[Marxism] MY VERY OWN EIGHT POINTS ON IRAQ AND THE ELECTIONS

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is from a Solidarity list discussion, but I think it is relevant.

My eight "points" on Iraq    Fred Feldman

1. One of the most important points I think is to understand US
responsibility for the violence in Iraq today, all of it, and their
responsibility for attempts to deepen divisions between Shia and Sunni
to provide a handhold for their power in the country. The US brought
this war to Iraq and the US is responsible for the death of every US
soldier, every Shia, every Sunni, every child, every resistance fighter,
every trade unionist, every government soldier or cop in this war. They
must get the hell out, and have no right to ANY say in ANYTHING that
happens in Iraq.

2.I think we shouldn't feel any need for embarrassment or concealment
about having differences with some of the actions resistance forces
carry out and with the political programs they
Advocate. I am absolutely convinced we have to reject all
Islamophobic and, yes, Baathist-phobic analyses. Those forces I know
about in the armed opposition to the occupation don't seem to me to
have solutions to the broad crisis of Iraqi society, although we do have
an important point of agreement with all of them on the primordial
importance of fighting to end the US occupation.

Unlike the US occupation, they are real-life forces in Iraqi politics
and have demonstrated -- by resisting suppression and occupation --
their ability
to exist there. The US government claimed to be capable of creating a
progressive, modern, democratic Iraq where such forces would be
completely discredited and have no base. As opponents of the war
predicted, they have brought only destruction, slaughter, growing
disorder, and denial of the basic right of the Iraqis to decide the
affairs of their own country.  There is nobody but the occupation to
blame for this
situation, so ALL our "blame" for increases in support to Baathism and
Islamism should go there -- although I hardly believe this should be
considered one of their major crimes.

And I see no reason whatever to doubt that there are worthy and
well-intentioned fighters in all the groups whom revolutionary
internationalists should aim to win, not call for crushing and defeating
them. The ultimate fate of these groups in Iraqi politics is a matter
for the self-determination of the people of the country in the course of
the national and class struggle. The US occupation has created a
situation where allegiance to or sympathy with
such groups is a pretty natural and legitimate reaction. After all, THEY
ARE FIGHTING.

3. The central demand of the fight against the occupation in the United
States is the call for IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL OF ALL US AND
"COALITION" FORCES, AND BY IMMEDIATE WE
MEAN NOW! This is our main slogan. We do not campaign to make "support
the resistance" a slogan at demos. We aim for a broad united front, not
just a "left" or "anti-imperialist" united front. We fight for a united
front that is open to our views but also to the widest range of people
who can be won to struggle against
this war. Out Now!

4.As socialists and internationalist-minded working people we do openly
support the struggle of the Iraqi people against the occupation -- no
exceptions for Baathists and Islamists or the military resistance,
regardless of any differences we have. This is a just struggle and
deserves to win. And we don't aim our explanations of the justness of
the struggle at only the most advanced fighters but at the whole
movement. Vietnam taught that quite broad layers can come to see the
justness of the "enemy" side in a US war. As part of the united
front against the occupation, we do express our full point of view when
aspects of it are under debate, including our view of the struggle
against occupation as a just struggle without demanding that this view
become the position of the united front.

5. We believe the struggle for unions is an absolute necessity for
millions of Iraqi workers, and we oppose all repression against them. We
solidarize with
that struggle today, and we will solidarize with it if and when the
struggle against the occupation is victorious
But again, we hold the US government and the occupation responsible for
all the violence
stemming from this war, no matter who committed the specific acts (and
it's not at all clear that we KNOW who the culprits are in this case).
We are opposed to using attacks on the unionists in Iraq to shift the
fire
of antiwar forces and activists partly onto the opposition to the
occupation.

Personally, I think the Joanne Landy petition clearly crosses the
line on this and will not sign it, but I don't consider that assessment
to be a matter of principle. I think everybody has to learn about the
Joanne Landy modus operandi in their own way and at their own pace. I
prefer to unite our forces against the war and the occupation rather
than argue over the value of the latest Landy petition. Part of the art
of politics is not to take our eyes off the prize when extraneous
debates arise as they will.

6.The withdrawal of US forces and the failure of the campaign to
dominate Iraq will be a victory for the working and oppressed people of
the whole world. It is the precondition under present circumstances for
the fight for real democracy and social progress to open up in Iraq.
Our axis is opposition to the occupation as the obstacle to all
possibilities of progress in Iraq, and as an attack on working people,
self-determinationm, etc. everywhere. Victory over the occupation will
be an advance for the struggle for democracy in Iraq even IF the
withdrawal is followed initially or in the short run by an authoritarian
regime. We mobilize people in this country against the occupation, NOT
ISLAMISM AND BAATHISM.

WE don't "demand" democracy or "secularism" of Iraq, but explain
that this has to be won not by US intervention -- which has certainly
had a fair test of it's capacities in this area, anyway -- but as a
product of the class and democratic struggles of the people of the
country, a product of the self-determination of the Iraqi nation. We
stand in full solidarity with those struggles, which begin with the
fight to end the
occupation NOW.

7. The elections are illegitimate, undemocratic, and colonialist. Like
the installation of a formally national regime under Allawi -- the US
initially favored a longer-term direct US military occupation government
-- it was forced on the US by the popular opposition and resistance to
occupation. The US has set the rules of the game for the elections. But
the occupation has grown weaker, not stronger, and this creates room for
the Shia leadership -- which is not decisively under Washington's thumb
-- to maneuver. And there are strong forces determinedly opposed to
occupation among the Shia working people, many of whom will vote without
moderating their hatred of the occupation and US rule over their country
by one iota.

   However, the US military's intimidation campaign to terrorize voters
to the polls highlight the fact that there is nothing fundamentally
democratic or progressive in this imposed election process.
This vote is not a step toward democracy -- because the indispensable
precondition of democracy is the end of occupation -- and the struggle
against the occupation represents the struggle for democracy against
imperialism, regardless of the reactionary views of some groups on this
question. Time to remember a good quote from Lenin's Imperialism:
"Imperialism seeks not freedom, but domination."

   8.The election will not decide any decisive question, any more --
probably even less -- than the last US election did. In my opinion, the
resistance calls to prevent the elections set up an easy "victory" for
Washington -- at least in the United States and perhaps elsewhere --
since millions are sure to vote and many will want to test the
possibility of bettering their situation that way. And they played
into the US divide-and rule game between the Sunni and Shia.
But the elections will change nothing fundamental. They will not shift
the relationship of forces in favor of Washington. They will not defeat
the resistance to the occupation. After the election will come a
continuing sharpening of conflict between the Iraqi people -- voters and
non-voters alike -- and the occupation.

   We, of course, did not have any business urging people to vote or not
vote, and our assessment of the situation should not be basically
effected by whether they vote or not. We demand immediate, unconditional
withdrawal NOW!


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism