Anarchist Writings on the War from Struggle.Ws Represent a Collectively Agreed Posi- Tion

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 • Anarchism 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 anarchists 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.

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