"I'd like some of those Congressmen
to come out here, with all that patriotism, to feel the heat in the desert.
I'd rather folks paid more for their oil, than pay for their oil with my life"
(US soldier in the Gulf)
Every day more and more troops and military hardware are being moved into
the Gulf, making war increasingly likely. If a war does start, working class
people on both sides will be slaughtered. Our rulers tell us that this is
a price worth paying (and make no mistake they want us to pay this
price), in the interest of fighting against tyranny and to liberate Kuwait.
This is all rubbish- they want us to lay down our lives in a war over oil.
Former head of the American Council of National Security, Zbigniew Brzesinzki,
has stated this bluntly: "The real vital interest for America in the
Kuwait crisis is to ensure that the Persian Gulf remains a sure and stable
source of petrol to be sold at a reasonable price to the industrialised West
. Another US politician summed the situation up even better: "If Kuwait
grew carrots, we wouldn't give a damn".
It is not just in the Gulf that we are expected to die for oil company profits.
Recently North Sea oil workers have been taking strike action and occupying
rigs in a struggle for safer working conditions. In the 20 year history of
the North Sea industry, there have been 492 deaths, including 167 in the 1988
Piper Alpha disaster. These deaths have been caused by oil bosses putting
profits before safety.
To put a stop to our class being massacred on battlefields, oilfields and
elsewhere, we need to step up the class war, through strikes, mutinies and
other action. There have been strikes recently by Japanese seafarers being
sent to the Gulf, and by workers on US bases in Turkey; there have been reports
of Iraqi soldiers deserting from the army. By spreading and linking up such
struggles across the world, we can not only sabotage the war machine but also
sweep away the whole system that sacrifices our lives in both war and peace.
A group has been set up to oppose all sides in the Gulf war. contact: NO WAR
BUT CLASS WAR, BM 8884, LONDON WC1N 3XX
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