WAR
CREATES REFUGEES.
AUSTRALIAN
TROOPS OUT NOW!
VICTORY
TO SYRIA!
11-09-2015 – Images of
refugees perishing on the shores of Europe while attempting to flee for their
lives are flooding the globe currently. In response to the image of a drowned
boy on the beach inciting outrage internationally, Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott’s only response was “this is why we need to stop the boats.” Callous
indifference to human suffering, and/or using the deaths of asylum seekers for
political gain has unfortunately come to be the norm in the Australian body
politic, at least on behalf of the major parties.
Yet this latest refugee
exodus out of the Middle East and Africa and into Europe has clear and
definable causes. Innocent human beings are fleeing from the endless wars being
waged by the US and their allies, particularly the war on Libya in 2011, and
the ongoing war on Syria, from 2011 to the present. These wars are not fought
by conventional means, in terms of powerful countries sending in uniformed
troops to invade and overthrow sovereign governments, as in the example of Iraq
in 2003. These wars are essentially outsourced to barbaric mercenaries by the
US and their allies. In the same manner in which the pro-socialist Afghanistan
government in the 1980s was besieged by ultra-reactionary Mujahideen fighters
armed and funded by the US government as part of its war against the Soviet
Union, ultra-reactionary jihadists were and are funded and armed by the West in
a brutal campaign for “regime change” in Libya and Syria. In Libya, Western
backed Al-Qaeda terrorists were unable to overthrow the former Libyan
government led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. NATO stepped in and bombed the
Libyan state out of existence, and Gaddafi himself was lynched. With no state
and government existing, Libya has become a death zone, with warring jihadists
fighting each other in a dystopian Mad
Max scenario. Previously, Libya had provided its citizens with the highest
standard of living in Africa.
At the same time, the
US was arming and funding the same jihadists in an effort to overthrow the
sovereign Syrian Arab Republic. For four and a half years, the heroic Syrian
people have resisted this lawless invasion by psychotic Western armed
barbarians, who carry out unspeakable atrocities without a second thought. US
allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Jordan all play a huge role in funding,
arming, training and transporting these mercenaries into Syria, while Israel
occasionally bombs Syria while treating wounded jihadists for free in their
hospitals. More than 80% of these mercenaries are not Syrian, and have never
previously been to Syria. Yet the Western corporate media narrative is that
Syria is undergoing a “civil war”. This is preposterous. If Australia was beset
by foreign mercenaries who embarked on an armed uprising, while beheading and
torturing those who did not follow them, we would scarcely use the term “civil
war”. The war on Syria is plainly a war for regime change, led by the US, but
egged on by the Australian government.
The horror of war is
what many Africans, Syrians and others are fleeing. This war would finish in a
few months IF the US and its allies cut off the arms flowing to the
jihadists. The Syrian Arab Army would have little trouble in rounding up even
several thousand mercenaries IF they did not receive constant
material aid from the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia especially. The Western
powers, including the Australian government, are playing a double game. While
feigning concern about “ISIS” – PM Abbott even comparing them to Nazis – the US
and its allies arm, and to an extent, control this latest bogey man. There are
videos on YouTube of US and British warplanes dropping supplies in ISIS held
areas in Iraq and Syria. There are stories of British soldiers fighting with
ISIS while wearing black balaclavas. This couldn’t be made up but it is true
enough. A scant effort at research will produce evidence.
Unfortunately, the
anti-war movement in Australia, while it exists, is restricted to a few brave
souls and groups such as Hands Off Syria. Large sections of the left and
political bodies who can usually be relied on to oppose US imperialism, have
swallowed fantastic claims about a mythical Libyan or Syrian “revolution”. A
social revolution, for one thing, must have overwhelming popular support. This
has never been the case in either Libya or Syria. In fact, in June last year,
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was re-elected, in the midst of war, with
88.7% of the vote! What is occurring in Syria is a classic “dirty war”, where
death squads are armed and given a green light to do their worst in the service
of their benefactors. The Latin Americans know from personal experience what a
dirty war is all about. They have suffered this ignominy for decades at the
hands of the US government. This is why the Cuban, Venezuelan and Bolivian
governments, to name a few, staunchly defend Syria against the US Empire.
Working people in
Australia, who are generally politically progressive, can be forgiven for not
identifying the character of the last two major imperialist wars. However, left
political parties who espouse their beliefs in socialism should know a lot
better. Chief among these is Socialist Alternative (SAlt), Socialist Alliance
(SA) and Solidarity (Sol). It should be noted that the Communist Party of
Australia (CPA) backed the war on Libya, but appears to have corrected its
error with regard to Syria. SAlt, SA and Sol have certainly not recognised
their error on Libya, and have in fact deepened the error in the case of Syria.
What this has meant in practice is that they have effectively maintained a
pro-war, anti-refugee position for the last four and a half years. Now, with
perished refugees washing up on the shores of Europe, these left parties are
again, perhaps unwittingly, doing the bidding of the imperialist powers they
claim to oppose. Western government leaders, from Germany’s Angela Merkel to
Australia’s Tony Abbott (backed by the ALP, the Greens and GetUp!), are now
saying they will accept Syrian refugees. This justifies their agenda of regime
change in Syria. If we should give shelter to Syrian refugees, surely we should
finish the job by bombing Syria back to the stone age? Moreover, as Syrians
flee for their lives to safety, Syria itself is drained of its populace,
lessening its defences, which prepares the victory of the genocidal ISIS,
Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, Ahrar Al-Sham, the “Free Syrian Army” and the like – who
are in effect outsourced US government contractors. Alas, the influence of mistaken left parties
over bodies such as the Refugee Action Collective, has led to large sections of
the refugee rights movement effectively backing, rather than opposing, US led
wars. And these are the very wars which
have created the catastrophic situation refugees now face.
Working
people and their supporters should of course welcome refugees to Australia,
Syrians included. However, to call for the welcoming of Syrian refugees,
without at the same time launching a vigorous defence of the right of the
Syrian government not to be overthrown by Western employed mercenaries, is to
side with world imperialism against the working and oppressed people of the
world. We also have a duty to call for the Australian troops, and Australian
military hardware, to be immediately withdrawn from Iraq and Syria. We need to
take this demand not only amongst the people, but crucially into the Unions.
Workers’ opposition is what has more power than any moral force – just look at
the anti-war movement in 2003. It mobilised the largest number of people in
history and yet was unable to raise a serious challenge to the warmongers. Working people have a right to a world
without war. Unfortunately, the dire economic crisis afflicting the capitalist
economies worldwide is driving us to the edge. What is required is the
mobilisation of workers in their own interests by opposing capitalism’s drive
to war, the victimisation of refugees and for a world worth living in.
AUSTRALIAN TROOPS OUT NOW! VICTORY TO SYRIA!
MARXIST-LENINIST
GROUP
No comments:
Post a Comment