Against War and Terrorism • Capitalist Terror and Madness • “Why do they hate us?” • The tragedy of Afghanistan • Diversity in Islam for Absolute Beginners • History of anarchist anti-imperialism • Commissars of the Free Press • Building an antiwar movement • is the cure

Anarchist writings on the war from struggle.ws represent a collectively agreed posi- tion. Each represents the opinion of Against war and terror the author. What the authors (mostly) have in common is agreement with the This pamphlet was written by anarchists from four continents Anarchist Platform statement to be th found on the web at in the period between the September 11 terror attacks on the http://struggle.ws/platform.html. US and the (public) start of the ‘War on Terrorism’ announced by the US government. We know war means death, destruction Anarchism is our collective alterna- and oppression for the working class internationally. tive to capitalist war and terror. We want an equal society, one without While we deplore the attacks on the We hope these articles will stimulate classes, without sexism, without rac- USA and the deaths of thousands of some discussion about the causes and ism. We want a society where each people we are also aware that the ‘re- real goal of this war. We also hope it workplace and community is self- taliation’ to this attack is designed to will help those who, like us, seek to managed and where everyone contrib- advance the control of the USA and undermine the war efforts of all sides. utes according to there abilities and other western powers over the people But beyond that, this is just another receives according to there needs! We of the world. Not just the people of war in a long series – we need an al- want a libertarian society, one which Asia and the Middle East but also in ternative to the capitalist system that is really democratic, where there is the imperialist countries as the war breeds wars just as surely as it breeds freedom of movement for all. We want is used as a ‘loyalty’ test and to intro- severe inequality. War in not an ab- a society without borders, based on duce repressive legislation. Already erration – war is the health of capital solidarity and mutual aid. We want a it has been the excuse for the sacking and the state. society where liberty, justice and dig- of tens of thousands of workers, par- We make no claim that these articles nity are a reality. ticularly in the airline industry. We refuse the choice that is offered by both sides in this conflict – you are either for us or against us. As anar- chists we obviously see little attrac- tion in the sort of religious state fan- tasised about by bin Laden and en- acted by the Taliban, where the indi- vidual is controlled right down to for- bidding the trimming of beards! But we also oppose the fake democracy of Want to comment on this publication? the western states where politicians Publicly - go to the bulletin board at are bought by oil companies, refugees http://struggle.ws/issues/war/pamOCT01.html are criminalised and where corpora- Just to the authors - email [email protected] tions rule.

Chekov Feeney is an Irish revolutionary anarchist writer living in Melbourne Australia. He has visited and written about many of the most unfortunate parts of the globe in The tragedy of Afghanistan an attempt to understand the hidden foundations of suffering on which our world order is built. Afghanistan is a tragic country. The Soviet-backed coup and subsequent in- prison of the home by the fundamentalist vasion in 1979 ushered in more than two decades of brutal war. During the ideology of the ‘holy warriors.’ 1980’s, the US supplied at least USD 32 billion [1] of military aid to the mujahadeen, the Islamic opposition to the Soviet regime. The US explicitly Refuge channelled their funding to the most fanatical and violent islamists in an According to UN statistics the number of attempt to cause the maximum damage to the Russians. Afghan refugees living in Iran and Paki- When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, the rect result of the war - army assaults, fam- stan is 6.3 million[4] or one refugee every Western states turned their attention ine or lack of medical attention[3]. This minute over 20 years. These people have away from this barren wasteland. While makes up over 10% of the population or fled despite the fact that all they can look the US had been willing to pump billions one death every 5 minutes. Those who forward to is a life of misery in one of the of dollars of weapons into the country, have survived have often been maimed by squalid and hopeless camps across the their concern for the oppressed population bombs and landmines. A sign at the border. So during this period of war some did not extend to the same generosity in Dogharoon border post reads: “every 24 10% of the population has been killed and funding reconstruction. The UNHCR’s hours 7 people step on mines in Afghani- 30% have been forced into exile, a trag- budget for Afghanistan in 1999 - as part stan”. UN estimates in 2000 put the aver- edy on a monumental scale and one that of the Common UN Appeal for Afghani- age life expectancy of Afghans at 41, and has been almost totally ignored by the stan - was $17 million[2]. The decade af- since then this has undoubtedly sharply West. ter the Soviet retreat was dominated by declined. Afghan children have one chance In the last year the harsh situation has constant war as the heavily armed war- in five of dying before their second birth- become dramatically worse. The worst lords fought it out for the meagre resources day. Increasing repression has accompa- drought in 30 years has seen the virtual of this forgotten land. nied the slaughter, and women in particu- extermination of the country’s only pro- lar have found themselves even further During the past 20 years about 2.5 mil- ductive resort - their livestock. Famine excluded from public life and locked in the lion Afghans have died as a direct or indi- and starvation are sweeping through of extreme suffering and starvation the land. have hardly the capacity to mount ef- fective opposition to this band of heav- The UNHCR estimates that there are ily armed and ruthless soldiers. For at least one million Afghans starving there to be any hope of replacing them, to death at the moment [5]. Now even there would have to be a massive flow the last chances of survival for many of resources to the impoverished Af- of these appear to have disappeared as ghans. If they were supplied with food, the neighbouring countries are refus- education, health and civil infrastruc- ing entry to refugees and deporting ‘il- ture, they would not tolerate long the legal’ immigrants. The Iranian film- burden of Taliban misrule. However, maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf is one of this course of action, which would ac- the rare outsiders who has taken an tually damage the men of violence, is interest in this disaster zone: “I wit- not even remotely considered by the nessed about 20,000 men, women and US warlords. Instead they propose a children around the city of Herat starv- storm of death and destruction against ing to death. They couldn’t walk and the very people who are, in the words were scattered on the ground awaiting of Afghan-American Tamir Ansay, “the the inevitable...In Dushanbeh in first victims of the Taliban”[10]. Tajikestan I saw a scene where 100,000 Afghans were running from south to A war of the rich states against Af- north, on foot. It looked like doomsday. ghanistan will inevitably lead to the These scenes are never shown in the me- deaths of millions of Afghans who have dia anywhere in the world. The war- as little responsibility for the Taliban’s stricken and hungry children had run or Bin Laden’s acts as the workers of for miles and miles barefoot. Later on the World Trade Centre had for the initially appeared capable of offering some the same fleeing crowd was attacked by in- much greater crimes of the US govern- hope of security and stability, Afghans ternal enemies and was also refused asy- ment. The first demands of the US in- quickly learned that they could expect lum in Tajikestan. In the thousands, they cluded an order for Pakistan to stop food more of the same brutality. The Taliban died and died in a no-man’s land between aid from crossing into Afghanistan [11] - forces indulged in massacres in the towns Afghanistan and Tajikestan and neither essentially a call for mass murder on a which ‘welcomed them’ (the euphemism you found out nor anybody else” [6]. Af- scale that dwarfs the bombings in the US. which they use to describe their conquests ghanistan is fast becoming a vast exter- War against Afghanistan will especially of opposition towns). In 1998 the Iranian mination camp, with armed guards on all hit those who are already the gravest vic- consular staff was among the thousands the exits so that nobody can escape. tims of the ‘fundamentalists.’ The only of people massacred after the fall of people with the facilities to evade the The Taliban Mazar-i Sharif to the Taliban. They come West’s weapons of mass destruction, es- from Afghanistan’s largest tribes, the The Taliban leaders were formed in Is- pecially starvation, are the Taliban sol- Pashtun who make up about 35% of the lamic religious schools while refugees in diers and it is them and the fundamental- population. They have been accused of Pakistan, and have continued to recruit ists like Bin Laden who are most likely to brutally imposing their harsh religious students to these schools based mainly gain in strength with every bomb that falls laws on other tribes, but it is women who upon the fact that they offer bread and on this shattered country. have suffered most at the hands of their the only education available to the hun- horrific religious regime. The idea of the richest states in the world gry masses. If the ‘civilised’ world had going to war against the most destitute spent a tiny fraction of the billions of mili- While they may have largely failed in their and helpless is monstrous. If you feel that tary funding on providing food and ra- promise to provide security and peace, innocent people shouldn’t be slaughtered tional education to these victims, it is very their failure to provide food and work for then you must oppose this barbaric war, unlikely that the Taliban would ever have the population is at least as important. or become complicit in another of the great existed as a serious force. Instead they The Taliban have, like all governments, crimes against humanity perpetrated in channelled funds through Saudi Arabia concentrated primarily on supplying their the name of Western ‘civilisation’ in the and aid organisations such as USAID [7], own forces. So now during this time of few tragic centuries of capitalist global into these religious schools (although they mass famine they are the only people with expansion. would more accurately be described as food and resources. The fundamentalists’ political training camps for a movement blatant attacks on women and individual Footnotes based upon hatred and fanaticism). liberties might have been tolerated by the 1.The menace of Islamic fundamentalism and the hypocrisy people of this traditionally patriarchal and However, they flourished and as they pro- of imperialism Lal Khan Pakistan, October 2000 http:// strictly religious society, if they were able gressively took over between 1994 and www.marxist.com/Asia/islamic_fund_ism1100.html to provide bread and safety. However, 1998, they were generally accepted by the 2.UNHCR report on Afghanistan march 1999: http:// there were no solutions to these problems www.unhcr.ch/world/mide/afghan.htm populace, at least among their fellow in the Taliban’s religious code, and their 3.UN report quoted by Iranian film-maker Mohsen Pashtuns, who saw in them the most re- abject failure to even address the economic Makhmalbaf June 20, 2001 The Iranian http://www.iranian.com/ alistic hope of security, albeit at the ex- problems of the people cost them any real Opinion/2001/June/Afghan/index.html pense of freedom. The dead have little free- support amongst Afghans. As the Revolu- 4. Ibid. dom anyway. They were formed explicitly 5.Ibid tionary Association of Women of Afghani- as a reaction to the rule of warlords, a re- 6.Ibid stan state: “The people of Afghanistan turn to ‘pure,’ unifying religion [8]. They 7.Helga Baitenmann, “NGOs and the Afghan War: The have nothing to do with Osama and his were well organised, relatively free from Politicisation of Humanitarian Aid”, Third World Quarterly, accomplices [they] have no plans for so- Vol. 12 (1990), pp. 1-23 complicity in most of the hated warfare cioeconomic reconstruction. Nor do they 8.UNHCR report quoted on Afghanistan 1998 and drug trading of the previous 15 years have a decent concept for the country”[9]. http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/country/writenet/wriafg03.htm and were relatively well educated in this The Taliban have constantly faced serious 9 Revlutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan at country where rural illiteracy runs as high opposition in Afghanistan, especially from http://rawasongs.fancymarketing.net/index.html as 90%. 10. See article at www.salon.com the marginalised non-Pashtun peoples. 11. Noam Chomsky in interview with Belgrade radio B92 at: However, while the Taliban’s harsh regime However, a people devastated by 20 years http://www.struggle.ws/issues/war/chomsky_b26_sept19.html Written by Harald Beyer-Arnesen, born and living in Oslo, Norway. Anarco-syndicalist and anarchist communist. Capitalist terror and madness: Inspired by social revolutionaries from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and India, and the reading of too many books George bin Laden & Osama son of Bush incorporated. during the last decades about the past and contemporary history of this troubled part of the world. Towers may blow up and crumble, while fortifying the very social structures they stood as a symbol for. The words You can’t blow up a social relation, ring truer than ever. There are good reasons to begin talking roots and precendents further back in about terror as such and within a global Irish history, organisational terror of more context. To a large extent terror can also recent date have been effective in repro- be viewed apart from whatever motives ducing this madness. Any terror group, that may hide behind particular even those who start out with social revo- expressions of it, or whether it is carried lutionary pretensions, will tend to repro- out of states or not. If the end result is the duce the state from within, as well as re- same, in both a shorter and longer term inforcing the one whose power they set out perspective, such distinctions become less to “ex-terminate;” a favorite expression of important. Which does not mean we Lenin, who tended to confuse social rela- should overlook the question of ideological tions with biology. However, to have legitimisation It is no coincidence that assisinated Hitler during World War II or a longer perspective are paving the terror has formed such a central part Stalin in his might, would not have road for the McDonaldisation and within fascist movements. Nor that words consitituted terror if carried out from the secularisation of Afghanistan. Thus Lafif such as class are absent in Osama bin conviction that their removal alone could Lakhdar could write 20 years ago about a Laden’s as well as George Bush's lessen sufferings and save many more country bordering Afghanistan: “Contrary legitmisation of terror. lifes. These are two of the rare historical to what Islamic propaganda claims, and cases where this very likely also would Terror has a long history in the service of many western leftist believe, today’s Iran have been the result. counter-, and will always work does not represent the reinvogation of Is- towards undermining the very lam but its swan song, except that it lacks In what follows it is important that foundations of a new, free, postcapitalist, any beauty” readers clearly distinguish between society, or even one where forces of death, Islamism as a political project (with Our social revolutionary friend made an- oppression and exploitation are numerous historical precedents in the other significant observation: significantly weakened. The Red Terror history of European Christianity, the time orchestrated by the Bolsheviks, directed “The cult of death may well fascinate a when such a term still had a real meaning against, they claimed, the old rulling large number of middle class youths, who as a Rule and not only exception) and classes, had essentially two effects, apart are the victims of emotional blocks, and muslims as fellow workers and friends. from that of immediate, indiscriminate are frightened of freedom and and liber- death. It brought into existence the The abstract words of justice and honour tarian ways. It is however no solution in repressive forces of the new state which of Islamists such as Osama bin Laden and the face of the real problems which shake were again redireced against the workers feyadeen of Imperial Order, as George the very foundation of the Iranian society. and peasants, and served as the most Bush, turns to corpses within and without A person such as Khomeini, who suffers “vital” recruiting ground for the White the United States. Like the national from