Weekly Worker 476 Thursday April 17 2003
Letters
Return home
Ian Donovan’s article (‘Consistent democracy after Saddam Hussein’ April 10) brings to light Sean Matgamna and his cronies’ ruthless persistence in pursuing anti-Arab chauvinism.
Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon, not mentioned by Donovan, is the AWL majority’s continued refusal to support the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. However, Donovan is misled in believing that such political analysis stems from the AWL ‘not having time for Arabs’ as such. Rather the reason the AWL does not support Palestinian and Iraqi self determination stems from their overtly pro-imperialist and anti-communist ideology and practices.
Consider this example. In the new AWL pamphlet, Rhodri Evans informs us that if the Iraqi Communist Party had taken power (or led a revolution) in the 1950s, Iraq would have become “a prison house for its workers”. He is talking here about the largest and most popular political party in modern Arab history, with millions of members and grass roots working class and peasant support. Their brand of socialism was not good enough for the AWL.
The party’s adoption of a Moscow friendly policy made them evil, power-crazed ‘Stalinists’. Just as well the ICP were too timid to lead the working class to power and left the country in the stable hands of the Ba’athist mass murderers and their now imperialist successors and former sponsors. Suffice to say that the AWL does not limit its opposition to socialism and national liberation in the Arab world.
Following close behind the strongest link of anti-communism (Matganma and co) is Jack Conrad. Dropping another cold war bomb shell he writes “In the west anti-communism - based in no small measure on the appalling reality of ‘actual living socialism’ - cowed, politically disarmed and contained the working class” (‘American power and the Bush project for the 21st century’ April 10).
But no antidote to this anti-communism is provided by Conrad, who typically refers to the “appalling reality” of communism while ignoring its major achievements and failing to contrast it to the appalling realities of anti-communism and imperialism (infiltrating the left and trade unions, arming and training dictators and death squads, raping the third world, etc).
Currently the Weekly Worker seems to have nothing to say about the on-going resistance to neo-liberal imperialism and capitalism across the world. From peasant uprisings in Columbia, Mexico and Nepal to the building of mass democracy in Venezuela. Is not the aim of communist propaganda to give live blood and encouragement to such resistance and inspire further resistance? Let us please put an end to the dogma, the pessimism and the academic one-upmanship of the revolutionary left and build a mass movement capable of bringing about change.
Joe Wills
email
Unwarranted
Comrade Donovan’s article ‘Consistent democracy after Saddam Hussein’ contained the line “It is quite obvious that the AWL doesn’t really like Arabs very much, and does not regard them as having much in the way of national rights”.
While we would not subscribe to the AWL’s politics on Israel/Palestine, we nevertheless view their arguments as merely mistaken, and not born out of a dislike of Arabs.
As CPGB members we view this as an unwarranted extrapolation from their argument, and would therefore wish to disassociate ourselves from it.
Manny Neira
Lee Rock
Steve Cooke
Excellent
With reference to your article 'Consistent democracy after Saddam Hussein', excellent stuff.
It has been a long, long time since I have seen a genuine example of proletarian internationalism. The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty’s position is shameful.
Jim Williams
email
Defeatism
On the Saturday April 12, anti-war march, the organizers claimed 200,000-250,000 people attended, the figure I guess to be around 50,000-60,000.
Is this a sign of defeatism? Do we feel like we have to resort to lies? We are seen to be ashamed of our numbers, Well I say that we do not have to be.
We should be proud to be anti-war. It means that the government and their propaganda organs such as the BBC have not distorted our minds, our opinions. The fact that we have not changed our minds just to be a cog in the system of the patriotic mass gives us the means to be proud of ourselves; we have stood firm and united in what we believe.
I only hope that this unity continues in the future. Workers of the world unite!
