The Leninist view of how to fight against imperialist war remains one of the most controversial and defining characteristics of the communist movement, because it means standing up to the capitalist class at the moment its fangs are bared.

Why do we think it’s important to study what Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin wrote and did during World War I, over 100 years ago?

There are two good reasons. First, Lenin’s Marxist analysis of war shows how capitalism in its highest stage, imperialism, has an insatiable thirst for new markets and bigger profits that drives it to war. That hasn’t changed.

And second, Lenin successfully used this working-class understanding of war to help bring about the socialist revolution in Russia.

In the pamphlet “Socialism and War,” Lenin called the war that had just broken out in Europe “a war between the biggest slaveholders for the maintenance and consolidation of slavery.”

Differentiating the communist position from the pacifists, who condemn all wars equally, Lenin said, “We understand that wars cannot be abolished until classes are abolished and socialism is created.”

He defined as just wars “civil wars, i.e., wars waged by an oppressed class against the oppressor class,” and wars of national liberation by oppressed countries.

“If tomorrow, Morocco were to declare war on France, India on England, Persia or China on [World War I era, pre-revolutionary] Russia, and so forth,” he wrote, “those would be ‘just,’ ‘defensive’ wars, irrespective of who attacked first; and every socialist would sympathize with the victory of the oppressed, dependent, unequal states against the oppressing, slave-owning, predatory ‘Great’ Powers.”

Communists “of the oppressor countries should recognize and champion the oppressed nation’s right to self-determination,” Lenin wrote. “The socialist of a ruling country who does not stand for that right is a chauvinist.”

Revolutionary defeatism

“The defeat of one’s own capitalist government is the lesser evil in the struggle against the war,” he wrote. “A revolutionary class cannot but wish for the defeat of its government in a reactionary war, and cannot fail to see that the latter’s military reverses must facilitate its overthrow.”

Lenin’s thoroughly internationalist perspective is called revolutionary defeatism.

Instead of using the war as an excuse to pull back from the class struggle, Lenin and his co-thinkers argued that it was exactly the time to step up the struggle against capitalism.

It would be a hard road, especially during the first wave of patriotic propaganda. But as the war dragged on and the death and suffering mounted, more workers would turn against the government and capitalism, he argued.

This is the origin of the famous communist slogan, “Turn the imperialist war into civil war.”

Some people misunderstand what Lenin meant by this. They think it means you have to show up at the very first demonstration against the war with signs reading “Turn the imperialist war into civil war.” 

In fact, Lenin argues in his pamphlet that communists should give strong support to all manifestations for peace. This is often the first step by the workers, youths and others toward anti-war consciousness.

All five Bolshevik deputies in the Duma, or parliament, took a strong anti-war stand, and the Czar exiled them to hard labor in Siberia. Factory workers passed anti-war resolutions. Strikes and demonstrations were organized. Agitation was conducted in the army, and fraternization with enemy troops was encouraged.

Because of their correct analysis of the war and their determination to continue and deepen the class struggle, the Bolsheviks were ready when mass anger at the war boiled over. In February 1917, the Russian people rose up and overthrew the Czar. Several months later, after a new pro-capitalist government showed it would continue the war, Lenin and the Bolsheviks led a successful workers’ and peasants’ revolution for socialism under the banner of “Peace, Land, Bread.”

The new Soviet government’s first act was to call on all countries to end the World War and renounce all annexations and occupations. It guaranteed the right of self-determination for all the peoples and nations oppressed by Russian capitalism.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST

Howard Street & Martin Luther King Blvd.

Groups are calling for an Emergency Response in the event of U.S. escalation of the war on Iran & Iraq. If the Pentagon launches an attack we want to be in the streets as soon as possible.

We may have to protest as early as Wednesday, January 8th. If you have time meet us at the office 2011 N. Charles Street @ 12:30 pm to help make signs.

On Facebook

To the comrades at Struggle-La Lucha and the Socialist Unity Party/Partido de Socialismo Unido,

We were happy to receive your New Years greetings and reciprocate them wholeheartedly. We are united in our struggle, and we reaffirm our commitment to deepening international collaboration.

Throughout 2019, we mobilized and supported anti-imperialist initiatives within the imperialist beast of Europe. Most significantly, No Pasarán Hamburg and a coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals engaged in a solidarity campaign to support the peoples of Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador, who have heroically stood up against waves of attempted U.S.-backed coups, neoliberal economic policies and austerity, and inhumane sanctions leading to the suffering and death of thousands.

No Pasarán Hamburg had the privilege to participate in two anti-imperialist conferences with representatives from Chile, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Palestine, Spain, Sudan, Ukraine, the United States, Turkey and Venezuela. All participating parties affirmed their commitment for increased cooperation in anti-imperialist actions and the necessity of demonstrating international solidarity to those oppressed peoples and nations suffering under the siege of U.S. and European imperialism.

In 2020, we will continue to participate and initiate campaigns to raise awareness of the crimes committed by the imperialist powers in the name of “freedom” and “justice” and to combat the relentless propaganda carried out by Western powers against the peoples of the so-called Global South, who are engaged in a bitter struggle to defend their right to self-determination.

Down with imperialism!

Freedom for all political prisoners!

Solidarity with the peoples of Cuba and Latin America, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and Palestine!

In drafting this missive, we received word of the criminal assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. We condemn the actions of the United States government and military and will participate in the worldwide protests against yet another act of criminal, imperialist aggression.

Unity & Struggle,

No Pasarán Hamburg

Germany

Hosted by Coalition to March on the DNC

Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM CST

Red Arrow Park
920 N Water St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202

Donald Trump is coming to Milwaukee to hold a rally.

Join us for a mass protest and march against Trump’s racist hate speech. Wisconsin will stand together to say hate has no home here!

We are asking people to show up and meet first at Dontre Hamilton (Red Arrow) Park beginning around 6pm. At roughly 6:15, we will be moving to our rally location where we will run through a list of speakers from various organizations. After we have finished with our speakers, we will be marching outside the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to let Trump and his allies on the inside know that we’re there!

On Facebook

The vicious assassination-by-drone of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Jan. 2 was denounced by Iran, Iraq and people worldwide as an act of war. The murders, ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, came two days after hundreds of Iraqi protesters besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in response to a Dec. 29 Pentagon missile attack on Iraqi Hezbollah members and civilians.

Trump and the Big Oil/fracking interests that dominate his administration have been gunning for war with Iran since Day One, first of all by pulling the U.S. out of the so-called Iran nuclear deal, an international agreement that Tehran hoped could shake off U.S.-imposed sanctions. Iran has provided major military, economic and political assistance to Syria in its struggle against U.S.-backed terrorists. Last year, Trump unleashed the Turkish dictatorship on eastern Syria while claiming control of Syria’s oil fields on behalf of U.S. monopolies’ profits. 

In solidarity with the righteous protest at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the Answer Coalition and Code Pink Women for Peace and Popular Resistance called for a day of action on Saturday, Jan. 4. It was fortunate that they did, as it gave organizers across the country and the world an anchor for emergency actions in cities large and small when the U.S. escalated its undeclared war on Iran with the assassinations.

Dozens of national and local organizations, including Struggle-La Lucha newspaper and the Socialist Unity Party/Partido de Socialismo Unido, joined in the emergency mobilization, and the number of cities holding actions on the weekend of Jan. 4-5 swelled to over 80. The days of action took on an international scope as well, with anti-war protests held from fire-ravaged Australia to snowy Canada.

At least a thousand people came out to fog-shrouded Times Square in New York City to loudly chant, “No justice! No peace! U.S. out of the Middle East!” and marched down Broadway to the Herald Square shopping district. 

Speaking for Struggle-La Lucha, Bill Dores called to “bring all U.S. troops home now.” He talked about Gen. Soleimani’s role in leading the regional fight against ISIS and other ultraright, U.S.-linked forces that have ravaged Syria and other countries. Other speakers represented the Answer Coalition, the International Action Center, The People’s Forum, Refuse Fascism, New York Boricua Resistance, BAYAN USA and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle.

The weather was quite a contrast in Los Angeles, but there, too, a thousand people took to the streets to denounce Trump’s provocation and U.S. war, sanctions and occupation. 

