MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
On March 19 2011, the United $tates, playing the role as leader of the
united nations forces, began bombing areas in Libya. What we know from
the imperialist media is that small pockets of opposition to the Libyan
government are attempting to rebel and attack the current government.
While we observe these developments in the Middle East in general, but
more particularly in Libya, we must first understand the history as well
as the current relations of production in these governments to really
grasp the conditions and contradictions on the ground. It’s good to
understand the world and pay attention but it’s better to know the truth
and be able to sort through the BS that blurs reality and works to shape
ideas to the imperialist program.
Libya, like much of the Middle East, has long been eyed by Amerika
because of its vast oil reserves. Libya was colonized up until after
World War II when it then became a semi-colony that was under U.$. and
British influence with a monarchy under King Idris.
In the 1960s the Middle East, like much of the world, felt a whirlwind
of revolution and liberation struggles that swept the globe. Libya also
caught this upsurge of anti-colonial fever, and King Idris was
overthrown by military officers in 1969. Moammar Gadhafi was the leader
of this coup.
Although Libya changed its name to the “Great Socialist People’s Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya” it is not currently a socialist country. There are
revolutionaries within Libya but for the most part they do not lead any
of the struggles we see in U.$. media. The incantation of imperialist
propaganda is that the Libyan people are going to overthrow Gadhafi and
that the majority want him out, but this is false.
Just as the U.$. used the south Vietnamese to massacre Vietnamese
freedom fighters, just as the U.$. used the contras to massacre their
country men the Sandinistas, and the Afghan against Afghan, Iraqi on
Iraqi, so too are they now using Libyan to destroy Libyan. I wonder when
the masses of the world will ever unite to take on the true oppressor?
Let’s be clear Gadhafi did not come to power through a socialist
revolution, although he did make some concessions and reforms,
particularly with tribal alliances. For the most part what is practiced
in Libya is a form of state capitalism where revenue from oil fuels the
economy. Nonetheless they should not be met with imperialist
intervention nor should the united nations be used to dictate their air
space as another Iraq under Sadaam Hussein.
The opposition that the United $tates seems to cozy up to the most is
the National Front for the Salvation of Libya which is known to be
funded and trained by the CIA. This group, which was founded in 1981,
has been based on the border of Egypt and Libya and seems to be the main
vehicle for propping up a U.$. puppet government in Libya should the
Gadhafi regime fall.
But let’s get to the heart of the matter in this U.$. intervention: the
main reason for this attack on Libya is oil! It’s ironic how the
so-called “united nations” have their hands in this intervention when
within their very own documents, specifically the 1514 Declaration, they
claim to grant self-determination to colonized nations and peoples. Yet
here we are watching them deny self-determination. Not that we expect
these imperialists to act in any way that isn’t exploiting the people,
but it shows those who are unaware of their parasitic aims what they’re
really about.
With the largest oil reserves in Africa it’s no surprise that this
nation is a target of the United $tates. We have seen this played out in
Iraq where the no-fly zone was set up as a prelude for outright war and
occupation. As I write this I’m sure backroom deals are being banged out
between the imperialist countries on who gets what and at what price.
Until these business agreements are worked out we probably won’t see
“troops on the ground” from the United $tates.
We see in the U.$. media accusations of Gadhafi being a “mad dog” but
why was he invited years back to the United $tates? We all remember the
jokes of him pitching a tent on one of Donald Trump’s properties. The
same bad things were said of Sadaam and Bin Laden but we see old
pictures of both of them smiling with U.$. politicians at one time. Just
to be clear, none of them were pushing for a socialist revolution. It is
the pattern of being business partners with the United $tates, and then
when the United $tates can’t exploit these leaders to the extent that
they want those same business partners become “mad dogs” or better yet
“terrorists.”
As Maoists we say no to imperialist intervention! We say no to the
exploitation of the people around the world! We say hands off Libya! We
hope for the masses of Libya to use this situation to create a socialist
revolution to discard all oppression! End the intervention!
MIM(Prisons) adds: Many legitimate wars for liberation start with
“small pockets of opposition” fighters, so it is hard to use numbers to
judge a movement from afar. What we can see is that whether monarchist
forces, CIA-backed “pro-democracy” parties or Islamic fighters, all of
the “rebel” voices in the press are supporting imperialist intervention
in Libya. This is what tells us they do not represent the masses of
Libya. No to U.$. Imperialism! Unity within keeps the imperialists out!
“Democracy” is the culprit yet again in the U.$. empire’s latest
adventurous gamble to spread the money-making concept of the democratic
shell to the middle eastern country of Libya.
Amerika, that great city shining on a hill spread some of that
luminescence to the sovereign skies of Libya over the weekend, as they
lit up the night sky with the glow of over 160 long range missiles in
their effort to supposedly stop the Libyan government from killing of
innocent civilians. Ironically enough, more lives were taken than
“saved” by the amerikans as numbers have already come out of Libya that
at least 70 civilians were killed by the strike.(1)
The Arab League has come out in anger and denounced not just the U$ but
their international lackey bureaucracy (the UN) for authorizing and
initiating the deadly strikes. Even republocrats, Michael Honda and
David Kucinich have criticized and questioned this abominable act.(1)
Some may ask, well, wasn’t the Arab League down with Amerikan
intervention in Libya? And the answer is yes, however, the strength of
anti-imperialist pan-Arabism in the region was reflected as they wavered
when the bombs actually started to drop.
There are two reasons that the U$ is giving for it’s current open
aggression. One is for the firm support and protection of the Libyan
people. The other is their supposed concern that Gadhafi is possibly in
the possession of weapons of mass destruction, i.e. Mustard Gas.(2) Hmm.
Why does this sound so familiar?
Pre$ident Obomber came out over the weekend while on his trip to Brazil,
during his tour of Latin America and said that there will be no ground
forces deployed to Libya, as the U$ does not wish to be at war with a
third Muslim country; lest they be labeled crusaders.(1) Obomber
emphasized many times over that amerika is not at war with Islam, which
might actually be true per se, they just like to go to war with whatever
oppressed nation happens to have something they want (oil).
Curiously enough the social-democratic government of Brazil who has the
habit of paying lip-service to the plight of the oppressed (while
simultaneously oppressing and exploiting it’s own proletariat) had
nothing to say about it’s amerikan guest, nor did they have anything to
say about their abstention from the UN vote to bomb Libya… all of a
sudden!
So now two questions are begged. Are we currently seeing the sequel to
the invasion of Iraq, which has had disastrous consequences to the Iraqi
people? Doubtful, but you never know with these imperialists. Or are we
seeing a possible test run for a similar style bombing of Iran?
Regardless of what you think of Gadhafi and his regime, Libya is a
nation oppressed by imperialism and currently under attack, it must be
defended. The imperialists need to keep their filthy hooves out of the
mix and let the Libyan people decide their own destiny.
[Leaders] realize that the success of the struggle presupposes clear
objectives, a definite methodology and above all the need for the mass
of the people to realize that their unorganized efforts can only be a
temporary dynamic. You can hold out for three days – maybe even for
three months – on the strength of the admixture of sheer resentment
contained in the mass of the people; but you won’t win a national war,
you’ll never overthrow the terrible enemy machine, and you won’t change
human beings if you forget to raise the standard of consciousness of the
rank-and-file. Neither stubborn courage nor fine slogans are enough. -
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, p. 136, chap. 2, paragraph 57.
Starting in Tunisia on December 17, and spreading across the region in
January and February, the people of north Africa and the Middle East are
taking to the streets to fight brutal dictatorships in their respective
countries. Taken by surprise by the force and longevity of these protest
movements, the various imperialist-backed regimes are working hard to
come up with changes that will pacify the people without fundamentally
changing the system. These just struggles of the people are primarily
targeting the figureheads in government, but the real problem lies in
the system itself and at this stage we are only seeing some shuffling of
the leadership.
Protests are sweeping across the region as the people are emboldened and
inspired by the actions and results of those in neighboring countries,
even moving further south into other parts of Africa. As this article is
being written, there are reports of people’s uprisings in Bahrain,
Libya, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Djibouti, Syria, Morocco and
Jordan. In other parts of Africa, less visible in the media, popular
revolts are also happening in Sudan, Gabon and Ethiopia.(1) Protesters
are facing violent repression by the governments in most of these
countries.
