| Subject: A Talk about War, Racism, United Fronts, and the Left |
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Date Posted: 14:20:18 12/03/01 Mon
Posted by AntiRacismNet November 5, 2001
A Talk about War, Racism, United Fronts, and the Left
By Bob Wing 2bobwing@home.com
October 5, 2001
http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/arnindex.html
1. Of War and Racism
In our other paper ["War and Peace as the New Axis of Politics" by Max Elbaum] we argued that the struggle for peace--to stop Bush's war on terrorism--will be the overarching political issue of this new period. That struggle will reshape and be connected to all other ongoing fights for economic and social progress. However, it is crucial to recognize that the war program cannot be effectively combated without identifying the intimate connection between war and racism. Bush's program is a racist war against terrorism.
It is racist in at least the following ways.
The brunt of attack is aimed at and will be borne by innocent people of color, especially in the Arab world and South Asia. They are being demonized as "terrorists" and "fundamentalist Muslims" whose lives are dispensable. Bush's New World Order is clearly based on supremacy of the white west, led by the U.S., against colored enemies, even though the alliance includes some third world governments as junior partners. Had the U.S. been attacked by the Irish Republican Army or the Italian Red Brigades, it would never have declared war against Ireland or Italy. The war on terrorism is "justified" by the government and in public opinion because its targets are countries and peoples of color.
Bush is also waging his war inside the U.S. It is already marked by curbs on civil liberties, democratic rights, and social programs in order to build and finance the national security state. However, it is politically critical to see that the sharpest attacks are purposefully targeted at people of color--that it, too, is thoroughly racist. Already, racial profiling is being openly justified. Immigration policy is being rolled back. Police, military, security, and intelligence agencies are being expanded and given new authority, resources, and freedom of action to detain, spy upon, and act against "enemies." And many people of color, especially those who appear to be Arab, Muslim or South Asian, are being attacked verbally and physically by citizens.
Bush's redesigned military industrial complex is giving fresh impulse to the already out-of-control prison industrial complex. Just as the War on Drugs was finally being slowed, the war on terrorism is taking its place. Bush's anti-people program is being justified and disguised by targeting people of color first and foremost, gating the affluent white communities, and appealing to racist patriotism.
Finally, Bush's program rests on the politics of racism. To keep political and ideological momentum for his program, Bush must effect a decisive shift rightwards in the electorate and public opinion, a task that his father failed to accomplish. He must strengthen the Republican right, win a significant section of the "middle ground" of white suburban voters, and split off at least 5-10% of people of color, labor, and women--his strongest opponents. His main card to do is racist patriotism. Bush lost the popular vote and his approval rating was languishing prior to September 11. Now the Administration is riding high by whipping up a paroxysm of fear and patriotism, centered among but not limited to white people, to support its program. Those who oppose the Bush program will be labeled un-American and anti-patriotic, if not outright enemies. That ideological campaign, combined with coercion and bribes, will be used to try to split communities of color and will present a formidable challenge to progressives of color and all anti-war forces.
At times of political lull, politics tend to flatten out and all issues start to look equal. But almost invariably the sharpening of political struggle in the U.S. focuses on war and racism. This is because war and racism are the sharpest expressions of the historical contradictions of U.S. capitalism: it was founded on war against Native peoples, expanded by war against Mexico, and built on racist slavery and coerced labor. Moreover, a cross-class white consensus, legalized until the 1960s but still powerful thereafter, has been the political basis of capitalist rule in this country from its origins. War and racism are twin pillars of U.S. capitalism, historically and today.
This article was orginally the second of two interconnected presentations that are the basis for a series of discussion groups. Max Elbaum presented "War and Peace as the New Axis of Politics". Bob is a longtime activist and the former editor of ColorLines magazine.
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