“We find it really important for us to show solidarity for brothers and sisters in Iran and Iraq fighting for their sovereignty,” said Viva Vargas of BAYAN Southern California. “We see the U.S. war machine also waging war in the Philippines. They have sent over $193 million U.S. tax dollars to fund the killings, to fund the heightened oppression of all our progressive forces, the drones and bombs that cause the displacement of various Indigenous communities.”

Money for food, not war

“The people are facing major cuts to food stamps and disability benefits,” declared Lee Patterson of the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly. “In April, Trump plans to drop 700,000 people from the SNAP food program and millions more will have their benefits reduced. Here in Baltimore city, over 22 percent of people already go to bed facing hunger.

“But who’s not facing cuts? The Pentagon, that’s who!” Patterson said. “Both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress voted to give the war machine a $130-billion increase this year to wage more racist wars and spread more pollution with its 800 bases around the world.”

Dozens of protesters lined a major thoroughfare in downtown Baltimore. They covered a whole block, holding signs and banners in protest of the Trump regime’s latest acts of war targeting Iran, Iraq and Syria. “No bombs! No war! We need health care for the poor!” they chanted.

Among the groups participating were the Socialist Unity Party, Baltimore Peace Action, Youth Against War & Racism, Women in Black and the Communist Party USA-Baltimore. 

Winter chill didn’t stop an impressive turnout against war in Minneapolis. As Meredith Aby-Keirstead of the Anti-War Committee told Struggle-La Lucha, “We had over 700 people come out to say no to continued war in Iraq and a new war in Iran. Some people came from as far away as North Dakota.

“It was impressive to see so many people fired up to protest when the mainstream media have been beating the drums of war for days, assuring all of us that this was a legitimate attack and not an assassination,” she added.

In San Diego, a spontaneous march followed a rally that featured speakers from Anakbayan San Diego, Unión del Barrio, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Peace & Freedom Party. “We marched up several blocks and onto the I-5 Freeway overpass, where we hung the lead banner over a railing, making it visible to passing motorists,” said Carl Muhammad of the Socialist Unity Party. “We received a lot of support from the motorists passing below.”

A demonstration in Detroit’s Campus Martius Park, organized by the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI), swelled to hundreds before marching. Representatives of Al Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition, traveled from Cleveland to attend. Other speakers represented Geopolitics Alert and the Communist Workers League.

Palestinian American Congressperson Rashida Tlaib also spoke, condemning Trump’s act of war in violation of the War Powers Act. “Congress should have been consulted,” Tlaib said. “More importantly, we want to emphasize, there are more people out here that want peace, that do not support war.”

New faces join the struggle

Everywhere organizers and police alike were surprised at the strong turnout after many years of small anti-war actions. Activists noted many new faces, especially young people, who came out to their first protests to say “No war on Iran.”

In St. Louis, 150 protesters marched through downtown and held a “Rally Against War With Iran” at the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse. Local media reported that “Anti-war protesters swarmed downtown Iowa City” at an event organized by Veterans for Peace. Speakers exposed the fact that the U.S. has already spent tens of billions of dollars on “endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anti-war protesters clashed with right-wing goons in Pittsburgh and Boise. One hundred demonstrators in Atlanta chanted, “Trump says more war! We say no more!” declaring that the government needs to focus on helping people struggle against homelessness and exorbitant hospital bills, not more war in the Middle East.

Hadi Jawad, executive director of the Dallas Peace and Justice Center, reminded a local protest there that “we opposed the Iraq War back in 2003. We opposed the war in the early ’90s during Iraq One. We also opposed the bombing of Iraq in the 1980s. This is the freaking fifth decade — the fifth decade — of bombing the people of Iraq. Not only did we destroy Iraq, but the fires that we set in Iraq inflamed the entire Middle East.”

Activists erupted in chants of “Never again!”

More than fifty people participated in an anti-war protest in Norfolk, Va., reported jubilant activist John Long. “We caught the cops by surprise and took Granby Street!”

Up to 1,000 marched on the Trump Towers in Chicago, while even larger numbers–perhaps up to 2,000–took to the streets of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where they rallied outside the White House. 