The response in the United $tates has been strong condemnation of
Mubarak and other leaders targeted by protests (among those paying
attention). Arabs may falsely look to Amerikans as friends in their
current struggles. But where was this Amerikan “support” for the last
thirty years as their country bank-rolled Mubarak with billions of
dollars? In reality, their reaction is a sick reminder of what went down
in Iraq. The same seething opposition to Mubarak was aimed at Saddam
Hussein, resulting in the deaths of millions of Iraqis and the
destruction of one of the most developed Arab countries. Iraq is just
one example to demonstrate how Amerikan racism quickly lends itself to
popular support for militarism, the savior of post-WWII U.$. global
dominance.
Economics of the People’s Struggles
There are many differences between these mostly Arabic-speaking
countries, but the one common enemy of the people there is the enemy of
the people throughout the world: imperialism. Capitalism is a system
that is defined by the ownership of the means of production (factories,
farms, etc.) by the wealthy few who we call the bourgeoisie, and who
exploit the majority of the people (the workers, also called the
proletariat) to generate profit for the owners. Imperialism is the
global stage of capitalism where the territories of the world have been
divided up and exploited for profit. Under imperialism, the economy in
each country no longer operates independently, and what happens in one
country has repercussions around the world. Because of this global
interdependence, events in the Middle East and north Africa are very
significant to the Amerikan and European capitalists, and are related to
events in the global economy.
The question of real change hinges on whether the exploited countries
that are now mobilizing stay within the U.$.-dominated economic
structure, or whether they look to each other and turn their back on the
exploiter nations. While militarily and politically controlled by the
United $tates, their economic relationship to imperialism is dominated
by the European Union who was responsible for 50% of trade for countries
in the southern Mediterranean region in 1998. A mere 3% of their trade
was with each other that year.(2) In 2009, these percentages had not
changed, despite the lofty promises of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade
Area to develop trade between Arab countries.(3) Tunisia, where the
first spark was lit, had 78% of its exports and 72% of its imports with
the European Union. Compare these numbers to the ASEAN and MERCOSUR
regional trade groups, also made up of predominately Third World
countries, which had about 25% of their trade internally.(4)
The problem with Europe dominating trade in the region is based in the
theories of “unequal exchange” that lead trade between imperialist and
exploited countries to be inherently exploitative. Part of this is
because the north African countries mostly produce agricultural goods
and textiles, which they trade for manufactured goods from Europe. The
former are more susceptible to manipulations in commodities markets
that, of course, are controlled by the imperialist finance capitalists.
The latter are priced high enough to pay European wages, resulting in a
transfer of surplus value from the north African nations to the European
workers.
In order to develop industries for the European market, these countries
have been forced to accept Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) from
the various world banking systems (World Bank, International Monetary
Fund). This has further tied the governments to imperialist interests
over the years, as SAPs have many strings attached. The loans
themselves, which are larger in this region than for the average Third
World country (5), serve to transfer vast amounts of wealth from the
debtor nations to the lender nations in the form of interest payments.
Countries in the Middle East and north Africa generally have greater
relative wealth compared with Third World countries in the rest of
Africa, Asia and Latin America. As a result the people in these
countries enjoy higher levels of education, better health and fewer
people living in poverty.(see World Bank, World Health Organization and
CIA statistics) General trends since WWII are a growing middle class
with an emigrant population that expanded and benefited from European
reconstruction up to the 1980s. Since then immigration restrictions have
increased in the European countries, particularly connected to
“security” concerns after 9/11. The north African countries relate to
the European Union similar to how Mexico does to the United $tates, but
Mexico remains more economically independent by comparison. These
uprisings are certainly connected to the growing population and the
shrinking job market with slower migration to the EU.
Locally, there are economic differences within the region that are
important as well. Other than the stick of oppressive regimes, some
governments in the region have been able to use their oil revenues as a
carrot to slow proletarian unity. Even so, extreme international debt,
increasing unemployment with decreasing migration opportunities and the
overall levels of poverty indicate that these countries are part of the
global proletariat.
The recent economic crisis demonstrates the tenuous hold the governments
of the Middle East and north African countries had on their people.
Because imperialism is a global system with money, raw material and
consumer goods produced and exchanged on a global market, economic
crises happen on a global scale. The economic crisis of the past few
years has affected the economy of this region with rising cost of living
and increased unemployment rates. In particular food prices have reached
unprecedented highs in the past few months.(6) One might think this
would help the large agricultural sectors in these countries. However,
food prices affect the Third World disproportionately because of the
portion of their income spent on food and the form their food is
consumed in. On top of this, all of these countries have come to import
much of their cereal staples as their economies have been structured to
produce for European consumption.
Reliable economic statistics are difficult to find for this region.
Estimates of unemployment in any country can range from under 10% up to
40% and even higher, and there is similar variability in estimates of
the portion of the population living below the poverty level. But all
agree that both unemployment and poverty have been on the rise in the
past two years. We suspect this trend dates back further with the
decrease in migration opportunities mentioned above.
In Egypt about two-thirds of the population is under age 30 and more
than 85% of these youth are unemployed. About 40% of Egypt’s population
lives on less than $2 a day.(7)
The middle class in these countries, who enjoy some economic advantages,
are sliding further into poverty. This group is particularly large in
Tunisia and Egypt compared to many other countries in the region.(8) In
Egypt the middle class increased from 10% to 30% of the population in
the second half of the 20th century, with half of those people being
“upper” middle class.(9) This class has been closely linked to the rise
of NGOs encouraged by the European-led Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade
Area. They know that it is possible for them to have a better standard
of living and enjoy more political freedom without a complete overthrow
of the capitalist system. And so we saw many of the leaders and
participants in the recent protests demand better conditions for
themselves, but generally leave out the demands of the proletariat.
In fact, some middle class leaders, like Wael Ghonim (an Egyptian Google
employee who was a vocal leader in the fight against Mubarak), are
calling for striking workers to go back to work now that Mubarak has
stepped down, effectively opposing the demands and struggles of the
Egyptian proletariat. Without the leadership of the proletariat, who
have never had significant benefits from imperialism, these protests end
up representing middle class demands to shuffle the capitalist deck and
put another imperialist-lackey government in place. The result might be
a slight improvement in middle class conditions but the proletariat ends
up right back where they started.
In Tunisia and Egypt, where the uprisings started, the leadership and
many of the activists were from the educated middle class youth.(10) In
Tunisia people were inspired to act after the suicide of Mohammed
Bouazizi, an impoverished young vegetable street seller supporting an
extended family of eight. He set himself on fire in a public place on
December 17 after the police confiscated his produce because he would
not pay a bribe. Like many youth in Tunisia, Bouazizi was unable to find
a job after school. He completed the equivalent of Amerikan high school,
but there are many Tunisian youth who graduate from college and are
still unable to find work.
The relative calm in the heavy oil producing region that includes Saudi
Arabia, UAE, Oman and Qatar underscores the key role of economics and
class in these events. These countries enjoy a much higher economic
level than the rest of the region, as a direct result of the consumerist
First World’s dependence on their natural resources. Only Libya joins
these countries in having a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita above
$5000, while all others in the region are below that level.(11) That’s
compared to a GNI in the U.$ of $46,730.(12)
One economic factor that has not made the news much and which does not
seem to be a focus of the protesters so far, is the importing of foreign
labor to do the worst jobs in the wealthy oil-producing countries. In
the Gulf Cooperation Council (consisting of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the
UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Sultanate of Oman) there are an estimated
10 million foreign workers and 3 million of their family members living
in these countries.(13) This was used as a carrot to the proletariat who
were losing opportunities to work in the European Union. Egypt in
particular encouraged this emigration of workers.
Revolutions or Unrest?
To belittle the just struggles of people around the world, typical
imperialist media is referring to the recent uprisings as “unrest,” as
if the people just need to be calmed down to bring things back to
normal. On the other side, many protesters and their supporters are
calling these movements revolutions. For communists, the label
“revolution” is used to describe movements fighting for fundamental
change in the economic structure. In the world today, that means
fighting to overthrow imperialism and for the establishment of socialism
so that we can implement a system where the people control the means of
production, taking that power and wealth out of the hands of just a few
people.
The global system of imperialism puts the nations of the Middle East and
north Africa on the side of the oppressed. These nations have comprador
leaders running their governments, who get rich by working for
imperialist masters. Yet these struggles are very focused on the
governments in power in each country without making these broader
connections. Until the people make a break with imperialist control,
changes in local governments won’t lead to liberation of the people.
Further, we have heard much from both organizers and the press about
social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) as a tool of the revolution.
These tools are celebrated as a replacement for leadership. It is true
that the internet is a useful tool for sharing information and
organizing, and decentralization makes it harder to repress a movement.
