As we go to press, the fate of the world may well be being decided in Iran. "Preventive" strikes launched on February 28 by the State of Israel, supported by the United States of America, have just decapitated the Islamic Republic in its three dimensions: religious, military, and police. They have also killed at least 85 people by destroying a school in the south of the country. But these "collateral victims" matter little to the leaders of a world where "the ends justify the means."
The pretext invoked by the aggressors is either support for the Iranian people, victims of the regime's bloody repression, or the impossibility of reaching an agreement on the nuclear program, or the risk posed to the region by the ballistic missiles that China has generously supplied to its Iranian ally since the Twelve Days War. It is probably this last element that was decisive in the bombing of Iran, insofar as it is the only state still capable of limiting Israeli military hegemony over the entire region.
Whatever the motive, this attack once again demonstrates the triumph of brute force over diplomacy and international law. Even though we have always believed that this largely formal "international law" hardly hinders the right of the strongest in reality (see the UN resolutions on Palestine), the Pentagon's designation of its current operation as "Epic Fury" speaks volumes about the erosion of meaning and reason, particularly through the manipulation of emotions and resentments.
Are the Iranian reprisals against Israel, but also against most neighboring countries, a harbinger of the conflict spreading throughout the Middle East, or the final throes of a dying regime? Let us refrain from prophecies, but let us note in passing that the Israeli-American assault was launched after Pakistan (a nuclear power) engaged in open warfare with Afghanistan; after the handing over of the Kurds of Rojava to the appetites of the new Syrian regime*; With the tacit agreement of Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who wants to make Saudi Arabia the new leader of the Arab world... Aside from formal condemnations, China and Russia (members of the UN Security Council and allies of Iran) remain remarkably silent at this time. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz gives Putin hope for a relaxation of sanctions against Russian oil in the event of a crisis... As for China, historically non-interventionist, it is observing the American onslaught while waiting for the opportune moment to "preemptively" seize Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Therefore, and in light of what has happened in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, we can expect the continuation of the theocratic regime in Tehran rather than the liberation of the Iranian people, as well as the spread of an armed conflict that could become permanent in a Middle East already devastated by the economic appetites and geostrategic interests of various powers.
This new war caps two months in 2026 that remarkably illustrate the spread of capitalist barbarity. The abduction and imprisonment of Maduro in Venezuela by US forces, and the unleashing of ICE, the US immigration police, with its executions of dissidents in the streets of Minneapolis, have been added to many other horrific events already underway: a crackdown in Iran that has claimed at least 30,000 victims; four years of war in Ukraine that could have claimed up to 2 million victims**; Five years of war in Burma waged amid general indifference; forgotten or suppressed conflicts in Sudan, Congo, Yemen, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea; the lightning raids of jihadist groups in the Sahel, as well as those of gangs in Haiti, Mexico, and Colombia; the crushing of the municipalist revolution in Rojava; the repression of sexual minorities in Senegal... and of course, we must add to this grim, endless list other consequences of the globalized economic exploitation system - such as the 600 migrants who have already drowned in the Mediterranean, and the 3 million victims of work-related accidents or illnesses worldwide by 2025.
The information found in the press, for anyone even remotely interested in world affairs, tends to distract us from politics. It is, in fact, so dire that it encourages us to focus on our own self-interest and leave the collective future of the world and humanity to the "competent specialists." It also encourages us to be content with the situation in France, in light of global chaos: what luck to be in this "sweet France" when war rages everywhere, when Trumpian neo-fascism is engulfing America, and when Zionism is committing genocide against the Palestinians! Forgotten, then, are the police impunity in Sainte-Soline, the death of El Hacen Diarra, and other victims of the French police? The weather events that highlight the climate disruption inflicted on the planet by the capitalist economy?...
The constant onslaught of global woes served up by the media ultimately obscures what we could have real control over. The constant catastrophizing that accompanies us prevents us from taking matters into our own hands and making history, which is, after all, the very essence of humanity. This is partly because the abundance of words contributes to a loss of meaning, reason, and truth... through the exacerbation of emotions.
The culmination of this in recent days was certainly the minute of silence observed by the National Assembly to honor a far-right activist who died in a brawl. This accidental death, which happened to a young person, has stirred up an emotion that has been exploited in the context of the municipal elections, with a backdrop of condemnation of political violence and the conflation of the extremes... except for this "extreme center" which, precisely, oversees the spread of this pervasive infamy. It hopes, in doing so, to divert attention from its own responsibilities in order to reap the electoral benefits - because the municipal and presidential elections are currently paralyzing any large-scale social mobilization.
So, what can we do in such a mess? More than ever, we must fight and resist. But how? With the means at our disposal-like this journal, which allows us to share information that can help us understand the world and rediscover meaning and control over our lives, so that, in the words of Rosa Luxemburg, we can finally "begin to live humanly"!
OCL Saint-Nazaire
March 1, 2026
* Read p. 34.
** (according to Radio France on January 29, 2026)
*** See the OCL press release of February 23, 2026 on the website
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4653
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