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British Institute of Foreign Affairs
The Guardian July 3, 2002
The world after September 11
From June 21-23, 62 communist and workers' parties from around the world
met in Athens to discuss "The new world situation after September 11,
2001". Central Committee Member Rob Gowland represented the Communist Party
of Australia at the meeting. He presented the following contribution on
behalf of the CPA.
The situation that has arisen following September 11, is a continuation and
intensification of the policies of US imperialism to implement its
aspiration for world domination.
This is a long-held ambition. Bush Senior announced it publicly when he
called for a New World Order. President Clinton continued down this path.
The events of September 11 provided the excuse for an intensification in
the form of far-reaching military action, the war against Afghanistan and
the setting up of new military bases in Central Asia.
These are also stepping-stones to the next stage, with the domination of
the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China as the ultimate
objective, which would consummate virtually in full, the American ambition.
Because the American leadership is surrounded both at home and
internationally by an increasingly sceptical world, new provocations are
being planned to justify the policy of aggressive and so-called pre-emptive
war using concocted incidents and allegations against other countries.
It was a mythical "Tonkin Gulf incident" that was used as an excuse for the
intensification of war against socialist Vietnam.
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon was just
such an incident. All the available evidence points to collaboration
between al Quaida and at least some elements of the top US administration.
The most recent, but not the last of these lies, is the allegation about a
US citizen's plans for a "dirty" bomb. It was claimed that radioactive
material was obtained from Russia, thereby implicating Russia in the plans.
While the allegations have now been somewhat discounted, the story has been
spread worldwide and the propaganda value has been reaped.
The US leaders are following in the footsteps of Nazi propaganda chief
Goebbels who perfected the technique of the big lie on the principle that
if one tells a lie often enough it becomes the truth.
"Rougher methods of an earlier era"
The strategy and tactics of imperialism have been clearly written down by
the British Institute of Foreign Affairs and published in the book, Re-
ordering the World.
One of the contributors to this book, Robert Cooper who is a senior serving
British diplomat and adviser to Tony Blair writes:
"When dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the
postmodern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of
an earlier era — force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is
necessary to deal with those who still live in the 19th century world of
'every state for itself'. Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are
operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle...
"Weak government means disorder and that means falling investment...", says
Mr Cooper.
He goes on: "All the conditions for imperialism are there ... the weak
still need the strong and the strong still need an orderly world...
"What is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a
world of human rights and cosmopolitan values.
"If states wish to benefit, they must open themselves up to the
interference of international organisations and foreign states."
Mr Cooper calls for a new commonwealth, which he concludes, would, "Like
Rome, ...provide its citizens with some of its laws, some coins and the
occasional road."
We see from this that the war against terrorism is terrorism itself.
Associated with the war drive is the sweeping attack on the democratic
rights of the people won in more than a century of struggle. The new so-
called "anti-terrorist laws" are overthrowing even bourgeois democratic
rights.
In Australia these proposed laws [Some have now passed through the Senate],
which are meeting strong resistance and have not yet been enacted, provide
for the banning of organisations and the jailing of the members of banned
organisations for up to 25 years.
State security organisations are provided with powers to jail suspects
without recourse to legal representation. All forms of communication may be
tapped. The onus of proof, which is a cornerstone of the legal rights of
citizens, is reversed.
It is timely to compare this legislation with that of the Hitler regime. On
February 28, 1933, using the pretext of the Reichstag Fire, an Emergency
Decree was enacted.
It overturned the Weimar Constitution and declared that "Restrictions on
personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including
freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and
violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic
communications and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscation as
well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal
limits otherwise prescribed."
The aggressive war plans, the intensification of the exploitation of the
working people, the grabbing by big capital of any and every publicly owned
enterprise and service, the destruction of hard-won democratic rights and
liberties, the suppression of the sovereignty and independence of nations,
the attempt to disrupt and destroy the remaining socialist societies are
all an expression of the capitalist class' efforts to preserve its
interests.
People's struggle
On the other hand, there is the struggle of the people for an end to
exploitation and the liberation of nations from the shackles of
imperialism.
It is the same class struggle revealed by Marx and Engels in the Communist
Manifesto but unlike the times of Marx and Engels it is now worldwide. It
takes many forms and there are many issues.
These issues include living standards and working conditions, hours of
work, the rights of trade unions, the struggles for sovereignty and
independence, the rights of indigenous people, the maintenance of public
enterprises, for education and housing, for socialism and much more.
The concept of "Workers of the world, unite!" is becoming more and more a
reality.
