PM John Howard and US President George Bush are in trouble over their "war on terror". Two things help illustrate why this is the case, and how we can hasten them both into the dustbin of history.
The first was when Howard claimed to be "very angry" that it had taken so long for David Hicks to be put on trial. He also claimed Hicks was going to trial because of his pressure on the US. Asking us to believe that Howard has a conscience is a sick joke.
Hicks has been ignored in Guantanamo Bay for five years because his release would undermine even further the credibility of the "war on terror". Unwilling to commit too many more troops to the Iraq slaughter, for fear of body-bags fuelling an explosion of anti-war sentiment, Howard has confined Australia's role to unconditional political support for the world's biggest imperialist power. Allowing Hicks to stay in Guantanamo gave the US torture camp political cover.
Howard has done this, not because Australia is a US lap dog, but because Canberra benefits from the US-Australian alliance. By aligning Australia to the US, Howard is given free reign to act as the region's imperial overlord.
But this can also backfire as more people not only become very angry about Hicks's treatment, they decide to get actively involved in forcing the government back.
While Howard is keen to maintain his close partnership with the one global superpower, he also knows that there's a counter power that, if organised, can boot him out of office and more. That's the power of organised working people — and we've seen some of that grow in recent months around the Hicks campaign. Hicks has become an "election issue", which is why Howard is so relieved that the "trial" date has now been set.
But he's wrong if he thinks that this outrage will disappear. Resistance, along with others in the anti-war movement, will continue to organise mass demonstrations against the war, and against the treatment of people caught up in the "war on terror". History shows it is possible to end wars, if the movement becomes strong enough.
Just as their world is global, so is our resistance. From the resistance fighters defying the US occupation in Iraq, to the half a million US anti-war protesters who took to the streets in January, our side is responding to Bush's troop "surge" with a surge of our own.
The second important event last week was Bush's tour of Latin America, a continent in revolt against US-imposed neoliberalism. On March 7, in Bogota, Colombia, protesters burned US flags in front of the parliament. That same day in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, thousands of Via Campesina farmers protested his visit. In Mexico, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the country's second leading political force, declared Bush persona non grata.
Bush was met in Uruguay with two demonstrations, one organised by the main national trade union confederation and the other by the Anti-imperialist Coordinating Committee, which includes several leftist groups. Across the river in Argentina, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressed another protest.
Wherever he goes in Latin America, Bush cannot escape the protests. And we will have our chance when he comes to Sydney in September for the APEC meeting. Resistance is helping to plan the national convergence, which will tap people's anger about the war in the Middle East, climate change and workers' rights. Getting masses of people along is one of our priorities.
It's no surprise that the protests against Bush in Latin America were huge. It's not just because US imperialism has plundered the continent for so long, it's also because the people's movements have a great deal more confidence in their own ability to force change since they have been a major part of rolling back the US neoliberal agenda.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Venezuela where the whole country is beginning to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new society — the new socialism of the 21st century. This is a concrete example that our side can win, and it is inspiring millions, not just in Latin America, but across the world.
Venezuelan workers are taking over factories and running them for the community, not for their own profit. Across the country community and worker councils are being established as real organs of power, where workers make the decisions about issues affecting their everyday life. Rather than being used for wars and occupations, the Venezuelan army works side by side with the population to help lift the country out of poverty and defend itself against a US invasion. This is what a real revolution looks like.
When Chavez described Bush as "the devil" last year, he not only spoke for revolutionary Venezuela, but also for the millions across the capitalist globe who live in poverty and with war. Resistance, along with millions of others, stands shoulder to shoulder with the Venezuelan people, in opposition to the crumbling US-Australia empire. That is international solidarity. If you want to be part of this dynamic and powerful global movement for a socialist world, join us.
[Fred Fuentes is a national organiser of Resistance. Visit <http://www.resistance.org.au>.]