A Plague on Both your Houses!
For many with an interest in the impending war in Iraq, the
conflict is about choosing sides.
For Bush and Blair, 'you're either with us or you're against us.'
As the days go by, the US has become more brazen in its rhetoric and
more willing to go it alone. US Defense Secretary recently commented,
the only way for war to be averted is for Saddam Hussein to flee Iraq
or be overthrown. That this comment was repeated on page 1 of the
Globe and Mail mere inches from a story about Stalin's murder by his
henchmen means subtlety too has chosen a side.
While the US's erstwhile European allies are expressing
reluctance, it is only because they see the US's actions as a way to
strengthen its position relative to their own through the seizure of
Iraqi oil and the establishment of a semi-permanent US base in Iraq.
Nevertheless, the reluctant allies will likely get on board because
they fear the US will go ahead and they will be left out in the cold.
In addition to their tactical concerns, the US's usual allies fear
that choosing war at this time will have further consequences. A
disruption of the oil supply from the Middle East, in addition to the
disruption in Venezuela will create a catastrophic "oil shock." As
the hardly radical Goldman-Sachs commented, the result of a war in
Iraq may be less "Desert Storm," than "a Perfect Storm."
But for the US, the issue of war with Iraq has become increasingly
urgent. While few within the Bush administration argue that the war
will revitalize the sagging US economy, it is precisely that economy
which is pushing the US toward war. Trillions of dollars of debt, a
stock market bubble that is about to burst and a plunging US dollar,
make a war to secure massive oil reserves, and a commodity which is
paid for in dollars an irresistible prize. Never mind that the war
will create untold devastation, what matters is the continuance of
the capitalist economy.
For many who oppose, in some form or other, the US actions, it's
also about choices, and choosing a more palatable option than war.
For some this has meant calling on the UN to settle the crisis or the
continuance of the sanctions which have already caused horrific
suffering in Iraq.
Many people see the war as irrational, viewing the conflict as a
clash of ego: If only the cowboy in the White House and the Butcher
in Baghdad would listen to reason. Chanting 'No blood for oil,' and
'Give peace a chance,' the organizers of peace demonstrations call
for ever great demonstrations that will send our rulers a message
they cannot ignore.
For these activists, the solution is not war but peace: If saner
heads can prevail, a military solution can be avoided. Unfortunately,
the glaring error in their thinking is that war and peace are not
counter-posed to each other; war and peace are merely different
policies for capital to ensure its rule.
The second imperialist world war between 1939 and 1945 claimed
tens of millions of lives. But the "peace" which followed it also
claimed untold millions of lives across the globe, as capital has
engaged in low level, and sometimes not so low level wars to preserve
the imperialist "peace." It is the peace of the grave. The only way
to stop war is to uproot the entire capitalist system.
For others on the left, it's about defeating imperialism. This has
led some, most notable the Trotskyists, to claim opposition to
imperialism in this conflict means support to Iraq in the hope of
bloodying the nose of the "main" imperialist power - Saddam Hussein,
the butcher of the Iraqi workers' movement; Saddam Hussein, the
former errant boy of US imperialism after the fall of the Shah;
Saddam Hussein, for whom Iraqi workers should shed blood?
While sounding radical, the position is essentially a
lesser-evilism. The demand to defend Iraq, while attempting to
distinguish between military and political support (in reality
military support always entails political support), may draw some
support, but few were willing to extend the logic of this position to
last year's fighters against imperialism, the Taliban.
Capitalism is a world system, and the wars it generates are wars
between the greater and lesser imperialist powers for the right to
exploit and rule. Yesterday's national liberation movements fighting
against imperialism are today's exploiters of labour and tomorrow's
allies of larger imperialist powers. Saddam Hussein was once a
trusted friend, Vietnam a deadly enemy. Swings and roundabouts.
We will not choose between the greater and lesser powers. "You've
made worm's meat of me. A plague on both your houses." gasped
Mercutio at his death at the hands of the Prince of Cats. We reject
capitalist war and capitalist peace. We reject George Bush's US and
Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
For a world without bosses, without money, without war and without
classes,
For communism.
Red & Black Notes / March 8, 2003
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