Trump has refused to comment on the anti-Muslim pogroms in India, instead praising Modi as “very strong” and “very tough.” He has since boasted that he brokered the sale of $3 billion worth of military equipment to the Indian government and that he “looks forward to providing India with some of the best and most feared military equipment on the planet.”
Modi’s government, like Trump’s, scapegoats Muslims, immigrants, and others in order to turn attention from the real reason that there’s a widespread lack of decent jobs and deteriorating living standards for workers. When the capitalist system can no longer sustain itself from exploitation alone, racism and war are the answers of the capitalists.
As during the rise of Nazism, the ultra-rich are relying more and more on the arms trade for their profits. Here in the U.S. as in India, it’s urgent that we get organized to defeat fascism. In order to do so, we must stand firm against the Pentagon and the ballooning military budget that allows war profiteers to siphon more than 60% of U.S. government spending for their own enrichment.
Demonstrators at a march and rally in New Orleans on Jan. 4.
By Sally Jane Black
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke out against the evils of capitalism, racism, and militarism in one of his last speeches. He was speaking about the Vietnam War, the invasion of a country that sought independence from colonial/capitalist occupation. The targets of the capitalist class are new but the struggle is old: today’s Iraq and Bolivia are yesterday’s Vietnam and Chile.
The evils of militarism, racism, and capitalism are connected, and opposing all three is crucial to defeating the capitalists who oppress and exploit us.
In the more than 50 years since Dr. King’s speech, the United States spent over $20 trillion on war.
In December 2019 Democrats and Republicans passed another war budget that will cost workers $738 billion. When other aspects of the budget dedicated to warfare are included it is over $1.1 trillion dollars. A trillion dollars is a thousand billion.
Politicians claim that there’s not enough money to fight climate change or provide universal healthcare and free college education. But Republicans and Democrats together authorized funding for the terrifying Trump Space Force in the new war budget. The workers of the world produce all the wealth we need to thrive, but the capitalists steal that wealth and waste it on their endless wars.
Permanent wars enrich the war profiteers, threaten our security
This money does not “stimulate the economy.” The trillions of taxpayer dollars handed over to war profiteers are not invested in expanding our productive capacity. The sole ‘value’ of missiles and bombs is expended in the act of destruction. In order to sell more weapons, the capitalists have to keep starting wars which only destroy the lives of more workers. This economy of horror is not sustainable. When this leads to an economic crisis the workers will once again be made to pay the price.
End imperialist wars, fight the capitalist class
The role of the U.S. military is to terrorize the working class and oppressed nations of the world. The U.S. capitalist class uses force to dominate and occupy countries for the sole benefit of Wall Street. The Afghanistan Papers prove that the U.S. military, politicians, and capitalists knew there was no leaving once the war began. They intended to occupy and exploit Afghanistan, not to liberate it. This one war alone has cost nearly $1 trillion.
Our only chance at liberation is to stand up to U.S. imperialism and militarism everywhere. We must demand our money go to schools and healthcare—not to drones and bombs. It’s not just a matter of improving our lives here in the U.S. It’s not just a matter of rearranging where our taxes go. Ending these wars would be a victory for the world’s working class, oppressed nations, and the environment (as the military is the world’s top polluter). Our liberation depends on it.
Members of Veterans for Peace in New York CIty demonstrate against war and sanctions on Iran. “War is a racket: A few profit, the many pay!” – Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
On Dec. 2, the U.S. Navy announced that it had awarded a $22.2 billion contract to war profiteer General Dynamics to build 9 Navy submarines.
With $22.2 billion, a government could guarantee 740,000 workers a year’s worth of work at $15/hr.
740,000 workers could be distributing food, running nurseries, building rural hospitals, restoring Louisiana wetlands, or caring for our elders.
The U.S. government is a government of the rich for the rich. We are sick, we go hungry in order to fatten a few shareholders at General Dynamics and ExxonMobil. But we, the workers, are millions more than the generals and CEOs. We can replace their rule with ours.
In mid-February, two international meetings cast a dark shadow over the future. First, at the NATO defense ministers meeting European countries agreed to increase their military spending, make it easier to move soldiers and military equipment across borders, further militarize the Atlantic Ocean, setup a NATO training base in Iraq, and other such war-preparations. Then the Munich Security Conference, where all the capitalist world powers were represented by their diplomats and heads of state, put forward a bleak image for the near-future that can be summed up in two words: military buildup (including nuclear weapons). Far from coming up with solutions or reaching agreements about the many conflicts and tensions in our world, the major capitalist powers are only preparing for the worst: a world war where we the workers would pay the ultimate price.
