Down with the new war in North Africa!

The “humanitarian” intervention of NATO States in Libya with purpose esentially to provide a military assistance to one party in a local civil war, has once again proved: there are no “revolutions” in the North Africa and in the Middle East. There are only a stubborn and bitter struggle for power, profit, influence and control over oil resources and strategic areas.

Deep discontent and social-economic protests of the working masses in the region generated by global economic crisis (attacks on the living conditions of workers, increase of unemployment and poverty, spread of precarious work) are used by oppositional political groups to make the coups, overthrowing the tyranny of the corrupt, senile dictators and rising in their place. Mobilising the unemployed, the workers, the poor as cannon fodder, discontented factions of the ruling class distract them from their social and economic demands, promising them “democracy” and “change”. In fact, the coming to power of this motley bloc of “backbenchers” of the ruling elite, liberals and religious fundamentalists will not bring the workers any changes for the better. We know well the consequences of the victory of the liberals: new privatizations, strengthening of market chaos, emergence of the next billionaires and further aggravate poverty, suffering and misery of the oppressed and the poor. The triumph of the religious fundamentalists would mean growth of clerical reaction, the ruthless suppression of women and minorities, and the inevitable slide towards a new Arab-Israeli war, which hardships would again lay on the shoulders of the working masses. But even in “ideal” option of establishing of representative democracy regimes in North African and Middle Eastern countries, the working people will not win anything. The worker, ready to risk their lives for the sake of “democracy” — is like a slave, who vows to die for their “right” to choose his slaveholder. The representative democracy is not worth a drop of human blood.

In the struggle for power unfolding in the region, the European NATO States and the United States take even more openly side with the oppositional political groups in the hope that the victory of these forces and the “democratization” model of political domination will bring them new benefits and privileges. Supporting “democracy” in Tunisia and Egypt, they hope to strengthen its influence there, to deliver their capitalist “investors” from corruption of dictators and to take part in the upcoming privatization of riches of ruling clans. Helping the liberal, onarchist and religious-fundamentalist opposition in Libya, which acts in conjunction with a number of former senior officials of the Gaddafi regime, they expect to take control of rich oil reserves. Along with them, some Arab states enter into struggle for influence having their own ambitions in the region.

The powers-that-be are going again with bombs and shelling to “save” lives of people and to “liberate” them from dictatorships, killing people. The governments of Western European countries and the U.S. are lying and hypocritical: yesterday they helped dictators, hugged them and sold them weapons. Today they are demanding dictators go, “listening to the demands of the people”, but do not hesitate to suppress the protests of population in “their own” countries completely ignoring his demands. When the vast majority of inhabitants of France or Britain, Greece or Spain, Portugal or Ireland say they do not want to pay from their pocket the State aid to banks and businesses, and demand to cancel the austerity measures, anti-social pension and labor reforms, the authorities answer to them that democracy “is not ruled by street”.

A “humanitarian” intervention gives the rulers of Western Europe and the United States a great opportunity to distract the population of countries-in-their-power from the consequences of actual crisis. The “short victorious” war for “saving people and democracy” designes for make the European and North American workers to forget about anti-social policies of governments and the capitalists and to experience again the pride in their “humane” and “fair” rulers in the next edition of “holy alliance” between the oppressors and the oppressed .

We call on workers of the world not to yield to a “democratic”and “humanitarian” fraud and to oppose strongly a new escalation of capitalist barbarism in North Africa and the Middle East.

If we could bring our voice to the oppressed and exploited poor in the region, over thousands-kilometres-long distances and language barriers, we would encourage them to return to the initial social and economic motives and themes of their protest, to rebel, to go on strike and demonstrations against low wages, high prices and unemployment, for social emancipation — but not to allow to involve them in political games in a power struggle between different factions of the ruling classes.

We call on the workers of Europe and America to go in the streets to protest against the new “humanitarian” war in the interests of states and capitalists. We appeal to sections of the International Workers Association to increase their internationalist and anti-militarist agitation and to initiate anti-war demonstrations and strikes.

DOWN WITH WAR!
DOWN WITH ALL STATE AND ARMIES!
NOT A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD FOR DICTATORSHIP OR DEMOCRACY!
NO TO ALL GOVERNMENTS AND “OPPOSITIONS”!
FOR SOLIDARITY WITH WORKING PEOPLE‘S STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL EMANCIPATION!
LONG LIVE THE GENERAL SELF-ADMINISTRATION OF WORKING PEOPLE!

Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalist,
Section of IWA in Russian region