historical scleroris, and who in his Army (or armies). For the rest of the Civil of the Ba’th, Islamism shares book “Islamic Government” deals with War period, the terror within these two with the governments of the United States such serious problems as the buggery of a armies, combined with and constituted a of America and Israel, in being far more poor donkey by poor muslims, and who is precondition for the terror directed against effective in taking the lifes of “muslims” – incapable of creating an Iranian bourgeoi- workers, and even more so against the or human beings of flesh and blood and sie, can only return to to the American fold peasants masses. This produced an even lifegiving kaffir (heathen) dreams, as I or fall under Soviet influence. “We are less greater army of deserters, but also a would say – than other such human independent today,” admits Badi Sadr, situation where two camps, becoming creatures, as Israeli “jews,” or U.S. “than we were under the Shah. Our budget increasingly indistinguisable from each “christians”. That is not likely to change. depends on the credit of foreign banks. Our other, in effect recruited solidiers for the Nor is this a coincidence. dependence on arms and foreign military other side. The Red Army victory was experts is quite simple tragic.” Has Bani In 1981, Lafif Lakhdar wrote in Khamsin: finalised through a massive war against Sadr, the spiritual son of the Imam, finally Journal of revolutionary socialists of the the peasantry and the working class, and grasped that in a world unified by the vio- Middle East: the greatest famine that the Russian lence of the laws of the market Iran can- Empire, had seen. 5 million starved to “In a Moment of frankeness, Hasan al- not be independent, whether the Imam is death. Further down this historical blind Banna’ admitted in 1947 to the members present or absent, likes it or not? ... The alley, followed the rule of Stalin. of his [Muslim] Brotherhood [in Egypt] middle classes, who first idolised that the first obstacle they would meet on Khomeini in the belief that they had found Terror can be reduced to the following: To the path to the re-Islamisation of secular in him an universal miracle cure, now turn rule through fear. The target is not the Muslim society, in his opinion, would be away from him to await the coup d’Ètat. persons directly hit but those who fear the hostility of the people. ‘I must tell you,’ The sub-proletariat who served him as they might be the next. Thus the more he said, ‘that your preaching is still a cannon foder, now suffer more than ever indiscriminate the better. Terror produces closed book to the majority. The day when with the repression of the Khalkhali. The or reinforces counter-terror, and imposes they discover it and realise what it aims proletariat are engaged in a permanent internal terror in both camps. In the late for, they will resist violently and oppose you struggle in their workplaces to counter the Yugoslavia, this Rule was played out as tentaciously.’” intervention of the Islamic committees, and civil war. On another level, in Northern only stop specific strikes to return their per- Ireland, the sectarian killings are not only This the Taliban knows, and this is also manent go-slow.” in themselves a manifestion of terror but the reason for their state-building terror. also its trueborn children. While having What they do not recognise is that they in Through one of those ironic twist of history, Osama Bin Laden and Taliban are preparing the incorporation of undermined. the phenomenoms that most effectively Afghanistan into the “American fold.” If a reproduces the monster, state-sponsored Terror works in seemingly mysterious further tens of thousands of Afghanis do or not. Afghanistan has been one of this ways. If looked at not from the perspective not die in the process, it is through no centres of capitalist world disorder in the of New York, but from people coming from merit of theirs. Nor should we thank them last decades. There another manifestation regions where Islamist terror forms part if September 11 does not produce an of modern alienation was born, created of, or is on the verge of becoming, part of inflation of death, carried further to other out of many worlds, of old and new ones, daily fear, the message of September 11 countries and continents as massacres, linked to the global market in numerous spoke loud and clear. The turning of the civil wars, pogroms and famine, ways. That the Taliban soldiers, together World Trade Center into a graveyard was nationalist and religious hysteria, foreign with Pakistani border guards, in these from this point of view a de facto military intervention and terror. Whether very days are being bribed to turn their declaration of war by rulers and would- or not the verdict of history will show al- heads the other way, so to let refugees pass be-rulers against the masses in the Middle Qaeda was directly responsible for the a closed border, and that this is all East and Central Asia, North Africa and World Trade Center graveyard is not the organised as an enterprise, selling the fear beyond. Not a struggle against oppression question here, but that this expression of of famine and death for what amounts to and exploitation: but a call for total Islamism have been disseminating a several months salary, is just another submission through terror, and an Culture of Death, Terror, Oppression, Self- example on how the force of commodity expression of inter-capitalist competion. A oppression and Stupidity, which nutures production and the spirit of George Bushs terror that did not start and will not end such acts. All with the complicity of global is very much is alive in the realm of in New York, which never was its real financial institutions, the governments of Taliban. target. Which is yet another reason to “the West,” as well as of of Israel, Saudi oppose NATOs war-efforts. The world is increasingly moving towards Arabia and Pakistan, the military regime a triadic American-European-Asian Em- of , Iraq, and others. In implicating Simultaneously this act of terror is pire. The enforced alliance-building we are all these other actors, I am not promoting exploited as a means to impose “security” now seeing around the Pentagons cam- some weird conspiracy theory, but an on the working class of “the North,” and paign of Infinite Terror (which magnitude understanding of how social forces de facto throughout the globe. Around and within is still quite unclear), and the seeking of tend to reinforce each other, knowingly or Fortress Europe, and all the other legitimation for this through the United unknowingly. The extremely central role Fortresses of the world, the walls are now Nations, is not just a facade. We are mov- Saudi Arabian petroleum money has being built taller, and a whole new level ing towards a global order, also politically, played, and very likely will continue to do, of control is being imposed. Refugees, legal in a whole new sense. Just as the the in- is almost comical but also very telling. and illegal immigrants – and those who creased speed and magnitude of commu- from their appearance can be suspected The World Trade Center massacre must nication and transportation on a global to belong among “Them” – will be hit be comprehended within an agenda of level is increasingly also furthering a blur- worst. Increasingly they will become nuturing xenophobic hysteria. As a means ring between terror, policing and war. But victims of a more subtle terror, a for ends that geographically lie elsewhere. we should also be aware of the new posi- phenomenom which started long ago but That the airborne suicidal guiders of the tive possibilities for a struggle of global which now has gained force. Without ever will of God were human beings with resistance founded on solidarity this opens reaching the headlines, a greater number crushed dreams, and victims of capitalist for us, with a potential to take us beyond of human beings seeking a better future alienation as much as everyone else whose capitalism. for themselves and their children, trying lives exploded, like the numerous children to reach the shores of Spain, Italy, Capitalism is a complex, globally who suffer a far less spectacular death in Australia and elsewhere, will drown, be interlinked social system that only can be Iraq under the rule of Washington, D.C. shot (as happens on the US-Mexican surpassed through a collective creative and Baghdad, does not change this. border), or die for other reasons. Increased effort on the basis of human communica- Within such an agenda, US might and “security” will extend worldwide, and lead tion and practical, non-hierachical and wealth and the settler colonialism of to the full imposition of a global capitalist globalised solidarity of the working Israel, become the best of allies, but can world (dis)order. classes. There never was and never will only function as such by being portrayed be any other road. Now less than ever. Nothing of this is predetermined, but such as the incarnation of “Satan” within an an agenda has gained force after Septem- A last word about terror. In a play of words: endless rhetorical monologue, where the ber 11, 2001. It has been become even more Out of the ruins of , anarchy can- distinction between rulers and ruled, and critical to wage also an ideological strug- not arise, only the rule of the Market and every class perspective, is wholly blurred. gle against forces of terror, state-sponsored the State in their most brutalised, authori- Just as the US propaganda apparatus or not, on a local and global level. We are tarian manifestations. In its proper sense, never can make any real critique of all part of the one same bloody civilisa- anarchy of course does not signify disor- Islamism, the Islamist leaders, as the tion, of alienation and silent and spectacu- der and the struggle of each against all, Panarabic before them, cannot put forth lar death and boredom, but also of com- however common such a belief may be, but any real critique of the global social order passion, love and broken hearts, tears and the overcoming of the Rule of the Siamese that the United States is a manifestation laughter, hopes and dreams, and a capac- Twins of Market and State through the of. This would have undermined their own ity for globalised solidarity. human creation of a global classless soci- power basis and ends. Instead their “anti- ety, where people in cooperation rule over imperialism” and Jihads serve as a means The capitalist world order is an order that their own lifes and destinies, and the free- to enslave their “own” working classes: to rules by being everywhere, and dom of all becomes the condition of the reproduce “Satan,” as the rule of fascist increasingly so, and not only in a restricted freedom of each, as the freedom of each is terror within an Islamic or nationalist economical sense. If all its force was the condition for the freedom of all. ideological framework, even more concentrated in the Pentagon it would oppressive in many aspects than “Satan have been easy to overcome. Instead it Lafif Lakhdar’s article “Why the return to Islamic archaism?”, himself.” Only to soon be fully reintegrated rules as much through small and large quoted from above, was publised in the first of two Khamsin into the capitalist world order they always Ayatollahs, small and large Saddam special issues on “Politics of Religion in the Middle East.” were a particular expression of. And in the Huseyns and Assads, Milosovics and (“Khamsin: Journal of revolutionary socialists of the Middle East” no. 8 + 9, Ithaca Press, 1981. Possibly still available meantime, all social struggles pointing Tudjmans, Sharons and Arafats and, as through Zed Books.) beyond the present order, all efforts of well as through the “humantarian” rulers bringing into life a confederation of of the Scandinavian countries. The latter www.struggle/stopthewar.html globalised wokers-to-workers solidarity, is is true as well. But terror is still among Written by Wayne Price, a long-time revolutionary anarchist and libertarian socialist who lives in New “Why do they hate us?” York City, near the heart of the storm

A small group of militants, hundreds or a few thousand, hated the U.S.A. so much that they spent years planning their attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. They did not care that they would murder thousands of people, mostly working people. They were so perversely dedicated that they were willing to die themselves in the attacks. Around the world a great many people The criminal Vietnamese war killed mil- were pleased by the assault, to the point lions of Vietnamese and fifty thousand US of celebrating. Many, many more did not soldiers. The Vietnamese people have support the explosion of the Twin Towers, never really recovered. Then, in the last and even condemned it, but still expressed twenty years, the US has bombed or in- understanding for the motives of the ter- vaded Haiti, Panama, Grenada, Yugosla- rorists. There were few or no political or via, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Iran, religious leaders in mostly-Muslim coun- and, of course, Afghanistan. These mili- is an economic drive, a need to dominate tries or elsewhere who endorsed the at- tary interventions were mostly done the world economy and draw wealth from tacks. Even the assailants kept quiet; no against the will of the existing govern- all the world. That the US is so much one took “credit” (if that is the right word). ments, and often in an effort to overthrow richer than the “Third World” countries is Osama bin Laden denies responsibility the existing governments. There have also widely admitted. Not admitted is that the and the Taliban regime claims that he is been military interventions by proxy, in US is rich because these other nations are innocent. Yet many people also showed which the US gave large scale support to poor. Their ruling classes may share in the some satisfaction at the attack, a sort of “rebel” groups against established govern- riches of the US/European/Japanese rul- pleasure in seeing the school yard bully ments. The most well-known (and “suc- ing classes, but the poverty of their masses get his nose bloodied. cessful”) were the U.S-supported contra is the wealth of that world ruling class. war against the Sandinistias in Nicara- The US is the main beneficiary of modern Why do “they” hate “us”? ask many bewil- gua and, again, the US support of extreme imperialism. Unlike the old colonialism, dered US workers. The US population is Islamists in Afghanistan ... including there are few countries which the US state generally ignorant, mis-educated, and de- Osama bin Laden and the predecessors of owns outright, except for Puerto Rico and liberately lied-to, about international af- the Taliban. Now the US state complains several islands and peoples in the Pacific, fairs even more than domestic politics. when the monster it created in Afghani- peoples who have as much right to self- They see the US as a peaceful and friendly stan turns on it. determination as any large nation. country, which helps other nations out of good-will, and otherwise wants to be left The US state’s military missions, military Otherwise, US capitalism’s domination of alone. Suddenly, as they see it, out of the alliances, and “peacetime” military bases the world is neo-colonial: the oppressed na- blue, the US was attacked. US working cover the globe. Its European military al- tions have “independent” national states, people identify with the national state; liance, NATO, has actually expanded de- with their own governments, flags, and since they are kindly and decent people, spite the collapse of the Soviet Union. postage stamps, but their economies are they assume that their national govern- Three decades after the end of the Korean still completely dependent on the world ment is also kindly and decent. Like the War, a large number of US troops remain market. They cannot develop their indus- terrorist attackers, US workers mentally in South Korea. US troops remain in tries, plan their economies, or decide on a make a nationalist bloc between the US Panama, even after the canal was “given” balance of production and consumption, state (and ruling class) and the US work- back to Panama. They were useful in seiz- by themselves. Which national economy ing population. They think of themselves ing Noreiga, the Panamanian president, dominates the world market? Only one, as “America” and say, “we” and “us” when for trial in the US Bizarrely, a US base that of the US capitalists. The US economy speaking about the national state of which remains in Guantanamo, Cuba, all serves as a giant magnet, pulling all other they really know little and have less con- through the reign of Castro. The US was economies toward it (and its junior part- trol. a major supporter of the Pakistani mili- ners and sometime competitors, the West- tary through the Cold War, including the ern European and Japanese national capi- The “explanation” offered by the US gov- Afghanistan struggle. The US continued talism’s). Loans to build up national econo- ernment and media is that “they” hate our to be friendly to Pakistan, even as that mies? Go to US banks or to world finan- “freedom,” our “democracy,” and “our way state built up the Taliban. Each of these cial institutions (World Bank or Interna- of