The Worker, Vol. 36, Number 9
Contents:
I. We Must Sharpen the Manifestations of Our Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism's War Program
II. Background Material on U.S.-Led Imperialist Aggression and Death Squad Control Established Over Haiti
I. We Must Sharpen the Manifestations of Our Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism's War Program
II. Background Material on U.S.-Led Imperialist Aggression and Death Squad Control Established Over Haiti
We Must Sharpen the Manifestations of Our Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism's War Program
The following article was written by the Dismantle the U.S.-Ukraine Alliance Study Group.
The Biden administration asserts that it is not waging a war against the Russian Federation. It asserts that its claims of maintaining a disinterested position are proven true by the fact that it is "merely" providing logistical support, arms, intelligence, training and advice on the movement of ground, naval and air forces. Thus, such proclaimed "disinterest" turns out to be a feverish projection of U.S. military power into the region.
Although it is true that since the 2014 coup d'etat, U.S. imperialism has added fuel to the flames in order to warm its hands at the fire of a war fought by others, this is at heart an American war, gifted to the people of the region straight from the palms of the Pentagon. Each of the reactionary, chauvinist cliques within the Ukraine have been instigated and supported by NATO, which, after sneaking into the Ukraine in 2009, began its oversight of Ukraine's war on oppressed minority populations of the Donbass and elsewhere as part of Ukraine's integration into the military alliance. Although Pentagon generals have not sent any U.S. battalions to the Ukraine, U.S.-authored tactics are adopted by Ukrainian army. And the "security structure" that the Biden administration has in place is one in which Biden and Austin decide the affairs of the Ukrainian generals and heads of state. The administration boasts of its capacity for using its so-called security alliance with Ukraine to grab up new spheres of influence willing to serve as cannon fodder for U.S. imperialism's so-called "national interests" so Americans won't have to.
Biden is using the crisis in the Ukraine region in order to establish the U.S. ruling class as an international hangman, deciding which people is entitled to secession and which is not, and to fling U.S. imperialism into the affairs of other countries in order to prevent the peoples from asserting themselves as the sovereign masters of their own destiny.
The policy of the U.S. government is a mockery of the American people. Every generation of Americans has come forward in struggles to demand and extend the right to hold elected officials accountable, to set the agenda of government, and to participate directly in governance. In particular, the last two decades have been a time in which a great groundswell of anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal activism has been building up amongst the American people. With the failure of opportunism to liquidate the movement it has become clear that the huge reservoir of anti-war and anti-militarist sentiment being directed against the two parties of war has not even begun to be tapped. Today, the capitalist class wants to reverse this situation and to corrupt the consciousness of the American people. And in particular to reverse the verdicts and lessons of the movement in opposition to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the entire so-called "war against terror" unleashed on the world using the pretext of the World Trade Center attack.
In this way, they hope to corrupt the consciousness and undermine the revolutionary aspirations of the masses who have always fought against the chauvinism and militarism of our own ruling class.
But nothing can prevent the voice of the class-conscious workers, of the advanced representatives of the the American people, from reaching far and wide.
The American workers and people need an alternative to the war program of the capitalist class and its two big political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. But this alternative can only come from the masses ourselves. Only a determined struggle, uniting millions upon millions of the working masses against the capitalists, can thwart their aggressive plans and keep them from submerging the political culture in total darkness. Only a genuine working class political party and the independent class and mass organizations opposed to war and militarism can ensure the development of our struggle. Participating in this struggle, building up such organization, is the real and only alternative to the capitalist war program.
Our study group will be meeting on a regular basis. Contact us if you want to find out more and contribute your voice.
The Biden administration asserts that it is not waging a war against the Russian Federation. It asserts that its claims of maintaining a disinterested position are proven true by the fact that it is "merely" providing logistical support, arms, intelligence, training and advice on the movement of ground, naval and air forces. Thus, such proclaimed "disinterest" turns out to be a feverish projection of U.S. military power into the region.