But the lack of ideological unity leads to the lowest common
denominator, and very few real demands from the people. No doubt
“Mubarak out” is not all the Egyptian people can rally around, but
without centralized leadership it is hard for the people to come
together to generate other demands.
Related to the use of social media, it is worth underscoring the value
of information that came from
Wikileaks
to help galvanize the people to action in these countries; the
corruption and opulence of the leaders described in cables leaked at the
end of 2010 no doubt helped inspire the struggles.(14)
Egypt provides a good example of why we would not call these protest
movements “revolutions.” The Egyptian people forced President Mubarak
out of the country, but accepted his replacement with the Supreme
Council of the Military - essentially one military dictatorship was
replaced by another. One of the key members of this Council is Sueliman,
the CIA point man in the country and head of the Egyptian general
intelligence service. He ran secret prisons for the United $tates and
persynally participated in the torturing of those prisoners.
Tunisia is also a good example of the lack of fundamental revolutionary
change. Tunisia’s president of 23 years, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali,
stepped down on January 14 and fled to Saudi Arabia. But members of Ben
Ali’s corrupt party remained in positions of power throughout the
government and protests continue.
In State and Revolution Lenin wrote that the revolution must
set a goal “not of improving the state machine, but of smashing and
destroying it.” The protests and peoples’ struggles in the Middle East
and Africa reinforce the importance of this message as we see the
sacrifice of life in so many countries resulting in only cosmetic
changes in governments.
What is the United $tates interest?
The United $tates is the biggest imperialist power in the world today;
it controls the largest number and most wealth-producing territories in
the world. Just as the economic crises of imperialism affect the rest of
the world, political uprisings around the world affect the United
$tates. The capitalist corporations who have factories and investments
in this region have a strong financial interest in stability and a
government that will allow them to continue to exploit the resources and
labor. And with capitalism’s constant need to expand, any shrinking of
the imperialist sphere of influence will help trigger future crises
faster.
The Amerikan military interest in this region relies on having some
strong puppet governments as allies to defend the interests of Amerikan
imperialism and hold off the independent aspirations of the regional
capitalists. This includes managing the planet’s largest oil reserves,
which is important for U.$. control of the European Union, and defending
their #1 lackey - Israel.
Tunisia is a long-standing ally of the United $tates, cooperating with
Amerikan “anti-terrorism” to maintain Amerikan imperialist power in the
region. Other imperialist powers also have a strong interest in the
dictatorships in Tunisia including France whose government shipped tear
gas grenades to Tunis on January 12 to help Ben Ali fight the
protesters.(15)
Bahrain is a close U.$. ally, home to the U.$. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.(16)
Egypt has been second only to Israel in the amount of U.$. aid it gets
since 1979, at about $2 billion a year. The majority of this money,
about $1.3 billion a year, goes to the Egyptian military.(17) Further,
the United $tates trains the Egyptian military each year in combined
military exercises and deployments of U.$. troops to Egypt.(18) So for
Amerika, the Supreme Council of the Military taking power in Egypt is a
perfectly acceptable “change.” To shore up the new regime and its
relationship with the United $tates, Secretary of State Clinton
announced on February 18 that the United $tates would give $150 million
in aid to Egypt to help with economic problems and “ensure an orderly,
democratic transition.” In exchange, the Council has already pledged to
uphold the 1979 peace accords with Israel. Prior to 1979, much of the
Arab world was engaged in long periods of wars with the settler state.
United $tates aid to countries in this region is centered around Israel.
The countries closest geographically to Israel are the biggest
recipients of Amerikan money, a good way to keep control of the area
surrounding the biggest Amerikan ally. In addition to Egypt and Israel,
Jordan ($843 million) and Lebanon ($238 million) received sizable
economic and military aid packages in 2010.(19) Compared to these
numbers, “aid” to the rest of the region is significantly smaller with
notable recipients including Yemen ($67M), Morocco ($35M), Bahrain
($21M) and Tunisia ($19M). The United $tates gives “aid” in exchange for
economic, military and political influence.
Is Wisconsin the Amerikan Tunisia?
The global economic crisis clearly affects imperialist countries like
the United $tates just like it does other countries of the world, but we
don’t see the people in this country rising up to take over Washington,
DC and demanding a change in government. Like the Middle East, the youth
of Amerika are having a harder time finding jobs after graduation from
college. But unlike their counterparts in the Middle East, Amerikan
youth and their families do not face starvation when this happens.
Some people are drawing comparisons between the widespread protests by
labor unions in Wisconsin and the events in Tunisia and Egypt. These
events do give us a good basis for comparison to underscore the
differences between imperialist countries and the Third World. Amerikan
wealth is so much greater than the rest of the world (U.$. GDP per
capita = $46,436); even compared to oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia
(GDP = $24,200). GDP does not account for the distribution of wealth,
but in the United $tates the median household income in 2008 was
$52,029. This number is not inflated by the extreme wealth of a few
individuals, it represents the middle point in income for households in
this country.
On the surface, unemployment statistics for the United $tates appear
similar to some numbers for countries in the Middle East and north
Africa. In 2008, 13.2% of the population was unemployed in the United
$tates based on the latest census data.(20) However, with income levels
so much higher in Amerika, unemployment doesn’t mean an immediate plunge
into poverty and starvation. For youth in this country, there is the
safety net of moving back in with parents if there is no immediate
post-college job.
Similarly, U.$. poverty statistics appear quite high, comparable to
rates in the Middle East and north Africa, at 14.3% in 2009. But this
poverty rate uses chauvinistic standards of poverty for Amerikans. The
U.$. census bureau puts the poverty level of a single individual with no
dependents at $11,161.(21) Much higher than the statistics that look at
the portion of the population living at $2 or $1.25 per day (adjusted
for differences in purchasing power). Wisconsin public teachers average
salaries of about $48k per year.
The Leading Light Communist Organization produced some clear economic
comparisons between Egypt and the U.$.: “The bottom 90% of income
earners in Egypt make only half as much (roughly $5,000 USD annually) as
the bottom 10% of income earners in the U.$. (roughly [$]10,000), per
capita distribution. Depending on the figures used, an egalitarian
distribution of the global social product is anywhere between $6,000 and
$11,000 per capita annually. This does not even account for other
inequalities between an exploiter country and an exploited country, such
as infrastructure, housing, productive forces, quality and diversity of
consumer goods, etc.”(22)
In the United $tates it is possible for the elite to enjoy their
millionaire lifestyles while the majority of the workers are kept in
relative luxury with salaries that exceed the value of their labor. This
is possible because other countries, like those in the Middle East and
Africa, are supplying the exploited workforce that generates profits to
be brought home and shared with Amerikan workers. Even Amerikan workers
who are unemployed and struggling to pay bills are not rallying for an
end to the economic system of capitalism. They are just demanding more
corporate taxes and less CEO bonuses. In other words they want a bigger
piece of the imperialist pie: money that comes at the expense of the
Third World workers. These same Amerikan workers rally behind their
government in wars of aggression around the world, overwhelmingly
supporting the fight against the Al-Qaeda boogeyman in Arab clothing.
Down with Amerikanism, Long Live Pan-Arabism
Whether in Madison or Cairo, signs implying that Wisconsin is the
Tunisia of north Amerika are examples of what we call “false
internationalism” on both sides of the divide between rich and poor
nations. Combating false internationalism, which is inherent in any
pro-Amerikanism in the Third World, is part of the fight against
revisionism in general.
What no one can deny is the connection between the mass mobilizations
across the Arab world. That this represents a reawakening of pan-Arabism
is both clear and promising for the anti-imperialist struggle. Even
non-Arab groups in north Africa that have felt marginalized will benefit
from the greater internationalist consciousness and inherent
anti-imperialism with an Arabic-speaking world united against First
World exploitation and interference.
Of course, Palestine also stands to benefit from these movements. The
colonial dominance of Palestine has long been a lightning rod issue for
the Arab world, that only the U.$. puppet regimes (particularly in
Egypt) have been able to repress.
Everyone wants to know what’s next. While the media can create hype
about the “successful revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt, this is just
the beginning if there is to be any real change. Regional unity needs to
lead to more economic cooperation and self-sufficiency and to unlink the
economies of the Arab countries from U.$. and European imperialism.
Without that, the wealth continues to flow out of the region to the
First World.
As Frantz Fanon discussed extensively in writing about colonial Algeria,
the spontaneous violence of the masses must be transformed into an
organized, conscious, national violence to rid the colony of the
colonizer. Unfortunately, his vision was not realized in the
revolutionary upsurge that he lived through in north Africa and
neo-colonialism became the rule across the continent. Today, the masses
know that imperialism in Brown/Black face is no better. As fast as the
protests spread, they must continue to spread to the masses of the Arab
world before we will see an independent and self-determined people.
