Support for Israeli tyranny by Western imperialists condemned

trotskyistplatf

Here is a statement by Australian activist group, Trotskyist Platform, calling for opposition to US and Australian support for Israel's oppression of Palestinian people.

The statement also calls for the Peoples Republic of China, as the one big world power that stands by the Palestinian people, and the world's only non-capitalist (and thus non-imperialist) power to be more assertive in its pro-Paletinian stance.

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TARGET THE US & AUSTRALIAN RULERS THAT PROP UP THE ZIONIST TERRORISTS

WORKERS MOVEMENT: TAKE ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL'S MASSACRE

May 31 - The Israeli terror machine has once again shown its horrific brutality. Except today it was shooting not only at Palestinian people. Today, hundreds of activists from around the world - Turkish people, Malaysians, Europeans and even Australians - experienced what Israel perpetrates on a daily basis against Palestinians. After all, the three week long Israeli assault upon Gaza in late 2008 to early 2009 resulted in over 1400 Palestinian casualties, hundreds of whom were women and children. Today's Zionist attack on the flotilla of ships containing pro- Palestinian activists has killed at least 19 civilians. Israeli commandos backed by helicopters and warships boarded the ships under the cover of darkness and just started opening fire.

Why did Israel massacre the Palestinian rights supporters? Simply because the activists sought to bring items like medical equipment, prefabricated homes, water filtration devices and wheelchairs to the Gaza strip. Israel imposes a crippling blockade of Gaza.

Israel's heinous crime must not go unpunished! There must be militant demonstrations around the world outside Israeli embassies and other state institutions. The power of the organised workers movements must be mobilised alongside Palestinian expatriates and all supporters of Palestinian rights. Jewish people who hate the cruelty of the Zionist regime must also join in. We must honour the heroic activists who sought to bring badly needed supplies to the people of Gaza as well as the many Palestinian fighters who have given their lives in the resistance against the Zionist occupation. End the starvation blockade of Gaza now!

There is already massive outrage around the world at this latest massacre. This outrage must be directed into demands that get to the heart of the problem. The senseless brutality of Israel's actions is a reflection of the fact that the whole Zionist project - the idea of building a racial-exclusivist state by driving out other people from their land - is not only irrational but doomed. Israel: Get out of all the occupied territories now! Free all Palestinian political prisoners! For the unconditional right of return for all Palestinian people!

Most of all protest actions around the world must target the capitalist powers that hold up Israel and its terror - especially the US and its allies. The Australian imperialists back Israel no matter which party is in government. A year and a half ago, during Israel's genocial assault on Gaza, the ALP government joined the US rulers in both blaming Hamas for the "violence" and in excusing Israel's butchery as a "response." Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard stated: "We are calling on Hamas and other militants to cease shelling Southern Israel. Obviously, they have broken the ceasefire and engaged in an act of aggression against Israel. Israel has responded. "(Sydney Morning Herald, 29 December 2008.)

Outrageously, Britain's new Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has responded to today's Flotilla massacre by blaming the activists, stating that, "We have consistently advised against attempting to access Gaza in this way because of the risks involved" (Haaretz, 31 May.) Other Western allies will no doubt be slicker and express "deep concern" over "events", feign anger at Netanyahu and then do everything possible to ensure that Israel gets little more than a slap on the wrist with perhaps the " requirement "to hold an" inquiry. "

Imperialist backing for Israel was cemented during the Cold War when Israel was a staunch ally of the capitalist powers in their anti-communist drive against the Soviet Union. Today, Israel remains a firm ally of the Western capitalists who use it to help back its agenda in the Middle East - in particular, its violent manoeuvres to maintain control over the world's oil supplies. Furthermore, the colonial powers cannot stand the thought of the Palestinian people winning genuine freedom for themselves. The idea that a defiant people would challenge one of their allies to liberate themselves terrifies the imperialist rulers - they fear that other downtrodden people would be encouraged to do the same.

Indeed, the capitalist world powers really do have a lot in common with Israel. The way they attack homes, wedding parties, motorists and villages in Iraq and Afghanistan and then pass it off as "battlefield accidents" would make the Zionist butchers proud. And while Israel blockades Gaza, the Australian regime blockades Aboriginal people in the NT from having access to their own income! Israel's imprisonment of 8,000 Palestinian people in its jails is rivalled by Australia's jailing of over 7,000 Aboriginal people here - even though the overall Aboriginal population is eight times less than the Palestinian population living under Israeli occupation.

That is why it is worse than useless for supporters of the Palestinian struggle to appeal to the capitalist powers to act in defence of the Palestinian people. The same goes for the UN which is dominated by the US and the European imperialist states. Even when the imperialist countries (whether under UN guise or not) do intervene under some sought of pretence of protecting Palestinian people they will inevitably only pave the way for new massacres. Let us never forget how in 1982 French troops and US marines in a "Multinational Force" supposedly "protecting" Palestinians effectively opened the way for the horrific massacre of over 3,000 Palestinian civilians living in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps in Beirut. Moreover, since the capitalist powers are manifestly not going to support the Palestinian struggle, to appeal to them to do so only serves to demoralise Palestinian supporters who will inevitably realise that their appeals are so obviously getting nowhere.

There is, however, one world power that does not back Israel's tyranny. Not coincidentally that happens to be the world's sole non-capitalist great power: China. As we go to press, it is notable that while the US and the European Union have avoided a straight out condemnation of Israel, variously hiding behind expressions of "shock" and "regret for the loss of life and violence" and "demanding clarification," China has at least squarely condemned Israel and described Israel's actions as an "attack" rather than merely a "clash." "We were shocked by the Israeli attack which led to severe casualties and condemn it," said Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (Xinhua, 31 May.) However, the Chinese government is far too passive about its position. Beijing practices a failed strategy of seeking "coexistence" with the capitalist world and thus avoids doing anything to antagonise the imperialist powers unless the issue directly concerns itself. However , the content of Beijing's foreign policy is constantly being fought out within the PRC itself as part of a struggle between those who want to retain the PRC's socialistic system and those who want to capitulate more and more to the capitalists - both domestically and internationally. The Palestinian people are not least amongst the peoples of the world who have an interest in anti-capitalist forces winning out in the PRC. China: Assert much more strongly your support for the Palestinian cause!

THE BARBARISM OF THE IMPERIALIST ORDER

That Israel opened fire on unarmed citizens of its own allies - in international waters to boot - shows just how arrogant the Netanyahu regime is. It is arrogant not only because of the direct backing it continues to get from Washington but because of broader imperialist intervention in the Middle East. The continued occupation of Iraq and Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan give the Zionists confidence. What is particularly making them feel the wind in their sails at this time is also the cranking up of imperialist moves against Iran - from sanctions, to political interference to thinly veiled threats of military attack. To be sure, Iran's theocratic regime administers a capitalist order that exploits working class people, deeply oppresses women and executes leftists. Yet US and European imperialist interference in Iran, in whatever form, only serves to suppress the possibility of a genuine anti-capitalist opposition movement there while pumping up the Israeli rulers who strut around in the knowledge that they are Washington's advance-guard, attack dogs against Iran.Imperialism, Israel: Hands off Iran! No to sanctions! All imperialist troops get out of Iraq right now! US, NATO and Australian troops get out of Afghanistan!

It is up to the working classes, freed from all imperialist influence, to sweep away the Iranian fundamentalist regime and indeed all the, at least as equally oppressive, US-allied regimes in the region - from the horribly male chauvinist Saudi monarchy to the corrupt torturers ruling Egypt. And the most savage of all these regimes is of course the ruling class of "democratic" Israel.

Israel shows most starkly what the "nation-state" under capitalism is all about. Capitalists like to form states based on single nationalities with a common language for several reasons. Firstly, it gives them priority over a home market to sell their goods. Secondly , capitalists use the appeal of a common national / cultural identity to keep the masses that they exploit loyal to them. Thirdly, this nationalism is used to recruit and indoctrinate a military and police force to enforce the capitalists' predatory interests at home and abroad. The Israeli nation-state was, on the one hand, compacted from a people who suffered so horribly during the Nazi Holocaust - that is, the Jews - and, on the other hand, formed by brutal ethnic cleansing of another people - the Palestinians. Whether this is what has combined to give the State of Israel a fanaticism almost unparalleled in the world today or not, it is certainly a brutal and somewhat ironic reality.

HOW CAN ISRAEL BE STOPPED?

So how can this deranged, nuclear-armed juggernaut be stopped - especially when it has the backing of the most powerful of the imperialist powers? One thing the most recent massacre proves yet again is that it will not be stopped by trying to shame it. Nor will Israel be stopped by appealing to the conscience of its Western backers. For the Zionist rulers feel no shame and its imperialist backers have no conscience - the only thing that drives them is ensuring profits for the corporate owners.

The only force that can really help to make a decisive difference is the organised working class. It is workers who collectively have the power to shut down capitalist profit. In countries like the US, Britain and Australia workers action could really punish Israel's key backers. It is, of course, impossible to turn Washington, London and Canberra into supporters of the Palestinian struggle (that is, until the social system in these countries is itself overturned) but we can make them back off from their military and political backing for Israel . We can force them to break off the lifeline that nourishes the Zionist maniac!

During Israel's Gaza onslaught a year and a half ago, many proud union activists in Australia were indeed outraged by the invasion. This was indicated by the participation of left wing-led unions like the CFMEU construction union and the MUA maritime union in protest rallies. Yet broader union participation and the turning of protest into industrial action from sympathetic unions were stymied by the continued domination of the union movement by Laborite politics. Laborism teaches workers to, at best, fight for only their own, very narrow, short-term economic interests while politically remaining loyal to Australian imperialism. The urgent need to defend the Palestinian people is yet another reason why politically astute workers must strive to cleanse the poison of Laborism from the workers movement.

Workers organisations were originally formed to organise collective action to protect workers from injustice. If these organisations, however, let one of the most horrific injustices in the world - that is, the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people - go by then their integrity as fighting organisations against injustice is compromised. On the other hand if the workers movement does rise to challenge Western imperialist backing for Israel then it is challenging one of the key features of the capitalist world order. An order that through the global recession that it itself caused has brought terrible unemployment to the masses in the capitalist world. An order that is imposing massive cut backs in wages and services to workers in Greece, Spain, Italy and elsewhere. An order that in Australia - even though it was spared the worst of the crisis by piggybacking on the socialistic Chinese economy - has reduced many workers to insecure casual jobs so that they struggle to pay rent and are constantly on the verge of having their electricity cut off. A capitalist "order" that brings bloodshed and chaos to Thailand, mass homelessness to India, the murder of trade unionists in the Philippines and threats to jail construction union members in Australia. Working class sisters and brothers it is time to take a stand against a key facet of this order and to stand with the Palestinian people who are being so viciously subjugated. Punish the US, British and Australian rulers that back Israel's tyranny! Shake the imperialist branches that hold up the Zionist's nest - so that the nest will fall and the branches of capitalism will themselves be weakened! Take industrial action to oppose US, British and Australian support for Israel! Demand an end to the blockade of Gaza and an end to the occupation. Demand the unrestricted right of all Palestinians to return to all parts of their stolen homeland!

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