One hundred people came out to march and rally in New Orleans. “We in the New Orleans Workers Group called the demonstration in solidarity with Iranians, Iraqis and others attacked by U.S. imperialism,” Gregory Williamson told SLL. “I was impressed by the broad agreement that imperialist war is bad for the people of the world, including workers here. The crowd was made up of many races, nationalities and age groups.” The Peoples Defense League of South Louisiana and the Democratic Socialists of America were among the groups that came out.

At the rally, Gavrielle Gemma, a leader of the national movement against the first Gulf War in 1990-1991, said, “We cannot stop imperialist war unless we organize the workers to be against it. We cannot be afraid to say that we are for the workers, that it is the bosses who are for war, and this is a rich white man’s war that doesn’t benefit the workers of any nationality.”

From New Haven, Conn.–where Norm Clement denounced the assassination of Soleimani  as “an act of war and a war crime”–to Sasscer Park in Southern California’s Orange County, and everywhere inbetween, a new movement is taking shape for the hard fight to stop Trump’s war against Iran — and shut down U.S. imperialism everywhere!

Jefferson Azevedo, David Card, Cheryl LaBash and Carl Muhammad contributed to this report.

Hosted by Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory and Unist’ot’en Camp

All Eyes on Wet’suwet’en:
International Call for Week of Solidarity!

TUES JAN 7, 2020 (anniversary of RCMP-CGL raid)
till SUN JAN 12, 2020

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We call for solidarity actions from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities worldwide who uphold Indigenous sovereignty and recognize the urgency of stopping resource extraction projects that threaten the lives of future generations.

SEVEN SOLIDARITY ACTIONS:

– MONTREAL on Sun Jan 12: Fundraiser https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-sovereignty-somatics-for-boundary-repair-online-tickets-85685769443

– ROCHESTER, NY on Sat Jan 11: https://www.facebook.com/events/1502629836568193/

– TORONTO on Tues Jan 7: https://www.facebook.com/events/2235129013457777/

– VANCOUVER on Wed Jan 8: https://www.facebook.com/events/1041966289487333/

– VANCOUVER on Sat Jan 11: https://www.facebook.com/events/2503683759899313/

– VICTORIA on Tues Jan 7: https://www.facebook.com/events/1823715671269318/

– VICTORIA on Sat Jan 11: https://www.facebook.com/events/544890622907015/

ORGANIZE ONE IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND EMAIL US at yintahaccess@gmail.com. List will be updated daily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unceded and sovereign Wet’suwet’en land is under attack. On December 31, 2019, BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church granted an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en nation who have been stewarding and protecting our traditional territories from the destruction of multiple pipelines, including Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline. Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected Church’s decision, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. The last CGL contractor was escorted out by Wet’suwet’en Chiefs on Saturday, January 4, 2020.

We watched communities across Canada and worldwide rise up with us in January 2019 when the RCMP violently raided our territories and criminalized us for upholding our responsibilities towards our land. Our strength to act today comes from the knowledge that our allies across Canada and around the world will again rise up with us, as they did for Oka, Gustafsen Lake, and Elsipogtog, shutting down rail lines, ports, and industrial infrastructure and pressuring elected government officials to abide by UNDRIP. The state needs to stop violently supporting those members of the 1% who are stealing our resources and condemning our children to a world rendered uninhabitable by climate change. Light your sacred fires and come to our aid as the RCMP prepares again to enact colonial violence against Wet’suwet’en people.

We ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the laws of the Indigenous nation(s) of that land.

For more information:

* Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit:
http://unistoten.camp/supportertoolkit2020/?fbclid=IwAR1HjIW4IsEofzS5ZVkYnFeLOl3m-Txgo0xLlhanhtVzjtHcRKbFGOkiw8w

* Donate to Unist’ot’en:
https://unistoten.camp/support-us/donate/

* Donate to Gidimt’en
https://www.yintahaccess.com/becomeadonor

Sunday, January 5, 2020 at 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Military Park
Broad St, Newark, New Jersey 07102

A United States war with Iran would be an unmitigated disaster, morally and religiously indefensible. The assassination of Iran’s General Soleimani on Iraqi soil and the mobilization of thousands more US troops to the Middle East can only be viewed as an attempt to start yet another war for oil in the Middle East. At a time when the climate crisis is so dire that an entire continent is literally on fire we cannot permit this to be done in our name. Join us as we say No More Blood for Oil – No War with Iran!

co-sponsors: Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, North NJ Democratic Socialists of America, Green Party of New Jersey, Extinction Rebellion New Jersey, The Climate Mobilization – Hoboken Chapter, New Jersey Revolution Radio

On Facebook

Alto a la guerra de Estados Unidos contra Irán

Estados Unidos fuera del Medio Oriente

Dinero para empleos, salud y educación.

