Open letter to the workers and youth in the USA- Break with the Democrats and Republicans- Unite for the defence of the Palestinians; for an immediate Ceasefire and the convening of a Constituent Assembly in historic Palestine
One of the central lessons of the ongoing the genocide against the Palestinians is that there is no fundamental difference between the Democratic Party and the Republicans. That there is a genocide by US imperialism against the Palestinians is backed up by research of the Boston, Cornell and Yale Schools of Law as well as the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. They also reference the highest number of journalists killed and the highest number of UN workers killed in a war since world war 2. By US imperialism deliberately targeting and killing UN aid workers they have declared war on the masses of the world. By US imperialism deliberately killing over 100 Palestinian journalists US imperialism is trampling on all the supposed democratic values they claim to stand for. By perpetrating genocide against the Palestinians, US imperialism is declaring war on the masses of the world.
Both Republican and Democratic parties have supported the genocide every step of the way. They are two different sides of the same coin. Whenever there is a crisis of big capital the two parties act together. These parties are in essence representatives of the dictatorship of the capitalist class, the giant monopolies and banks. There are millions in the USA who live in abject poverty while many millions are enslaved through debt to Wall Street. For decades these parties have played the game of fake opposition to each other in order to fool the masses for another 4 years until the next election. It is time for a political alternative. It is long overdue for a party that really represents the interests of the working class and the broader masses. It is time for a workers’ party.
Why is US imperialism perpetrating this genocide and who benefits?
To understand this question we have to start from why the artificial state of Israel was created by imperialism in the first place. Israel was created as a means to act as a terror apparatus to help keep the masses in the Middle East under subjugation. The masses in the Middle East have to be supressed so that imperialism can maintain an unfettered control of the oil and gas reserves in the region. The Middle East has by far the highest concentration of oil and gas reserves in the world. It follows from this that imperialism will not allow any democracy in the region because that would mean independent development and thus the breaking of its control.
Thus imperialism used military force to suppress the masses in Libya, a coup in Egypt, an alliance between Russia, Iran, Turkey and the US to crush the masses in Syria and now the use of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
In just a little over 100 years the oil and gas monopolies have poisoned the atmosphere, clogged up the rivers and polluted the planet with plastic. The furthest reaches of the oceans are now contaminated with plastic. There are mass islands of plastic in the ocean the size of Texas. All water that we drink is now contaminated with plastic. The oil and gas monopolies are contributing to global warming and climate change and directly contributing to floods, droughts and extreme weather conditions. The oil and gas industry has become a threat to planetary life. Yet, here comes imperialism using destructive force against the largely unarmed Palestinian masses. This destructive force is to maintain its hegemony over the out-dated and poisonous oil and gas reserves.
There is also another important factor, namely the multi-trillion arms industry, of which US imperialism is the dominant player by far. The annual military budget of the US regime is $877 bn. It follows that imperialism needs war, perpetual war to continue generating a profit.
The entire basis for the ‘war’ against the Palestinians has been shown to be false: There were no beheaded babies, no babies baked in ovens, no one was mutilated (except by the Hellfire missiles and tank shells fired by the IDF against Israeli citizens and the festival attendees); there was no evidence at all of sexual assault. Yet, despite the allegations being refuted the bourgeois leaders such as Biden and Cameron and others still repeat them over and over again in a pathetic attempt to justify their slaughter of Palestinians. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by imperialism was shown to be based on a lie of weapons of mass destruction. There were no such weapons. In the period that followed over a million Iraqis died while the military industrial complex gained $3 trillion. The genocide against the Palestinians is similarly based on lies. The drive for profits by the arms industry explains why a largely unarmed Palestinian population in Gaza is being carpet-bombed. If real peace is made in historic Palestine it follows that there will be no need for the military base that Israel is; it follows that there would also be no justification for the military expenses and arms purchases by Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq. It would mean the collapse of the multi-trillion dollar arms industry.
Every single university in the USA is heavily invested in the arms industry and in Israel. In other words, contrary to being places of reflection and scientific discourse, the universities are invested in genocide and perpetual war against the masses around the globe. The military law against Palestinians who are held without charge for months and years, who often have their leaders assassinated, who face medical neglect, sexual assault, torture, is all funded and supported by universities in the USA and other universities in the capitalist centres of North America and Europe, in addition to what the US state directly invests in Israel. Millions of former students, today’s parents of the students, are heavily in debt to the universities and the banks. The tuition fees that flow from university coffers to the war machine are all artificially high to enable perpetual war against the masses of the world.
The question should be asked: Why are universities invested in war and genocide? Who benefits? There are several other investment areas, that are social, that incidentally also bring back a higher return. In fact the Israel bonds bring a low return. This means that the artificially high university fees are a subsidy by the student, parent and ex-student, to a genocidal state. Not only must the investment be terminated but a full investigation is needed on why universities are invested in war and genocide in the first place. Thus the demand to divest must go hand in hand with a demand to open the records on all the minutes around who enabled the investment over the years. Those responsible should be held accountable. Compensation should be paid for those harmed by these wars and genocides of imperialism, such as the Palestinians, the Sudanese, the Congolese, the Iraqis, the Vietnamese, the Lebanese, the Syrian masses and many others. In fact, students past and present should have a say in where their funds should be invested.
There are 200 000 companies in the USA involved in the weapons industry. In other words, the core of the US economy is based on war and genocide against the masses of the world. This needs to change.
Merely demanding an end to investment in the arms industry does not go far enough. All the arms manufacturing companies should be converted to green production, to social production, not commodity production. Just $40bn per year can and should be used to abolish world hunger. It is time to beat those swords into plowshares, the bombs and planes to blossoms and trains. Control by the banks must be replaced with workers’ control.
The genocide in Gaza shows us that the entire political establishment, the Senate and Congress have been captured by the arms industry. All the arms companies should be converted into peace industries. The hold of the arms industry over the state must be broken. We need a political challenge against the imperialist state.
Time for a third alternative- a workers’ party
The first step is to defend the encampments of students on the campuses. We call on parents and ex-students to come to the defence of the encampments. We further call on the military veterans and off-duty soldiers to link up with the encampments. We call for the formation of parent-student-staff committees on each campus. We call for Labor for Palestine committees in every workplace and every neighbourhood. Let us march on Washington in our millions and camp out there until there is a Ceasefire.
For the November election we call for critical support for candidates and parties that are anti-genocide and who have joined and supported the student encampments. We call for a national committee of delegates from every encampment and from the labour for Palestine committees. These committees should extend to an international coordination committee. Similar lessons can be drawn for the masses in the UK, France, Germany, Japan. The youth played a vital role as spark for the mass resistance that ended the Vietnam war. The youth of today can play a similar historic role by sparking a wave of mass resistance that can an end to the genocide against Palestinians. We cannot depend on the UN, the ICC nor the ICJ as they are all under the control of imperialism.
On a Constituent Assembly for a free Palestine
We should raise the demand for the convening of a Constituent Assembly involving all Palestinians who live between the river and the sea as well as the refugees who stay outside these areas. It should also include all those Israelis who want to live in peace with the Palestinians. It should be convened by a national coordination of grassroots councils of representatives elected by the masses on a basis of instant recall and not earning more than the wage of an average skilled worker. It follows that it is also based on a full amnesty and unconditional release of all Palestinian political prisoners. It follows that the IDF should be disbanded and disarmed. It follows too that no capitalist shall be allowed to take part in the Constituent Assembly. Such is the path to a united, democratic secular state. For a federation of workers’ democracies in the Middle East.
Ending the imperialist dictatorship in the USA will free the masses of the world
US imperialism has almost 1000 military bases around the world. They are the terror apparatus that keeps the billions of the masses of the world in subjugation to the handful of capitalists that control the USA. The colonies and neo-colonies in Africa, Central and South America, the middle East and Asia, Eastern Europe, are all held in subjugation by the various imperialist powers, most notably US imperialism. Every year hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth is stolen from these colonies and semi-colonies. Our youth are bombed daily with unemployment and starvation. We cannot get proper health care; our transport in unsafe; gangsters and drug lords act with the police to keep the masses permanently destabilised.
If the imperialists are overthrown in their own heartlands and the will of the masses established it will free the masses of the world; it will end the genocides in Sudan, DRC, Myanmar, etc. It will end unemployment across the globe. It will end the toxic oil and gas and associated plastics industry. It is the only way to save humanity and to save the planet. The wealth that the global working class produces will be used to meet our needs, not used for the profits of a tiny handful.
In the USA and beyond
The dictatorship of the banks and arms manufacturers must be broken and replaced with the dictatorship of the broad masses. This can only be done through mass action. At the same time we should defend and extend every democratic gain won by the working class. We should consider helping every democratic step that opposes the capitalist dictatorship, such as helping the Green party meet its 28 May deadline for signatures in New York, to enable them to get on the ballot. Let us help get them on the ballot in every state. We need to build an independent workers’ party locally and internationally.
The path to end the genocide against the Palestinians and the wars and genocides against the masses of the world lies in the defeat of all imperialist powers on their home soil. For this to succeed we need to unite the masses in the colonies and semi-colonies with the masses in the imperialist heartlands.
The world movement to free Palestine shows us the way.
We need committees of labour to free Palestine in every workplace, working class area, school. College, university. Every US embassy, every US state institution around the globe should be targeted with mass protest.
Issued 20 May 2024 amended 21 May 2024
Workers International Vanguard League (South Africa)
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