But the actions of the people are much broader than just those of the
working class.
The sections of society that are feeling the oppression, suppression and
exploitation by the giant transnational corporations are coming into action
in defence of their specific interests — small farmers, peasants,
academics, small business people, engineers, technologists, indigenous
peoples, environmentalists — are becoming the natural and active allies of
the working class.
Corporate globalisation has become the modern-day cross on which the lives
of millions upon millions of people in nearly all countries are being
crucified.
Worldwide there are actions. People are turning against the big
corporations and their docile governments. Capitalism is more and more
being questioned. This is the modern-day spectre that haunts the evil and
barbarous system of capitalism and brings forth the savage counter-attack
of imperialism.
The propaganda war and the ideological struggle are also being intensified.
The promotion of racism, zenophobia and religious intolerance are major
weapons in capitalism's attempts to split and divide the movement of
struggle.
Failure of capitalist policies
Massive attempts are being made to hoodwink the people into the belief that
the interests of capital and workers are the same, that the policies of the
IMF and the World Bank are good for all countries, that free trade will
create a level playing field, that so-called "competition" and "choice" are
the hallmarks of a free and prosperous society.
Sufficient time has now passed and experience accumulated to demonstrate
that these claims are nothing more than the means by which transnational
corporations impose their policies and secure their interests.
If any proof is needed of the total fallacy of these claims and the failure
of such policies then the experience of Argentina should demonstrate the
truth.
Social Democracy is playing a discreditable part in this ideological
struggle. By spreading illusions of class peace, that the concept of class
is now "old-fashioned", that classes have now been replaced by
"communities", to take a few examples, social democracy undermines the
struggle of the working people and brings grist to the mill of imperialism.
Once again the examples of Labour party leaders Tony Blair and Shimon Perez
who are in the forefront of the war drive are sufficient to reveal the real
role of social democracy in the present era.
In the struggle for truth and knowledge, the work of Communist Parties has
become ever more vital in contesting the real meaning behind the
sophisticated words of the leaders of the imperialist states.
In presenting an analysis of the present situation which more than ever has
to be seen in its worldwide dimension, we note the growing conflict of
interests between the rival imperialist blocks.
This is particularly to be seen in the differing positions taken on
important questions by the US on the one hand and the European Union on the
other.
Needless to say, they are united when it comes to class interests but may
be in conflict when it comes to their particular imperialist interests.
This may not yet have become a decisive difference but the aspirations of
US imperialists for world domination cannot be acceptable to the
imperialist interests of European capital.
We must also underline the important role played by the socialist states.
The forthright role of the Communist Party of Cuba and, in particular, the
role of Comrade Fidel Castro is an example for us all.
The Cuban comrades contest day by day, the machinations of imperialism and
the ideological and propaganda war.
We warmly welcome the rapid economic growth of the People's Republic of
China and Socialist Vietnam under the leadership of their respective
Communist Parties.
Socialism in these countries has to prove, not only to its own people but
also to the watching millions in other countries, that it is able to
provide higher living standards, education and culture and a stable and
humane society fulfilling the economic, social and cultural needs of the
people, rather than the selfish interests of those whose motivation is
profit.
All these factors taken together constitute main elements in the world
situation following the events of September 11.
Confident of future
This terrorist act has not created a "new" situation but one being used by
imperialism to threaten war against a number of countries, to introduce
draconian anti-democratic legislation of a neo-fascist kind, to intensify
the exploitation of labour, to destroy the sovereignty and independence of
nations and impose US imperialism's objective of a New World Order of
capitalist slavery.
At the same time it brings into action the forces of progress and of
civilisation whose mission it is to save the world from a new barbarity.
This force made up of millions upon millions of ordinary people from
diverse classes and social groups and in whose midst the Communists are to
be found, are more and more resolutely and with greater clarity confronting
capitalism and imperialism.
Despite the strength of our opponents and the savagery with which they are
prosecuting their objectives, we must be confident that this mission will
be achieved in the not distant future.
Our objective is a classless society. Primitive communal society had no
need for conflicting and exploiting classes. The class relations which
emerged in slave, feudal and capitalist society are historically of a
transient nature and will ultimately disappear.
It is in this direction that the assertion of Frederick Engels that
humankind would emerge from barbarity into civilisation is to be fulfilled.
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[For a view from a battling Senator from
Texas who is fighting to reclaim back the RIGHTS of the
CONSTITUTION and alert the AMERICAN PEOPLE that they must
stand TOGETHER to reclaim their CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTIES.]
www.house.gov/paul
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JUNE-2009
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