El régimen de Trump lanzó un ataque furtivo y cobarde contra dos países con los que Estados Unidos no está en guerra. Los asesinatos del general iraní Qassem Soleimani y el iraquí Abu Mahdi Mohandas están calculados para desatar más guerra y destrucción en toda la región. Siguen al asesinato de 25 soldados iraquíes por la Fuerza Aérea de los EUA cuatro días antes.

Estos asesinatos son crímenes contra la paz, el mayor crimen de guerra según el derecho internacional. Son una versión global de Cointelpro, el programa secreto del gobierno de EUA que asesinó a decenas de líderes negrxs, latinxs e indígenas en las décadas de 1960 y 1970.

Nuevos informes dicen que los marines estadounidenses están “arrestando” (traducción: secuestrando) legisladores iraquíes elegidos. El régimen colonizador racista de Israel está colaborando con la Casa Blanca y el Pentágono para intensificar esta guerra.

Soliemani lideró la lucha contra ISIS

“El acto estadounidense de terrorismo internacional, atacando y asesinando al general Soleimani, quien dirigió la fuerza más efectiva que lucha contra Daesh (ISIS), al-Nusrah, al-Qaida y otros, es una escalada extremadamente peligrosa e insensata”, dijo el canciller iraní Irán Javad Zarif en Twitter. “Estados Unidos será el responsable por todas las consecuencias de su aventura canallesca”.

En juego enormes ganancias e inversiones

¿Quién podría querer tal cosa? Los intereses energéticos que dominan la Casa Blanca de Trump, y los bancos que los financian. La carrera política del secretario de estado Mike Pompeo fue pagada por Koch Industries, un gran beneficiario del fracking. La industria energética ha llegado a depender de la guerra en el oeste de Asia y el norte de África, ricos en petróleo. Ahora están en crisis, como lo atestiguan los titulares en The Wall Street Journal (WSJ):

“Los productores de energía se enfrentan a una gran pérdida después de la bonanza del petróleo de esquisto”, escribió el WSJ el 1 de enero.

“La factura se debe a la guerra de precios de la industria del esquisto con la OPEP, y las compañías de petróleo y gas de América del Norte tendrán más de $200 mil millones de deuda con vencimiento en los próximos cuatro años”, comienza el siguiente artículo.

“Los precios del petróleo caerán a pesar de los recortes de la OPEP, predicen los bancos “, escribió el WSJ el 23 de diciembre.

“Los gigantes de la energía confrontan el exceso con oleadas de desvalorizaciones”, informó un titular del 20 de diciembre de WSJ.

En un artículo del 15 de diciembre titulado, “La desaceleración del esquisto tiene costo económico”, el WSJ citó al economista del Banco de la Reserva Federal Michael Plante: “El momento de auge terminó, a menos que los precios del petróleo suban significativamente”.

“Los fabricantes se enfrentan a una nueva amenaza por la caída del fracking”, decía un titular del 15 de diciembre.

Sin embargo, el WSJ del 26 de diciembre informaba “los grandes inversores muestran amor por los campos de gas que otros evitan”. Entre los que compran campos no rentables está el aliado de Trump y propietario de los Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones. Más importante aún, ExxonMobil y Chevron anunciaron importantes inversiones en la Cuenca Pérmica a principios de este año, a pesar de la caída de los precios. “La próxima era de perforación de esquisto es probable que sea liderada por las principales compañías petroleras”, comentó el WSJ.

