. imports, Iraq was moving to produce its own food as it did before British occupation. Similarly, they were moving to cut dependence on other industrial goods. Not buying U.S. commodities, using oil for their own national development: these were the real “crimes” that led to the U.S. wars.

Documents prove that the U.S. CIA considered Saddam a reliable ally when he was suppressing left and nationalist elements. But as soon as he implemented policies aimed at uplifting the working class and making Iraq economically self-sufficient, he became a threat to the economic and political dominance of the U.S. corporations.

To block the self-determination of the Iraqi people, the U.S. bombed the country in 1991. More than 90% of the country’s electrical capacity and most of its telecommunications, irrigation, water purification, and hydroelectric systems were destroyed. Bombs were aimed at farms, schools, hospitals, public transit stations, mosques, and historic sites. Around 200,000 people were killed, and the depleted-uranium missiles used by the U.S. led to tens of thousands more cancer-related deaths in the following years. Sanctions killed over half a million children.

In 2000, Saddam stopped accepting U.S. dollars as payment for oil. This was unprofitable for the U.S. capitalist class, so the U.S. invaded the country again. Bush invented propaganda accusing Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction, but this was just a lie used to justify the invasion so the U.S. could control Iraq’s oil wealth. After the invasion, most of Iraq’s economy was either destroyed, shut down, or privatized. Poverty and unemployment skyrocketed.

The U.S. occupation was a bonanza for war profiteers and an assault on the working class. Both Iraqi and U.S. workers bore the costs of this violent imperialist war, as U.S. taxpayer dollars were stolen to fund the destruction of Iraqi lives and livelihoods.

The U.S. trained and armed Special Police Commandos to quell resistance. These death squads terrorized civilians with open gunfire, torture, arrests, and mass murders. Continued U.S. involvement in Iraq fomented sectarian violence and pushed people to join the Islamic State, locking Iraq in a state of perpetual warfare. In 2014, Obama sent troops to Iraq to “fight terrorism,” but this was just another lie used to maintain the U.S. military stronghold in the country.

On October 1, 2019 Iraqi people from all walks of life took to the streets to demand an end to the succession of repressive governments that have ruled the country since the U.S. invasion. Beholden to the ruling elites of Iraq and the U.S., these governments have stripped the Iraqi people of jobs and access to public services.

Protesters have rejected President Salih’s promises for reform, demanding that the entire government be removed from power. Despite violent repression by security forces, the Iraqi people are refusing to back down.

U.S. Ignores Poverty, Tries to Use Protests to Attack Iran
The U.S. government which only represents the oil companies and big business is not interested in the conditions of workers in Iraq or anywhere else. Always seeking to use a situation for their own purposes, however, the U.S. working through the most reactionary clerics have tried to cast the protests as anti-Iran as this fits the agenda of the U.S. There is no credible evidence that any but a small grouping are buying into this.

Workers have nothing to gain from U.S. imperialism, which imposes capitalist poverty on other countries to make the world safe for U.S. corporate control. U.S. imperialism crushes democracy wherever it goes, as the history and current situation of Iraq show. Our struggle to live a healthy life with access to jobs, food, housing, and healthcare is connected to the ongoing struggle of the Iraqi people. Our hard-earned money is stolen and used to destroy the livelihoods of Iraqi people rather than to fund public programs that would benefit us. We must stand in solidarity with any country resisting U.S. imperialism and call for an end to U.S. intervention in the country.