life.” This supposed explanation is given instances could be argued about, but alto- tional Monetary Fund) dominated by the most strongly by US figures on the right, gether, they make a pattern of a super- US Want to build modern industry? Get who agree with the worst Islamists in op- power which throws its military weight investments from US capitalists. Need posing separation of church and state, around. modern chemicals or machinery or medi- equality for women, and rights for Gays cines? The international patents are and Lesbians. However, the charge that The US government remains the most owned by US companies. As a result, the “they,” in their poverty, resent US wealth, heavily armed nuclear power, with nuclear poor, exploited, nations are deeply in debt is closer to the truth. (Of course, to under- missiles capable of exterminating human to the richer, imperialist nations, espe- stand why so many hate the US is not to life on earth many times over. Following cially the US. The nations of Africa have justify the few who committed mass mur- the collapse of the Soviet Union, many lib- had to fight hard to get the slightest break der at the World Trade Center and Penta- erals called for seizing the opportunity to from US firms to produce cheaper medi- gon.) create world-wide nuclear disarmament. cines for AIDS. Instead, the US plans to break all exist- That the USA. is the most powerful state ing arms control agreements by setting up The Soviet Union controlled its empire in on earth today is well known, but few an unworkable “missile defense shield,” Eastern Europe by military force, as the think through what this implies. For one which will only create a new arms race. British used to control their world-wide thing, it means murderous military inter- empire. But US capitalist imperialism vention in the affairs of other countries. Behind this mountain of military might only uses force as a last resort. First, it class. This creates popular contentment ity, including the torture of Kurdish lead- holds the world together through its eco- and a willingness to channel grievances ers and the extermination of whole vil- nomic might. In the poverty-riddled lands through the political process. But the rul- lages. The US public is not aroused about of the Arab East and in other oppressed ers of the poor nations of the South do not this because the US government and me- nations, there is enormous resentment of the wealth to buy off their working dia have not emphasized it. The Turkish the domination of US wealth over their populations.To keep them down, they military has been a useful ally against economies. Often this comes out as hostil- must be repressed. At best they go through Iraq, Yugoslavia, and now Afghanistan. ity to US cultural products, such as mov- cycles of government, from corrupt, au- Similarly, the Bush administration has ies or music or foods. Whatever the faults thoritarian, “democracies,” to overt dicta- welcomed the support of the present Rus- or virtues of US movies or fast-food, what torships (kings, generals, ayatollahs, sian government against the Afghan rul- is really being expressed is a fury at im- mullahs, leaders of socialist parties, or lit- ers. Meanwhile the Russian state has been perialism, not necessarily a dislike of in- tle brothers of the poor)—and then back running a years-long assault on the peo- ternational culture. again. They may go from a fake “democ- ple of Chechnya, which is still within the racy” to a revolutionary or Islamic dicta- In over 50 years since the end of World Russian borders. To deny the Chechens’ torship, and go back again, never really War II, world capitalism has simply been independence, the Russians have been winning self-management for working unable to industrialize the poor nations waging a most vicious war against them, people. of the South. Most of Africa remains des- destroying much of their nation. But titute. A few world regions have developed The exploited people of the Arab East Chechnya, a nation with many Muslims, some industry, especially in Southeastern know full well that the USstate props up is near Afghanistan and the Afghan peo- Asia. But even these, the most successful, the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan as ple know all about it. remain developed in a most uneven and it once helped the Shah of Iran, and now But what most angers people in the unstable fashion, as becomes clear in any works with the dictator of Syria. All over mostly-Muslim nations has been two economic crisis. The people of Eastern the world, the US state has supported dic- things: US support for Israel and the con- Europe and Russia thought that over- tators. When US leaders declare that the tinued US war against Iraq. Israel is the throwing Soviet state-capitalism would “terrorists” oppose us because of our val- result of the Zionist movement, an effort make them like Western Europe. Instead, ues of “democracy” and “freedom,” it is a to plant European people in the “Third they are like Latin America. The indus- sick joke. World” land of Palestine. Zionism’s aim trialized nations of before US rulers pick and chose which dictator- was to create a Jewish State, a state of were the US, Western Europe, Russia “the Jewish people” everywhere in the (barely), and Japan. Today, these are still world, as opposed to the people of what- the industrialized nations - with Russia ever religion who actually lived there. It still barely among them. World capital- intended to occupy all the land supposedly ism has maintained the international held by the ancient Hebrews 2000 years imbalance of economic development. ago. Its justification was the Jewish bi- In the Arab and Muslim regions, this ble - and a promise by the British em- inequality is easy to see. There are pire (the “Balfour Declaration”). The many nations filled with desperately main people who were actually living poor people. The vast wealth of petro- there were not to be consulted of leum oil has helped a layer of people in course and could not be, because a few nations—but even these nations these goals required dispossessing have been unable to develop even rela- those Palestinian Arabs. A Jewish tively independent economies. The US in- population, fleeing from the after- dustrial economy is built on cheap, widely- effects of Hitler’s genocide, was available oil. Transportation depends on channeled into Palestine to replace gasoline. Food depends on oil-based ferti- the original population (who had lizer and pesticides. Clothing, housing, had nothing to do with European and other things widely use oil-based plas- atrocities). Through a series of tics. Considering that this is a wars, massacres, and supposedly nonrenewable resource, as well as terri- legal actions, the Palestinian peas- bly polluting and a cause of the green- ants and workers were mostly dis- house effect, this oil-using habit will some- possessed. Their lands, their farms, day have to be cut way back. But mean- their orchards, their villages, and their while, Westerners’ high standard of living cities were taken away. They are not al- requires this cheap, available oil, while the lowed to return nor granted compensation. people of the Arab East , the source of most A small number still live in Israel as sec- of the oil, remain marginalized, ships ond class citizens, Muslims and Christians unindustrialized, and poor. to be horrified at and which to make al- in a (by definition) “Jewish state.” Half of lies. They pick and chose which atrocities the others live in the West Bank (of the Inside these poor countries, the political to condemn and which to ignore. For ex- Jordan River) or on the Gaza Strip, under results are what would be expected, ample, they publicized the horror of Yu- Israeli occupation. The other half is scat- namely a lack of democracy and freedom. goslavian “ethnic cleaning” of the Albanian tered among the Arab nations and else- The USstate prides itself on its democracy, Kosovars in order to justify their bomb- where. but this has only been possible because of ing campaign against the Milosevic re- its great wealth, built in part on the pov- For some time now, most Palestinians and gime. Meanwhile, they have ignored the erty of other peoples. Due to its wealth,US their organizations have accepted the re- decades of almost genocidal war waged by corporate rich have been able to give up ality of Israel. They know it will not go the US ally Turkey against it’s Kurdish some crumbs to the working classes, when away and cannot be militarily defeated. citizens. Turkish Kurds have been denied the working class forces them to. To pre- Therefore they have only asked for self- the right to speak their language, to asso- vent revolutionary struggles, the US rul- determination on what is left of Palestine, ciate in political parties, or to determine ing class has been willing, under pressure, on the West Bank and Jordan. The Israeli their national fate. This has been backed to provide some of its bounty to buy off state has controlled these areas for 35 up by military campaigns of great brutal- layers of the middle class and working years now, the longest military occupation military. It left Hussein enough to reestablish his role. Instead the US mili- tary continued to watch over and “protect” the Kurds and southern Muslims by fly- ing US planes over a large part of Iraqi airspace. Many people do not realize it, but ten years after the Iraqi war, the US is still flying planes over Iraq and still bombing it. The other method the US used, to pres- sure Hussein, was an embargo. The Iraqi rulers can only sell a controlled amount of its oil, and buy only a limited amount of food and medicine and other goods. This is supposed to either make Hussein be- of another land in recent history. While have or to inspire the military to replace Iranian regime. The US provided intelli- pretending to negotiate (the Oslo “peace him. As an effective dictator, Hussein has gence to the state of Iraq, permitted process”), actually the Zionists have ex- kept his officers under control. Meanwhile, Hussein to buy hard-to-get weaponry, and panded the number of their settlements he really does not care that his people helped him in other ways. in the these Occupied Territories, as well starve or lack medicine, so this does not as the size of the settlements. This has But, as bin Laden was later to do, Hussein pressure him. At least a half million chil- been spearheaded by reactionary Jewish turned on the US He decided to invade dren have died from this embargo policy. fanatics, the mirror image of the Islamic Kuwait, a small but oil-rich country. It had That is many more people than died in the fanatics. But it has had the support of the one of those monarchical-feudal regimes, recent attacks on the US The US rulers various Israeli governments, both liberal which oppressed the large number of Pal- are continuing to wage a war on the Iraqi and conservative. The state has linked the estinians and non-Arabs who worked peasants and workers. This is widely settlements by a network of roads and there. Due to the oil, and to the challenge known in Europe and in the mostly-Mus- military garrisons. The Palestinian areas to its authority, the US state made an is- lim nations, but the US working class has have been carved into unviable islands. sue about this particular atrocity. been kept in the dark. Meanwhile, the Israeli state has insisted on the right to own virtually all of Suddenly Saddam Hussein was declared So, there are good reasons for many peo- Jeruselum, while the Palestinians have a very bad man and a vast military force ple to hate the US, in the Muslim nations only asked for half. Not surprisingly, the was assembled to defeat Iraq. And it was and elsewhere. Even those who are so-called peace process died of its own defeated, partly because the Iraqi soldiers favorable to the US are usually ambiva- hypocrisy. (workers and peasants) would not fight for lent, liking something and hating others. their government. Perhaps some of the hatred is irrational, Throughout this awful history, the US due to way US imperialism has broken up In response to this defeat, Iraqis rose up state has been the major ally of Israel. The traditional societies but replaced them to overthrow the government, especially Palestinians fight with stones or small only with poverty, chaos, and dictatorship. Shiite Muslims in the South and Kurds arms. Israel fights with US-made helicop- The program of many oppressed people in the north of Iraq. But the US state did ters and weapons, as well as its own (it is has sometimes gone into the dead ends of not want a revolution. It might destabilize an open secret that Israel has nuclear terrorism and religious dictatorship. But the region, upsetting all those friendly bombs). All US politicians assert their they have legitimate grievances. Their dictatorships. Freedom for Iraqi Kurds undying support for Israel. Billions of dol- working people have suffered far more might stir up the Kurds under the control lars have been given to Israel by the US than working class people in the US have of the Turkish allies. The US rulers hoped state. This is partly due to the domestic any idea. “Americans” should not be sur- to replace Hussein with another military strength of the pro-Israel lobby, but Israel prised if the evil their ruling class has done ruler, different from him only in being is useful to US imperialism in controlling abroad should be returned to them. the Arab states. In war after war, Israel more with the US So the US has beaten the Arab armies. In fury and army stopped short of destroying the Iraqi frustration, many Arab workers and peas- ants have turned from the secular move- ments which are willing to recognize Is- This pamphlet is available as a PDF file rael. Some look toward fanatical religious parties who are willing, in their military weakness, to use terrorist attacks on Is- at http://struggle.ws/stopthewar.html for raeli workers. As long as the Israeli gov- ernment, with US support, does not adapt to living with Palestinians (by withdraw- you to download, print out and distribute ing both troops and settlements from the Occupied Territories, for example), it will You will also find a range of other PDF anti-war files of posterS and continue to enrage Arabs and Muslims against both itself and the US. leaflets there as well as dozens of useful on-line articles on the war, The other issue which has particularly an- Islam, US foreign policy, the media etc gered many Arabs and others has revolved around the US war with Iraq. Like many other dictators, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein For news updates and was supported by the US state when it discussion of the anti-war seemed convenient. For eight years, the Iraqi regime was in a pointless but bloody movement send an email to war with its neighbor Iran. The US rulers [email protected] were pleased that Iraq was weakening the Lucien van der Walt is an anarchist activist based in “In this struggle, only the workers and peasants will go all the way to the end” Johannesburg, and involved in struggles and move- ments against privatisation, neo-liberalism and rac- ism. Contact him through the [email protected] Towards a history of (Bikisha Media Collective, South Africa) address if you are interested in reprinting this text. anarchist anti-imperialism The anarchist movement has a long tradition of fighting imperialism. This reaches back into the 1860s, and continues to the present day. From Cuba, to Egypt, to Ireland, to Macedonia, to Korea, to Algeria and Morocco, the anarchist movement has paid in blood for its opposition to imperial domination and control. However, whilst anarchists have actively classes within the oppressed nation participated in national liberation strug- against the imperialist oppressor. Nation- gles, they have argued that the destruc- alists tend to deny the importance of class tion of national oppression and imperial- differences within the oppressed nation, ism can only be truly achieved through the arguing that the common experience of If anyone can be named the founder of destruction of both capitalism and the national oppression makes class divisions revolutionary anarchism, it is Mikhail state system, and the creation of an inter- unimportant, or that class is a “foreign” Bakunin (1918-1876). Bakunin’s political national anarcho-communist society. concept that is irrelevant. roots lay within the national liberation movements of Eastern Europe, and he re- This is not to argue that anarchists absent Thus nationalists seek to hide class differ- tained a commitment to what would nowa- themselves from national liberation strug- ences in a quest to found an independent days be called ‘decolonisation’ throughout gles that do not have such goals. Instead, nation-state. his life. When Bakunin moved from pan- anarchists stand in solidarity with strug- The class interests that hide behind na- Slavic nationalism towards anarchism in gles against imperialism on principle, but tionalism are obvious. Nationalism has, the 1860s, following the disastrous 1863 seek to reshape national liberation move- historically, been an ideology developed Polish insurrection, he still argued in sup- ments into social liberation movements. and championed by the bourgeoisie and port of struggles for national self-determi- Such movements would be both anti-capi- middle class in the oppressed nation. It is nation. talist and anti-imperialist, would be based a form of anti-imperialism that wishes to He doubted whether “imperialist Europe” on internationalism rather than narrow remove imperialism but retain capitalism, could keep the colonial countries in bond- chauvinism, would link struggles in the a bourgeois anti-imperialism that wishes, age: “Two-thirds of humanity, 800 million imperial centres directly to struggles in the in short, to create for the local bourgeoisie Asiatics asleep in their servitude will nec- oppressed regions, and would be control- more space, more opportunities, more av- essarily awaken and begin to move.”