El exceso de energía mundial también pone en peligro las ganancias que los bancos estadounidenses esperan obtener de la oferta pública de Saudi ARAMCO, la compañía petrolera más grande del mundo, y los planes estadounidense-israelíes para comercializar en Europa el gas robado de los palestinos. Miles de millones de dólares en ganancias e inversiones están en juego.

Las guerras de EUA contra Irak, Libia y Siria trajeron enormes ganancias a las empresas estadounidenses, especialmente a las de energía. Hicieron posible el auge del fracking, en el que los principales bancos y corporaciones vertieron cientos de miles de millones de dólares. Pero era una burbuja, y esa burbuja ha colapsado. El régimen de Trump está apostando a que una guerra importante pueda traerlo de vuelta.

Guerra contra Irán es guerra contra la clase trabajadora aquí

La guerra con Irán puede enriquecer aún más a los banqueros y multimillonarios, pero solo traerá un desastre a las comunidades oprimidas y de clase trabajadora aquí. El Dr. Martin Luther King dijo: “Las bombas que caen en Vietnam explotan aquí”. Lo mismo se aplica a las bombas y misiles que Estados Unidos arroja sobre Asia occidental y el norte de África.

El presupuesto militar de $758 mil millones viene a expensas de nuestros cupones de alimentos, nuestras escuelas, hospitales, viviendas, bibliotecas y sistemas de tránsito. ¿Por qué no podemos tener atención médica y universidad gratuitas como tantos otros países? ¿Dónde está el dinero para proporcionar agua potable a Flint, Newark y otras ciudades de EUA? ¿Dónde está el dinero para reparar los daños causados ​​por huracanes en Puerto Rico?

También pagaremos el costo de esta guerra en el puesto de gasolina y en el costo del combustible para calefacción este invierno.

La guerra también está destinada a salvar y fortalecer la industria del fracking, que está envenenando a las comunidades nativas y rurales en los EUA además de causar cáncer. También es una fuente importante de metano que afecta el clima.

Medios monopolistas convergen en torno a la guerra

Los medios corporativos han criticado a Trump por perjudicar la intervención estadounidense en Ucrania. Pero se regodean con los asesinatos selectivos completamente ilegales del régimen de Trump.

Algunos políticos demócratas han criticado insípidamente esta peligrosa escalada. A Nancy Pelosi le preocupa que Trump no lo haya pasado por el Congreso. ¿Pero actuarán ahora para detener esta guerra? ¿Acusarán a Trump por crímenes contra la paz y violar la Ley de Poderes de Guerra? ¿Sacarán ahora todas las tropas, barcos, aviones y activos militares estadounidenses de la región?

El pueblo debe intervenir

No podemos confiar en los políticos burgueses. ¡Necesitamos una acción de masas urgente en las calles y en los lugares de trabajo para detener esta guerra!

¡Manos fuera de Irán! ¡Estados Unidos fuera de Asia occidental y el norte de África! ¡No más guerras por ganancias del monopolio petrolero! ¡Todas las tropas, barcos y aviones estadounidenses a casa ahora! ¡Alto a las sanciones ya! ¡Alto a toda ayuda al estado racista de Israel! ¡Dinero para escuelas, salud y viviendas, no para el Pentágono y la CIA!

Hosted by Tidewater Solidarity Collective

Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 6:00 PM EST

Town Point Park
Norfolk, Virginia 23510

Bring your voice, your signs, your banners, your instruments, your hopes, your fears, your passion, and all of your rage. NO WAR WITH IRAN. Come out and unequivocally oppose this warmongering attack that will cost millions their lives. The rich start wars the poor die for. Reject imperialism, reject intervention, reject war. We have to move on this NOW while the world is looking, and Saturday is a National Day of Action to say NO. NOT IN OUR NAME.

On Facebook

The Trump regime has launched a cowardly sneak attack on two countries with which the U.S. is not at war. The murders of Iran’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraq’s Abu Mahdi Mohandas are calculated to unleash more war and destruction across the entire region. It follows the murder of 25 Iraqi soldiers by the U.S. Air Force four days earlier.

These murders are crimes against peace, the highest war crime under international law. They are a global version of Cointelpro, the U.S. government secret program which murdered dozens of Black, Latinx and Indigenous leaders in the 1960s and 1970s.

