En Passant

We need to be clear. Afghanistan is a defeat for US and Australian imperialism.

According to a report in the respected medical journal Lancet in June 2006 the estimate was that 654,965 deaths, direct and indirect, were related to the US led invasion. Extrapolations from that figures suggest it is now likely to be much greater than one million.

Where is the compensation for the dead of Iraq, Mr Abbott, the dead whose deaths you and the government you were a member of helped cause?

I have a suggestion Mr Abbott. If you want to stop terrorism stop engaging in it. That way there wouldn’t be millions of dead at your hands and the hands of your mates and no attacks on Australians for the terrorism you unleash.

The biggest terrorist sits in Washington and kills women and kids every day. Why isn’t Barack Obama on trial for his terrorism?

Today marks 11 years of the unjust war and occupation of Afghanistan. A good time to remember these words from Malalai Joya: “Afghans can govern ourselves without foreign interference. Democracy is possible here but can never be imposed at gunpoint.”

For 40 years I have been raging against the capitalist machine in all its manifestations – war, genocide, poverty, human rights abuses, working class exploitation, economic crises and the racism, sexism and homophobia which act as a glue for the system and the Labor party and trade union leadership which are its staunchest defenders and the rock on which it survives.

If recent calls in Australia for the further criminalisation of dissent mean that I’ll have to write my blog from a prison cell then so be it. I won’t be the first and I certainly won’t be the last revolutionary imprisoned for their views.

We have a responsibility to commit ourselves to anti-war activism. Joya agrees. She sees a central role for international solidarity. As she says: ‘These Western governments also betray their own people. They’re wasting the blood of their soldiers and their taxes. That’s why you must raise your voice against your own government’s wrong policy. They must end this disgusting war.’

Capitalism is a system built on the blood of its soldiers, indigenous people, refugees and workers. Only overthrowing this system of death can bring peace and safety to the world.

Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Syria, has killed another 100 people, overwhelmingly women and children. Western leaders are ‘outraged.’ Barack Obama, the butcher in Washington, authorised another drone bombing. It killed a family of 8 in Afghanistan. Western leaders are silent. Zionism continues its genocide against the Palestinian people and the West enthusiastically supports the […]

If we were to have a serious debate about standards, the bloodthirsty and vicious nature of Australian capitalism would be first on the agenda. If we were serious about standards, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott would be in prison awaiting extradition to the Hague for their war crimes and their genocide against Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.

So this ANZAC Day, as beer companies take it over, I’ll be raising a glass – a cup of tea – to Malalai Joya and her message to the Australian and other invaders of her country, Afghanistan. Get out now.