[1] led by, and reflect the interests of, the enues to exploit the local working class and Bakunin went on to declare his “strong working class and peasantry. develop local capitalism. sympathy for any national uprising against In other words, we stand in solidarity with Our role as anarchists in relation to na- any form of oppression”, stating that every anti-imperialist movements, but condemn tionalists is thus clear: we may fight along- people “has the right to be itself ... no one is those who use such movements to advance side nationalists for limited reforms and entitled to impose its costume, its customs, reactionary cultural agendas (for example, victories against imperialism but we fight its languages and its laws.”[2] those who oppose women’s rights in the against the statism and capitalism of the EAST EUROPE name of culture) and fight against at- nationalists. tempts by local capitalists and the middle The crucial issue, however, “in what direc- Our role is to win mass support for the class to hijack these movements. We op- tion and to what end” will the national lib- anarchist approach to imperial domina- pose state repression of anti-imperialist eration movement move? For Bakunin, tion, to win workers and peasants away movements, as we reject the right of the national liberation must be achieved “as from nationalism and to an international- state to decide what is, and what is not, much in the economic as in the political ist working class programme: anarchism. legitimate protest. However, it is no lib- interests of the masses”: if the anti- colo- This requires active participation in na- eration if all that changes is the colour or nial struggle is carried out with “ambitious tional liberation struggles but political in- the language of the capitalist class. intent to set up a powerful State” or if “it is dependence from the nationalists. Na- carried out without the people” and “must AGAINST NATIONALISM tional liberation must be differentiated therefore depend for success on a privileged from nationalism, which is the class pro- This is where we differ from the political class,” it will become a “retrogressive, dis- gramme of the bourgeoisie: we are against current that has dominated national lib- astrous, counter-revolutionary move- imperialism, but also, against nationalism. eration movements since the 1940s: the ment.”[3] ideology of nationalism. BAKUNIN AND THE FIRST INTER- “Every exclusively political revolution - be NATIONAL Nationalism is a political strategy that ar- it in defence of national independence or gues that the key task of the anti-imperi- Support for national liberation follows di- for internal change... - that does not aim at alist struggle is to establish an independ- rectly from anarchism’s opposition to hi- the immediate and real political and eco- ent nation-state. It is through these inde- erarchical political structures and eco- nomic emancipation of people will be a false pendent states, nationalists argue, that the nomic inequality, and advocacy of a freely revolution. Its objectives will be unattain- nation as a whole will exercise its general constituted international confederation of able and its consequences reactionary.” [4] will. In the words of Kwame Nkrumah, self-administrating and work- So, if national liberation is to achieve more who spearheaded the formation of the in- ers’ associations. At the same time, how- than simply the replacement of foreign op- dependent nation-state of Ghana, the task ever, anarchism’s commitment to a general pressors by local oppressors, the national was to “Seek ye first the political kingdom, social and economic emancipation means liberation movement must thus be merged and all else shall be given unto you.” that anarchism rejects statist solutions to with the revolutionary struggle of the national oppression that leave capitalism In order to achieve this goal, nationalists working class and peasantry against both and government in place. argue that it is necessary to unite all capitalism and the State. Without social revolutionary goals, national liberation tional” (the anarchist faction of the post- (CGT) in , for example, devoted a will simply be a bourgeois revolution. 1872 First International).[9] An “Egyptian considerable part of its press to exposing Federation” was represented at the 1881 the role of French capitalists in North Af- The national liberation struggle of the International Social Revolutionary Con- rica. The first issue of La Bataille working class and peasantry must be reso- gress by well-known Errico Malatesta, this Syndicaliste, which appeared on the 27 lutely anti-statist, for the State was nec- time including “bodies from Constantino- April 1911, exposed the “Moroccan syndi- essarily the preserve of a privileged class, ple and Alexandria.”[10] Malatesta, who cate”: the “veiled men” who dictated to the and the state system would continually lived in Egypt as a political refugee Egypt ministers and diplomats and sought a war recreate the problem of national oppres- in 1878 and 1882,[11] became involved in that would boost demand for arms, lands, sion: “to exist, a state must become an in- the 1882 “Pasha Revolt” that followed the and rail and lead to the imposition of tax vader of other states ... it must be ready to 1876 take-over of Egyptian finances by an on the indigenous people.[16] occupy a foreign country and hold millions Anglo-French commission representing in- of people in subjection.” In Spain, the “Tragic Week” began on Mon- ternational creditors. He arrived specifi- day 26 July 1909 when the union, The national liberation struggle of op- cally to pursue “a revolutionary purpose Solidarad Obrero, which was led by a com- pressed nationalities must be internation- connected to the natives’ revolt in the days mittee of anarchists and socialists, called alist in character as it must supplant ob- of Arabi Pasha,” [12] and “fought with the a against the call-up of the sessions with cultural difference with uni- Egyptians against the British mainly working class army reservists for versal ideals of human freedom, it must colonialists.”[13] the colonial war in Morocco.[17] By Tues- align itself with the international class In Algeria, the anarchist movement day, workers were in control of Barcelona, struggle for “political and economic eman- emerged in the nineteenth century. The the “fiery rose of anarchism,” troop trains cipation from the yoke of the State” and the Revolutionary Syndicalist General Confed- had been halted, trams overturned, com- classes it represents, and it must take eration of Labour (CGT-SR) had a section munications cut and barricades erected. By place, ultimately, as part of an interna- in Algeria. Like other anarchist organisa- Thursday, fighting broke out with govern- tional revolution: “a ... is tions, the CGT-SR opposed French coloni- ment forces, and over 150 workers were by its very nature international in scope” alism, and in a joint statement by the An- killed in the street fighting. and the oppressed nationalities “must archist Union, the CGT-SR, and the Asso- therefore link their aspirations The reservists were embittered by and forces with the aspirations disastrous previous colonial cam- and forces of all other coun- paigns in Cuba, the Philippines, tries.”[5] The “statist path in- and Puerto Rico,[18] but the volving the establishment of Tragic Week must be understood separate ... States” is “entirely as an anti-imperialist uprising ruinous for the great masses of situated within a long tradition of the people” because it did not anarchist anti-imperialism in abolish class power but simply Spain. The “refusal of the changed the nationality of the Catalonian reservists to serve in ruling class.[6] Instead, the state the war against the Riff mountain- system must be abolished and eers of Morocco,” “one of the most replaced with a coalition of significant” events of modern workplace and community times,[19] reflected the common structures “directed from the perception that the war was bottom up ... according to the fought purely in the interests of ciation of Anarchist Federations on the principles of free federation.”[7] the Riff mine-owners,[20] and that con- centenary of the French occupation of Al- scription was “a deliberate act of class war- These ideas were applied in East Europe geria in 1930, argued: “Civilisation? fare and exploitation from the centre.”[21] from the 1870s onwards, as anarchists Progress? We say: murder!”.[14] played an active role in the in 1873 upris- In 1911, the newly founded, anarcho- A prominent militant in the CGT-SR’s Al- ings in Bosnia and Herzegovina against syndicalist, National Confederation of La- gerian section, as well as in the Anarchist Austro-Hungarian imperialism. Anar- bour (CNT), successor to Solidarad Obrero, Union and the Anarchist Group of the In- chists also took an active part in the “Na- marked its birth with a general strike on digenous Algerians, was Sail Mohamed tional Revolutionary Movement” in Mac- the 16 September in support of two de- (1894-1953), an Algerian anarchist active edonia against the Ottoman Empire. At mands: defence of the strikers at Bilbao in the anarchist movement from the 1910s least 60 gave their lives in this struggle, and opposition to the war in Morocco.[22] until his death in 1953. Sail Mohamed was particularly in the great 1903 revolt. Again, in 1922, following a disastrous bat- a founder of organisations such as the As- tle against the forces of Abd el-Krim in This tradition of anarchist anti-imperial- sociation for the Rights of the Indigenous Morocco in August, a battle in which at ism was continued 15 years later in the Algerians and the Anarchist Group of the least 10,000 Spanish troops died, “the Ukraine as the Makhnovist movement or- Indigenous Algerians. In 1929 he was sec- Spanish people were full of indignation and ganised a titanic peasant revolt that not retary of the “Committee for the Defence of demanded not only an end to the war but only smashed the German occupation of the Algerians against the Provocations of also that those responsible for the massa- the Ukraine, and held off the invading Red the Centenary.” Sail Mohamed was also cre and the politicians who favoured the and White armies until 1921, but redis- editor of the North African edition of the operation in Africa be brought to trial”, tributed land, established worker- peasant anarchist periodical Terre Libre, and a expressing their anger in riots, and in self-management in many areas, and cre- regular contributor to anarchist journals strikes in the industrial regions.[23] ated a Revolutionary Insurgent Army un- on the Algerian question.[15] der worker-peasant control. CUBA EUROPE AND MOROCCO EGYPT AND ALGERIA In the Cuban colonial war (1895-1904), the Opposition to imperialism was a crucial Cuban anarchists and their unions joined In the 1870s, too, the anarchists began to part of anarchist anti-militarist campaigns the separatist armed forces, and made organise Egypt, notably in Alexandria, in the imperialist centres, which stressed propaganda amongst the Spanish troops. where a local anarchist journal appeared that colonial wars did not serve the inter- The Spanish anarchists, likewise, cam- in 1877,[8] and anarchist group from Egypt ests of workers but rather the purposes of paigned against the Cuban war amongst was represented at the September 1877 capitalism. peasants, workers, and soldiers in their Congress of the “Saint-Imier Interna- The General Confederation of Labour own country.-[24] “All Spanish anarchists disapproved of the war and called on work- in 1869 and Francisco Zalacosta in the tary adventures in Eritrea and Abys- ers to disobey military authority and refuse 1870s. Later manifestations of Mexican sinia.”[39] The Italian anarchist move- to fight in Cuba,” leading to several muti- anarchism and anarcho-, such ment followed these struggles with a sig- nies amongst draftees.[25] Opposing bour- as the Mexican Liberal Party, the revolu- nificant anti-militarist campaign in the geois nationalism and statism, the anar- tionary syndicalist “House of the Workers early twentieth century, which soon chists sought to give the colonial revolt a of the World” (COM) and the Mexican sec- focussed on the Italian invasion of Libya social revolutionary character. At its 1892 tion of the Industrial Workers of the World on 19 September 1911. congress in Cuba, the anarchist Workers’ (IWW), Mexican anarchism and revolu- Augusto Masetti, an anarchist soldier who Alliance recommended that the Cuban tionary syndicalism continually challenged shot a colonel addressing troops departing working class join the ranks of “revolution- the political and economic dominance of for Libya whilst shouting “Down with the ary socialism” and take the path of inde- the United States, and opposed racial dis- War! Long Live Anarchy!” became a popu- pendence, noting that crimination against Mexican workers in lar symbol of the campaign; a special is- foreign-owned enterprises, as well as “...it would be absurd for one who aspires sue of the anarchist journal L’Agitatore within the United States.[33] to individual freedom to oppose the collec- supporting his action, and proclaiming, tive freedom of the people...”[26] In the 1910s, the local IWW’s focus on “Anarchist revolt shines through the vio- “‘bread and butter’ issues combined with lence of war,” led to a roundup of anar- When the anarchist Michele Angiolillo as- the promise of future workers’ control struck chists. Whilst the majority of Socialist sassinated the Spanish President Canovas a responsive chord among workers caught Party deputies voted for annexation,[40] in 1897 he declared that his act both in up in a nationalist revolution that sought the anarchists helped organise demonstra- revenge for the repression of anarchists in to regain control from foreigners the na- tions against the war and a partial gen- Spain and retribution for Spain’s atroci- tion’s natural resources, productive systems eral strike and “tried to prevent troop trains ties in its colonial wars.[27] and economic infrastructure”.[34] leaving the Marches and Liguria for their In addition to its role in the anti-colonial embarkation points.”[41] In Nicaragua, Augustino Cesar Sandino struggle, the anarchist-led Cu- The campaign was immensely ban played a popular amongst the peasantry central role in overcoming divi- and working class[42] and by sions between black, white Cu- 1914, the anarchist-dominated ban, and Spanish-born workers. front of anti-militarist groups - The Cuban anarchists “success- open to all revolutionaries - had fully incorporated many 20,000 members, and worked nonwhites into the labour move- closely with the Socialist ment, and mixed Cubans and Youth.[43] Spaniards in it”, “fostering class consciousness and helping to When Prime Minister Antonio eradicate the cleavages of race Salandra sent troops against an- and ethnicity among work- archist-led demonstrations ers.”[28] against militarism, against spe- cial punishment battalions in the The Workers Alliance “eroded army, and for the release of Masetti on the racial barriers as no union had done be- (1895-1934), the leader of the Nicaraguan 7 June 1914,44 he sparked off the “Red fore in Cuba” in its efforts to mobilise the guerrilla war against the United States’ Week” of June 1914,45 a mass uprising “whole popular sector to sustain strikes and occupation between 1927-33, remains a ushered in by a general strike led by anar- demonstrations.”[29] Not only did blacks national icon. Sandino’s army’s “red and chists and the Italian Syndicalist Union join the union in “significant numbers,” but black flag had an anarcho-syndicalist ori- (USI). Ancona was held by rebels for ten the union also undertook a fight against gin, having been introduced into Mexico by days, barricades went up in all the big cit- racial discrimination in the workplace. The Spanish immigrants.” [35] ies, small towns in the Marches declared first strike of 1889, for example, included Sandino’s eclectic politics were framed by themselves self-governing communes, and the demand that “individuals of the col- a “peculiar brand of anarcho-commu- everywhere the revolt took place “red flags oured race able to work there.”[30] This de- nism,”[36] a “radical anarchist commu- were raised, churches attacked, railways mand reappeared in subsequent years, as nism”[37] “assimilated ... in Mexico dur- torn up, villas sacked, taxes abolished and did the demand that blacks and whites ing the Mexican revolution” where he re- prices reduced.”[46] The movement col- have the right to “sit in the same cafes,” ceived “a political education in lapsed after the Italian Socialist Party’s raised at the 1890 May Day rally in Ha- syndicalist ideology, also known as union wing called off the strike, but it took vana.[31] anarchosyndicalism, , ten thousand troops to regain control of The anarchist periodical El Producter, or rational .”[38] Ancona.47 After Italy entered the First founded in 1887, denounced “discrimina- World War in May 1915, the USI and the Despite political weaknesses, Sandino’s tion against Afro-Cubans by employers, anarchists maintained a consistently anti- movement, the EDSNN, moved steadily shop owners and the administration spe- war, anti-imperialist position, continuing leftwards as Sandino realised that “only cifically.” And through campaigns and into 1920, when they launched a mass cam- the workers and the peasants will go all strikes involving the “mass mobilisation of paign against the Italian invasion of Alba- the way to the end” in the struggle. There people of diverse race and ethnicity,” anar- nia and against imperialist intervention was thus increasing emphasis on organis- chist labour in Cuba was able to eliminate against the Russian Revolution.[48] ing peasant co-operatives in the liberated “most of the residual methods of disciplin- territories. The US forces were withdrawn IRELAND AND JAMES CONNOLLY ing labour from the slavery era” such as in 1933 and the EDSNN largely demobi- “racial discrimination against non-whites In Ireland, to cite another case, the revo- lised. In 1934 Sandino was murdered and and the physical punishment of apprentices lutionary syndicalists James Connolly and the collectives smashed on the orders of and dependientes.” [32] Jim Larkin sought to unite workers across General Somoza, the new, pro-US ruler. sectarian religious divides in the 1910s, MEXICO, NICARAGUA AND LIBYA AND ERITREA aiming at transforming the Irish Transport AUGUSTINO SANDINO and General Workers’ Union, which they In Italy in the 1880s and 1890s “anarchists In Mexico, anarchists led Indian peasant led, into a revolutionary “One Big Un- and former anarchists” “were some of the risings such as the revolts of Chavez Lopez ion.”[49] Socialism was to be brought about most outspoken opponents of Italian mili- through a revolutionary general strike: “they who are building up industrial or- and that it is our proper right to overthrow Establishing new nation-states means, in ganisations for the practical purposes of to- the imperialist Japan by a revolutionary effect, establishing new capitalist states day are at the same time preparing the means”.[55] that, in turn, serve the interests of the lo- framework of the society of the future ... the cal elite at the expense of the working class The Manifesto made it clear that the solu- principle of democratic control will oper- and peasantry. Thus, most nationalist tion to this national question was not the ate through the workers correctly organised movements that have achieved their goals creation of a “sovereign national State” but in ... Industrial Unions, and the ... the po- have turned on the working class once in in a social revolution by the peasants and litical, territorial state of capitalist society power, crushing leftists and trade union- the poor against both the colonial govern- will have no place or function...”[50] ists with vigour. In other words, internal ment and the local bourgeoisie. oppression continues in new forms. A firm anti-imperialist, Connolly opposed Further, the struggle was seen in interna- the nationalist dictum that “labour must At the same time, imperialism cannot be tionalist terms by the Korean Anarchist wait,” and that independent Ireland must destroyed by the formation of new nation- Federation, which went on to found an be capitalist: what would be the difference states. Even independent nation-states are Eastern Anarchist Federation in 1928, in practice, he wrote, if the unemployed part of the international state system, and spanning China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam were rounded up for the “to the tune of ‘St. the international capitalist system, a sys- and other countries, and which called upon Patrick’s Day’” whilst the bailiffs wore wear tem in which the power of imperialist “the proletariat of the world, especially the “green uniforms and the Harp without the states continues to set the rules of the eastern colonies” to unite against “interna- Crown, and the warrant turning you out game. In other words, external repression tional capitalistic imperialism”. Within on the road will be stamped with the arms continues in new forms. Korea itself, the anarchists organised an of the Irish Republic”?[51] In the end, he underground network, the Korean This means that the new states - and the insisted, “the Irish question is a social ques- Anarcho-Communist Federation, to engage local capitalists that control them- soon tion, the whole age-long fight of the Irish in guerrilla activity, propaganda work and find themselves unable to fundamentally people against their oppressors resolves it- trade union organising.[56] challenge imperialist control and instead self, in the final analysis into a fight for set about trying to advance their interests the mastery of the means of life, the sources In 1929, the Korean anarchists founded an within the overall framework of imperial- of production, in Ireland.”[52] armed liberated zone, the Korean People’s ism. This means that they maintain close Association in Manchuria, which brought Connolly was sceptical of the very ability economic ties with the western centres, together two million guerrillas and Korean of the national bourgeoisie to consistently whilst using their own state power to build peasants on the basis of voluntary farm- fight against imperialism, writing it off as up their own strength, hoping, eventually, ing co-operatives. The Korean People’s As- a sentimental, cowardly, and anti-labour to graduate to imperialist status them- sociation in Manchuria was able to with- bloc, and he opposed any alliance with this selves. In practice, the most effective way stand several years of attacks by Japanese layer: the once-radical middle class have for the local ruling classes to develop local forces and Korean Stalinists backed by the “bowed the knee to Baal, and have a thou- capitalism is to crush labour and small Soviet Union before being forced under- sand economic strings ... binding them to farmers in order to be able to sell cheap English capitalism as against every senti- raw materials and manufactured goods on mental or historic attachment drawing the world market. them toward Irish patriotism,” and so, This is no solution. We need to abolish “only the Irish working class remain as the imperialism, so creating conditions for the incorruptible inheritors of the fight for free- self-government of all people around the dom in Ireland.”[53] Connolly was ex- world. But this requires the destruction of ecuted in 1916 following his involvement capitalism and the state system. At the in the Easter Rising, which helped spark same time, our struggle is a struggle the Irish War of Independence of 1919- against the ruling classes within the third 1922, one of the first successful secessions world: local oppression is no solution. The from the British Empire. local elites are an enemy both within na- ANARCHIST REVOLUTION IN tional liberation movements and even KOREA more so after the formation of new nation- states. It is only the working class and A final example bears mentioning. The ground.[57] Resistance continued through- peasantry who can destroy imperialism anarchist movement emerged in East Asia out the 1930s despite intense repression, and capitalism, replacing domination by in the early twentieth century, where it and a number of joint Sino-Korean opera- both local and foreign elites with self-man- exerted a significant influence in China, tions were organised after the Japanese agement and social and economic equal- Japan and Korea. With the Japanese an- invasion of China in 1937.[58] ity. nexation of Korea in 1910, opposition to the occupation developed in both Japan IN CONCLUSION: TOWARDS THE Hence, we are for working class autonomy and in Korea, and spilled over into China. DESTRUCTION OF IMPERIALISM and unity and solidarity across countries, In Japan, the prominent anarchist Kotoku across continents, and for the establish- Anarchists cannot be ‘neutral’ in any fight Shusui was framed and executed in July ment of an international anarcho-commu- against imperialism. Whether it is the 1910, in part because his Commoner’s nist system through the self-activity of the struggle against the third world debt, the Newspaper campaigned against Japanese global working class and peasantry. As struggle against the Israeli occupation of expansionism.[54] Sandino said, "In this struggle, only the Palestine, or opposition to US military at- workers and peasants will go all the way For the Korean anarchists, the struggle for tacks on the Middle East, we are not neu- to the end." decolonisation assumed centre-stage in tral, we can never be neutral. We are their political activity: they played a promi- against imperialism. nent part in the 1919 rising against Japa- But we are not nationalists. We recognise nese occupation, and in 1924 formed the that imperialism is itself rooted in capi- Korean Anarchist Federation on the basis Footnotes: talism, and we recognise that simply re- of the “Korean Revolution Manifesto” For the footnotes to this article see placing foreign elites with local elites will which stated that the full version on the web page not solve the problem in a way that is fun- “we declare that the burglar politics of Ja- damentally beneficial for the working class http://struggle.ws/stopthewar.html pan is the enemy for our nation’s existence and peasantry. The writer Paul Bowman is an internationalist, anti- Beyond the Undifferentiated Mass fascist, anarchist and libertarian communist active for over 15 years in Yorkshire, Northern England.

Diversity in Islam for Absolute Beginners tribe or not. They also held that people were responsible for the good or evil of Roughly 1 in 5 of the world’s population is muslim - that’s over a billion people. Yet for all their acts personally, and that anyone who the talk about a global society with the telecommunication revolution bringing knowledge did evil was no longer a muslim, regard- to the masses, what most westerners from christian backgrounds know about Islam can less of what they or anybody else decreed. be written on the back of a small postage stamp. So here then is a crash course. The effects of this political philosophy was to challenge all authority and encourage Fundamentalism? Pashtuns of Northern Pakistan and Af- all, especially the poor and dispossessed, ghanistan, for example, have much more Islam, like christianity is an expansionist to see the struggle against injustice as to do with Pashtun cultural norms than religion rather than the traditionalist be- being divinely sanctioned. islamic law. liefs of a closed community. Conscious of Since the time of the Kharawaj, the his- itself as a new initiative, it seeks to preach A Unified Ideology? tory of the rise and fall of various dynas- to and convert pagan and unbeliever. How- Like any ideology that emphasises unity ties of Caliphs and different empires has ever, whereas christianity found itself as a primary aim, Islam has in practice lead the Sunni tradition to view orthodoxy growing within a pre-existing state sys- suffered any number of splits. There is no as something that needs to be tempered tem (the Roman empire) and made con- room for a full history in a piece like this with a pragmatism of tolerating differ- cessions to a separate political power, Is- but we must realise that what exists to- ences between muslims and not being over lam, starting as a means of filling a politi- day is the result of long dialectic histories hasty in determining who, of the people cal vacuum, was the creative force of a new of orthodoxy, heresy, struggle, repression who identify as muslims, is or is not a state. and reform. muslim. This catholicity along with an As such the tension (and eventual divi- emphasis on the established majority Sunni sion) between church and state that marks opinion as the source of religious author- christianity does not occur within Islam. The Sunni branch of Islam is the domi- ity has helped to mitigate some of the Hence the “fundamentalist” label is mis- nant one to which 90% of muslims belong. destabilising effects of radicalism while leading. In the modern western tradition Although the split between the two allowing economic prosperity to be paral- the tension between church and state has branches that would become Sunni and lelled by a flowering of cultural, scientific come to be expressed as a belief in a “no- Shia was originally a matter of who should and philosophical diversity and enquiry. vus ordo seclorum” where life is separated succeed Muhammed, they later evolved However, even within the Sunni main- into two spheres - a secular public sphere more substantial political and philosophi- stream, revivalist and puritan sects have of politics and a private sphere within cal differences. As Muhammed failed to arisen both in the past and in more mod- which the individual can divide his or her produce a son by any of his many mar- ern times. time to the worship of god or mammon as riages, the muslim community was left Sufi - It’s not my Jihad if I can’t they see fit. with no clear successor after his death. dance to it The term “fundamentalism” originated in The main body decided that the leader- As well as the various sects of Sunnis and the US from a political movement of anti- ship (the Caliphate) should pass to who- Shias as Islam developed, some came to progressive christians who wished to abol- ever from within Muhammed’s clan the be more interested in the personal spir- ish the secular independance of the state muslim establishment best felt repre- itual aspect of religion. The struggle to from christian beliefs. It is misleading to sented continuity. The Shias, in contrast, achieve some kind of direct personal un- apply the label of “fundamentalist” in this supported the claim of Ali, the husband of ion with the divine. This tradition shows sense, to muslims as it is a formal part of the prophet’s favourite daughter. They the influence of contacts with eastern tra- their belief that no such division between insisted that the legitimacy of the ditions of the search for enlightenment matters social, political and religious Caliphate came only from god, not the re- whether Hindu, Buddhist or Daoist. The should exist. That doesn’t mean that there ligious establishment. Sufi traditions, often seen as borderline aren’t differences as to how this formal In time as those who had known the heretical by the centres of authoritarian unity between religion and politics should prophet and remembered his sayings and Islamic power, have historically prospered be put into practice, but the label funda- acts began to die off, this oral tradition of in remote and mountainous regions. Es- mentalist only obscures the issue. guidance supplementary to the Koran (the pecially towards the east where similar Religious or Cultural conservatism? sunnah) was written down into several mystical traditions have been strong. books, six of which became recognised as An important feature of the spread of Is- The introspective struggle of the Sufis is, authoritative sources of guidance - the lam is the way it has accomodated itself according to them, a form of Jihad (devout Hadith. For Sunnism then, society’s laws to the pre-existing cultures it has come struggle), one against the false, earthly must be determined through reference to into contact with. Where pre-existing cul- self - the Nafs. These strivings have pro- the Koran and the Sunnah. For Shi’ites, tural practices are not explicitly in oppo- duced some of Islam’s most loved poetry, however, the true path can only be found sition to codified islamic practices, they but is also most famously associated with through the divinely appointed interme- have been adopted into the newly ascetic disciplines such as physical exer- diaries - the true Caliphs or Imams. islamised culture. With the passage of tions including music and wild dancing to time many of these pre-islamic cultural Kharawaj - too radical by far induce visions and spiritual break- practices have retrospectively been la- throughs - something which has always As well as Sunni and Shia there was origi- belled as sanctioned by islam by conserva- made them unpopular with those who be- nally a third force, since eradicated, whose tive forces in society. lieve that music, dancing and celebration negative influence has profoundly shaped in general is the work of the devil. Consequently it is often the case that what Sunni political philosophy. These were the is claimed to be islamic practice is more Kharawaji, radicals who held that any Shia or Shi’ite often the pre-existing cultural and social sufficiently worthy muslim could hold the The original underdogs, the Shi’ites today traditions of a given ethnic society. Many position of Imam, whether a descendant make up only 10% of the muslim world, of the declaredly islamic traditions of the of Muhammed or a member of his Quraysh they are a minority in nearly all muslim countries, except for Iran, where they are crops meet routes from the east carrying house of Saud