Five months after an emergency relief envoy destined for Palestine was
attacked and diverted by I$raeli settler pigs, who killed international
relief volunteers aboard a Turkish tanker in international waters, the
Amerikan puppet zionist regime announced it had begun allowing
international aid to reach the Palestinian people yet again.
Desperately needed human aid such as food, clothing, medicine and
construction materials comprised of cement and steel were stopped by
zionist occupation forces due to supposed safety and security concerns
that armament and explosives were being smuggled among the aid into the
oppressed nation of Palestine. These allegations were of course proven
untrue, however, the settler state still imposed an illegal ban on
international aid entering Palestine as well as an import/export
economic blockade.
This “economic blockade” as the settlers and their imperialist masters
call it (really just another genocidal weapon, i.e., “excellent weapon
of extermination”) further destroyed the already pathetic economy which
the Palestinian people have been forced to accept by the imperialists
and their running dogs. Factories have been at a stand still since May
forcing people out of work and most businesses have been shut down. Even
agricultural plots which the Palestinians directly rely on to help feed
their families have been denied to them. Jewish settlers steal produce
from these plots and then destroy that which they cannot carry. The
setters then contaminate the land with raw sewage.
So while the Palestinian economy has been destroyed and the
international aid which the Palestinian people have been forced to turn
towards is turned away, many might wonder exactly how is it that the
Palestinians survive? A BBC reporter wondered too, so he took to the
streets and found Palestinian markets selling Hebrew products and Hebrew
products alone (Leave it to the invincible hand of free market
capitalism to recognize where capital has fled and then magically
re-organize). However, nowhere in sight was international aid or a
re-surging Palestinian economy to be found. This is in direct
contradiction to Zionist claims that the ban on aid and economic
blockade had been lifted.
When I$raeli Foreign Minister Palmor was asked by the liberal bourgeois
media why the supposed expired ban was still in effect despite claims
that it’s been lifted he resorted to typical oppressor nation rhetoric.
Palmor unabashedly stated that the Palestinian people only had
themselves to blame for the situation they now found themselves in.
Furthermore, this PIG had the nerve to go on and explain that it was the
Palestinians own terroristic behavior that caused all this to begin
with. As if the Palestinians were the ones to make war on the Jewish
people, evict them from their lands and subject them to 62 years of
oppression and genocide. Oh wait, those were all zionist acts against
the Palestinian people. Of course anytime the oppressed stand up and
fight for their rights the oppressors quickly label them “terrorists.”
The real terrorists here are the backwards looking imperialists and
their lackey supporters who refuse to acknowledge the rights of nations
to self determination, while they love to talk about “equality” and
“freedom.”
Well, we in the USW say fuck your equalities and fuck your freedoms! The
only freedom and equality we recognize is that of the oppressed.
A new report from the NATO allies revealed the true story behind drone
attacks in Afghanistan. A few months back the man of change, Obama,
ordered strikes killing three or four Taliban fighters and one hundred
and forty some-odd civilians, among them children and wimmin. What a
change for the people of the u.$. and the rest of the world! What a
change for the oppression of wimmin in Afghanistan! Change came to the
Afghan people in the form of 30,000 more troops to oppress, kill and
torture them on their own land.
All this was done under the noses of amerikans without a protest. What
happened to all those protesters under the Bush administration? The war
against the oppressed has not stopped. Have they given up? That is the
exact result when people trying to change an oppressive system do not
have the right strategy or understanding of how to go about it.
What the Afghan and Iraqi brothers and sisters are going through is what
occurred to the Mexica, Incas, Tainos and the rest of the native people
of the land now called the Americas.
The capitalist system must destroy, oppress, kill and exploit in order
to sustain itself. That is why the united snakes has two war fronts at
the same time. We must not allow the destruction that the Iraqi and
Afghan people are facing. We must fight to stop the continuation of
oppression and exploitation of the rest of the world.
So far, the only way available to stop the exploitation and oppression
of humyn beings by other humyn beings is through the formation of a
government with a communist philosophy. This is a government we need to
struggle harder to form, because the existence of the people of the
world is at risk.
You, who believe in caring for your people, study communism. You, who
want to help other people and nations, don’t wait until a natural
disaster hits as the one in Haiti. Study socialism. You, who consider
yourself a revolutionary, don’t be half-way revolutionary.
Revolutionaries are constant causers or helpers of change. Be that every
possible moment of your life.
Let’s change the capitalist society into a socialist society, and then
the socialist into a communist and beyond as we reach communism. For the
better well-being of our children’s future, brothers and sisters.
note: World Focus with Daijit Dhaliwal. PBS. February 5, 2010.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Today, reports emerged of a
u.$./NATO bombing that claimed to be an attack on Taliban fighters, but
it turned out to be a civilian convoy and 33 people were killed.
Uncounted tens of thousands of people have been killed in Afghanistan
since the u.$. occupation began in 2001.
This comrade applies the concepts of line, strategy and tactics to an
international issue well in this article. We also commend h for writing
an article on international news, and encourage others to follow this
example, making connections between the prison struggle and the struggle
of oppressed people around the world.
One thing we would add in regards to line is a deeper analysis of the
protesters and other amerikans who claim to oppose the occupation of
Afghanistan. For those who are serious, we must push a more radical
agenda and a studying of Maoism and communism as the writer does. But
what holds back most amerikans is that they don’t have a life or death
interest in opposing imperialism. On the contrary, amerikans benefit
from imperialism, so condemnations of war often come in the form of
moralistic verbal protests, with little power or force to back it up.
That said, our strategy must be adapted to this situation and we must
focus on organizing the minority within u.$. borders that can be
organized against imperialism. We must organize that minority around
anti-imperialist demands that serve them and move them to committed
struggle, and we must connect that to the struggles of the international
proletariat, which are the foundation of communist revolution. We will
explore these ideas more in our upcoming newsletters focused on strategy
and tactics.
December 17, 2009 - U.$. President Obama orders u.$. military strike in
Yemen killing as many as 120 people, most of whom were civilians
including at least a couple dozen children.(1)
December 25, 2009 - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is alleged to have
attempted to ignite explosives on a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit. The
explosives failed to ignite.
December 28, 2009 - Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims
responsibility for the attempted attack by Abdulmutallab as a response
to u.$. attacks on Yemen earlier that month.(2)
January 7, 2010 - Obama gives a report citing multiple failures in u.$.
intelligence related to the attempted bombing. Politicians express
outrage that such a thing was allowed to happen.
Regardless of what facts may still come to light in this case, Obama
would have to be completely racist to believe that the oppressed nations
are incapable of organizing counterattacks to the slaughter he has
ordered across the Middle East.
There are billions of humyn beings in this world whose lives are
threatened by the united $tates. The idea that amerikan intelligence can
track them all and prevent every attempted attack as the u.$. makes
thousands of new enemies every day is nothing but wishful thinking.
While Obama has called for better organization and coordination between
u.$. intelligence agents, other politicians have promoted the plan to
spend over $1 billion on new technology, including body scanners that
can see through clothes. Former secretary of Homeland Security Michael
Chertoff was making the TV rounds promoting the products that he stands
to profit from as a private consultant.(3)
The amerikan politicians have made it clear that they are not outraged
that amerikan lives were threatened, but rather that the oppressed would
dare threaten white supremacy. There is an easy way to prevent attacks
like this recent attempt - keep the u.$. military and its proxies out of
Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and everywhere else the
imperialists are attempting to murder people to keep wealth accumulating
in the metropolis.
Al-Qaeda cells have been consistent in their demands since before
9/11/2001 for the u.$. military to get out of the Middle East. So far,
amerikans have proven more interested in increasing sales of defense
technology and imposing oppressive regimes on other countries than
stopping attacks on u.$. soil. (4)
por MIM(Prisiones) Mayo 2009 públicado en ULK panfleto #8
Halliburton, KBR, y Blackwater (quien recientemente fue marcado “Xe”)
han llegado a ser nombres populares en los años recientes y por lo
general con las connotaciones negativas. Hay mucho que decir sobre la
corrupción que está detallada en los libros citados más abajo, y también
demostrarémos unos paralelos al Complejo Industrial de Prisiones en este
y en otros artículos. La pregunta más considerable para los
contra-imperialistas, es ¿qué significa esta corrupción para el
desarrollo y el mantenimiento del imperialismo?
