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End U.S./Saudi Genocide in Yemen

Graphic by Emory Douglas

Genocide is being waged on the Yemeni people by the Saudi monarchy and the US government. On January 27, the US/Saudi coalition dropped US-made bombs on a camp for displaced people in Yemen’s northwestern Hajjah, killing at least 8 civilians and wounding many more. The bombing of refugee camps is a crime against humanity. In an attack on the Yemeni people of Hodeida just 2 days prior, the Red Sea Silos which house 51,000 metric tons of wheat were struck with mortar shells laying waste to critical food supplies while Yemen is facing “the worse famine in 100 years,” according to U.N. officials.

We, the workers and oppressed of New Orleans, must show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Yemen. We must speak out against these atrocities and demand that the US government withdraw all military aid and cancel all arms sales to the murderous Saudi regime.

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U.S. Hands Off Iran! Build a Anti-Imperialist War Movement

By Malcolm Suber

Ever since May 8 when the Trump government announced that the US was pulling out of the 2015 agreement between world imperialist powers and Iran over its nuclear program, the US government has launched an aggressive offensive of speeches by members of the state department and the US military threatening war on Iran. The US aims to force Iran to end its nuclear program and its support for the Syrian regime and the Houthi freedom fighters in Yemen.

The Trump government, in typical gangster fashion, is using sanctions against the Iranian regime in an effort to starve Iranian people into submission to US imperialist dictate. The Trump regime believes that as the last remaining superpower it has the political right and military might to reorder the entire globe to its liking. The US sanctions against Iran are meant to disrupt the Iranian economy by requiring that its junior imperialist powers in the European Union and Great Britain support the US sanctions or have their trade with the US disrupted as well.

The aim of the US campaign against Iran is to clear the entire Middle East of regimes which are hostile to US domination of the oil-rich region. The US also requires recognition of the Zionist state of Israel. Already, the US is supporting Saudi Arabia’s bombarding Yemen with the most up to date military planes and battlefield equipment, sold to them by the US military industrial complex.

The war mongering assault by the US is a complete violation of the sovereignty and the right to self-determination of the Iranian people and state. Why should the US have the right to pick and choose who should rule in the other countries of the world? Why should only some countries have the right to nuclear weapons while claiming that others should be denied that right? Clearly the US imperialist government, which is the only government that has used nuclear bombs in war, can’t be that arbiter.

Trump has gotten on Twitter and created a straw man by announcing that the US government will go to war with Iran if they threaten the US. He wrote: “Never, ever threaten the US again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before”.

Of course Iran has not threatened the US; it has condemned US incursions on its territory and warned that it will defend their territory as is their right as a sovereign country. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at Trump’s tweet. “Color us unimpressed. The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them- albeit more civilized ones- for 40 years. We’ve been around for millennia and seen the fall of empires, including our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS!”

The US working class must take seriously Trump’s threats to wage war against Iran. We have a duty to oppose all US war plans by building up the anti-imperialist war movement here in the US. The Iranian people and state are not our enemies. Iran and other oppressed countries like North Korea and Venezuela are trying to live independent lives not dictated by US imperialism and need our support. The New Orleans Workers Group will work tirelessly to educate workers about our real interests and our internationalist duty to oppose US imperialist war.

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Trump Kills Iran Nuclear Deal

U.S., Israel Stockpiling Nuclear Warheads

Hands Off Iran!

By Quest Riggs

In early May, the head of the US, our would-be emperor Trump, arrogantly declared he was “pulling out“ of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal. The entire world agreed that Iran had completely adhered to the deal, but Trump ignore everyone. This was a move to crush the people of Iran and take over their country for U.S corporate interests.

Trump’s decision also, in violation of all international law, moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. These two actions were also similar because they were both aggressive “stand-alone” actions on the part of the US and Israel, and they were not even supported by their imperialist allies like France and Saudi Arabia.

Both decisions have been met with world outrage by those who see them for what they are – naked imperialist aggression at the expense of the Palestinians, Iranians and all people of the Middle East.

What was the Iran Nuclear Deal?
Iran has always denied having the ability or desire to start developing a nuclear weapons program. Nevertheless, the U.S. used Iran’s small nuclear energy program to start an aggressive sanctions and military campaign against it.

The agreement was that if Iran phased-out its nuclear energy program and allowed regular inspections by international organizations, then the imperialist countries would drop their harsh decades-long sanctions on Iran. Iran accepted the deal despite its obvious unfairness because sanctions have devastated their economy and society since their republic was started. International organizations have inspected Iran dozens of times and certified there is no nuclear weapons program.

What does it all mean?
The US breaking the nuclear deal should be seen as another event in a string of aggressive moves in the Middle East by imperialists that represent their desire for world domination. The U.S. ignores any respect for Iran’s sovereignty and independence and has been planning for decades to destroy the country.

It was the U.S which openly admitted it engineered a coup in Iran which overthrew a democratically elected government in 1953, bringing decades of brutal tyranny and oppression under the Shah (king). Now it wants to destroy the Iranian Islamic Republic and seize their resources.

Who is the real nuclear threat?
The US has 7,000 nuclear warheads and Israel has 80. This makes them the first and third largest nuclear powers. The US government has proven itself barbaric enough to use atomic weapons on people. In 1945, they dropped, not one, but two atomic bombs on Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They did this even though they knew the allies had already defeated imperial Japan, which was preparing to surrender. The monsters simply did it to send a message to the people of the world: don’t resist us or we can and will annihilate you. The people of Japan still wear the physical and emotional scars today.

There is no moral or security reason that the US and Israel should be dictating who can and can’t have nuclear weapons. Instead we, the people in the US, should join with the people of the world to demand that both countries suspend their nuclear programs. Our lives and the lives of people everywhere depend on it.