The enemy always marches at your head

On the occasion of the anti-militarist demonstration, Livorno, 29th May 2004

The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq is only the latest military episode in the world war which broke out at the dawn of the 21st century as a result of conflicting interests between great powers and rampant regional elites. At stake is the economic control of resources, deposits, commercial routes. At stake is the political and ideological subjugation of the dominant bourgeoisies and the popular masses of developing or very poor countries. In a continual process of decomposition and destabilization of the present geopolitical scenario in the Middle East and the Turanic area, the UK and the USA are pursuing the objective of stopping any development of political, economic or religious powers which could damage Anglo-American capitalist interests. After the Balkans, Afghanistan and Palestine it is now the turn of Iraq which is guilty only of being in a strategic part of the planet and of being governed by a bloody dictator who has "broken loose" from (or been "abandoned" by) his ex-ally, the USA.

The financial gains for the US economy from the war will be short-lived, if any at all (see, for example, the recession which followed the 1991 war), but the effects of the instability it will produce throughout the area must be considered knowingly damaging and long-lasting.

However happy we may be as a result of damage to the international institutions and the international balances of power (cracks in the UN, the EU, NATO, the effects on the already quarrelsome WTO, the scorn of Russia and China, the increase in Islamic fundamentalism) there are certain other aspects which worry us:

• the expansionist force of capitalist globalization through the mondialization of markets and finance, the worldwide spread of precarious and flexible labour and the privatization of the collective social and environmental wealth, seems to have exhausted its offensive fought only with the albeit violent weapons of exploitation and slavery. A considerable part of Capital has decided to relaunch an attack, this time with the real arms of militarism and waged war;
• capitalist dominion together with militarism hits those people who are already heavily exploited harder and exposes them to nationalism and religious fundamentalism; it sows repression on the internal front and demands that the various "no-global" movements put up with it.

The anti-globalization movement, which has had been questioning and criticising capitalism at an international level since the end of the 20th century, needs to step up its effectiveness in the face of militarist capitalism.

The task of Anarchist Communists, then, is to reveal the close connections between capitalism and militarism and between militarism and nationalism and to promote our ideas for the anti-militarist and anti-capitalist struggle, where the search for peace is central. Within the pacifist movement itself it is necessary to spread and act on the knowledge that real peace is built without and against capitalism, without and against militarism. 

For this reason we continue to participe in the demonstrations and mobilizations which are taking at this time. For this reason we are helping to build mass committees against the war to demand in the immediate future:

• a ceasefire
• the withdrawal of the invading armies
• the demilitarization of the area
• the re-establishment of civil, political and union liberties in Iraq
• international aid and a solidarity campaign for the Iraqi people
• an end to the embargo
• a real and immediate end to Italian involvement of any nature in support for the present war

from Alternativa Libertaria May 04
News-sheet of the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici