ULTRA-NATIONALISM,
RACISM AND BIGOTRY ARE NO SOLUTION. WORKERS CAN DEFEAT FASCISM! ALL OUT ON
APRIL 4!
20-03-15 – Working people
and the oppressed should take note – fascism arises due to two conditions being
present. The first is an economic collapse of the capitalist system. The second
is the absence of a genuine class struggle left wing party and mass movement
prepared to lead workers in a struggle for socialism. Here we see the
beginnings of such a collapse, and the organised left is largely dispersed.
Hence we see shoots of fascism arising – this time under the guise of “Reclaim
Australia”. National rallies are being held in capital cities and some regional
areas, organised by various ultra-nationalist groups, on April 4, which has
triggered anti-fascist counter demonstrations. The MLF urges all workers and
their supporters to mobilise for the counter rallies. In Brisbane, the planned
action is at King George Square at 11am.
Make no mistake, the flag
waving “patriotism” and nationalism of “Reclaim Australia” hides the psychotic
and fascist tendencies of neo-Nazism. One of the targets of their vicious bile
is anyone who practices the Islamic faith, with their wildly false claims about
Sharia Law and Halal food. But anyone who is a migrant, Aboriginal, ethnic or any
minority, person of colour, gay or lesbian, or a worker who is a member of, or
supports Unions, are also targets of fascists, potentially for deadly
extermination. This is why fascists cannot be treated as just others who have a
differing political opinion. Their actions present a clear and present physical
danger to anyone who appears “foreign”, indigenous, or to workers and their organisations
– especially Trade Unions. Fascists must be prevented, by any means necessary,
from publicly marching or organising in public. This is a simple matter of
self-defence.
Fascism sprouts, and can
very easily thrive, in the absence of an organised and politically aware labour
movement. In Australia today, the Union movement is almost totally hamstrung by
treacherous pro-capitalist, and often pro-ALP, leaders and officials. These
misleaders have colluded, and often helped implement, at least 30 years of
austerity measures against workers, even before they were known as such. When
workers and their supporters are continually sold out and betrayed by their own
Union leaders, the demoralisation can easily turn in other directions. Anyone
providing answers – even fascists, are then considered. If sufficiently
organised, the intervention of a revolutionary workers’ party linked to the
Unions has the power to prevent the drift to the far- right. If such a workers’
party does not exist, it must be built.
The other condition which
has enabled fascism to rear its ugly head now, is the near total absence of an
anti-war movement. Capitalism remains in a dire economic crisis, and this drives
ever more reckless war provocations, principally by Western imperialism. In
recent years, NATO, fully backed by Canberra, destroyed Libya and lynched
former leader Colonel Gaddafi in the streets. This was after funding and arming
Al-Qaeda and other jihadists against the former Libyan government. At the same
time, the US empire was funding, arming and training similar jihadists against
the Syrian Arab Republic, and is still doing so five years later.
Unfortunately, not only has the majority of leftist parties not opposed the US
led wars for “regime change” on Libya and Syria, they have given backhanded
support to them, albeit under the guise of backing an imaginary Libyan or
Syrian “revolution”. The fact that the only people participating in these
alleged “revolutions” were US/Saudi/Israeli/Turkish/Qatari armed jihadists,
was, for them, a minor matter.
The whipping up of
anti-Islamic bigotry to justify war abroad and the shredding of any semblance
of democratic rights for workers at home, is no minor matter, however. Deluded
individuals who blame “Islam” for the problems stemming from the economic and
social disintegration of capitalist society are conveniently being used by the
very Labor and Liberal governments they no doubt scorn. They are also perhaps
unaware that the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and now ISIS are almost entirely creations
of US led imperialism, dating back to the arming of the Mujahideen against the
Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The US led war in Afghanistan against
the USSR, backed by Canberra, eventually succeeded in contributing to the
counterrevolution which destroyed the Soviet bloc – which was indeed the long
standing aim of the US empire.
In a similar way, the aim of
the US empire, along with its Saudi/Israeli/Qatari/Turkish allies, is the
overthrow of the sovereign Syrian Arab Republic. The arming, funding and
training of all manner of Salafist, Wahabist, Al-Qaeda and the manufactured
“ISIS” groups are all efforts to prosecute this aim. Politically backing this
project are the US lackey imperialist states of the UK and France, and the
junior imperialist Australian state. Once Syria is taken out, Iran will be
deprived of a major ally, which will be an easier target. Once Iran has gone,
the larger US targets of Russia and China beckon. 100 years after the original
Anzac landing, the Abbott government, fully supported by Shorten, are using
flag waving ultra-nationalism to create another war myth of diggers going to
fight a good fight. That they are scapegoating Muslims here and abroad to serve
their aim of endless war, as well as exterminating even basic democratic rights
for workers here, should indicate to us the depths to which they are prepared
to sink.
The severe Islamophobia,
whipped up by the Federal Government, is inseparable from the wars it is either
waging or preparing for. “ISIS” – which is armed by the very states claiming to
wage war against it – is a convenient cover. It is thus impossible to oppose
the Islamophobia and fascism of “Reclaim Australia” without also opposing the
drive to imperialist war. Ultimately imperialist war can only be halted through
the overthrow of the capitalist state and the establishment of a worker’s
government. While we work towards this goal, we must now sweep the incipient
fascist movement off the streets, so that workers and all minorities can walk
the streets of their own town in safety. Fascism must not be allowed to
flourish, for by then it will be too late. In order to defeat the threat of
fascism and potential world war, workers here must at a minimum demand:
Australian troops out of the
Middle East!
Victory to Syria!
Defeat Islamophobia by
defeating the “war on terror”!
Mobilise workers to sweep
fascism off the streets!
Marxist-Leninist Group
www.ML-Group.blogspot.com.au
mlgroup271@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment