ON INDEPENDENCE OF TINY NATIONAL GROUPS

[Borba100@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Here is an interesting text received a couple months back at Emperors Clothes
from Greece on East Timor and the Balkans.  It is interesting in light of the
revelations bout oil deals made with Sutralia and "independent" East Timor.

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THESES ON EAST TIMOR

- It is impossible for East Timor, or for any state of its kind, to be truly
independent. East Timor will either be a part of Indonesia, or a colony of
the great western imperialist powers. As a part of Indonesia, it will also
for the time being be a colony of the west, but it is at least possible for
Indonesia to have a different future. For an "independent" East Timor it
isn't.
- Right now, the plans for E. Timor are even worse: If and when the
"liberating" occupation forces manage to take control, E. Timor will become
a military base for eventual use against Indonesia and the rest of Southeast
Asia.
- [After Timor, a new oppressed minority was discovered in Indonesia, this
time in Aceh. The appointee of the west, "elected" president Wahid, declares
he is ready to accept a referendum for the independence of this region too.
Of course, like in Timor, the referendum will take place under the control
of the "international community", that is the imperialists, and under
conditions that would make the "referendums" of Papadopoulos [the dictator
of Greece from 1967-1973] look like paragons of transparency - It is worth
noting that in E. Timor, only the cumulative results of the referendum were
made public (not broken down by region). It is obvious that the final aim is
the "balkanisation" of Indonesia - its division into small statelets
battling against each other, in order to ensure it will remain a colony
forever.]
- Although I 'm not acquainted with the scene of the U.S. left and "left",
in Greece where I live, the same political forces which ranted against
serbian nationalism and applauded - more or less openly - the NATO
intervention, are now applauding the new U.N. humanitarian intervention. As
in general the same causes create the same effects, I assume the same must
be correct in the U.S.
- "Humanitarian" interventions and wars are nothing new. In fact, all wars
in history have been dressed in similar cloaks. WWI was "the war for the
rights of nationalities". The Entente was fighting to liberate the nations
oppressed by the central empires, the central empires were fighting to
liberate the British colonies and the nations oppressed by the czar. WWII
was "the war for democracy" for the allies. It started with Hitler's attempt
to liberate the Germans of Sudetenland. The war in Vietnam had as its aim to
safeguard the free world.
- The majority of "socialists" in most of the above wars, took the side of
their bourgeoisie, and in many occasions assumed responsible roles in the
war governments, or at least supported the war efforts of their governments.
Communists, who in most if not all cases constituted a tiny minority even
within the 'left', have always denounced these lies [and branded the
official "socialists" as traitors].
- The same has happened in the war in Yugoslavia, the same is also happening
in East Timor. The majority of the organised 'left' forces in imperialist
countries support the 'humanitarian' war efforts of their governments.
- The same people who supported the right of Kosova Albanians to
self-determination and abhorred the crimes of Serb nationalists regard the
"national cleansing" of Serbs [, Roma and other nationalities] from Kosova
under the aegis of KFOR as a natural fact. The same people who are so
sensitive about the plight of the East Timorese say nothing about the plight
of Iraqis under the murderous sanctions regime. In all cases, they are ready
to admit that what CNN says is the truth.[We cannot accept stupidity as an
excuse for the position of those gentlemen - and in any case, we must
specify that it is a stupidity with deep class roots]
- [the so-called "leftists" are always ready to accept imperialist
propaganda as the undeniable truth. For them, CNN is at least as infallible
as the Pope for catholics. During the war against Yugoslavia the
imperialists and their "left" mouthpieces were speaking about 100.000
victims of Milosevic' ethnic cleansing. After his capitulation, they
suddenly discovered that the correct figure was closer to 10.000. It now
becomes clear that the final number will be counted in hundreds, not
thousands, and even for them, for the most part the real cause of their
death cannot be ascertained. In spite of this, the "leftists" are once again
ready to swallow the hook along with the bait, concerning the massacres at
Timor.]
- When the parties of the 2nd international took the side of their
respective bourgeoisies in the war, Kautsky and others regarded this as an
unfortunate fact, and waited for the end of the war which would give the
social-chauvinists the chance to continue their cooperation as if nothing
had happened. Lenin and Trotsky declared that the parties that had taken the
sides of their bourgeoisies were dead for the socialist movement and that a
new international was needed. History proved Lenin and Trotsky right.
- The organisations that have taken the side of imperialist interventionists
in Kosova and E. Timor are likewise dead for the socialist movement - if
they ever were alive - and can no more be considered to form part of the
left. Those who are against imperialist intervention, but still regard the
above-mentioned organisations as "a part of the left that has made an
unfortunate theoretical mistake", are the modern-day Kautskys.
- We have every reason to believe that, just as the third international rose
from the ashes of WW I, the current wave of imperialist attacks will
eventually lead to a rebirth of the revolutionary movement. It is the duty
of every revolutionist to fight for this perspective.

Alphonsos Pangas
Communist Internationalist League (KDE) - Greece