Although it is true that since the 2014 coup d'etat, U.S. imperialism has added fuel to the flames in order to warm its hands at the fire of a war fought by others, this is at heart an American war, gifted to the people of the region straight from the palms of the Pentagon. Each of the reactionary, chauvinist cliques within the Ukraine have been instigated and supported by NATO, which, after sneaking into the Ukraine in 2009, began its oversight of Ukraine's war on oppressed minority populations of the Donbass and elsewhere as part of Ukraine's integration into the military alliance. Although Pentagon generals have not sent any U.S. battalions to the Ukraine, U.S.-authored tactics are adopted by Ukrainian army. And the "security structure" that the Biden administration has in place is one in which Biden and Austin decide the affairs of the Ukrainian generals and heads of state. The administration boasts of its capacity for using its so-called security alliance with Ukraine to grab up new spheres of influence willing to serve as cannon fodder for U.S. imperialism's so-called "national interests" so Americans won't have to.
Biden is using the crisis in the Ukraine region in order to establish the U.S. ruling class as an international hangman, deciding which people is entitled to secession and which is not, and to fling U.S. imperialism into the affairs of other countries in order to prevent the peoples from asserting themselves as the sovereign masters of their own destiny.
The policy of the U.S. government is a mockery of the American people. Every generation of Americans has come forward in struggles to demand and extend the right to hold elected officials accountable, to set the agenda of government, and to participate directly in governance. In particular, the last two decades have been a time in which a great groundswell of anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal activism has been building up amongst the American people. With the failure of opportunism to liquidate the movement it has become clear that the huge reservoir of anti-war and anti-militarist sentiment being directed against the two parties of war has not even begun to be tapped. Today, the capitalist class wants to reverse this situation and to corrupt the consciousness of the American people. And in particular to reverse the verdicts and lessons of the movement in opposition to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the entire so-called "war against terror" unleashed on the world using the pretext of the World Trade Center attack.
In this way, they hope to corrupt the consciousness and undermine the revolutionary aspirations of the masses who have always fought against the chauvinism and militarism of our own ruling class.
But nothing can prevent the voice of the class-conscious workers, of the advanced representatives of the the American people, from reaching far and wide.
The American workers and people need an alternative to the war program of the capitalist class and its two big political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. But this alternative can only come from the masses ourselves. Only a determined struggle, uniting millions upon millions of the working masses against the capitalists, can thwart their aggressive plans and keep them from submerging the political culture in total darkness. Only a genuine working class political party and the independent class and mass organizations opposed to war and militarism can ensure the development of our struggle. Participating in this struggle, building up such organization, is the real and only alternative to the capitalist war program.
Our study group will be meeting on a regular basis. Contact us if you want to find out more and contribute your voice.
Background Material on U.S.-Led Imperialist Aggression and Death Squad Control Established Over Haiti
Across many generations, U.S. imperialism repeatedly invaded and occupied Haiti while robbing the resources and super-exploiting the labor of the people.
From 1915 to 1934, U.S. marines occupied and directly ruled Haiti. Before leaving the marines installed a puppet government, financed and armed by U.S. imperialism. In 1957, U.S. imperialism and the Haitian elite brought the François Duvalier (‘Papa Doc’) dictatorship to power in order to crush the rising democratic and social movements of the masses. Aided and trained by U.S. imperialism, the Duvalier family created their own fascist special police, the infamous Tonton Macoutes, to terrorize the masses and suppress any popular organization or struggle.
Through this death squad fascist terror, the Duvaliers not only amassed huge personal wealth but also helped the U.S. multinational corporations mercilessly exploit the Haitian people. U.S. agro-businesses, producing coffee, sugar, cocoa, castor beans and other cash crops for export, all but laid waste to the fertile Haitian soil; U.S. aluminum producers completely pillaged the enormous bauxite deposits once found in the country. After plundering the country's natural wealth, U.S. corporations set up daughter assembly plants in such sectors as garments, electronics, baseballs, games, sporting goods, toys, footwear and leather.
