International Socialists

s this issue of Socialist Review goes to print, the war of wor

As this issue of Socialist Review goes to print, the war of words between the so-called “international community” and Iran is heating up as the US plans military strikes. In Europe, a cartoon mocking Muslims is the latest attempt to bring about the “clash of civilisations”. Aren’t we lucky to live in peaceful old Godzone? We say no.

This issue concentrates on local issues - the 2005 election results, the ever-increasing cost of education, and the way that working people in “godzone” are being pushed step-by-step into working harder for less. But we don’t call ourselves internationalists for nothing. While we describe and decry the deterioration of democracy, education, and living standards in our own countries, we are keenly aware that we don’t live in a bubble. All of the challenges that working people face in this country are felt to a greater or lesser degree in other developed countries. In the same way, the militarisation of international relations seduces politicians in this country as well.

The Labour government loves to play a double game, parading as anti-war at home while kissing arse in Washington. Cabinet Minister Pete Hodgson will agree with protestors outside his electorate office that George Bush has the blood of Iraqi civilians on his hands, but the deployment of SAS forces in the continuing war in Afghanistan is an open secret. Like the NZ Navy vessels patrolling the Persian Gulf, the SAS has been sent in to allow the US top brass to free up more troops for the deadly streets and alley ways of Iraq.

The situation is similar in Europe. On the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, millions of European people took part in the biggest anti-war demos since Vietnam - especially on 15 February 2003, when millions took to the street in the biggest coordinated protest in the history of the world. French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and then German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder both encouraged the anti-war movement, seeing the Iraqi invasion as an attempt by the US to win by military means the economic dominance it could not win by trade. Since then, the European ruling classes have changed tack. The new German Chancellor, conservative Angela Merkel, has embraced the new US military doctrine of “shoot first, ask questions later”. European NATO members are saddling up to run the occupation of the US in Afghanistan. But popular opposition to imperialist war is still a problem.

Unfortunately, the cartoon war has served its purpose - obscuring and enraging both Muslims and Europeans, who understandably feel that once again the hard-won progress of democratic freedoms is threatened by religious fanaticism. But if defenders of democratic freedoms see them as absolute values, without regard to the historical and immediate context, then they are every bit as religious as any priest or imam. One glance at the immediate context - war in the Middle East and a growing gap between rich and poor at home - should be enough to convince both Muslim and secular Europeans that they have more in common. A row that apparently shows an irreconcilable clash of civilisations is the perfect cover for European governments keen to send troops to Afghanistan and help the CIA track down and torture suspected Islamists.

Because, in the end, the US elite turned to war because their relative economic might has slipped steadily since the ‘70s, while their military power has grown. Other major powers have been sucked in behind the behemoth, because capitalism is a world system: what Jack does, Jill must too. The underlying, inescapable reason for this turn to militarism is the end of the post-war boom. The depressed wages and high debt that working New Zealanders suffer from is not an exception, but the rule. Understanding the global connections of the system and the links between recession and war is the first step. Fighting back is the next.