James Campy
Wakefield
Non-sectarian SWP
I have watched with interest the transformation of the Weekly Worker. It now has less sectarian attacks on the SWP etc. This was something I tried to raise with the CPGB a few months ago when I considered joining. I was told that the Weekly Worker was proud of its coverage on the far left and that this was vital to the working class etc.
It will be interesting to see if your paper returns to its old ways now the immediate military campaign in Iraq is drawing to a close. I feel that huge numbers of people have become radicalised for the first time in their lives over the past few months. If Marxists are to develop this then continuing your “gossip sheet” of the left will be totally fruitless.
I instead decided to join the SWP because it is clear that they have, above any of the far left, been able to build a mass movement and in the process argue for revolutionary politics within that movement. I am of the opinion that the SWP is clearly the most non-sectarian organisation on the left - and this is proven by its track record within the coalition - but it is also principled in the clarity of its anti-imperialism.
Now I know you won’t agree with that but I have to say that Welsh CPGB members have been singularly lacking in any involvement within the coalition in Wales. They do very occasionally appear to tell people what we are doing wrong, however, and this is met with anger or laughter. Come on comrades get in the water- its warm!
Bobby Blazer
Caerphilly
Aaronovitch
So your former comrade David Aaronovitch is recommending the Weekly Worker to the readers of his column in The Guardian. He says that your gossip sheet is “by far the best and most analytical source of information on the far left” (April 8).
But what do you really do? You perform a splendid service - for the other side. The Weekly Worker spends most of its time attacking other sections of the left - the SWP, the Socialist Party, the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty. Certainly more energy and space is given over to damaging the left with little internal tit-bits than uniting against Tony Blair and his rotten imperialist government.
Aaronovitch used to support the CPGB journal Marxism Today. Now that he is thinking about joining New Labour he is supporting the Weekly Worker. Ever wondered why?
Eddie Holland
email
After Saddam
As the battlefield phase of the war in Iraq approaches its conclusion, the future of the country after Saddam becomes the urgent question. The search is on for the fairest and most effective means to achieve a stable civil administration that will represent the true interests of all the people. Already rival plans and interests have emerged and the differences engendered look set to open up wider chasms sowing seeds of future conflicts. To make sense of these turbulent times, we can turn to history as it may offer some hard but necessary lessons for us.
With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the territory of modern day Iraq came up for grabs. Unfortunately for the people (Arab and Kurd alike) the land fell under British control. The new British masters did not have an easy ride however. It was many years before the local population were pacified, during which the British did not flinch from employing the fiercest repression.
Today the US invaders and their supporters talk about “liberating” the people of Iraq; in the 1920s, the British and their apologists talked about “civilising” them. Not much has changed apart from words. Let us have no illusions, Britain’s record is not a benevolent one, neither is the American’s today; Britain was interested mainly in securing its vital interests in Iraq, which focused on the oil around Mosul and Baghdad. These reserves represented the biggest prize, never far from British calculations. For this the British were prepared to play a very dirty game indeed. What has really fundamentally changed now?
British public records now reveal the government debates about the use of gas on rebellious Arab and Kurdish tribes, with Winston Churchill (our greatest war hero) arguing: “I don’t understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes”.
Gas was indeed used against the people “with excellent moral effect” according to the estimate of one British official. Elsewhere Wing-Commander Arthur “Bomber” Harris (another British war hero, let it be noted) boasted: “Arabs and Kurds now know what real bombing means in casualties and damage. Within 45 minutes a full-size village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or injured….” Shock and awe!
Like today, the confrontation presented an opportunity to take extreme measures and this became a useful testing ground for a host of new weapons: phosphorous bombs, liquid fire, delay-action bombs in the case of the 1920s. New weapons are being tested right now in the current Iraq campaign.
What is unfolding in Iraq today can perhaps best be described as globalisation at gunpoint, the reshaping of a country to suit international capital. The ‘liberation’ structure envisaged will be a hand picked group of Iraqi exiles who have no social base among the people. It seems that no democratic mandate is to be risked at least until everything has been tightly sewn up.
In this respect it is significant that the leader of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmad Chalabi has called for US troops to remain in occupation for at least two years before elections can be organised and the outcome more or less guaranteed. It is unsurprising that these aspirants to the highest office already cannot trust the people; their ambitions don’t run much further than the desire to plunder the country with their American friends.
The greatest danger to the future dignity and true independence of the people of Iraq lies in the political vacuum left by the formerly dominant Ba’ath Party. Since Saddam’s machine systematically eliminated all effective opposition, including the once mighty ICP, there is simply no organised group that can defend national interests against what the US and UK plan to do now in the liberated country, which is nothing less than a corporate takeover.
‘To the victor the spoils’ is a truism now being vividly illustrated as the scramble for the big reconstruction contracts gets underway. We have trade secretary Patricia Hewitt saying that UK companies are well placed to win in fair competition against companies from countries who had previously ‘collaborated’ with Saddam. She even generously conceded that companies from Iraq would also be able to bid for reconstruction contracts (in their own country).
Only the Kurds can claim serious legitimacy, although their writ does not run beyond the boundary of Kurdistan. After their loyalty to the coalition, what can the Kurds expect to gain - or will they be betrayed yet again? Finally, will the Kurdish leaders now be able to walk tall and by standing up for true Kurdish interests set an example for all Kurds and Arabs seeking to restore their dignity as human beings?
All true friends of the Kurds desperately hope that there will be a capacity to resist the more glaringly abusive whims of the US-UK coalition as they seek to impose their own vision on the country. ‘Baghdad is ours’ ran the headlines in some UK newspapers. No, it is not. Baghdad belongs to the Iraqi people, just as Sulaymaniya, Arbil (and Diyarbakir) belong to the Kurdish people!
David Morgan
email
Helen Dawit
Helen Dawit is a second year student at City and Islington College in London, studying travel and tourism.
She had to flee her home in Eritrea after her father, who had been involved with the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), disappeared. She had personal acquaintance with people who were killed for opposing the government. Helen and her mother were subjected to violent harassment by Eritrean security forces and fled the country after a particular violent attack.
In Ethiopia Helen got separated from her mother and she has not heard of her since. A friend of the family helped Helen to travel to the UK, where she arrived in December 1997 and claimed asylum. The home office turned down her application, claiming it would be safe for her to return to Eritrea. This stands in sharp contrast with reports from Amnesty International about the fate of Asylum seeking Eritreans who had been deported from Malta in October 2002, and who were immediately arrested by the Eritrean Authorities.
The detainees have since ‘disappeared’. There is also the possibility that Helen might be forcibly recruited into the army. The present political situation also increases the dangerous situation in Eritrea and highlights Helen’s vulnerability if she returns.
When Helen, now 21, came to this country, she was 15 years old and completely on her own. She has succeeded with her studies and built a life despite her trauma from the past. She does not know anything about the fate of her parents and apart from the dangers of being detained and tortured if deported to Eritrea, she also has nobody and nothing to return to.
Please support her appeal to be able to stay in the UK and continue her studies. What you can do - download the campaign petition (http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/newszine33/helendawit.html) and get as many signatures as you can. Inquiries/further information: Asylum for Helen Dawit c/o Linda Lloyd, City and Islington College, 444 Camden Road, London, N7 0SP.
NCADC
Manchester
Canada gaffe
The United States ambassador to Canada, Paul Celluci, finds it “incomprehensible” that Canada’s ships in the Persian Gulf would not automatically turn over possible Iraqi war or human rights criminals to the US.
I find it “incomprehensible” that the US should have such an ignorant and undiplomatic ambassador. There is now a world court for war criminals, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. The US signed the ICC treaty in December 2000, though it has yet to ratify it. The US State department should keep its ambassadors informed.
No wonder Bush is not coming to Canada. With advice from this ambassador, many stupid decisions are possible.
Tom Trottier
Ottawa
