While the global capitalist system is dragging the world into ever more
war and misery, those who refuse to take sides in these wars and fight
to end the system that causes them, are still few and far between. So it
is a promising sign that this summer several extended meetings of
internationalist revolutionaries from many different countries were
organized in Europe. in early June, on the last day of the anti-war
congress in Prague, we agreed on the need of a short statement on
capitalism and war that expresses our common positions and can serve as
a base for further networking and common action. This statement was
drafted after the congress ended. It was discussed, amended and approved
at the internationalist meeting in Arezzo where the hope was expressed
that it will be further discussed by the participants of the Prague
congress and those who will gather in Poznan later this month.
AN INTERNATIONALIST STATEMENT ON CAPITALISM AND WAR
1. In our times, all wars are capitalist wars. While the specific
circumstances in which they break out may be quite different, all are
rooted in the capitalist system, which is based on competition and
exploitation.
2. While imperialism has been a constant feature of capitalism since its
beginning, the systemic crisis which capitalism faces today and the
instability it engenders both push economic competition to military
conflict and create opportunities to do so. This crisis will only
deepen, making it inevitable that the continuing existence of capitalism
would imply the prospect of generalizing wars.
3. The working class, the vast majority of humankind, has nothing to win
and everything to lose in war. It is always its main victim. National
defense and national liberation means fighting and dying for the
interests of one faction of the capitalist class against another. It
means killing (and being killed by) other working class people for the
power and profit of the class that exploits and oppresses us.
4. We reject both nationalism and democracy, which are the principal
ideological tools by which the capitalist class creates the illusion
that its interests and those of the working class within its borders are
the same, and by which it mobilizes for war and justifies the
militarization of society.
5. There are no separate solutions for the many existential threats to
humankind. A peaceful capitalism, a green capitalism, a socially just
capitalism are all just pipe dreams to hide the growing horror that is
real. War, ethnic cleansing, genocide, ecocide, climate disasters,
pandemics, poverty, insecurity, forced migration, homelessness, stress
and mental breakdown will continue to worsen, together with the crisis
of capitalism which causes them all. Therefore there is but one solution
to all of them: closing the capitalist chapter of human history.
6. We are not pacifists. We do not call for negotiations or UN
interventions, parliamentary resolutions, disinvestments, etc. We do not
appeal to the ruling class to act "reasonably", because we understand
that it can't. Instead we count on autonomous, class based resistance to
capitalism. The global working class is the only social force capable of
ending capitalism and establishing a human community based on the
fulfillment of needs instead of the compulsion of making profit.
7. But it has a long way to go. Its struggle cannot be merely economic,
it has to be political as well and confront the state. It has to refuse
to submit to capitalism's war drive. We support proletarians on both
sides of any war who refuse to fight, who desert, who fraternize instead
of killing each other. We support sabotage of the war machine and
collective resistance against conscription, mobilization and the
militarization of society.
8. But the oxygen on which the war-machine depends is the exploitation
of the proletariat, the extraction of surplus value. It would be
paralyzed without it. So war can't be stopped without ending
exploitation. Furthermore, to make room for the war efforts, the ruling
class has to attack the social wage, impose austerity. In fighting
against it, workers fight against the war, consciously or not. The more
they wage this fight autonomously, without any collaboration with the
capitalist class and its state, the more it can blossom into a struggle
against exploitation, a revolution which puts an end to capitalism, to
its wars and its miserable 'peace'.
https://anarcomuk.uk/2024/07/13/internationalist-statement-against-capitalism-and-war-from-the-revolutionist-gathering-in-arezzo-italy-june-2024/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
war and misery, those who refuse to take sides in these wars and fight
to end the system that causes them, are still few and far between. So it
is a promising sign that this summer several extended meetings of
internationalist revolutionaries from many different countries were
organized in Europe. in early June, on the last day of the anti-war
congress in Prague, we agreed on the need of a short statement on
capitalism and war that expresses our common positions and can serve as
a base for further networking and common action. This statement was
drafted after the congress ended. It was discussed, amended and approved
at the internationalist meeting in Arezzo where the hope was expressed
that it will be further discussed by the participants of the Prague
congress and those who will gather in Poznan later this month.
AN INTERNATIONALIST STATEMENT ON CAPITALISM AND WAR
1. In our times, all wars are capitalist wars. While the specific
circumstances in which they break out may be quite different, all are
rooted in the capitalist system, which is based on competition and
exploitation.
2. While imperialism has been a constant feature of capitalism since its
beginning, the systemic crisis which capitalism faces today and the
instability it engenders both push economic competition to military
conflict and create opportunities to do so. This crisis will only
deepen, making it inevitable that the continuing existence of capitalism
would imply the prospect of generalizing wars.
3. The working class, the vast majority of humankind, has nothing to win
and everything to lose in war. It is always its main victim. National
defense and national liberation means fighting and dying for the
interests of one faction of the capitalist class against another. It
means killing (and being killed by) other working class people for the
power and profit of the class that exploits and oppresses us.
4. We reject both nationalism and democracy, which are the principal
ideological tools by which the capitalist class creates the illusion
that its interests and those of the working class within its borders are
the same, and by which it mobilizes for war and justifies the
militarization of society.
5. There are no separate solutions for the many existential threats to
humankind. A peaceful capitalism, a green capitalism, a socially just
capitalism are all just pipe dreams to hide the growing horror that is
real. War, ethnic cleansing, genocide, ecocide, climate disasters,
pandemics, poverty, insecurity, forced migration, homelessness, stress
and mental breakdown will continue to worsen, together with the crisis
of capitalism which causes them all. Therefore there is but one solution
to all of them: closing the capitalist chapter of human history.
6. We are not pacifists. We do not call for negotiations or UN
interventions, parliamentary resolutions, disinvestments, etc. We do not
appeal to the ruling class to act "reasonably", because we understand
that it can't. Instead we count on autonomous, class based resistance to
capitalism. The global working class is the only social force capable of
ending capitalism and establishing a human community based on the
fulfillment of needs instead of the compulsion of making profit.
7. But it has a long way to go. Its struggle cannot be merely economic,
it has to be political as well and confront the state. It has to refuse
to submit to capitalism's war drive. We support proletarians on both
sides of any war who refuse to fight, who desert, who fraternize instead
of killing each other. We support sabotage of the war machine and
collective resistance against conscription, mobilization and the
militarization of society.
8. But the oxygen on which the war-machine depends is the exploitation
of the proletariat, the extraction of surplus value. It would be
paralyzed without it. So war can't be stopped without ending
exploitation. Furthermore, to make room for the war efforts, the ruling
class has to attack the social wage, impose austerity. In fighting
against it, workers fight against the war, consciously or not. The more
they wage this fight autonomously, without any collaboration with the
capitalist class and its state, the more it can blossom into a struggle
against exploitation, a revolution which puts an end to capitalism, to
its wars and its miserable 'peace'.
https://anarcomuk.uk/2024/07/13/internationalist-statement-against-capitalism-and-war-from-the-revolutionist-gathering-in-arezzo-italy-june-2024/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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