New reports say U.S. Marines are “arresting” (translation: kidnapping) elected Iraqi legislators. The racist settler regime of Israel is collaborating with the White House and Pentagon in escalating this war. 

Soliemani led fight against ISIS

”The U.S. act of international terrorism, targeting and assassinating Gen. Soleimani–who led the most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), al-Nusrah, al-Qaida, et al.–is extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Twitter.  “The U.S. bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.”

Huge profits and investments at stake

Who could want such a thing? The energy interests that dominate the Trump White House, and the banks that fund them want it most of all. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s political career was paid for by Koch Industries, a major fracking profiteer. Big Energy has come to depend on war in oil-rich West Asia and North Africa. Now they are in a crisis, as headlines in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) attest:

“Energy Producers Face Big Tab After Shale Oil Bonanza,” the WSJ wrote on Jan. 1.

“The bill is coming due for the shale industry’s price war with OPEC, with North American oil-and-gas companies having more than $200 billion of debt maturing over the next four years,” begins the article that follows.

“Oil Prices to Slide Despite OPEC Cuts, Banks Predict,” the WSJ wrote on Dec. 23. 

“Energy Giants Confront Glut With Wave of Write-Downs,” reported a Dec. 20 WSJ headline. 

In a Dec. 15 article headlined, “Shale Slowdown Takes Economic Toll,“ the WSJ quoted Federal Reserve Bank economist Michael Plante: “The boom time is done at this point, unless oil prices go up significantly.” 

“Manufacturers Face New Threat From Fracking Slump,” read a Dec. 15 headline. 

Nonetheless, “Big Investors Showing Love to Gas Fields Others Shun,” the WSJ reported on Dec. 26. Among those buying up unprofitable fields is Trump ally and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. More important, ExxonMobil and Chevron announced major investments in the Permian Basin earlier this year, despite falling prices. “The next era of shale drilling is likely to be led by the major oil companies,” the WSJ commented. 

The global energy glut also imperils the profits that U.S. banks hope to make off the public offering of Saudi ARAMCO, the world’s biggest oil company, and U.S.-Israeli plans to market stolen Palestinian gas in Europe. Trillions of dollars in profits and investments are at stake. 

The U.S. wars against Iraq, Libya and Syria brought huge profits to Corporate America, especially energy firms. They made possible the fracking boom, into which major banks and corporations poured hundreds of billions of dollars. But it was a bubble, and that bubble has collapsed. The Trump regime is betting that a major war can bring it back.

War on Iran is war on the working class here

War with Iran may further enrich bankers and billionaires, but it will only bring disaster to working-class and oppressed communities here. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “The bombs that fall in Vietnam explode here.” The same is true of the bombs and missiles the U.S. drops on West Asia and North Africa. 

The $758 billion military budget comes at the expense of our food stamps, our schools, hospitals, housing, libraries and transit systems. Why can’t we have free medical care and college like so many other countries? Where is the money to provide clean drinking water to Flint, Newark and other U.S. cities? Where is the money to repair hurricane damage in Puerto Rico? 

We will also pay the cost of this war at the gas pump and in the cost of heating oil this winter. 

The war is also meant to save and strengthen the fracking industry, which is poisoning Native and rural communities across the U.S. and is a major cause of cancer. It is also a major source of climate-changing methane. 

Monopoly media rally around war 

The corporate media have roasted Trump for impairing U.S. intervention in Ukraine. But they are gloating over the Trump regime’s completely illegal targeted assassinations.

Some Democrat politicians have offered milquetoast criticism of this dangerous escalation. Nancy Pelosi is concerned that Trump went around Congress. But will they act now to stop this war? Will they impeach Trump for crimes against peace and violating the War Powers Act? Will they get all U.S. troops, ships, planes and military assets out of the region now? 

The people must intervene

We cannot rely on bourgeois politicians. We need urgent mass action in the streets and in the workplace to stop this war!  

Hands off Iran! U.S. out of West Asia and North Africa! No more wars for oil monopoly profits! Bring all U.S. troops, ships and planes home now! End sanctions now! End all aid to the racist state of Israel! Money for schools, health care and housing, not the Pentagon and the CIA!