Emma Clancy
In the aftermath of the destruction unleashed by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, the brutal reality of US capitalism was exposed for all to see — its massive inequality, its institutionalised racism, and the huge gulf between the people and the government. The world watched as the government of the richest nation in the world left thousands to die, and more to suffer in hunger waiting for help.
When the National Guard eventually arrived, it did so with "shoot-to-kill" orders against those trying to survive. People too poor to own cars were left in New Orleans, and passengers were forced to pay the fare on the few buses that eventually came to assist the evacuation. There were documented cases of hospital directors preventing doctors from treating some of the injured and sick because they had no health insurance. One doctor told the media that he had witnessed the unnecessary deaths of at least 20 patients in his hospital as a direct result of this.
New Orleans was no aberration. The richest nation in the world is now ranked 43rd in the world in terms of infant mortality rates, and poverty has risen 17% under President George Bush. Since his administration came to power, at least 1 million people in the US have sunk below the poverty line each year. And this is the "free and democratic" system the US imperialists want to impose on the rest of the world!
The imposition of this corporate-profit-before-all-else system of imperialism has a disastrous effect on the majority of the world's population. Cuba's president Fidel Castro outlined some of these results recently: "Hunger continues to be a daily reality for 852 million people while trillions of dollars are spent on weapons that will kill the hungry, not hunger. Debt service paid in 2004 was five times what the South received as official aid for development, and 13 million children continue to die every year from preventable diseases, while another trillion dollars is misspent on mind-numbing advertising."
Such a reality breeds opposition to the status quo, which is why the US maintains more than 120 military bases throughout the world, to maintain its rule with military force. A supporter of the status quo, US author Thomas Friedman, explained the link between free market economic policies and militarism in his 1999 bestseller The Lexus and the Olive Tree, pointing out: "The hidden hand of the market will never work without the hidden fist. McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell-Douglas, the designer of the F-15, and the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."
The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US gave the pro-war "hawks" in the Bush administration the opportunity to legitimise and further their project of global dominance under the guise of fighting a "war on terror", while in reality fighting a war on the people of the Third World. But the plans of the warmongers are becoming unstuck; the disastrous occupation of Iraq is causing an ever-deepening military and political crisis for the US and its allies.
For the Iraqi people, the occupation is pure hell. Recent estimates put the number of those killed in the war at 128,000 (55% of those were women or children). There are more than 60,000 Iraqis in US custody, being held without charge in horrific conditions, including being subjected to torture. There is over 50% unemployment, electricity is not functioning in many places and the people face daily terror from the occupation. Whole cities have been targeted and heavily bombed. The recent military assault in Tal Afar has created a humanitarian crisis. The Red Crescent estimated that more than 90% of Tal Afar's 200,000 inhabitants were forced to flee the city and become refugees within Iraq.
Unsurprisingly, the occupation has little legitimacy in the eyes of the Iraqi people. A secret poll conducted by the British military, leaked to the media and reported in the October 23 London Sunday Telegraph, revealed that 65% of Iraqi citizens support military attacks against the occupying forces, and less than 1% believe that the presence of the occupying forces is helping to improve security in their country.
The disastrous occupation of Iraq — with the deaths of more than 2000 US soldiers — is fuelling a political crisis inside the US. The Hurricane Katrina disaster has had a significant impact — many US citizens made the connection between Iraq and New Orleans: levee repair funds were diverted to fund the occupation of Iraq. National Guard soldiers desperately needed at home to deal with the ensuing crisis were stuck halfway across the world. Following the disaster, Bush's approval rating fell to its lowest-ever level.
In September, the New York Times reported on a poll showing that for the first time, the majority of US citizens (52%) favour the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Opposition to the occupation of Iraq has grown so deep that nearly one in four US citizens view themselves as part of the anti-war movement. On September 24, an estimated 300,000 people surrounded the White House and thousands more joined rallies around the country in the largest anti-war protests inside the US since the invasion began. Slogans on the placards included "Make levees, not war" and "Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam".
The crisis is clearly causing significant cracks in what was previously a seemingly all-powerful empire. In Australia, we have a government allied with that empire and committed to the same ends, a government that has committed hundreds of Australian troops to participate in the occupation. The Howard government is attempting to use the "war on terror" as an excuse for far-reaching attacks on civil liberties. The national weekend of protest scheduled for November 5-6 in cities across Australia, in defence of democratic rights and demanding the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, comes at a crucial time and Resistance will be there in force.
[Emma Clancy is the Perth Resistance organiser. This is based on a report she delivered to the 34th Resistance National Conference, held in Melbourne on October 2-3.]
From Green Left Weekly, November 2, 2005.
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