FRFI 175 October / November 2003
No amount of intellectual theorising or sympathy for human suffering can effect change unless it is accompanied by sustained political struggle. It is both possible and our duty to change the world. Readers and supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! know that this understanding motivates our analysis and action. For example, in setting up the Victory to the Intifada (VTI) groups around the country to consistently campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people and show the British public how it is linked to Zionist brutality, just by shopping in Marks and Spencer department stores.
After three years of the Palestinian uprising, the boycott M&S pickets, like the Intifada itself, continue. Now the right-wing reactionaries, Zionist extremists and British fascists have reared their ugly heads to confront us directly where politics really counts – on the streets. For those in doubt, it is now clear that Zionism is a form of fascism; the Israeli flag alongside the Union Jack, calling on the public to buy Israeli goods, racist ranting against Arabic and Muslim peoples, accusing us of anti-Semitism (see pages 8/9 and page 14).
This confrontation by fascists shows our VTI campaign is succeeding. Our weekly pickets have reached thousands more people than a one-off demonstration can. We have demolished the pro-Zionist propaganda of the British media with our historical knowledge and by providing hard facts that expose Israel as a racist apartheid state with a cruel expansionist logic which can bring no peace or justice for Palestinian people. The fascists have been put on the defensive. We must drive home our attack.
Since the fascists have taken to the streets, the pickets of M&S have grown. This is vital and it must continue. This is a battle between those opposing racist oppression, military domination and imperialist brutality, and those supporting it. By refusing to leave the Palestinian people to struggle in isolation we will win an ideological battle against racism, discrimination and exploitation here in Britain. Our triumph in this battle will help put a brake on the rise of fascism here in Britain. You, the reader, must join the movement against Zionism/fascism. Help to build a picket outside every M&S in the country! (see page 14 for details).
Through its aggressive imperialist policies and the racism of its domestic policies, the British Labour government is giving sanction to the extreme right wing in Britain. The military destruction and economic rape of underdeveloped countries bolsters racist arrogance inside the imperialist countries. Defeat for the imperialists means defeat for the racists at home. The black power movement in the USA took off when the US army was being hounded through the Vietnamese jungles, despite far superior military power. We must support all forms of resistance to imperialism, because ultimately it is resistance to our own oppressor, the capitalist ruling class.
Solidarity with those fighting imperialism means being part of the international movement. Members of the RCG attended the Anti-imperialist Camp in Italy with other communists and revolutionaries from around the world (see page 10). The main call of the Camp was support for Iraqi resistance to the invasion, resistance which has created a major obstacle in the plans of the US ruling class to dominate the world, with Britain as the junior partner.
The arrogant warmongers forgot the lesson of history, that no people will submit to domination without a fight (see pages 1 and 3).
This is clear today throughout Latin America where workers, peasants and indigenous people mobilise against the neo-liberal policies designed to destroy their livelihoods and dignity for the profits of the capitalist elite, which tries to buy up the world and its people (see page 6). In South Africa, the government’s attempts to privatise water, the source of all life, is being combated by the Anti-Privatisation Forum which declares that the collective resistance of the poor ‘is both necessary and never-ending for as long as the barbarism of capitalism exists’ (see page 7). In Nepal, the People’s Liberation Army has called an end to its cease fire following the collapse of talks with the oppressive feudal monarchy. The revolution continues (see page 7).
The war on Iraq has exposed the brutal and parasitic nature of capitalism in crisis, trampling over the world in the quest for profits. Imperialism cannot solve the problems of poverty, disease, illiteracy, civil war and repression suffered by most of the world’s people. The underdeveloped countries have begun to demand an end to the systematic robbery of their natural wealth by the rich west. The World Trade Organisation’s annual meeting in Cancun, Mexico, collapsed when representatives of poor countries walked out in protest at neo-liberal policies which trap them in underdevelopment (see page 6).
The imperialists resort to greater repression to keep this resistance in check. In the last two years, the US has intensified its campaign to destroy the Cuban revolution. It is the right and the duty of the Cuban people to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent the poisoning of its socialist system (see page 11). We salute the Cuban measures to combat imperialist machinations just as we salute the resistance in Iraq and Palestine.
We also salute the resistance to repression, racism and exploitation here in Britain; the struggle for human rights and dignity of those incarcerated in prisons and special hospitals (see page 13), against police murder, against racist immigration legislation (see page 16), and the struggle against the privatisation of the NHS and our education system (see page 4).
Doing nothing means supporting the brutality of capitalism. Don’t be a bystander. Be a nuisance! Join the resistance, keep doing things and keep coming back, bigger, better and more confident! Join the RCG!