for a plan of conquest back the state religion. They have at times been spices and silks. Rich merchant settle- in the 18th century. This double act had linked to a desire by non-arab muslims ments in Mecca and Medina have profited managed to cause the ruling Ottoman (e.g. Persians) to reject the tendencies for from the riches brought by these trade empire serious grief beforehand and had arab domination over islam that are some- routes, travellers and pilgrims to holy rel- been almost wiped out several times pre- times expressed in the established sunni ics such as the mysterious black rock of viously. Now with Ibn Saud the old plan tradition with its power centres in arab the Kaaba in Mecca. In the arabian inte- would finally be put into action again. By lands. The Shia originated from a split rior harsh deserts and barren uplands 1911 Saud was putting into plan an am- amongst Muhammed’s followers after his have dictated a meagre semi-nomadic bitious scheme to forge the disparate and death with no male heir. The “traditional- herding existence to the tribal peoples that eternally warring Bedouin tribes of the ist” Sunnis decided to appoint a leader (the inhabit the region. interior into a united and ideologically Caliph). The “legitimist” Shias thought committed force. A nomadic herding economy, with its main that Ali, the husband of Muhammed’s animal wealth being so easily carried off, With the tribesmen having no common favorite daughter, was the legitimate heir lends itself to continual strife between national identity beyond their tribe, the and Muhammed’s privileged role, not only tribes based around livestock rustling and zeal of Wahhabism would act as the uni- as earthly leader but spiritual too (the struggles over access to grazing land and fying glue that held the new state together Imamate) was passed down this line. They limited watering holes. This existence has in place of nationalism. In 1912 he founded are divided into: formed a population where impoverish- the first Ikhwan (Brethren) colony with Ithna ‘Ashariyah (Twelvers) or ment sits together with a high degree of Bedouin from all tribes in new model set- Imamis mobility and martial experience. Through- tlements where they would undergo edu- out history those people who have been cation and indoctrination by Wahhabi cler- Who believe that there were twelve legiti- able to unite the warring tribes against ics along with military training. In time mate Imams after Muhammed and son- an external enemy have been able to mo- this would forge an unstoppable new mili- in-law Ali. They believe the twelth Imam bilise a highly effective military force for tary force that would sweep accross Ara- disappeared in 873 and is thought to be conquest of the outside world. This was bia and conquer the holy cities. By 1921 alive and hiding and will not reappear Muhammed’s achievement, in getting the this process was complete. However Saud until judgement day. The Imamis became merchants of the trading cities of Mecca now faced the usual problem of those who the dominant Shi’ite form in the east, par- and Medina to pay taxes (zakat) to buy mobilise new radical forces to conquer ticularly in Persia where it became the off the raiding tribes and lead them in a political power - how to demobilise them official state religion in the 16th century. campaign of conquest accross the middle before they started to destroy the very The Iranian revolution of 1979 was taken east and North Africa. Although a great bases of political power itself. over by the Shia clergy and their follow- and wealthy empire eventually resulted, ers who believed in the Imamate of The problems had already become ap- Khomeini. The fact that Shi’ism is an parent when the Ikhwan had taken oppressed minority in virtually all Mecca. On hearing some unfortunate other states in the muslim world helped who had decided a welcoming blast on to isolate the Iranian Islamic Republic a trumpet should great the conquer- and limit their ability to export their ors, the Wahhabis, for whom music is ‘revolution’. anti-islamic, rioted and mass destruc- tion and slaughter ensued. Convinced Isma’ilite that any innovation since After the sixth Imam there was a dis- Muhammed’s time was anathema, pute over whether the legitimate suc- they tore down minarets (developed, cessor was his elder son Isma’il or his like much mosque architecture since younger son Musa al-Kazim. The ma- Muhammed’s time) and, believing jority supporting the young son went that any worship of relics, saints, or by the beginning of the 20th century con- on to be the mainstream leading to the tombs of holy men was an affront to the ditions in the Arabian interior remained Twelvers. Of those who stuck with Isma’il doctrine that only god can be worshipped, pretty much as impoverished and they split into those who decided he was they went round smashing up many such undevelopped as they had in Muhammed’s the last Imam (the Sab’iyah or Seveners) pilgrimmage sites, much to the distress time. and those who believed the Imamate car- of those who made their living of the pil- ried on in that line. Of these latter, vari- On January 15 1902 a tribesman from the grims that came to visit them. The ous splits later left groups which still fol- interior in his twenties, accompanied by wahhabi religious police (mutawa) led a low people today they consider to be the 15 hand-picked men, scaled the walls of reign of terror in the cities, crashing into legitimate successor to Muhammed - the the city of Riyadh in the dead of night. people’s homes and, if so much as sniffing Aga Khan is one such (via, obscurely, Taking the garrison of the regional gover- the scent of tobacco, would thrash the Hassan e Sabah of Assasin fame). Other nor of the Ottoman empire completely by unfortunates senseless. schisms led groups out of Islam proper, surprise, this daring band of Bedouin war- More importantly for Ibn Saud, the such as the Druze (of Lebanon fame) and riors, overwhelmed the garrison and their Ikhwan wanted to continue military ex- the Baha’i. leader, who the world would come to know pansion, attacking the areas to the north simply as Ibn Saud, was proclaimed ruler We now move on to the two modern sects occupied by the British and French since by the townsfolk. Ibn Saud went on to who have most influence on the story we the end of WW1 and the collapse of the unite the tribal leaders of the interior and are today interested in Afghanistan and Ottoman empire. Saud wanted to avoid lead them in the conquest of the rich cit- related networks throughout the world. war with the British, both to keep what ies and holy centres of Medina and Mecca. he had gained and also because he was Wahhabi - the only good innovator He did so not only in the name of the rapidly running out of money for the pay- is a dead one House of Saud, but in the name of a new ments to the tribal chiefs he needed to puritan brand of Sunni Islam - keep them in his grand coalition. The pos- The peninsula of Arabia has since before Wahhabism. Muhammed’s time held two contrasting sibility of selling an exploration concession societies together. On the Red Sea coast Wahhabism is named after the religious to western explorers interested in looking trade routes from the south from Africa reformer Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab for oil in Saudi Arabia was too interesting carrying gold, ivory, slaves and valuable who teamed up with the founder of the to pass up. By 1927 the Ikhwan were denouncing Ibn from British clutches it would have to find The Afghan War 1979 - 1989 Saud for selling out the cause and even- a new way forward, rather than simply The current situation is above all the re- tually rose in rebellion against him. The looking back. sult of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ensuing struggle was bloody, one ultra- Amongst muslims two main directions and the subsequent US proxy war fought zealous band nearly managing to destroy emerged. The first, intent on adopting there. This was fought both through Af- the tomb of the Prophet himself, but the some of the western methods, created new ghan factions and an international net- radicals were eventually put down. Their secularised schools where a similar edu- work of ideologically committed islamists leaders fled to Kuwait, only to be handed cation to the civil service schools could be ready to fight the Soviet forces in the name back over to Saud by the eager to please provided to young muslims, so they would of Islam. The US State Department, wary British. Thus ended the first phase of the eventually be able to re-enter the admin- of Iran’s Shi’ite Islamic revolution, were Wahhabi’s jihad. istration of the country. The second ap- more than happy to find their Saudi al- Although the Ikhwan’s military campaign proach was to create a revivalist islamic lies were able to mobilise, through was halted, the Wahhabis continued to education that would return the power of Wahhabi networks, militant islamists who export their religious revolution. The most their faith to young muslims and make were as hostile to Iran as they were to the successful first stop was across the Red them strong to reject the corrupting force Russians. This would allow them, to fund Sea in Egypt, where they supported the of westernisation in preparation for throw- the creation of a fighting force that would formation of Hassan al Banna’s Muslim ing out the British oppressor. This second be strong enough to take on the Russians, Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun). school took its name from the Indian town yet were not in any danger of spreading The Brotherhood was formed to combat of Deoband where its leading religious ju- the Iranian model, especially given the Egypt’s secular constitution of 1923. Af- ridical council (ulemma) was based. seeming loyalty many of the young radi- ter the defeat of Egypt and other Ar- cals showed to the royal families of abs trying to stop the creation of Is- Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. rael in 1948, they rose against the gov- In this way the US and Britain ernment and were part of the revolu- helped build up a veritable Interna- tion that brought the secular pan-arab tional Brigade of Islamist fighters, nationalist Nasser to power. Nasser’s funded by the proceeds of Gulf oil, programme was for an anti-imperial- sheltered and trained by the Paki- ist struggle against the western pow- stani intelligence services of General ers (he nationalised the Suez Canal Zia ul Haq’s regime and Western spe- in 1956) combined with ‘socialist’ in- cial forces. It was this network that dustrial development and modernisa- brought together Wahhabis and tion. Deobandis to create an international This latter part was heatedly opposed Jihadi movement of which Al Qaeda by the Brotherhood and the ensuing and its brother organisations like failed assasination attempt brought about Like the Wahhabis, the Deobandi’s faith Egyptian Jihad (formed from the Muslim their suppression by Nasser and the un- is a severe puritan one which bans music, Brotherhood mentioned above). So what dying opposition between militant dancing, worship of saints or holy relics motivates this network? Islamism and pan-arab nationalism ever and sees an external, physical Jihad The Al Qa’eda Programme since. Nasser’s “socialist” rhetoric and (Jihad bis Saif) as a central pillar of the friendliness towards the Soviet union, faith. They took part in the struggle for Al Qa’eda’s activities may be illegal, im- panicked the western powers, particularly independance from the British and for the moral and indefensible but they are nei- the US who were holding the ring for west- partition of Indian to create Pakistan. The ther motiveless nor mindless. They have ern imperialism since the British bowed Deobandis are one of the main Sunni com- a programme and this is it: out of the region after the 1956 Suez fi- munities in Pakistan and have been con- The demands are: asco. The US involvement with the mili- stantly in struggle both against the Shi’ite 1. Troops Out Now - that is, US tant Islamists as a bulwark against So- minority in Pakistan and the other main troops out of Saudi Arabia viet influence in the Middle East dates Sunni community the Brelvis. 2. End Israeli oppression of from this period. These latter are more influenced by Sufi Palestinians Deobandis - back to basics traditions that have long persisted in the 3. End sanctions against Iraq harsh mountains of the Hindu Kush that 4. End western support for corrupt The Taleban, although a modern puritan dominate Kashmir and Afghanistan as regimes in muslim/arab countries - Sunni sect, are not Wahhabis. They are well as in the mountainous Caucasus re- control of oil wealth part of a separate school that has its ori- gions including Chechnya. Although the (5. Anti-Communism and Statism) gin in the 19th century in India under Sufi muslims of Chechnya and Afghani- British Imperial rule. After the 1857 Sepoy The fifth demand is not stated but it is stan have certainly shown that the “inner” Mutiny, which the British blamed prima- the foundation of the campaign against jihad for enlightenment (Jihad bin Nafs) rily on muslims, muslims found them- the Russians in Afghanistan that gave the is no contradiction to the external jihad of selves excluded from all institutions, in- movement its birth. the AK47, in Pakistan the “Jihadis” that cluding schools, of imperial society. Being have fought the Indians in Kashmir and The defence of private property is part of excluded from official schooling meant the Russians in Afghanistan, are almost the sayings of the Prophet and the subse- exclusion from any role in the civil serv- exclusively drawn from the Deobandis. It quent Caliphs. Anti-communism is a mat- ice which ran the country. In other ways was their religious schools (madrassas) set ter of doctrine for orthodox islamists. Sec- too the mutiny forced a rethink on Indian up on the frontier that took in the orphans ondly, the creation of a state to enforce muslim society. of the Afghan war, that no one else would islamic law - Sharia - is the defining de- In many ways the rising had been the last feed, and turned them into Taliban sol- mand of modern islamism and has, as we attempt to go back to the pre-colonial so- diers. Since the end of the war in 1989 saw at the very beginning, always been cial order of India under the Mughal em- hostility between Deobandis and Brelvis central to islam as a whole. pire. The traditional leaders and ruling and both against Shi’ites, has resulted in It follows then, that despite the seeming class had demonstrated incompetence or a rising number of bomb and riot attacks radicalism of the demand to stop western even refused to back the soldier-led mu- on rival mosques and assasinations in powers propping up corrupt despotic re- tiny at all. If Indian society was to escape Pakistan. gimes in the muslim world (or more par- Material Foundations founded by people who themselves dallied ticularly, the arab world, because for all with socialistic or national liberation poli- Most of the islamic societies across North its islamic internationalism this particu- tics in their struggle to depose colonial Africa and the Middle East were subjected lar network remains very much in the tra- power, are all to aware of the destabilising to European colonialism or Ottoman rule dition of arab-centric sunni thought), this potential of such politics, not too mention at some stage from the 19th to the 20th network has no agenda for the destruc- the interests of the local capitalists. So centuries. Socially these regions, although tion of capitalism and the extraction of they are happy for the islamists to hold containing some of histories great urban profit. Indeed of all the demands number ideological sway over the urban prole- centres of civilisation, remained primarily 4 is most suspect. Osama bin Laden was tariat, so long as their anger is diverted subsistence economies for the majority of friendly with his family’s traditional pa- to handy external scapegoats, such as Is- the inhabitants, whether settled farmers trons, the Saudi royal family, right up until rael or America. or nomadic herders. While colonial rule they invited the US forces into Saudi dur- started the process of forcing the popula- This welfare system though is dependant ing the Gulf war. tion off the land, this social transforma- upon attending the mosque and being in- These demands are framed as a religious tion really got into gear under the rule of tegrated into the whole islamist system struggle to “free the holy places of islam”, the post-colonial regimes after WW1 and, of ideological formation. The system pro- pretty much the same slogan that Ibn even more so after WW2. vides not only material aid, but also meet- Saud used to rally the original Wahhabi ing places, places to hear news from co- The new post colonial regimes modelled Ikhwan fighters for the conquest of Ara- religionists from afar and abroad. In a themselves on their erstwhile colonizers, bia. However, much as bin Laden would sense the islamist mission amongst the introducing a secular state and institu- no doubt like to refer back to such histori- urban poor corresponds to the institutions tions, and often promoting western dress cal precedents, we must not let the sur- that workers across the world have built and culture. But many of the trappings of face similarities blind us to the significant for themselves (friendly societies, meeting the new states, whether transport infra- differences. The original Ikhwan, coming houses, public speaking and international structure, motor cars, telephones, etc. had from a world which had, not only reli- correspondance, etc.), except that in this to be bought from overseas. In the gulf giously but technologically remained al- instance these institutions and spaces are states this could all be paid for by oil most unchanged since the time of not the autonomous products of workers wealth without any need for the develop- Muhammed, were fighting against mod- activity. Rather they are funded by the ment of local industry or production. In ern technology and industry. Ibn Saud’s bosses and the rich and controlled by a the oil-less states the balance of payments allowing telephones into the country was power that mediates between the two, pressure produced a need to go into com- one of the grievances for their revolt. usually antagonist classes and the state. modity production in return, in order to This state of affairs is not due to some in- Bin Laden, by contrast has his own satel- pay for the imported materiel. But start- nate failing of political consciousness lite phones, a modern education in civil ing from a level of industrial development amongst the urban proletariat, rather it engineering and no aversion to setting up unable to compete with the west, the only is a product of the economic enviroment modern factories, construction businesses industry ready for conversion to commod- of mass unemployment and regime of ac- or making millions on the international ity production was agriculture. Combined cumulation that has not yet reached the financial markets. Of course these mod- with strong tariff barriers protecting west- stage of accumulating through relative ern means are all justified by the ends of ern food crop production, the “balance of surplus value, but remains founded on the jihad. But whichever way you look at it, payments” cash crop has played the ma- absolute exploitation of those in work. The bin Laden is a member of the local indus- jor role in throwing the peasantry off the mass of the urban proletariat in many trialist bourgeoisie chafeing at the bit to land. islamic countries does not have enough build up commodity production in the This mass of newly landless peasants, spare cash to set up their own autonomous Middle East, not knock it down. drifting towards the shanty towns sur- spaces and aid projects, compared to the For all the pre-modern language of his rounding the urban centres, looking for resources the islamists can access, espe- movement, the content is for more tech- wage work, is the sleeping giant of poli- cially for comparitively expensive services nological and industrial development, not tics in the Islamic world. Any rising by this like modern health care. less. The military airbases and command new proletariat would be an earthquake But the creation of autonomous spaces in posts that the US troops moved into in strong enough to shake the foundations the islamic world is what is desparately 1990 were built by bin Laden for the Sau- of all the established powers, mostly des- needed by local workers and radicals. It dis to use to build an independant mili- potic as they are, in the region. It is is in this area that international solidar- tary force against the threat of Saddam’s amongst this multitude that the islamists ity can play the most important role in the Iraq (for much as the current Al Qa’eda have worked hard to establish a base. future. Solidarity can help build up the demands include the dropping of sanctions They have done so by setting up a reli- spaces for the proletariat of North Africa against Iraq, we must remember that bin gious based welfare system. Most of the and the Middle East to find a libertory Laden was warning against Hussain’s post colonial states are too concerned path between the devil of rotten despotic aggressive intentions from the late 80s about paying their debts to western banks regimes and the deep blue sea of militant onwards). Bin Laden wishes to see an and the IMF to spend any of their meagre islamic capitalism. independantly powerful islamic Middle tax revenues on social welfare. Further the East, and if that requires technological standard IMF “structural adjustment” and economic development then he is all Want to reprint these articles? terms prohibit any such social spending, for it. even were any of the regimes farsighted We strongly encourage anarchist and Beyond Al Qa’eda and Osama bin Laden’s enough to consider them. Islam has a libertarian socialist publications to re-print clothing of a industrialising developmen- redistributive “social democratic” taxation tal agenda in pre-modern clothing, we system built into its foundations as zakat, these articles in full or in part. Please need to look at the social recruiting base one of the five obligations of the religion. include the author’s details and the web and background of the footsoldiers of to- Islamists are able to lean on the address http://struggle.ws/stopthewar.html. day’s militant movements. In the time of benificiaries of trade with the west, or oil The text of the articles is on that web page Ibn Saud they were desert nomads from rights, for money. In return they promise an essentially pre-capitalist existence. No to keep a lid on popular revolt, particu- Other publications please contact us for more. larly any socialistic or class war elements. permission at The current regimes, mostly being [email protected] The author lives in Ireland and writes for the Free Earth web site http://struggle.ws/freeearth.html Commissars of the Free Press dia, is not the general public but adver- tisers. I’m not going to argue that there is a bias in Among the most frequent watchers, 32 per- Who places advertisements? Why corpora- the media, I’ll let a journalist do that for me: cent thought Kuwait was a democracy; only tions of course and it is to them the media is “By the mid- 1980s, the AP [Associated Press 23 per cent were aware that there were other sold, which is why you can have T.V. stations – a news agency supplying reports to the in- occupations in the Middle East besides Iraq’s, and newspapers with out paying for them, ternational media] used ‘terrorist’ about Ar- and only 10 per cent had heard of the intifada, or why T.V. stations and newspapers adver- abs but rarely about the IRA in Northern Ire- the most sustained revolt in modern Middle tise themselves as reaching a large audience. land, where the agreed word was ‘guerrillas’, East history. presumably because AP serves a number of To look at what this means consider a recent When queried as to which three nations ve- news outlets in the United States with a large issue of ‘The Economist’ (September 22nd – toed the recent United Nations resolution call- Irish-American audience. 28th). ing for an international peace conference (the The BBC, which increasingly referred to Arab United States, Israel, and Dominica), 14 per On page 12 we have a clear rejection on the ‘terrorists’, always referred to the IRA as ‘ter- cent correctly identified the U.S., but another idea that there is any link between Ameri- rorists’ but scarcely ever called ANC bombers 12 per cent thought it has to be Iraq. The can power in the Middle East and the Sep- in South Africa ‘terrorists’, probably because Center’s polls showed that only 13 per cent of tember 11th attacks – “the idea that America the BBC, in it’s wisdom had decided that the these TV viewers were aware of what official brought the assault on itself is absurd.” ANC’s cause was more ‘justified’ that the Pal- U.S. policy was toward On page 5 we have a full page ad. extolling estinian’s or the IRA’s. Iraq before the August 2 invasion.” the virtues of investment in Saudi Arabia, (From ‘For Palestine’ by Jay Murphy page iii) Tass and Pravda, [Tass being the Russian paid for by ‘The Ministry of Information’ (you version of AP] of course, referred to Afghan What I’m going to do is ask ‘Why?’. couldn’t make it up!) of Saudi’s ruling family rebels as ‘terrorists’. aka government. Why don’t we have a media which attempts The Western press would never do this, even to be unbiased and objective? On page 27 you have a job advertisement on though the Afghan guerrillas – ‘freedom fight- behalf of Saudi Aramco, the local branch of Why don’t we have a media which presents ers’ or ‘insurgents’ were alternative descrip- an American based multi-national oil com- all relevant information rather than select- tions – murdered the wives and children of pany. ing some information for prominent display Communist party officials, burned down and largely rejecting other information? Clearly it is totally incompatible to sell your- schools and fired rockets onto the civilian self to these people and to run a piece to the population of Kabul. Why don’t we have a wider diversity of opin- effect that the Middle East has been a bat- ion in the media? A startling example of double standards oc- tlefield for the competing forces of American curred in September 1985, when a British Firstly, there is a weighty concentration Imperialism and indigenous nationalism for newspaper reported that an airliner carrying of ownership. decades, and that now that battlefield in- civilian passengers had been ‘downed by cludes New York. rebels’. Something wrong here, surely. Terror- We all know the media barons, the Blacks, To say such is to be anti-American, or a sup- ists destroy civilian airliners. No one was in Maxwells , Murdochs, Berlusconis, and porter of Islamic fundamentalism, or to jus- any doubt about that in 1988 when a O’Reillys . tify terrorism. Which means that at bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing least one segment of the Pentagon is 747 over Scotland, killing all on board.” anti-American, supporters of Islamic “But ‘terrorism’ no longer means terror- fundamentalism and justifies terrorism. ism. It is not a definition; it is a political How come? Because a 1997 U.S. Depart- contrivance. ‘Terrorists’ are those who use ment of Defence study found that: “As violence against the side that is using the part of its global power position, the word.” United States is called upon frequently “To adopt the word means that we have to respond to international causes and taken a side in the Middle east, not be- deploy forces around the world. Ameri- tween right and wrong, good and evil, ca’s position in the world invites attack David and Goliath, but with one set of simply because of its presence. Histori- combatants against another. For journal- cal data show a strong correlation be- ists in the Middle East, the use of the tween U.S. involvement in international word ‘terrorism’ is akin to carrying a gun. situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States.” Unless the word is use against all acts Indymedia pic of S26 Washington DC anti-war demo (Quoted in the CATO website http:// of terrorism – which it is not – then it’s It requires a great amount of start up capital www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-050es.html) employment turns the reporter into a partici- to get up and going in this business and that pant in the war. He becomes a belligerent.” Now it is not that advertisers order the me- restricts ownership of major media to a tiny (From “Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War” by dia not to run a certain story or put pressure number of the super rich or to giant mega Robert Fisk page 439) on the media, although that can happen. corporations themselves owned by a slightly Nor am I going to argue that the media often larger circle of the super rich. It is simply that a publication which even in inhibits an understanding of situations, par- just 25% of it’s copy ran stories highly criti- The point is not that the owner directly in- ticularly in regard to foreign policy issues, cal of corporate power, opinion pieces and fluences what goes into the newspaper, al- where almost all of us are dependant on ‘sec- editorials questioning the basis of our soci- though that can happen as former Daily Mir- ond hand’ information and where most of us ety, could hardly expect to get advertising ror journalist John Pilger shows in his book receive our ‘second hand’ information from revenue from those same corporations. Hidden Agendas. the corporate media. Again, I’m going Thus a publication which did so could not to let some one else do this. The point is that there is not a ‘level playing compete in the market place. “in surveys carried out by the Center for Stud- field’ where anyone can set up a media outlet ies in Communication of the University of and compete – you have to be enormously Perhaps of more concern in regard to domes- Massachusetts at Amherst, those who wealthy to do so. tic issues is the fact that advertisers are aim- watched the most television on the Gulf War ing for groups in the ‘high income’ brackets were the least informed about basic facts of Secondly, the primary market for all with the greater disposable income to spend life in the region. media, at least all non-State owned me- on consumer goods. ‘The Irish Times’ for in- stance sells itself by saying “8 out of 10 sen- paigns are during the air strikes on Yugosla- I’ve been on the nightly newscast of every West- ior business people read” it. via. The difference then was that with a body ern country practically, and I’ve not had a of international journalists on both sides of single call from the American networks .. .. Thus newspapers, and media in general, the frontline it was far harder for the Penta- .Because I’m going to go on there and say the which appeal to the interests and concerns gon and the MoD to impose total control on things they don’t want to hear. I’m going to be of the better off are more likely to get adver- what was being reported. Nonetheless the off message. I’m not going to sing with the tising revenue. factors detailed above still worked to ensure chorus. And the media is part of the chorus Again doing the opposite will effect your abil- that when “accidents” happened the spin, now. They’re wearing their ribbons and they’re ity to compete. slant, and interpretation given to events re- not being objective journalists and mained one which favoured the war effort. they’re not presenting all sides.” Thirdly the media, like any industry, is (Toronto Globe and Mail 6/10/01) dependant on it’s supply of raw mate- In other words a report of an event which rial. exposed the reality of war, but coupled with Michael Moore, has had, in a further silenc- an interpretation which accepted the para- ing of dissent, the distribution of his latest In this case information. Where does it get digm of the war party. book halted by the publishing company this information? What are it’s sources? In (owned by Rupert Murdoch) which was bring- For example: ‘the bombing is killing innocent the context of a war the primary sources are ing it out. government/military, and they do their ut- people and not doing the job - we must send most to make sure it stays that way. ground troops’(which assumes that a full Furthermore at least two journalists have scale invasion would not kill as many or more been fired for criticising President George Journalist Peter Preston describes the and which does not questioning the goals but Bush Jnr. The boss of one of them wrote a situation during the Falklands War: just the means). front page apology for the fact a member of “Those of us who yomped through the Minis- his staff had criticised Dubya ending it with: Or: ‘what can NATO do to ensure that there try of Defence in the Falklands soon got the “May God Bless President George W. Bush are no civilian deaths?’ (which supports the changed hang of things. Top chaps in dark and other leaders. And God Bless America!” war effort, assumes that such a thing is pos- suits would summon up the full authority of (Toronto Globe and Mail 6/10/01) their office and lie like troopers.” sible and assumes that the apparatchiks of NATO give a fuck so long as their bloody Outside the United States, there has “The Falklands war was more than a distant handwork is not on the Six o’Clock news) . been more dissenting voices and more side show. It hugely impressed the Pentagon. of a debate in the media. Ensure that reporters are cooped upon on air- We now have defence experts (creatures of craft carriers or minded by Mod male nurses Ministries of Defence and Defence indus- Still it has been primarily dissenting voices far from the front and, as long as you keep tries), retired officers and serving officers questioning the means not the end of West- decent clamps on back at the political ranch, pontificating upon what is happening in Af- ern policy, questioning the injustice of sanc- there is total information control.” ghanistan. Surely a more accurate answer to tions on Iraq or the injustice of support for (The Guardian 8/10/01) that question could be given by interviewing Israeli Defence Forces repression but not re- survivors from the bombing of Japan, Viet- lating this to corporate investments in the The United States military, as so often be- nam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq and Yugoslavia. Middle East oilfields. fore, took the example from their British col- leagues and employed it in Grenada, Panama We are seeing maps with troop dispositions, Or debate within a very narrow spectrum and the Gulf. bases, and aircraft carriers. Surely pictures which accepts the supposed goals of Western of the effects of previous wars would be just military intervention in the Middle East and Consider the coverage during the Sec- as apt. We have diagrams of warplanes show- Central Asia, with the dissenting voices ond Gulf War, and the build up to it. ing their attributes but no pictures of what merely asking for more United Nations in- Firstly we had the reports of Iraqi troops they do to the bodies of human beings. volvement or to give more opportunity for the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden. massed at the Saudi border poised to invade So what impact is this having on the the personal property of the House of Saud, American media? Never are the dots joined and the connection a gang of oil rich religious fanatic despots. made between corporate investments and As it stands today hardly a glimmer of dis- O.K. I’m lying Saudi Arabia was not described markets in the Middle East, military inter- sent is tolerated. According to film director like that, but nonetheless Iraqi armour was vention to defend them, support for client Michael Moore : about to sweep down into Saudi in a Hitlerian states such as Israel and Saudi Arabia to do blitzkrieg. We were originally told that U.S. “Our media it’s so pathetic and embarrass- likewise, the rise of indigenous nationalist troops were going out there to protect Saudi th ing” movements and September 11 ’s attacks. Arabia. Except this story was completely There is a war for control of the Middle East, false. As was later admitted by U.S. Gener- “I’ve been called by the CBC, BBC, and ABC and there has been for decades, but you might als, and known to be false both by the media in Australia. never know it. (but never reported) and the Pentagon, be- cause satellite photos existed which saw Iraqi withdrawals back into Iraq’s pre-August 2nd 1990 borders. Secondly we had the ‘Iraqi soldiers kill ba- bies by throwing them out of incubators’ story. Again false. Not only had the Iraqi Army not Information on the war done this but the hospital where it was sup- posed to have happened didn’t even have http://www.indymedia.org enough incubators for the 300 babies suppos- Indymedia is a network of independent web sites on which anyone edly slain. may add articles, photos or even audio and video for others to access. Thirdly we had the “smart bombs”. Which is probably the single thing which will be most http://www.ainfos.ca remembered from the Second Gulf War (ex- An anarchist newservice that carries some anarchist anti-war news. cept for Iraqis who will remember deaths, injuries and fear). Except even if we accept http://struggle.ws/stopthewar.html the premise that these “smart bombs” only A site maintained by the editor of this publication with dozens of hit what they were supposed to and that what links to background information on the war and anarchist analysis. they were supposed to hit was not power sta- tions, bridges, water works etc.., still only 7% of the missiles and bombs used were “smart”. For news by email send an email to We saw just how “smart” these bombing cam- [email protected] Laurence Cox (Dublin) has been involved in social move- ments for nearly 20 years, including opposing the Falklands War, the nuclear arms race and the second Gulf War. He’s Building an antiwar movement an academic specialist in social movements research, cur- rently studying working-class community politics in Ireland. It’s easy to feel despair, isolation and frustration at what’s presented to us as an inevitable drive into an indefinitely long war. The key ingredients of success in building a successful anti-war movement are confidence in ordinary people’s potential, solidarity with each other and a long-term view: we have not been able to prevent the first bombs falling, but over time we can reverse the dynamic and stop the war. Historical experience – desertion and mutinies at the end of World War I, the international movement against the war in Vietnam, the anti-nuclear movement of cise themselves, not to develop a separate other war tomorrow is not enough. political élite. In practice, what we need the 1980s – shows that movements can 6. Try to spread the movement, rather to do is: stop or divert even large-scale processes than build little empires. Encourage of militarisation, but only when large 1. Start by talking to other people at people to take independent action (and numbers of ordinary people are actively work, in the shops, at home, on the bus, support them when they do); work to involved. The experience of active involve- in school, online – anywhere where peo- create networks between different ment in turn gives people more confidence ple already know us. This may seem groups and initiatives, without impos- in their own capacities to think and act challenging at times, but it’s becoming ing a single “line” that everyone has to for themselves, which is an important el- clear that far more people are uneasy follow. ement in building a better world. This about the prospect of war than the me- This war may run for years in various means: dia leads us to think. By opening up this forms, and a movement that can stop it new space for communication, we un- 1. Making space for a diversity of voices will need to include many different social dermine some of the usual power rela- within the movement. To insist on ex- groups. So there’s space for all sorts of dif- tionships and creating space for new pressing only the most radical line will ferent action, and it’s important to respect kinds of solidarity and friendship. isolate activists at the very time when this, because it’s how new people will both many ordinary people are looking for a 2. Offer people immediate, practical find their way to the movement and how way out. To insist on being as “main- things to do: signing something, going other people can contribute something we stream” as possible will stop the move- on a march, coming to a meeting, might not have thought of. Different ac- ment developing and restrict participa- putting up posters, circulating a letter. tions also have different purposes (though tion to a small section of the population. We’re trying to “push people’s bounda- some overlap): So a good “platform” will include as wide ries” enough so that they feel they are • Convincing ordinary people: meetings, a range of anti-war voices as possible. becoming active, but not so much that posters, demos, street theatre, leaflets, This enables the movement to speak to they see activism as beyond their reach. different people and is part of learning videos, etc. 3. Encourage people to take the next from each other. • Building the movement: newsletters, step, and support them if they don’t yet mailing lists, teach-ins, websites, gather- 2. Making sure that the movement em- know how: ask them to speak at meet- ings, benefit gigs, etc. phasises activities which everyone can ings or write leaflets, help them to put take part in. It’s important to remem- press releases or websites together, • “Stopping the machine in its tracks”: 5- ber that most actions don’t have an im- show them how to organise a public minute strikes for peace, occupations, mediate chance of stopping the war; but meeting or a march. Be careful of pat- peace observers, supporting deserters, if they give people a chance to learn how ronising people: the trick is to be confi- blockades, etc. to become active, to gain confidence and dent that they can do whatever they set • Influencing governments or the media: to develop their own understanding, their mind to, and make sure they have petitions, vigils, press releases, photo op- they can help build a movement that the backup they need to do it. The sec- portunities, etc. does have a chance. ond time somebody does something, we 3. Taking care that the movement isn’t should leave them to it! We learn as movements, not just as indi- viduals, and the dialogue between us is run by a handful of experienced people 4. Educate ourselves: this movement is important. There is no book that can tell to the exclusion of everyone else. While likely to last a long time, and most of us us authoritatively how we are going to stop activists may have particular skills, are going to have to find out more about this war; it’s something we will work out their job is to share them and pass them all kinds of issues, from foreign policy together in practice. We can certainly on. Stopping this war is likely to be a to Islam to international law. This also learn from other movements and past his- long campaign, so we will need to de- gives us a chance to build connections tory (several campaigns have produced velop everyone’s ability to take part at by inviting speakers from other groups, excellent “how-to” guides that are a real every level. from local Muslim associations to col- goldmine of ideas), but at the end of the lege lecturers to development organisa- In terms of strategy, it’s important for peo- day none of us knows exactly what will tions. ple to mobilise within their own everyday work, and we won’t know until we’ve man- contexts, both to root the movement in the 5. Make links: although (almost) any- aged to stop the war (if then!) In the proc- real world and to change the existing so- one who opposes war should be wel- ess, though, we are also learning some- cial relationships that ultimately give rise comed, we should work and argue for thing else of immense value: how to treat to war. While the movement will also need making links to other issues, most im- each other as equals, how to cooperate and to reach out into public space and develop portantly foreign policy, “development” communicate without bosses and laws, a “political” face, this shouldn’t become and world economics, racism and intol- and how to build the kind of world that separate from the rest of the movement. erance, and civil liberties. To stop the we want to live in. The point is for ordinary people to politi- war and leave the system ready for an- The author is an anarchist living in England

Capitalism is the disease capital will improve, and solidarity increase to such an extent that future war becomes unthinkable to the citizens of earth. The – anarchism is the cure people never declared war on any nation, but by our tacit acceptance and passivity We find ourselves once again on the brink of an abyss; facing the horren- we allow war to be waged. dous prospect of propulsion into war as the result of decisions made and As Chilean anarchists CUAC-Chile say: “We actions taken by a relative handful of statist, authoritarian bigots and know that the task of stopping barbarism is fanatics. Once again, on each side in the coming conflict, those in author- not one of governments, who play with us ity will expect (and receive) the ultimate sacrifice from those they gov- as with pieces of chess, and they are not in- ern – their lives for ‘the cause’. How is it that so few can cause such mis- terested in the human cost of this macabre ery and terror to so many; and how can they be stopped? game. This responsibility belongs to the ac- tions of solidarity of the people, in reviving Imperialism, the ability of countries to glo- and dangerous manoeuvres, including war. a new internationalist spirit that can face bally and locally dictate trade relations with Anarchist social revolution will smash the up to death. Today our call is for peace, but other countries, is a feature of a small capitalist economy. Capitalist industry will we know that if we want peace, we should number of powerful capitalist states. The be expropriated and private property abol- declare war on capitalism and on state policies of imperialist nation states are ished, along with currency, and exchange power. But we will categorically reject par- largely dictated by the major companies generally. People will socialise the means ticipation in any war that is not against our based there. As the dominant world super- of production, distribution and communi- true enemies. No war between nations, power, the government of the USA is in a cation etc. for the benefit of society as a No peace between classes! Stop irra- very strong position to dictate trade rela- whole. Production and distribution of goods tionality and massacre!” tions with other countries, and does so (US and services will be organised by workers’ foreign policy is dealt with in a separate ar- The reason why so few have caused such and community organisations: from each ticle). The ultimate sanction of all nation misery throughout history to so many in according to their ability, to each according states against rival nation states is war. wars is: a) because they occupy positions of to their need. wealth and authority, and b) due to the de- The military apparatus of the state (armed Useless enterprises (insurance and finan- ception of and acquiescence by ordinary forces and associated hardware) means it cial services, advertising, sales, lawyers, people. As anarchists we aim to: a) eradi- is ideally suited to waging war on its rivals stockbrokers…) will be closed, workers cate the principle of authority from human – the state is the ‘war machine’. The repres- councils will take over and run those that relationships and the state war machine sive apparatus (police, courts, prisons etc.) serve a useful purpose. In this way the capi- from society, and b) demonstrate to people keeps any internal dissent under control. talist engine of imperialism and war is that collectively they are powerful, and that At the same time as existing in a violent wrecked. With banks abolished and debts their real allies are their neighbours in for- form, the state exists in our attitudes and cancelled the economic inequalities that eign countries, not their local ruling class. interpersonal relationships – placed there exist between nations at present could at The people of the world have far more in by tradition on one hand and the media on last be addressed. We must strive for and common with one another than with any the other. The mainstream media functions establish egalitarian social relations be- variety of ruling class parasite. We should as a capitalist apparatus of consent, respon- tween all people in all parts of the world. band together to overthrow all states (capi- sible for the mental subjugation of the peo- talist, ‘communist’, religious, or otherwise) Equally fundamental to anarchist ideas of ple, and controlling of our hearts and minds. and live in peace. social revolution, the dismantling of all President W Bush’s call for a “war against state apparatus is the disarming of the war For general information on anarchism see terrorism” is self-contradictory, since war is machine. Only when people abolish church the promotion of terror, bloodshed and the anarchist FAQ at http://anarchistfaq.org and state can they organise society in a non- death, in pursuit of military objectives (i.e. For details of the anarchist platform hierarchical, equal and free manner. power politics, economics, religion). Most of http://struggle.ws/platform.html the mainstream media didn’t question this The struggle for anarchist revolution is however, and were quick to relay the war– principally a struggle for the hearts and on-terrorism message around the world, minds of working class people. We have to inflaming public opinion in the process. win the ‘battle of ideas’ in order to trans- form society, to demonstrate that anarchist War-time being a time of ‘national crisis’, and anti-authoritarian ideas about society the sense of ‘national identity’ is and methods of working are the most use- reinvigorated in people’s minds. National- ful and relevant for this purpose (although ism, racism, religious intolerance and ha- obviously we do not exclude good ideas sim- tred are much more in evidence in a nation ply because they have not been labelled ‘an- at war. The climate for debate and dissent archist’). Clearly anarchist ideas must be- is somewhat stifled. As the anarchist come much more popular, widespread and Randolph Bourne wrote: “The nation in well-understood than they generally are war-time attains a uniformity of feeling, a now in order to achieve a stateless, class- hierarchy of values, culminating at the un- less social revolution. This means counter- disputed apex of the State ideal, which could acting the mainstream media of today, and not possibly be produced through any agency working towards a society in which genu- other than war”. inely free and diverse media could flourish. To recap then, the state is the war-machine, A successful anarchist revolution then, the driving force of which is capitalism. The would result in society being organised by capitalist state also exists inside our minds Locally distributed by: the free association and federation of work- by influencing our beliefs and values via the ers (and peasants, in some countries), with media. So working class people come to hold decisions made directly by the people af- reactionary and false ideas such as nation- fected by them. A new era, of international alism, racism, xenophobia, sexism etc. This solidarity, peace and co-operation is born. divides us from each other and weakens our Relations between peoples unimpeded by ability to respond to the state’s destructive