Los libros repasados para complementar este artículo describen las ambas
partes del militar imperialista estadounidense moderno. Por una parte el
ejército estatal que está comprando a la juventud americana con la
cultura del centro comercial a lo cual están acostumbrados y que está
mantenido por el trabajo barato del obrero del Tercer Mundo. Por otra
parte tiene contratistas armados, usados para las operaciones más
élites, quienes ganan sueldos más altos que los de los soldados
estadounidenses. Cuando los mercenarios vienen Tercer Mundo, ganan aun
más en proporción de lo que ganaban antes de hacerse mercenarios. Todo
combinado, los contratistas llegaron a superar en número al personal
militar terrestre estadounidense en Iraq. (Chatterjeem p. xvi) Las
historias de Halliburton, KBR y Blackwater deletrean una clara
tendencia: le está costando más que nunca al imperialismo para poder
sostener los niveles de personal necesario para mantener la hegemonía
mundial.
Un Microcosmos de la Economía Mundial
En el libro Halliburton’s Army, Pratap Chatterjee reporta que los
sueldos para contratistas en Iraq son relacionados explícitamente según
sus nacionalidades. Esta imagen es muy significativa a los quien afirman
que los americanos merecen sueldos más altos porque son más productivos.
Aquí tenemos gente que viene de todas partes del mundo para trabajar en
los mismos sitios y los tipos de pago son comparables a los que ganan en
sus naciones respectivas (usualmente ganan más en Iraq). Esta norma
todavía resonaban cierto en casos comunes donde la persona común del
Tercer Mundo tenía más experiencia, más conocimiento, o era más hábil
que la persona del Primer Mundo. Contratistas estadounidenses quienes
estaban desempleados y desesperados por conseguir trabajo empezaron con
sueldos desde $80,000 anuales más gastos de subsistencia para supervisar
a filipinos que ganaron $200-$1,000 por mes. Un americano afirmó haber
realizado $130,000 al año para trabajar sólo un día por semana. En
Bagram, los basureros afganos se pagaron $10 por cada jornada de 12
horas. Mientras que los indios ganaban $600 al mes más alojamiento y
comida por trabajar en los restaurantes de comida rápida en las base.
Los filipinos quienes construyeron las prisiones en Guantánamo fueron
mantenidos sí mismos en prisiones horribles, y recibieron $2.50 cada
hora por trabajar 12 horas peligrosas diariamente sin equipo de
seguridad. Los abusos de parte de los contratistas llegaron a ser tan
notoria que La India, El Nepal, y las Filipinas lo prohibieron que sus
ciudadanos trabajar en Iraq. (Chatterjee)
Con 35,000 de los
47,000 empleados de Halliburton en Iraq siendo procedentes del Tercer
Mundo (Chatterjee, p. 142), y los sueldos comparables siendo pagados por
la nacionalidad, se ve una réplica de la economía mundial que la mayoría
de los habitantes del Primer Mundo defienden, incluso muchos de los
llamados “marxistas.” Alrededor del 25% de los empleados ganaban
salarios del nivel explotador mientras que los demás eran obreros del
Tercer Mundo (en su mayoría inmigrantes) haciendo todo el trabajo duro y
peligroso para salarios por debajo del valor promedio del trabajo. Según
los izquierdistas de la nación opresora, Halliburton no emplearía a los
americanos con sueldos de $80,000 más las gastas si no los estuviese
explotándoselos. Estos pseudo-marxistas piensan que un americano quien
firma un cheque produce diez veces más de valor que un filipino que hace
la construcción o la preparación de comida. En la escala mundial existen
las fronteras y los océanos que de alguna manera le hacen esta mera
misma situación aun más agradable a la nación opresora.
La Conexión del Prisión
Mientras los vínculos de Halliburton y Blackwater con el gobierno
federal han estado en cuestión durante mucho tiempo, el contratista 39o
más grande del gobierno es su propio Industrias de Prisiones Federales –
FPI o UNICOR. (Wright, p.111) Como el labor del Tercer Mundo detrás de
Halliburton y KBR, el autor Ian Urbina afirma que el militar
estadounidense no podría hacer lo que hace sin la inmensa cantidad y
diversidad de productos el FPI provee con el trabajo de presos a los
cual les pagan entre $0.23 – $1.15 por hora (suma a $400 millones en
ventas al Departamento de Defensa en el 2002). Franklin D. Roosevelt
(FDR) estableció la compañía usando legislación que forzó al
Departamento de Defensa comprar los productos del FPI, aunque sus
precios no eran los más bajos. (Wright, p. 113) Esta táctica de parte de
FDR mantuvo el dinero en circulación dentro del estado para seguir
financiando sus objetivos represivos, en vez de permitir que el dinero
de impuestos regrese a manos del sector privado en la forma de
ganancias.
Esto valida, sobre todo, el patrón general que MIM(Prisiones) ha visto:
aún la industria la más grande en el país impulsada por el trabajo de
presos es un subsidio para la represión del Estado y no una fuente de
enriquecimiento individual. Sin embargo reconocemos que el militar
estadounidense no está ahorrando dinero por comprar los productos de FPI
– las industrias del sector privado tienen la capacidad de ofrecer sus
productos tan barato o aún más barato que FPI. Entonces no estamos de
acuerdo con las implicaciones que hace Urbina que el trabajo de presos
es esencial para las operaciones del militar.
Una relación interesante entre el Complejo Industrial del Militar y el
Complejo Industrial de Prisiones se encuentra en las contribuciones de
más de $500,000 de parte del dueño de Blackwater Erik Prince al
Ministerios del Compañerismo en Prisiones – PFM. PFM es una organización
cristiana evangélica que envía más de 50.000 voluntarios en las
prisiones de EE.UU. (Wright, p.130) Mientras MIM(Prisiones) queda
impedido de mandar correspondencia a presos por todos partes de los
Estados Unidos porque mantiene que la revolución es necesaria para
acabar el aprieto de los opresos, el fundador de Compañerismo en
Prisiones, Chuck Colson, citó a Thomas Jefferson para implicar que la
revolución cristiana es necesaria en los Estados Unidos. (Scahill,
p. 95) Más de 1,800 facilidades le han otorgado acceso al PFM para que
funcione sus programas dentro de las prisiones, los cual han registrado
más de 20000 personas.
Americanos Queremosynopodemos
Blackwater está reclutando a ex agentes de la CIA ocupados en todo el
mundo como mercenarios, sobornándoles con cheques de pago al nivel de
los E.E.U.U. El resultado de esto debería ayudar a demostrar a nuestros
críticos la importancia de la compra de toda una nación. El nacionalismo
americano provee una defensa mucho más poderosa para el imperialismo de
lo que ningún ejército mercenario podría proveer. Aunque la mayor parte
de estos mercenarios están impregnadas de la ideología fascista lo cual
conduce al militarismo imperialista, las posibilidades de conflictos de
intereses son significativamente más grandes.
La globalización del ejército imperialista es un signo de debilidad, no
de fuerza cada vez mayor. Pronto no habrá absolutamente ningún manera de
que su ejército pueda crecer (excepto con los robots).
Soldados Americanos del Siglo 21
Desde la Guerra Civil hasta la Guerra Fría, el ejército nacional de los
EE.UU. no fue reclutado por el motivo de ganancia. Sin embargo, mientras
que el nacionalismo estadounidense proporcionó una base sólida para el
militarismo imperialista, que siguen aumentando las demandas de la
nación parásita eventualmente socavó la voluntad de los soldados a
luchar y morir por su nación. Podrían emplear a los mexicanos para hacer
sus quehaceres domésticos y trabajo manual, mientras los asiáticos del
este están siendo contratado para hacer su producción industrial, no
podían simplemente contratar a alguien para manejar el trabajo sucio de
luchar en sus guerras de saqueo imperialista? O parafraseando a
Chatterjee, los soldados estadounidenses pasaron de pelar sus propias
papas en tiendas de campaña que han establecido sí mismos a tener
obreros del Tercer Mundo sirviéndoles buffet de todo lo que puedan comer
para la cena. Sabes, para que lo haga sentir más como estén en sus
casas.
Funcionarios del departamento de relaciones públicas del militar
estadounidense explican de la necesidad de proveer tal conforts de
criatura como necesario para mantener un ejército completamente
voluntario en el siglo 21. (Chatterjee, p.10) Pero la pregunta de por
qué una conscripción no es viable es la misma pregunta de americanos
quienes no teniendo ganas de entregar a sus vidas cómodas, lo cual atrae
la amenaza de un movimiento de resistencia contra la conscripción que da
alimento al anti-imperialismo.
