Revolutionary Worker #1137, February 3, 2002, posted at http://rwor.org
The Revolutionary Worker stands with the resisters who are courageously taking to the streets of New York City against the World Economic Forum, daring to resist capitalist globalization and the crimes of this system. The protesters carry the hopes and dreams of people throughout the world who are suffering because of the many injustices of global imperialism. And the anti-WEF protests are going up against the fascist-like repression developed by the U.S. government as it wages open-ended war, bringing even more suffering and injustice on people around the globe.
Inside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, representatives of the world's largest corporations and most powerful countries gather to "dialogue" over new rounds of global bloodsucking. They're defended by a police force that has declared its readiness to use "military-style tactics" to keep order in the streets.
The choice of NYC as the site of this year's WEF was blatant provocation. The U.S. power structure hopes to use the WEF meeting to silence the anti-capitalist globalization movement with the chill of "anti-terrorist" hysteria. They want to justify the use of massive police mobilization and create public opinion against any protests that go up against their juggernaut of war, repression and capitalist exploitation. This challenge is being answered by thousands who refuse to give up the fight for a better world.
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The anti-WEF protests are taking place at a momentous time. The U.S. imperialists promise a future of unending war against anyone they brand as the enemy--and declare they don't need to provide evidence or even logical argument for their actions. Anyone who doesn't blindly submit is considered the enemy. They are "on a roll"--attempting by brute force to recast the world in their predatory interests. The future of the people is in the balance.
The U.S. has killed thousands of people in Afghanistan, raining down death from above. Millions in that desperately poor country face starvation. The U.S. has kidnapped prisoners of war and brought them drugged and hooded to Guantánamo Bay. Now their war has spread to the Philippines, as hundreds of U.S. troops land there. And they say they have only begun--Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, Iraq or other points around the world could be next.
Within the U.S., thousands of Arab and Muslim people are being disappeared and targeted for interrogation. Military tribunals are being set up. Basic rights of the people are being shredded. The very right to political dissent is under intense attack.
The U.S. war isn't about justice for people killed on September 11. How does killing more innocent people in poor countries around the world bring justice to those who died in the World Trade Center? How can the U.S. claim to be fighting for "freedom and civilization" when it carries out barbarous military actions and hateful repression?
What the war IS about is defending and expanding U.S. power--dominating Central Asia, the Middle East and the whole world. It's about controlling the oil "jugulars" and lifelines of the global economy. It's about setting up a new world order with the U.S. sitting on top as the unchallenged emperor, ready to mow down anyone who stands in its path.
This war is brought to us by the same sponsor that's behind everything we've been fighting, from Seattle to Quebec to Genoa...and now New York. The same criminal system, with the U.S. as the head gangster.
Who is pushing NAFTA and the FTAA on the people of Mexico and South America? Who benefits when the WTO eliminates labor, safety, environmental and health protections? Whose multinationals devastate the land of the indigenous Ogoni people in Nigeria and the U'wa in Colombia and plan to sink their pipelines into the lands of Central Asia? Who runs the IMF and World Bank and the WEF? It is the economic and political system of imperialism--with the U.S. rulers at its head.
The U.S. superpower defends their system by any means, including devastating war--like the war on Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars are driven by their imperialist interests--to spread their empire, to seize access to oil and other resources, to put down and smash movements of the people, to defeat rivals and threats from other imperialists or lesser powers.
Growing numbers of people around the world are aware there is no future with this system running the planet. Many are waking up to the fact that there is something deeply wrong with a world where the U.S., with 5% of the world's people, uses 35-40% of the world's resources. Where 2 billion people live on $2 a day while some billionaires have as much money as the GNPs of entire countries. Where cruise missiles, laser-guided bombs and B52s are used against the poorest people on the planet, when what they need is food, medicine, shelter, and control of their own destiny.
And suddenly, since 9/11, millions in the U.S. are asking: Why does the world hate us? Is McWorld or Jihad the only choice? A new generation faces the urgent issues of imperialist war, repression and injustice.
The movement vs. capitalist globalization has indicted and challenged the crimes of capitalism. It's vital that this struggle be continued, built on and carried forward as part of a powerful movement of resistance that aims to stop the wars and interventions the U.S. is waging in the name of "stopping terrorism."
People here in the U.S. need to reach out to and stand with the people of the world. A strong and unmistakable message must be sent: we are not a party to these unjust wars, these brutal acts being carried out by the U.S. government and military are not in our name.
By developing such a powerful movement, we can connect more strongly to the people of the world. We can communicate the fundamental difference between the rulers of this country and the majority of people. And we can help give "air to breathe" to movements in other countries that can really liberate people from the global oppressors of imperialism--and create societies where poverty, unjust violence, ethnic hatred, and the oppression of women can be eliminated.
The stakes are high. What kind of world will this be? What kind of world will the future generations see? Will it be one where the monstrous crimes of capital are even more extreme? Where more people starve or slave in sweatshops? Where the global environment becomes even more compromised? Where immigrants are rounded up in even greater numbers and dissent wiped out? Where the U.S. invades country after country, leaving murdered innocents in its wake?
Or will it be a world where these horrendous crimes are stopped--a whole new world where the common people work together for the common good of humanity and the planet. The actions people take can determine what world we will see. The anti-WEF protests are a part of the fight for a liberated future.
The new U.S. "war without end" campaign, along with all its other features, is a direct challenge to the movement against capitalist globalization. We salute the New York protesters who are standing strong and continuing the struggle. And we call on everyone to join together in a new, powerful movement to stop this U.S. war campaign and take the struggle higher.
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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