no surprises here. Any justification for increasing our attacks, will do.
Anyone who can read and who owns a history book knows that increased
violence never brings about Peace. But our Ruling Class is not
interested in peace. They see only the short term profits of War.
Until working men and women stand up and look out for our own needs we
will continue to sacrifice our youth on the Alter of Greed.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/28/15, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2015/7944/794401.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 44 December 7, 2015
(lead article)
Washington, Paris ramp up war moves, attack rights
BY NAOMI CRAINE
Washington, Paris and other imperialist governments have seized on
reactionary Islamic State’s deadly attacks that killed 130 people in
France to widen their military and diplomatic efforts to shore up their
interests in the Middle East. The war drive is coupled with the
capitalist rulers’ deepening assault on political rights and the working
class — first and foremost targeting Muslims and Arabs.
Since the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks by Islamic State, French forces have
stepped up bombardment of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital, and other
targets in Syria. Paris deployed aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle off
the coast of Syria, tripling its airpower in the region.
Washington has stepped up bombings against IS targets and says more U.S.
special forces are on the way. British Prime Minister David Cameron met
with French President Francois Hollande Nov. 23, asserting his “firm
conviction” that U.K. forces should join in the bombing.
Moscow has also intensified bombings, hitting nearly 500 targets over
the Nov. 21-22 weekend. The Russian government has targeted not only
Islamic State, but used most of its firepower to bomb other opponents of
the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, including forces backed by
Washington.
The challenge of putting together a “grand alliance” of capitalist
powers with competing interests was highlighted Nov. 24 when a Turkish
fighter jet shot down a Russian warplane that Ankara says entered
Turkish airspace. Turkey — a NATO member — had been demanding Moscow
stop bombing Turkmen forces on Syria’s northern border opposed to
Assad’s rule.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened “serious consequences,”
saying Moscow had been stabbed in the back by “the accomplices of
terrorists.”
Hollande met with President Barack Obama Nov. 24, urging closer
collaboration with Moscow in the fight against Islamic State. He travels
next to Moscow to meet Putin.
Even before the assault in Paris, the White House had been seeking ways
to forge a bloc with the Russian and Iranian governments to stabilize
Syria and Iraq and impose a new balance of power in the region.
Obama faces bipartisan calls to take more aggressive military action.
Democratic Party presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called on
Congress to authorize expanded use of military force against Islamic
State Nov. 19, saying, “We should get this done.” Three days later
Dianne Feinstein, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
said, “I don’t think the approach is sufficient. … We need to be
aggressive.” Republican Sen. John McCain called for sending ground
troops to Syria, as have many of the Republican presidential candidates.
Paris extends police powers
Immediately after the terrorist attacks on civilians at a rock concert,
a soccer game and several restaurants, Hollande imposed a state of
emergency, giving authorities broad power to search homes, place
individuals under house arrest, ban demonstrations, dissolve
organizations deemed subversive and block Internet sites they claim
advocate terrorism.
The French National Assembly voted 551 to 6 Nov. 19 to extend the state
of emergency for three months. “We believe the extension is warranted
and necessary,” said André Chassaigne of the Communist Party, placing
the party’s Left Front parliamentary bloc firmly in defense of the
French capitalist state.
Heavily armed police have been breaking down doors in Muslim communities
across France, interrogating people at will. As of Nov. 23, police say
they have carried out 1,072 warrantless searches, detained 117 people
and placed about 180 under house arrest.
Cops searched thousands of workers’ lockers at Air France Cargo, FedEx
and caterer Servair at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. L’Express
reported they found “elements of proselytizing and some signs of
radicalization,” such as prayer rugs and copies of the Koran “annotated
along radical or fundamentalist lines.” Authorities revoked security
badges for 58 workers, effectively putting them out of work.
The state of emergency has been used to ban a large, union-sponsored
environmental rally planned for Paris Nov. 29, on the eve of the U.N.
summit on climate change in the French capital, and a “Rally with
Muslims of France for Peace and National Unity,” organized to oppose
both the Islamic State attacks and scapegoating of Muslims, planned for
Nov. 20 near the Grand Mosque in Paris.
A similar rally was allowed to go ahead in Toulouse the next day and
drew 10,000 Muslims and others.
Most workers who are Muslim despise Islamic State and its terrorist
methods. “These people are fanatics and have nothing to do with any
religion. My neighbors say the same thing,” Abdel Kheddouma, an auto
assembly plant worker near Paris, told the Militant.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve Nov. 16 vowed to increase
surveillance and shut “mosques where hate is preached.”
Widespread police raids are also taking place in neighboring Belgium.
Authorities locked down Brussels, the capital, closing schools, stores
and the metro transit system for several days, after Prime Minister
Charles Michel claimed there was a “serious and imminent” threat of an
attack.
Scapegoating of Muslims
In Washington the House of Representatives voted by a two-to-one margin
to suspend the government program that allows refugees from Syria and
Iraq to enter the United States. Governors of 31 states, Democrats as
well as Republicans, have said they want to prevent Syrians from coming
to their states.
Since the attacks in France, Republican presidential front-runner Donald
Trump has put anti-Muslim demagogy at the center of his campaign —
calling for registering Muslims in a government database, closing
mosques and claiming that “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheered
the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
Rival candidate Marco Rubio said the government should be able not just
to shut mosques, but “any place — whether it’s a cafe, a diner, an
Internet site — any place where radicals are being inspired.”
Democrat David Bowers, mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, issued a statement
Nov. 18 in support of barring Syrian refugees as a security measure
comparable to the decision to “sequester Japanese foreign nationals”
during World War II. When it got wide publicity, Bowers backtracked,
apologizing.
“We must never let another group of people be singled out and punished
because of their race or religion,” Roz Tonai, director of the National
Japanese American Historical Society, told the Militant Nov. 23.
Mosques in Omaha, Nebraska; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Portland,
Oregon, have been vandalized or threatened. Some 200 residents of all
nationalities rallied in solidarity with the Islamic Center of
Pflugerville, Texas, Nov. 21 after worshipers found the doorway
splattered with feces and torn pages of the Koran.
Related articles:
Campaign against imperialist war! Protest attacks on Muslims, mosques!
New York meeting: ‘Join fight against US war drive’
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