Un solado reportó,
“No es una exageración que tengo un estilo de vida mejor aquí en la base
en Iraq de lo que tendría allá en los Estados Unidos. Tenemos lavandería
gratis, viviendas de tipo apartamento con aire acondicionado y
electricidad sin límite también agua caliente, hay varios distribuidores
americanos de comida rápida, salones, internet gratis, cafés y un enorme
PX… helados de Baskins Robbins… y una vez a la semana nos sirven bistec
y langosta… noche de karaoke, y varios tipos de equipos deportivos…”
y concluye con lo siguiente,
“y aun solo a unos cientos metros fuera de la cerca, los niños pequeños
andan pidiendo de lo que sea: comida, agua embotellada… la realidad es
muy, muy, muy chocante. Somos verdaderamente una cultura de consentidos
y mimados.” (Chatterjee, p.11)
Esta no es una realización rara para los americanos consentidos que
concluyan cuando están enviados a la guerra en el Tercer Mundo. Pero
como este soldado señala, varios están allí por la misma razón de que
reciben mejores condiciones materialistas en Iraq. Y pues no están
exactamente convirtiéndose al internacionalismo en multitud a pesar del
dosis de realidad.
Lejos de pelar papas en efecto, Chatterjee describe lo que se encuentra
en el comedor típico: helados, barras de panqueque, colitas de langosta
y varias comidas elaboradas de día de fiesta, todo esto es gratis para
los soldados. Otras facilidades en las bases estadounidenses más grandes
contienen un centro comercial pequeño (“minimall”) con tiendas como
Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, y Green Beans Coffee. El
continua dándole una descripción del “Scorpion’s Den”. Uno está
presentado de un inmediato con casi completa oscuridad, el trasfondo de
música de un teatro despejado de cien asientos, el suave luz de las
computadoras portátiles, y el parpadeo de luces de los videojuegos…
También hay palomitas de maíz gratis, caja tras caja de agua
embotellada… y una máquina de helados “Dipping Dots.” Entonces hay el
“Sandbox” donde “docenas de soldados se sientan reclinados en sillones
de cuero falso, entreteniéndose con video juegos de guerra o programas
como Guitar Hero y mirando la película de Star Trek.” (Chatterjee,
p. 6–7)
Vemos esto como una nueva etapa en la historia de reclutamiento militar
de parte de las naciones opresoras. Las fuerzas ocupantes brutales de
los poderes colonizadores en el Tercer Mundo hace más de cien años
actuaban directamente en sus intereses propios. Eran similar a los
conquistadores y colonizadores de Norte América de hace varios siglos
anteriores, cuando los americanos robaron la tierra que ahora ocupan. La
unidad nacionalista que subsecuentemente crearon con sus riquezas y
tierra robada, proveía por más de cien años de relativamente exitosos
conscripciones forzados al militar. Hoy día, sin embargo, a los
americanos les gusta imaginarse que su prosperidad no fue construida
detrás del genocidio y la esclavitud. En combinación con sus vidas
cómodas, la idea de ir a guerra frecuentemente les parece no sólo
desagradable sino innecesario. En otras palabras, su amnesia histórica
quizás ayudara a socavar a la nación opresora, ya que algunos no
comprenden de lo necesario para mantener sus posiciones de privilegio.
Al comienzo del siglo 21, Halliburton tuvo que doblar los sueldos de la
gente para convencerlos a que les vayan a Iraq, no como soldados sino
como contratistas civil. Pero aún así, ¿vale la pena arriesgar la vida
cuando la vida en el hogar es tan cómodo? La alianza americana al
imperialismo estadounidense se demuestra en la política, pero cuando
tiene que ver con ir a guerra, sus acciones caerán un poco corto de la
meta hasta que realmente empiezan a ver que su riqueza materialista
comienza a disminuir, lo cual ocurrirá cuando al Tercer Mundo empieza a
cerrar los caminos hacia la explotación como lo han hecho en el pasado.
El Complejo Industrial Militar no va a ser parado de por contribuyentes
americanos. Los que están impidiéndolo son los combatientes de
resistencia quienes han asegurado que los que van a Iraq sólo son los
que realmente necesitan estar allá. Desafortunadamente, ese incluye
muchas nacionales del Tercer Mundo, algunos de quien están detenidos
como presos mientras se fuerzan trabajar por poca paga o sin paga bajo
las condiciones la más horrible. Más y más aprenderá la locura de tratar
de trabajar por los imperialistas. No hay ningún futuro para las
naciones del Tercer Mundo dentro del sistema imperialista, sólo en la
resistencia a él.
Los debates sobre el envío de más tropas o la
racionalización de los militar estadounidense son debates sobre la
optimización imperialismo estadounidense. Lo interesante para nosotros
es que la lucha parece ser tan grave, ya que ni plan está resultando
viable.
En nuestra crítica sobre la economía de prisiones y la aristocracia del
trabajo por lo general, señalamos a los burócratas con sueldos
exorbitantes como una parte significante del problema. Pero
MIM(Prisiones) no es libertario en su ideología. En todo caso, la
experiencia parece mostrar un mayor grado de apropiación indebida de los
fondos cuando los servicios se subcontratan. La causa de la corrupción
es por motivo de lucro, si la posesión es pública o privada. Este es por
qué la nacionalización de las industrias o de bancos no se detiene la
explotación, ni tampoco señala un avanzo hacia el socialismo.
Notas: (1) Chatterjee, Pratap. Halliburton’s Army. Nation Books,
2009. (2) Scahill, Jeremy. Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most
Powerful Mercenary Army. Nation Books, 2008. (3) Wright, Paul and
Tara Herivel. Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass
Incarceration. New Press, 2007.
The
recent election in Iran has become a phenomenon given unusual attention
by amerikans who read the news. One must ask why these amerikans are so
upset about potential election fraud on the other side of the world? You
didn’t hear such concern about the recent Mexican election. In that case
it was a country bordering the united $tates, and there was actually
evidence of widespread fraud. With the treatment of an incident last
week where the Honduran president was abducted and flown out of the
country in a coup, it is even more evident that the media and its
followers are more upset about the fact that their candidate didn’t win
then that there was any unfairness involved.
The Iranian election warrants particular attention from the Maoist
movement because of the campaign against Iran, and the Muslim world in
general, that has been carried out by Amerikan imperialism as well as
groups calling themselves feminists, and some even calling themselves
Maoists. While years of struggle have occurred against these allies of
imperialism, many of our readers behind bars will be new to this.
For years now, the so-called “Revolutionary Communist Party (USA)” has
been organizing mass demonstrations in cities across the country on
International Wimmin’s Day, targeting Iran. At one rally, this writer
witnessed middle-aged men in business casual attire carrying massive
banners calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. When
asked what group they organized with they claimed to just be a couple
guys concerned about the issue. The main topic of the rally was wimmin’s
rights.
As one Maoist writer pointed out, the Jerusalem Post (6/23/2009)
printed an article entitled, “It’s about the women” in response to the
post-election protests in Iran, which stated:
“Women are the ones arrested in Iran for having an ankle showing or for
wearing lipstick. After three such arrests, women go to prison. At the
fourth arrest, they get a public lashing.”
The author correctly comments,
No doubt some Iranian wimmin are indeed afraid of their own Muslim
culture. Yet there is no proof that the portion of Iranian wimmin so
afraid is higher than the portion of Amerikan wimmin afraid of sexual
harassment on the street if they show ankle or wear obvious lipstick.
There is also no doubt that large portions of wimmin in both Iran and
the united $tates are completely comfortable with the culture they
display when walking down the street.(1)
In other words, this is not about wimmin’s rights, as much as many try
to pretend it is. If it was they would be attacking patriarchy not
oppressed nations whose leaders don’t succumb to u$ economic interests.
Our readers should know that millions of dollars were sent to
anti-government organizations in Iran in the last few years by the U.S.
State Department(2), while Seymour Hersh reported that U.S. special
operations forces were conducting exercises inside Iran’s borders. One
can see why the u$-backed candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, might have
expected to win the recent presidential election. But a number of polls
showed high approval rates of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and showed
him winning the election by a similar margin. While anti-Ahmadinejad
activists got support from corporations like Facebook and Twitter and
their users to get their opinions out, 65% of Iranians don’t have access
to the internet(4), which likely overlaps greatly with the rural
majority who reportedly voted for Ahmadinejad.
In one online discussion of the Iranian elections an apparent
anti-imperialist commented, “It’s interesting that some “Western
progressives” here are essentially accepting the Western media and
government propaganda spin on the Iranian elections–the same Western
media and governments they supposedly oppose.”(3) It is interesting, in
that it exposes the common interests between amerikans and the corporate
elite when it comes to issues most important to imperialism.
However, we should not ignore a couple of things that made this
embracing of the corporate line a bit smoother. First, many supposedly
independent organs have been rallying amerikans against the Islamic
Republic of Iran for years. Second you have supposedly independent
activists on Twitter reporting from Iran. For amerikans, the individual
is the ideal unit for change, far superior to a self-proclaimed
revolutionary organization or a corporate news source. Amerikans trust
individuals more, even when there is no accountability of who these
individuals are. So when CNN says that the elections in Iran were
rigged, there is corroborating evidence from “alternative” sources to
let one believe it.
Will amerikans support People’s War when the proletariat uses Twitter?
The obvious answer is no. Twitter serves a certain class with certain
interests. The world’s exploited majority are not well-represented on
the internet. Amerikan liberals would like to think that their little
gadgets, paid for with the blood and sweat of the Third World, are
increasing democracy and humyn rights. It is only at the fringes that
the proletariat is making use of these tools that are still in the hands
of the rich. (Rather than a Twitter Revolution, one starts to wonder if
this is just one big Twitter advertisement.)
Those who acknowledge that Mousavi does not represent the progressive
demands of the masses of Iran are countering that those in the street
are who they are supporting. One commentator pointed out:
“Just being in the streets does not make a protester revolutionary. Just
as putting down such protests, in itself, does not make one a
reactionary. Fascists have had street protests. And, communists have
broken up street protests.”
It is the most radical of the petty bourgeoisie who fall into this trap
of seeing all rebellion as good without considering the greater context
or the outcome. These individualists idealize “spontaneous” uprisings,
even when they’re backed by millions of dollars of u$ funding and years
of psychological warfare by the CIA-run media.
As many of the better commentaries have pointed out, this “Green
Revolution” being touted in the corporate media is the latest in a long
line of “revolutions” that are backed by the the imperialists to replace
the governments of mostly former-Eastern Bloc countries with leaders
favoring Washington-centered neo-liberalism. While they have all
received great praise in the media, none has received such mass response
from amerikans in general as Iran. The key difference has been the Islam
factor, and the use of gender aristocracy attacks on Iran from a range
of amerikans, including the u$ State Department, pseudo-feminist
organizations, and phoney Maoist parties.
Gender issues have been used by colonialists and imperialists to attack
Islam (ie. the oppressed nations) throughout the last century. There is
no reason to believe that such attacks are suddenly progressive.
Amerikans are being rallied around “barbaric” incidents in the Muslim
world, while ignoring the fact that u$ imperialism is still the number
one
imprisoner,
torturer and killer in the
world. No one else comes close.
Halliburton,
KBR and Blackwater (recently rebranded as “Xe”) have all become
household names in recent years, and generally with negative
connotations. There is much to be said about their corruption that is
detailed in the books cited below, and we will draw some parallels to
the Prison Industrial Complex in this and other articles. But the bigger
question for anti-imperialists is what this signifies for the
development and maintenance of imperialism.
The books reviewed for this article describe the two sides of the modern
imperialist military of the united $tates. On the one hand you have the
state-run military that is buying off amerikan youth with the mall
culture they are accustomed to, run by cheap Third World labor. On the
other, you have armed contractors, often used for more elite operations,
increasing salaries of u$ soldiers by 100% and probably moreso for
mercenaries from the Third World. All combined, contractors came to
outnumber u$ military personnel on the ground in Iraq. (Chatterjee,
p. xvi) The stories of Halliburton/KBR and Blackwater spell out a clear
trend: it is costing more than ever for imperialism to keep the
personnel levels it needs to maintain global hegemony.
A microcosm of global economy
In Halliburton’s Army, Pratap Chatterjee reports that wages for
contractors in Iraq are tied explicitly to nationality. This picture is
very telling for those who claim that amerikans deserve higher wages
because they are more productive. Here you have people coming from all
over the world to work on the same site and the pay rates are comparable
to what they’d get in their home countries (usually they make more in
Iraq). This rule still rang true in the common cases where the Third
World persyn had more skills or knowledge than the First Worlder.
Contractors from the united $tates who were unemployed and desperate for
work started at $80,000 a year plus living expenses to supervise
Filipinos who made $200- $1000 per month. One amerikan reported making
$130,000 a year to work only 1 day per week. In Bagram, Afghan trash
collectors were paid $10 for a 12 hour day, while Indians made $600 a
month plus room and board working in fast food restaurants on the base.
Filipinos who built the prisons in Guantanamo were kept in horrible
prisons themselves, and paid $2.50 an hour for dangerous 12 hour days
with no safety equipment. Abuses by contractors got so notorious that
India, Nepal and the Philippines all made it illegal for their citizens
to work in Iraq. (Chatterjee)
With 35,000 of 47,000 Halliburton employees in Iraq coming from the
Third World (Chatterjee, p.142), and comparable wages being paid by
nationality, you see a replica of the global economy that most First
Worlders defend, even many so-called “Marxists.” About 25% of the
employees were making exploiter level wages, while the rest were Third
World (mostly migrant) workers doing all the hard and dangerous work,
for wages below the average value of labor. According to the oppressor
nation left, Halliburton wouldn’t employ the amerikans at $80,000 plus
expenses if they weren’t exploiting them. These pseudo-marxists think
that an amerikan signing a check produces 10 times more value than a
Filipino doing construction work or food preparation. On the global
scale there are borders and oceans that somehow make this very same
situation even more palatable to the oppressor nation.
The Prison Connection
While Halliburton’s and Blackwater’s ties to the federal government have
long been in question, the government’s 39th largest contractor is its
very own Federal Prisons Industries (FPI) or UNICOR. (Wright, p. 111)
Like the Third World labor behind Halliburton/KBR, author Ian Urbina
asserts that the u$ military could not do what it does without the vast
amount and diversity of products that FPI provides with prison labor
that is paid $0.23 to $1.15 an hour (amounting to $400 million in sales
to the Department of Defense in 2002). Franklin D. Roosevelt set up the
company using legislation that forced the Department of Defense to
purchase from FPI, even when their prices were not the lowest. (Wright,
p.113) This move by FDR kept money circulating within the state to
further fund its repressive aims, rather than allowing tax money to
return to private hands in the form of profit.
This validates the overall patterns that MIM(Prisons) has seen; even the
biggest prison labor-powered industry in the country is a subsidy for
state repression, not a source of private profit. However we do
recognize that the U$ military is not saving money by buying products
from FPI - private industries can offer products for as cheap or
cheaper. And so we don’t agree with Urbina’s implication that prison
labor is essential to military operations.
Another interesting relationship between the military industrial complex
and the prison industrial complex is found in Blackwater owner Erik
Prince’s $500,000-plus in contributions to the Prison Fellowship
Ministries(PFM). PFM is an evangelical Christian organization that sends
more than 50,000 volunteers into u$ prisons. (Wright, p.130) While
MIM(Prisons) is kept from sending mail to prisoners all over the u$ for
saying that revolution is necessary to end the plight of the oppressed,
Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson has cited Thomas Jefferson to
imply that Christian revolution is necessary in the united $tates.
(Scahill, p. 95) Over 1800 facilities have granted PFM access to run
programs inside the prisons that have enrolled over 20,000 people. Once
again, we demonstrate that censorship of Maoist literature is about
politics and not security.
Wannabe amerikans
Blackwater is busy recruiting former CIA operatives around the world as
mercenaries, bribing them with u$-level paychecks. The outcome of this
should help demonstrate to our critics the importance of the buying off
of a whole nation. Amerikan nationalism provides a much stronger defense
for imperialism than a mercenary army. Even if most of these mercenaries
are steeped in fascist ideology that is conducive to imperialist
militarism, the chances of conflicts of interests developing are
significantly greater.
The globalization of the imperialist army is a sign of weakness, not of
growing strength. Soon there will be absolutely no way for their army to
grow (except with robots).
21st Century Amerikan soldiers
From the Civil War to the Cold War, the u$ national military was not
recruited through profit motives. However, while amerikan nationalism
provided a strong base for imperialist militarism, the continued
increase in demands of the parasitic nation eventually undercut their
willingness to fight and die for their nation. They could hire Mexicans
to do their housework and manual labor, while hiring East Asians to do
their industrial production, couldn’t they just hire someone to handle
the dirty work of fighting their wars for imperialist plunder? Or to
paraphrase Chatterjee, amerikan soldiers went from peeling their own
potatoes in tents that they set up themselves to having Third World
workers serve them all you can eat dinner buffets. You know, to make it
feel more like home.
