Socialist Webzine:

Statement on Obama’s Surge

by National Action Committee of the Socialist Party USA

Today Obama has announced that he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. The justification is paper thin. Far from creating security, the occupation itself has created a state of lawlessness in Afghanistan. The fraud ridden reelection of the puppet Karzai regime has put popularity for the US mission in Afghanistan through the floor, and further inflamed anger in the middle east. Far from building Afghan sovereignty, Obama’s policy is to deepen support for an illegitimate regime with tight associations with oil companies, drug lords, and warlords. Americans are waking up to the fact that, like the occupation of Iraq, this occupation isn’t making us any safer, nor is it bringing development, democracy, security, or women’s rights to Afghanistan. Rather, it is killing Afghan civilians and U.S./NATO troops while stealing badly needed funds from housing, jobs, healthcare, and climate protection.

Even before the election, Obama refused to counter McCain’s assertion that the surge in Iraq had worked. Instead he said US policy should turn toward Afghanistan. One year into his administration and we are on course to double the number of troops in Afghanistan from Bush Administration levels.

The anti-war movement is slowly and painfully learning several important lessons. First, that these occupations do not represent the mistaken policies of a peace-loving government, but rather are to a global system emanating from Washington that can only be addressed in their entirety. And second, the Democratic Party will not move one inch toward a less belligerent policy.

These wars are about seizing natural resources, expanding unregulated markets, and dominating the middle east militarily, politically, and economically, vis a vis our competitors in Europe and Asia. These motivations are not unique to one country or region of the world; nor were they unique to the Bush administration. Rather, these factors characterize a decades old global US imperial project. Rather than enjoying a much sought after “peace dividend” after the Cold War, US military spending and curtailments on civil liberties continued unabated.

From this understanding we can see how deeply radical a true peace movement must be. An antiwar stance ought to be a point of unity among a variety of movements, from climate change to health care; workers rights to civil rights. This broad unity must be matched by a firm commitment to uncompromising struggle. We can expect that every angle of non-violent force must be fully leveraged in order to impose such radical changes on how the US ruling establishment conducts business.

Lastly, we should recognize that some elements of the establishment may be split away from supporting direct military confrontation in favor of “smarter” more efficient levers of domination. The withdrawal of troops from any theater of conflict would signal a major victory in terms of lives saved and the morale of peoples’ struggles everywhere. But the peace movement must go further to address military spending and the power of those who own the war industry, or else we can expect the unending threats and interventions around the world to continue. We must not tolerate occupations like that suffered in Palestine, which is underwritten with US sponsorship. While we make the immediate demand of “troops home now from Iraq and Afghanistan,” we must also lay the foundation for a movement that can dismantle US militarism and demand real alternatives.

As this new phase of imperial expansion unfolds under the leadership of the Obama administration, the Socialist Party USA stands ready to struggle for an antiwar movement that respects the right to self-determination of the Afghan people; a movement that is democratic and inclusive; a movement that involves the participation of broad sectors of society; and finally, a movement that is truly independent of the partisan interests of the Democratic Party and the capitalists they represent.

Socialist Party of Connecticut Participates in the “Emergency Action! Join The National Protest!”

by Jim Marra and Tiffani McCoy

Dec. 2, 2009 - The Socialist Party of Connecticut (SPCT) joined with other organizations protesting the Obama Administration’s announcement of troop increases in Afghanistan. Two lively demonstrations were held in the state drawing participants from the core of the anti-war movement in Connecticut.

The demonstration in Hartford was held outside the Ribicoff Court House on Main Street. Approximately 30 activists loudly chanted their demands and kept warm marching in an oval in front of the courthouse. A positive and determined mood characterized the event where new connections were made among participating groups and plans were being made for future action. Speeches included calls for an immediate end to the occupations in the Middle East and for an end to the discrimination and profiling of Muslims. Speakers also supported college students protesting skyrocketing and discriminatory tuition costs and single-payer health care. Jim Marra of the SPCT echoed the sentiment of the participants by demanding an immediate end of wasteful government spending for military adventures, bailouts for corporations, and a redirection of that money to job creation and social needs. The demonstration was a complete success. It received coverage from Channel 3 WSFB TV news and the Hartford Courant, and drew many “honks for peace” from passing drivers.

In New Haven, SPCT comrade Tiffani McCoy joined with fifteen other demonstrators on the corner of Church Street. This group marched around the New Haven Green, later joining another, larger group of forty protesters at the Federal Courthouse. Demonstrators, including many from ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), were vocal and passionate, standing in front of the courthouse for an hour displaying signs and chanting demands. Individuals spoke freely into the bullhorn expressing their demand for an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Much promotion was given around the January 30th End the War Council. The event was featured in media reports by the New Haven Register and the Yale Daily News.