En Passant

Domestic violence kills many more Australians than terrorism. Where, Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten, is your war on domestic violence? Click here for the link to my latest article in Independent Australia.

  Around 400 members of Sydney’s Hazara community (and a handful of supporters).turned out tonight.        

John Mullen in Paris has written a heartfelt note about the bombings, the anti-democratic and brutal nature of the French State, the real risks of a racist and fascist backlash and the need for the left to unite to fight Islamophobia. Click ‘Paris three days after the attacks: State of emergency, profiteers and confusions’ to read the whole article on John’s blog.

I have read a few letter in newspapers recently drawing reactionary conclusions from the terrorist attacks in France. These include one which said if there were a terrorist attack in Australia it would be the fault of all we bleeding hearts. Here is my response to this drivel.

Nick Riemer in France writes about the terrorist attacks and the ruling class’s warmongering response in socialist magazine Solidarity. Among other things he says:

‘The opportunism of France’s political leadership will be paid for in more tragic and avoidable blood-baths, whether in France or in Raqqa. As a worshipper at a northern Paris mosque told Libération, “If we consider ourselves as at war, then the terrorists will have won their battle”. The three mainstream parties have no interest in that lesson: ordinary people’s interests do not figure in their calculations. A new French war on terror won’t bring peace; it will only reinforce the power of the political establishment.

‘Everyone else’s interests can only be safeguarded by a progressive and democratic movement from below. The radical, anti-capitalist left has a heavy responsibility, both in France and outside it.’

To read the whole article click here.

Julien Salingue lives in Paris and is a leading member of the New Anti-capitalist Party in France. He is a long-time Palestine solidarity activist and the author of La Palestine d’Oslo. He wrote the following comments after coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13 that left at least 129 dead and 352 injured. The article was first published at Resisteralairdutemps.blogspot.fr. It was translated by Todd Chretien and published in Socialist Worker US.

Fight for another world, a world that is not only possible, but more necessary than ever. Keep our heads and don’t give in to emotional pressure and shock. You may accuse me of being a dreamer. But my dreams never killed anyone in contrast to your “pragmatism.” More than ever, we must “resist the irresistible.” That’s the only way to move ahead. So…No, Cambadélis. No, Sarkozy. No, Hollande. “We” are not at war. It is not my war, it is not our war. It is your war. And once more, they are our dead. Just like Madrid in 2004, London in 2005, Egypt two weeks ago, Beirut this week. And everywhere else you sow your terror. Your wars, our dead. Your war, no more.

Statement by France’s New Anticapitalist Party (in French). “Their Wars, Our Deaths. Imperialist barbarity breeds the barbarity of terrorism” Pour mettre fin au terrorisme, il faut mettre fin aux guerres impérialistes qui visent à perpétuer le pillage des richesses des peuples dominés par les multinationales, imposer le retrait des troupes françaises de tous les pays où elles sont présentes, en particulier en Syrie, en Irak, en Afrique.’ I will post a translation on Sunday morning Australian time.

The ruling class won’t crush right wing extremists because it thinks it may need these fascists and racists in the future to control a resurgent working class or to help them impose massive cuts on working class living standards. In the interim the racists and fascists help keep alive and reinforce the top down racism of Labor and Liberal governments and divide workers along race and other lines at the expense of uniting on class lines. We should have no illusions in governments and understand why they don’t smash right wing terrorists but rather turn a blind eye to them. It is up to ordinary workers, unionists, the left and others to build the mass campaign and movement needed to destroy the fascists and their useful idiot fellow travellers before they can become a mass movement themselves.

This is not the first time such events have happened in Turkey. The government has been trying such dirty methods for more than 30 years. But they did not win and they will not win this time. More people want peace in Turkey than want war with Kurdish people. The two trade unions that helped organise the peace demonstration have called two days of strikes on Monday and Tuesday of next week in protest. We’ll do our best to make the strikes successful and big. We demand the interior minister, prime minister and all the officials who were unable to provide the security of the demonstration must resign. We invite everyone who wants peace and democracy to vote for HDP in the coming election. And we say that PEACE WILL WIN!

The terrorism hype and changes to our immigration laws throw away basic rights to a trial and give incredible powers to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. They undermine our freedoms here and now. They set a dangerous precedent. They prepare the way for further criminalising dissent in Australia.