An atrocious massacre

Submitted by martin on 15 November, 2015 - 12:44 Author: Nathalie Arthaud

This statement on the Paris atrocities was made by Nathalie Arthaud of the French revolutionary socialist group Lutte Ouvriere.

To massacre people in a theatre, in bars, in restaurants, around a sports stadium; those who carried several attacks yesterday [13 November] in Paris and Saint-Denis wanted to to kill as many as possible, indiscriminately. These attacks are despicable. We express our sympathy and our solidarity with the victims and their relatives.

Whatever the ideas claimed by those who perpetrated these attacks, they are then enemies of workers everywhere. If it is confirmed that they were Islamists, their violence is of a piece with the barbarity of the Syrian and Iraqi jihadists, who seek, through terror, to bleed entire populations, to reduce women to slavery, and to liquidate all those who do not think like them.

The horror of the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis strengthens those whom their perpetrators claim to be fighting. They reinforce the French state, which is declaring a state of emergency and increasing police measures. They strengthen the far right, its hate speech vis-à-vis Muslims and immigrants, and its demand for a stronger state.

We fully share the feelings of the populace, especially the relatives of all the victims of these attacks. But we have no solidarity with the French state and its political leaders. They have a large share of responsibility for the wars that are bloodying the Middle East today, wars of which Paris last night suffered a bloody reverberation.

Therefore Lutte Ouvrière will not add its voice to the chorus of national unity. We have nothing in common with the Hollandes, the Sarkozys, and the Le Pens. Our solidarity goes to the victims and their relatives. We will continue our fight for a world free of obscurantism, of injustice, and of imperialist domination in all its versions.

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