The horrific bombings at the nightclubs in Bali have left up to 300 Australians
dead, the biggest toll since the 500+ killed in the Vietnam War. The victims
were overwhelmingly young people, mainly working class youth on end of season
football tours or once-in-a-lifetime holidays. The victims also include the
many hundreds physically injured some of whom will experience psychological
trauma for the rest of their lives.
Collective shock
Australia
is in collective shock. The world events that many ordinary people thought
immune from have now caught up with them - it is a case where "you can
ignore politics, but it won't ignore you".
Other
casualities include the Indonesian nightclub staff who died and were injured.
The local tourist industry will be wrecked after these attacks. Tens of
thousands of Indonesian workers will be left unemployed without any social
security.
It is
probable the attacks were organised to attack the West (especially Australians
who are hated after its military intervened in East Timor in 1999) by the main
local reactionary Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah, possibly with assistance from
Al-Qaida - or the other way around. The sophistication and sheer size of the
three bombs also suggest that pro-Islamic elements in the Indonesian armed
forces might also have assisted, as they have backed JI in recent conflicts
with Indonesian Christians.
It is
unlikely the top levels of the army were involved, as they control much of the
tourist industry in Bali.
In
Australia the Howard Federal Government will try and use the attacks to bolster
its support for Bush's war on Iraq. Extremists on the Right will try and whip
up racist feelings with attacks on local Muslims and even anti-war activists.
However
the mood amongst ordinary people is not the same as it was in the US after the
September 11th attacks last year.
No military solution
The news
of the bombings reached most Australian on the Sunday morning, yet that
afternoon - October 13th - 35,000 marched against a war on Iraq on the streets
of Melbourne. The massive crowd honoured the dead with a minute silence,
agreeing with speakers who explained that there was no military solution to the
social problems that breed support for terrorism.
The
Socialist Party in Australia argues that Howard's blind support for Bush's 'war
on terrorism' and upcoming war on Iraq, makes ordinary people targets for
terrorist retaliation. We must support those workers, students and poor farmers
in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Indonesia who are fighting against
imperialist domination of their countries and for a democratic, secular and
socialist future.
We
reject the idea that the only option is either US domination or the ideas of
Islamic fundamentalism. We stand for democratic socialism and the rights of all
nations and peoples to self-determination, including the Palestinians.
The
Greens in Australia, who are growing in support as Labor continues to be a pale
imitation of the Liberals, argued that the bombings showed the need for
Australia not to go to war in Iraq as its troops would be better served
fighting terrorism in the region. This shows the left nationalism of the Greens
and Howard responded quickly arguing that the source of the anger against the
West was in the Middle East.
The
Greens position was an echo of the argument that some right-wingers used to
support the radical left in the anti-conscription referendums during World War
One. They opposed Australian troops going to fight for Britain not for
internationalist, anti-imperialist reasons, but because consription for a
European war would leave the country open to invasion from "the Asiatic
hordes".
Australian
troops whether used in the region or in the Middle East will not stop the
oppressed peoples fighting with everything they have against imperialism. We
must counterpoise internationalist and socialist explanations to the Government
and its allies, not head in the sand nationalism albeit with a left face.
The
bombings are a disaster for the Indonesian government of Megawati. It will be a
body blow for investor confidence in general and the tourist industry in
particular. Her government will come under tremendous pressure from Washington
and Canberra to clamp down on local Islamic extremist groups. She will be
pushed to accept the presence of US and Australian special forces and agents in
the country, the biggest in the Islamic world with 180 million people. She will
have to balance between the demands of imperialism versus the need to keep
onside the Islamic parties.
The
bombings may create an atmosphere that make it more likely there will be an
invasion of Iraq by the US (supported not only by the UK and Australia but also
the Security Council).
The
reactionary leaders of the Islamic groups know that such a war will kills tens
of thousands of their Muslim brothers and sisters. They believe that this is
worth the price if it creates a holy war that will push their reactionary and
medieval ideas.
Workers
throughout the Middle East and workers in the West have the same enemy - the
system that keeps Palestinians in chains, destroys the futures of workers at
Enron and similar disasters of capitalist greed worldwide, and carpet bombs
Iraq for the benefit of US oil companies. We cannot go backwards to religious
hatred and terrorist genoicide, but rather must go forward together against
capitalism and build a decent democratic and socialist future for the next
generation.
Steve Jolly, Socialist
Party, Australia
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