EDITORIAL: Stop The War!

Submitted by martin on 12 January, 2003 - 5:33

NO TO BUSH, NO TO SADDAM, YES TO SOCIALISM!
STOP THE WAR!
- Bolshy Editorial/January 2003
Welcome to 2003.
My crystal ball's fairly heavily fogged at the moment, so I can't tell what this year holds.
However, if the signs are to be believed, one event does seem pretty imminent; everyone's favourite trained ape is about to launch a brutal, imperialist attack on the innocent citizens of Iraq.
Happy New Year, Baghdad!
We're dedicating this month's issue of Bolshy to that same topic - why we must oppose this war, why Bush wants it, and what we can do to stop the damn thing. We'll also be looking at wider issues - such as the Israel/Palestine conflict and the turmoil in Iran.
No one with any sense disputes the fact that Saddam Hussein is a brutal, fascistic dictator who must be deposed, but this war is not about getting rid of Saddam at all. Dubya and his cabinet full of oil execs want to push the boundaries of American capitalism even further. Okay, maybe the war will get rid of Hussein, but America will most likely install another, only marginally less evil dictator who is merely more pro-West. This war is, first and foremost, about oil. Don't let the Bush Bunch con you into thinking otherwise. Us socialists should be supporting the Iraqi working class in their opposition to Saddam Hussein. They're the people who should overthrow him - not a bunch of greedy American imperialists.
300,000 in London in September, 1,000,000 in Florence in November, and countless more in demonstrations worldwide, have already voiced their opposition to this war. Even in Bush's own kingdom, opposition is high. Scores of celebrities have come out against the war, but more importantly, scores of ordinary people have stood up against it. American trade unions are opposing the war, and 18 US City councils have voted to oppose it. The British anti-war movement plans to march again on February the 15th, and to have a mass lobby of parliament on 21st January. Contact Bolshy for details - get down and do your bit!
We have to turn these numbers into more than just a big, international two fingers up to Bush and his cronies - we have to turn them into a real blow to the agenda of neo-liberalist capitalism. I'm not saying the revolution's round the corner (but then again, who knows?), but this war has lit the fire of activism inside students, workers and people who care all over the world. We can stop Bush. We can stop Hussein. We can stop the war.
Another world is possible.

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