The War in the Middle East

The mass media, politicians and spokesmen of the US bourgeoisie and its allies now openly declare that, contrary to all their hitherto propaganda, demagogy and provocations over Kuwait's sovereignty, the battle of democracy against dictatorship, the defence of international law, etc., Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was a pretext for their setting up an imperialist "New Order" following the collapse of the Eastern bloc.

The thousands of tons of bombs dropped round-the-clock on the working people of Iraq are paving the way for this New Order. Anyone even slightly acquainted with the history of capitalism and the record of imperialist militarism, would clearly see through this war the rise of a new era of naked domination and aggression by the imperialist powers. The world after the Cold War and the new balance that is to be created following the elimination of the Soviet bloc from the scene is being defined through this war. What this New Order will look like can well be seen from the bodies of innocent people covering its track. The responsibility for the invasion of Kuwait and its resulting hardships lies with Iraq. But the war today is entirely a product of the US. It is the result of world-domineering by a power which sees in this war an opportunity to avoid its decline and disintegration in the face of the realities of the contemporary world.

The crisis and the war in the Middle East have set yet another stage for a show of hypocrisy by capitalism and its politicians and media. They hid from the people the truth about this blatant aggression. Within months they prepared the world for this genocide. States which hail Israel and its crimes against the Palestinian people every day, those who give protection to the racist South African regime, the invaders of Grenada and Panama, the perpetrators of the genocide in Vietnam and the only ones in history to have actually used nuclear bombs against people suddenly took the pose of defenders of humanity and international law. In the name of standing up to aggression, they organized the biggest military aggression of recent history. In the name of standing up to dictatorship, they dropped thousands of tons of bombs on the working people of a country. In the name of destroying weapons of mass destruction, they turned millions of innocent human beings into guinea pigs for the latest and most devastating missile systems and guided bombings.

This war is a war against humanity. It is against every expression of civilization, freedom and progress. It is a pre-emptive war against the oppressed mankind that is emerging from the apathy of the '80s. It is a war against all those who through the disintegration of the previous imperialist world order saw a way to freedom, equality and humanity. This war is the prelude to tomorrow's suppressions. It is an ultimatum the architects of the new reactionary order are issuing against labour and freedom movements throughout the world.

With this war the world awakens to the realities of the '90s. The façade of "democracy" and "humanity", raised by the Western bourgeoisie to contend the rival bloc, is being trampled under its own feet. The propaganda designed to mobilize the dim-witted intellectuals in the West and East and deceive the workers is rapidly revealing itself for what it is. The naïve dream of "peace under the market" is shattered, and capital once again lays bare its true nature. The "European identity" proves its first application: denial of universal human identity, turning a blind eye to non-European suffering and pain, dividing the people of the world into first-class and second-class human beings. The world of the '90s is to be the world of the revival of colonialist values and ethics, of militarism and generalized terrorism, of censorship and bootlicker journalism. This is the "New" Order that is being shaped by this war.

The hardships of this war are not confined to its immediate victims in the Middle East - to its dead, wounded and homeless. Nor are the practical political consequences of the war limited to the opening of a period of naked militarism and domination by the imperialist powers. This war pushes the world back in every respect. If they are not stopped, the world will turn into the scene of ignorant religious and patriotic prejudices, of blind terrorism, and racism. Political regression and cultural-moral degeneration on a world scale will be the inevitable result of this war.

The Communist Party of Iran emphatically condemns this war and the attack by the US and its allies against the people of Iraq. Neither the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait nor any other regional crisis justifies such a horrendous and antihuman act. The problem of the occupation of Kuwait must be settled within a regional framework and by non-military means. We call for an immediate end to the war and the withdrawal of foreign forces from the area.

This war must be ended. The activists of the Communist Party of Iran must find their places in the forefront of the anti-war protest movement of the people of different countries - in particular in Europe and the USA. The truth of this war, its capitalist and reactionary nature and the sufferings by its immediate victims must be explained to the people, against the hypocritical and biased propaganda by the official press and mass media. At the same time, efforts should be made, in Iran and in other countries, to prevent the protest against the war and against the aggression by the US from being exploited by anti-working class, reactionary forces such as Islamic and nationalist currents.

A powerful political and social manifestation by the working class in different countries, in particular in the USA and Europe, is the key both to putting an immediate end to this war and to foiling the perspective which the bourgeoisie has put before the world today. The very fact that such a war can be initiated, the fact that capital can mobilize the public opinion for such an action, and that the heads of the European and US bourgeoisie dare draw such a bleak prospect of suppression and aggression for humanity at the end of the twentieth century is itself the result of the absence of this united and active workers' camp. As part of the international working class movement, the Communist Party of Iran is committed to working to build a powerful workers' rank against this war and the grim future conceived by the bourgeoisie for the world.

Communist Party of Iran
20 January 1991