In 1986, the Haitian people toppled the Duvalier family regime. This revolution unleashed a tremendous democratic and social movement. Less than 5 years later, Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected President based on an agenda of genuine reforms set by the people themselves.
U.S. imperialism responded by organizing a CIA coup d'etat in September, 1991, and bringing to power a regime of former Duvalierists and other death squads linked with the Haitian elite. For 3 years, a reign of terror was imposed on the Haitian people. Finally, under intense international and internal pressure, the U.S. returned Aristide as President, although Haiti was forced to disband its army and accept an economic program of "structural adjustment" dictated by the IMF and the international bankers. This included the requirement that the government's first budgetary priority remained paying interest on an external debt of $1.2 billion, contracted mainly during the Duvalier regime.
Nevertheless, during Aristide's tenure, the Haitian people carried out important reforms, including doubling the minimum wage and investing in schools and hospitals. During that time Haiti also successfully strengthened protections against the denationalization of state-owned resources.
In the second half of the 1990s, with the help of a U.S. controlled military authority nominally in the hands of the United Nations, the U.S. government carried on an overt and covert destabilization campaign against the country. The U.S. government prevented Haiti from receiving some $650 million in multilateral and bilateral aid committed for economic development, education, health care, water and road construction, etc. For example, the U.S. government prevented the Aristide government from receiving a previously approved loan of $193 million from the Inter-American Development Bank.
While trying to strangle the Haitian economy, U.S. imperialism - through the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Republican Institute - financed and organized opposition forces devoted to overthrowing the constitutional government. The Organization of American States worked to legitimizing the high-handedness of U.S. intervention on the cynical pretext of "human rights protection" and "election monitoring."
The primary two of the groups organized to overthrow the constitutional government were the Convergence Démocratique and the Group of 184. The Group of 184 was composed of the Haitian elite and headed by André Apaid, Jr., a supporter of the Duvalier dictatorship and surviving owner of one of Haiti's largest sweat factories, Alpha Industries.
The Convergence Démocratique joined together paramilitary death squads and CIA operatives. Among others, these included Louis Jorden Chamblain, on the payroll of the CIA and a convicted killer and organizer of witch-hunts against supporters of Aristide and Lavalas party members; Guy Philippe, a member of the military government brought to power through the CIA-organized coup in 1991 and a leader of several armed attacks against Aristide supporters; Ernst Ravix, commander of paramilitary death squads.
In February, 2004, the Pentagon deployed thousands of U.S. Marines, allowing paramilitary gangs to enter the capital and forcing President Aristide into exile. Witch-hunts and massacres by CIA-backed and U.S. Marine protected paramilitaries overran the country in the immediate aftermath of the coup d'état and continue to this day. The U.S. State Department also established a permanent police infrastructure under its authority and again nominally handed over military control to the UN. Billions of dollars from the U.S. budget have been poured into military and police training and integration with U.S. security architecture, the reversal of reforms which curbed imperialist influence, and the establishment of so-called "rule of law" that bars many indigenous political initiatives - including those geared towards the buildup of an independent local capitalist class or towards cutting the thousands of threads of foreign ownership, investment and neo-liberal debt which enmesh Haiti in oppressive colonial relations of economic domination and subjugation. The constitution imposed as a result of the 2004 U.S. Marines invasion even outlaws nationalization.
From 1915 to 1934, U.S. marines occupied and directly ruled Haiti. Before leaving the marines installed a puppet government, financed and armed by U.S. imperialism. In 1957, U.S. imperialism and the Haitian elite brought the François Duvalier (‘Papa Doc’) dictatorship to power in order to crush the rising democratic and social movements of the masses. Aided and trained by U.S. imperialism, the Duvalier family created their own fascist special police, the infamous Tonton Macoutes, to terrorize the masses and suppress any popular organization or struggle.
