Week one of Trump and Netanyahu’s war against Iran draws to a close. Intense aerial bombardment of Tehran replicates the genocidal violence inflicted on Gaza. The Middle East has been suddenly plunged into general political and economic chaos. Any remaining illusions in capitalist ‘international law’ have been demolished by Israel and the US. While a tidal wave of misinformation and propaganda obscures the brutal reality of hi-tech precision aerial bombing and missile attacks.
No-one can predict where this war will go or how it will end. But we know that with war criminals like Trump and Netanyahu at the helm, tens of thousands will die in the coming period. The cowardly US sinking of an unarmed Iranian naval vessel off the coast of Sri Lanka shows how war risks spreading beyond the region. With the danger of dragging nuclear powers like Pakistan, India, Russia and China into open confrontation with the US or Iran.
War is the lifeblood of capitalism
War is the lifeblood of capitalism and imperialism. Capitalism’s blood drenched desire for domination of the world’s resources ensures an unending series of conflicts, big and small, across the world. So long as capitalism continues to be the dominant economic and political system, this will never end.
The present war will not improve the living standards of the working class in any part of the world. Including in the US and Israel. In fact, if the conflict endures for longer than a few weeks, the world economy faces a rupture to match or exceed that of the 2008 financial crash.
Get ready for struggle
So, what can we do? We must take to the streets to show our complete opposition to this war. We must prepare ourselves for an onslaught on our working and living conditions if this war sparks an economic crash. We must smash NATO, which this attack proves, is just a fig leaf for the US war machine. We must build a worldwide movement against imperialism and capitalism. This includes the struggle to build a mass party of the working class armed with a socialist programme to end capitalism, poverty, war and exploitation once and for all.
Many people are bewildered right now. Feeling powerless and confused. That is understandable. It is no lie to say we are governed by murderous psychopaths. But the working class, us, united and determined, is the most powerful force in society. Let’s use our collective power to show that this war must end. That all war must end. That capitalism, the root of all war, must end. We will need all our collective strength and solidarity for the coming struggle.