U$ military public relations explains the need to provide such creature
comforts as necessary to maintain an all volunteer army in the 21st
century. (Chatterjee, p. 10) But the question of why a draft is not
viable is the same question of amerikans not being willing to give up
their cush lifestyles, which brings the threat of a draft resistance
movement that feeds into anti-imperialism.
One soldier reported,
“It is no exaggeration that I live a higher lifestyle here on a base in
Iraq than [I would] in the United States. We have free laundry,
apartment-like housing with unlimited, free A/C and electricity, hot
water, various American fast-food outlets, lounges, free Internet,
coffee shops, and a large PX… Baskin Robbins ice cream… once a week we
get steak and lobster… karaoke night, all kinds of sports teams…”
And he goes on to conclude,
“Yet just a few hundred meteres outside the fence, little kids are
begging for anything: food, bottled water… The reality is very, very,
very shocking. We are truly a pampered and spoiled culture.”
(Chatterjee, p. 11)
This is not a unique realization for spoiled amerikans to make when sent
to war in the Third World. But as this soldier also points out, many are
there for the very reason that they get better material conditions in
Iraq. So they aren’t exactly converting to internationalism in droves,
despite the dose of reality.
Far from peeling potatoes indeed, Chatterjee describes the typical
dining area with ice cream, waffle bars, lobster tails and elaborate
holiday dinners, all free to soldiers. Other facilities on big u$ bases
include a “mini mall” with stores like Burger King, KFC, McDonalds,
Pizza Hut and Green Beans Coffee. He goes on to describe the “Scorpions
Den”: “one is greeted by almost pitch darkness, the background music
from a one-hundred-seater open theater, the soft glow of laptops, and
the flickering lights of video games… There are also free popcorn, boxes
and boxes of bottled water… and a Dipping Dots ice cream machine.” Then
there is the “Sandbox” where “Dozens of soldiers sit slumped into fake
leather armchairs, playing war games or programs like Guitar Hero and
watching a Star Trek movie.” (Chatterjee, p.6-7)
We see this as a new stage in the history of military recruitment by the
oppressor nations. The brutal occupation forces of colonial powers in
the Third World more than a century ago acted in their own direct
interest. They were similar to the Conquistadors and settlers of North
America centuries earlier, when amerikans stole the land they now
occupy. The national unity they subsequently built on their stolen land
and wealth, provided for over a hundred years of relatively successful
forced military drafts. Today, however, amerikans like to pretend that
their prosperity is not built on genocide and slavery. Combined with
their very comfortable lives, the idea of going to war often seems not
just unappealing, but unnecessary. In other words, historical amnesia
may help undercut the oppressor nation as some don’t understand what it
takes to maintain their positions of privilege.
In the beginning of the 21st century, Halliburton had to double people’s
salaries to get them to go to Iraq as civilian contractors, not
soldiers. But even then, is it worth risking your life when life at home
is so comfortable? Amerikans allegiance to u$ imperialism is
demonstrated in their politics, but when it comes to going to war, their
actions will fall a bit short until they really start to see their
material wealth start to diminish, which will happen once the Third
World begins shutting of the paths of exploitation as it has in the
past.
The military industrial complex will not be stopped by amerikan
taxpayers. It is being stopped by resistance fighters who have ensured
that only those who really need to be there are going to Iraq.
Unfortunately, that includes many Third World nationals, some of whom
are being held as prisoners while being forced to work for little to no
pay under the most horrible conditions. More and more will learn the
folly of trying to work for the imperialists. There is no future for the
Third World nations within the imperialist system, only in resistance to
it.
The debates about sending more troops or streamlining the u$ military
are debates about optimizing u$ imperialism. The interesting part to us
is that the struggle appears to be so acute as neither plan is proving
viable.
In our criticisms of the prison economy and the labor aristocracy in
general, we point to overpaid bureaucrats as a significant part of the
problem. But MIM(Prisons) is not Libertarian. If anything, experience
seems to show a greater degree of misappropriation of funds when
services are contracted out. The cause of corruption is the
profit motive, whether ownership is private or public. This is why
nationalizing industries or banks does not stop exploitation, nor does
it signal a move towards socialism.
notes: (1) Chatterjee, Pratap. Halliburton’s Army. Nation Books,
2009. (2) Scahill, Jeremy. Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most
Powerful Mercenary Army. Nation Books, 2008. (3) Wright, Paul and
Tara Herivel. Prison Profiteers: Who makes money from mass
incarceration. New Press, 2007.
La clase y la nación triunfa sobre la ideología auto-descrita.
Así como la gente nos ha demostrado bastantemente sobre estos últimos
años, la ideología de uno es mucho más que sólo un nombre. Mientras
aquellos que reclaman el método científico del materialismo dialéctico
en el nombre de Marx, Lenin, y Mao han hecho llamadas de la bienvenida a
las fuerzas imperialistas en sus países (sea de las Naciones Unidas o de
los propios Estados Unidos), los musulmanes han puesto un límite en la
arena y han dicho que ¡NO! al imperialismo estadounidense en África, el
sureste asiático y especialmente en el Oriente Medio donde la ocupación
imperialista es más pronunciada.
Mientras los maoístas supuestos han dado la bienvenida a las
imperialistas estadounidenses como socios en la construcción de la
“Nueva Democracia,” el clérigo Iraqui Moqtada al-Sadr reprendió los
intentos del Secretario de defensa estadounidense Gates de invitarle al
procedimiento político dirigido imperialisticamente esta semana. Se le
cita declarando:
“Yo estaré siempre tu enemigo porque estás ocupando a
Iraq.” … “Escuché la declaración del ministro de defensa americano
terrorista y me siento obligado a dar una repuesta decente a tal
terrorista. No tengo ningún enemigo sino tu, tu eres el ocupante.
Siempre has sido mi enemigo y siempre serás mi enemigo hasta que derrame
la última gota de mi sangre.” (1)
Esto estaba en un discurso en lo cual al-Sadr defendía a los miembros
del militar Iraqui apoyado por imperialista por no atacar a otros
Iraquis durante varias incursiones ordenados por los Estados Unidos
(U$), exigiéndole al estado que le devuelva los trabajos a esos mismos.
En relación a esto comentó:
“No levanten armas contra otros Iraquis mientras que ellos no le ayuden
al ocupante. También le llamo a acción al gobierno Iraqui que apoye a su
gente para librar la nación del ocupante.” (1)
Esto es lo que revolucionarios científicos llaman reconocer la
contradicción principal y unir a todos quien pueden ser unidos para
impulsar esa contradicción a su resolución. Así es como la historia
llega a ser. Estas declaraciones por al-Sadr están en el contexto de un
Iraq con varias facciones establecidas y listas a pelear entre sí mismos
siendo aún estando dispuestos a luchar por las imperialistas para
cumplirlo.
En otras partes de la region, reportes del grupo Hezbullah fortalecido y
atrincherado en el sur de Líbano declaran que han aprovechado y
exitosamente han reclutado comunidades tras líneas religiosas que
frecuentemente han dividido la nación en el pasado. (2) La necesidad es
una gran maestra, y la ocupación Israelí y estadounidense han
introducido la necesidad de la defensa unida hacia la vanguardia en
naciones como Líbano é Iraq. Similarmente, es llegándole a la meta de
las necesidades de la lucha revolucionaria que ofrece el camino más
acelerado hacia la liberación de la mujer, sin quien la resistencia
seguramente fracasará. Como un sistema de clases que perpetua sus
inherentes desigualidades, la intervención imperialista no puede unir a
los opresos, librar a las mujeres, ni tampoco proveer constantemente a
las masas con sus necesidades materiales como Hezbullah y los
“Sadristas” deben hacer en sus regiones.
Data desde la época de Lenin y el principio del primer experimento
socialista en Rusia, los comunistas han demostrado que mientras la
religión es el opio de las masas, las masas no son enemigos porque aun
todavía abrazan la religión. Podemos tener una gran confianza que el
método científico triunfará mientras la gente lucha por la supervivencia
y la liberación. Los musulmanes en Iraq y Líbano han demostrado esta
verdad en la práctica.
The
recent election in Iran has become a phenomenon given unusual attention
by amerikans who read the news. One must ask why these amerikans are so
upset about potential election fraud on the other side of the world? You
didn’t hear such concern about the recent Mexican election. In that case
it was a country bordering the united $tates, and there was actually
evidence of widespread fraud. With the treatment of an incident last
week where the Honduran president was abducted and flown out of the
country in a coup, it is even more evident that the media and its
followers are more upset about the fact that their candidate didn’t win
then that there was any unfairness involved.