Through this death squad fascist terror, the Duvaliers not only amassed huge personal wealth but also helped the U.S. multinational corporations mercilessly exploit the Haitian people. U.S. agro-businesses, producing coffee, sugar, cocoa, castor beans and other cash crops for export, all but laid waste to the fertile Haitian soil; U.S. aluminum producers completely pillaged the enormous bauxite deposits once found in the country. After plundering the country's natural wealth, U.S. corporations set up daughter assembly plants in such sectors as garments, electronics, baseballs, games, sporting goods, toys, footwear and leather.
In 1986, the Haitian people toppled the Duvalier family regime. This revolution unleashed a tremendous democratic and social movement. Less than 5 years later, Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected President based on an agenda of genuine reforms set by the people themselves.
U.S. imperialism responded by organizing a CIA coup d'etat in September, 1991, and bringing to power a regime of former Duvalierists and other death squads linked with the Haitian elite. For 3 years, a reign of terror was imposed on the Haitian people. Finally, under intense international and internal pressure, the U.S. returned Aristide as President, although Haiti was forced to disband its army and accept an economic program of "structural adjustment" dictated by the IMF and the international bankers. This included the requirement that the government's first budgetary priority remained paying interest on an external debt of $1.2 billion, contracted mainly during the Duvalier regime.
Nevertheless, during Aristide's tenure, the Haitian people carried out important reforms, including doubling the minimum wage and investing in schools and hospitals. During that time Haiti also successfully strengthened protections against the denationalization of state-owned resources.
In the second half of the 1990s, with the help of a U.S. controlled military authority nominally in the hands of the United Nations, the U.S. government carried on an overt and covert destabilization campaign against the country. The U.S. government prevented Haiti from receiving some $650 million in multilateral and bilateral aid committed for economic development, education, health care, water and road construction, etc. For example, the U.S. government prevented the Aristide government from receiving a previously approved loan of $193 million from the Inter-American Development Bank.
While trying to strangle the Haitian economy, U.S. imperialism - through the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Republican Institute - financed and organized opposition forces devoted to overthrowing the constitutional government. The Organization of American States worked to legitimizing the high-handedness of U.S. intervention on the cynical pretext of "human rights protection" and "election monitoring."
The primary two of the groups organized to overthrow the constitutional government were the Convergence Démocratique and the Group of 184. The Group of 184 was composed of the Haitian elite and headed by André Apaid, Jr., a supporter of the Duvalier dictatorship and surviving owner of one of Haiti's largest sweat factories, Alpha Industries.
The Convergence Démocratique joined together paramilitary death squads and CIA operatives. Among others, these included Louis Jorden Chamblain, on the payroll of the CIA and a convicted killer and organizer of witch-hunts against supporters of Aristide and Lavalas party members; Guy Philippe, a member of the military government brought to power through the CIA-organized coup in 1991 and a leader of several armed attacks against Aristide supporters; Ernst Ravix, commander of paramilitary death squads.
In February, 2004, the Pentagon deployed thousands of U.S. Marines, allowing paramilitary gangs to enter the capital and forcing President Aristide into exile. Witch-hunts and massacres by CIA-backed and U.S. Marine protected paramilitaries overran the country in the immediate aftermath of the coup d'état and continue to this day. The U.S. State Department also established a permanent police infrastructure under its authority and again nominally handed over military control to the UN. Billions of dollars from the U.S. budget have been poured into military and police training and integration with U.S. security architecture, the reversal of reforms which curbed imperialist influence, and the establishment of so-called "rule of law" that bars many indigenous political initiatives - including those geared towards the buildup of an independent local capitalist class or towards cutting the thousands of threads of foreign ownership, investment and neo-liberal debt which enmesh Haiti in oppressive colonial relations of economic domination and subjugation. The constitution imposed as a result of the 2004 U.S. Marines invasion even outlaws nationalization.