Organize Strikes, Boycotts of War Materials!

Barack Obama’s speech last night, formally announcing the escalation of the Afghanistan occupation and committing another 30,000 troops to the conflict, was a clear signal that he plans to eagerly continue the agenda demanded of him by the exploiting and oppressing classes.

Obama’s support for expanding the Afghan occupation was never a secret. Repeatedly during last year’s presidential sweepstakes, the Democratic candidate emphasized his belief that Afghanistan was a “war of necessity” and that if he was elected then he would send more troops to the region.

Indeed, one of Obama’s first acts after being sworn in was to send 21,000 soldiers, most of them just home from Iraq, into the Afghan war zone.

The exploiters’ commander in chief struck a familiar pose in his speech, invoking the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as the historical justification for escalating the occupation. But this is not
merely a falsification of history, it is a blatant lie.

This occupation, like the occupation of Iraq, is about Washington and Wall Street having control of essential resources they need in their maneuvering and increasing conflicts — currently behind-the-scenes and hidden — with their Great Power imperial rivals.

These 30,000 troops are being deployed in “strategic” areas across Afghanistan. What are these “strategic” areas? For the most part, they are regions where pipelines moving natural gas and oil from central Asian countries like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to ports along the Indian Ocean coast are unsecured.

Afghanistan was never about “defeating al-Qa’ida” or “capturing Osama bin Laden.” A little-known part of the “post-9/11” history is that Afghanistan — the Talib’an regime — offered to hand over Bin Laden and expel al-Qa’ida ... if the U.S. could prove they were responsible for the attacks. Washington chose to provide no proof. They wanted the Talib’an out of the way because they wanted a cut of the profits!

Obama tried to frame his escalation of the Afghanistan occupation as the first part of a plan to begin withdrawing from the region by July 2011. But he repeatedly conditioned such thoughts of withdrawal by saying that “conditions on the ground” would determine whether withdrawal would happen. In other words, all talk of withdrawal is a lie! It is meant to pacify elements among the exploiting and oppressing classes that are understandably uneasy about a prolonged or open-ended conflict in central Asia.

But Obama’s escalation also includes expanding incursions into nuclear-armed Pakistan, and possible future interventions in Somalia and Yemen (both mentioned by name). Washington’s message to all those in the region is, “We’re not going to pack up our bags and leave them as soon as we’re done.” And if the governments in the region won’t do the White House’s bidding, then, in the words of one official, “the United States may be impelled to use any means at its disposal to rout insurgents” in and around these countries.

Translation: We’re here to stay. And if you don’t like it, we’ll be coming for you wherever you are.

On the eve of the 2008 election, we stood alone in warning working people that Obama would continue the corporatist agenda begun by the George W. Bush regime. We summed it up by calling it as we saw it: Obama’s election would be Bush’s Third Term. At the time, we were attacked from all sides, called “stupid,” “sectarian” and even “racist” for exposing Obama’s corporatism. But we have been proven right!

From upholding the unionbusting provisions of the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies to the class warfare contained in his health care “reform” to extending the anti-democratic provisions of the PATRIOT Act to this latest escalation of Afghanistan, Obama has continued the actions and policies of the Bush regime, and, in doing so, furthered the agenda of the corporatist capitalist class and its “middle class” managers.

This is Obama’s war! He “owns” the Afghan occupation, just like Bush “owned” the occupation of Iraq. And he made it clear that when it comes to the existing antiwar movement, he intends to ignore and dismiss it as much as Bush did. Obama’s polemic against the “middle class” left — that comparison of Afghanistan to Vietnam is a “false reading of history” — is meant to inoculate his supporters against antiwar sentiment.

This once again makes it clear that street protests will be ineffective, and that attempts to pressure Washington to “bring the troops home” or “withdraw all troops now” will fall on wilfully deaf ears.

A capitalist’s war always ends up being a worker’s fight. We are the ones pushed into the military to fight and die for profit. We are the ones who have our rights and livelihoods restricted in the name of “sacrifice” and “national unity.” We are the ones forced to pay for war, with our labor, our money and our lives.

The only way to end Obama’s war is for we as working people to organize ourselves and use our united power, in both the political and economic arenas, to disarm the bloodthirsty ruling classes and force an end to the occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as U.S. interventions from Colombia to Korea.

Strikes and boycotts that stop movement of war materials and troops would shut down these wars of conquest in a matter of days, if not in a matter of hours. An organized, united working class can then begin addressing the other issues we face today, including unemployment, health care, democratic rights, etc.

These victories, achieved by working people on behalf of all humanity, can only be secured, expanded and defended by defeating capitalist rule and building a working people’s republic. This is what the Workers  Party in America fights for and advocates. If you agree with this perspective, we invite you to join us.