The U.S. invasion of Iraq is wrong and must be condemned. Unfortunately, the large American peace movement could not stop the war in Iraq. We must understand that our movement prevented this war as long as we could and this itself is a victory. We know this war is only a manifestation of an ultra-right political agenda formulated by the Bush administration. While we must acknowledge that we, as American citizens, benefit somewhat from imperialism, the working families of America have also been suffering because of Republican domestic policies launched by the Bush administration.
The people of the world and the American people have a shared common interest in opposition to the goals of the Bush administration. We must struggle for peace but also to transform our own society and construct a better world for our families. We live in a critical moment when the fate of America and the rest of the world is a shared more than ever. It is for this reason that our anti-war movement must actively participate in a massive electoral campaign, together with our allies in the labor, civil rights, and women’s equality movements to defeat Bush and the radical right in 2004.
Domestically we are facing a poverty draft that forces young working class people into the military by denying other options for education and employment. This is exemplified by the increased tuition at many of our state and city universities (a 40% increase in New York alone) and lack of quality jobs for young people. The employment options for our young people are mainly concentrated in the non-union service sector where workers face low wages, no rights, and no job protection. Further, the military has acknowledged targeting communities of color for recruitment. This is absurd considering the battles for racial equality we still face at home.
Not only does this poverty draft reflect destructive economic and racial policy, but it also represents the militarization of American youth. A whole generation, represented by 250,000 soldiers in Iraq, is being integrated into the kind of military society that Bush and his henchman want. Young people should have the right to grow into leaders and adults, and not uneducated murderers.
We also have to connect this war to other domestic policies of the Bush administration. As if the poverty draft was not racist enough, Bush wants to end affirmative action as we know it. We must question an administration that seeks to set back our struggle for racial equality 45 years, and more than that, we must depose them. We have also seen the Bush administration seeking tougher labor laws to hurt unions’ ability to negotiate and organize.
Bush’s threat of militarism on the ports in the West Coast and the inability of public sector workers to go out on strike exemplify this. Another racist and class-biased policy of the Bush administration is privatization of public schools. Working class youth are witnessing an end to our ability to gain an affordable, quality education. The fight for public education entails a struggle for public funds and collaboration with teachers’ unions. These domestic policies put forward by the Bush administration are only examples of an aggressive attack on America’s working families, women, the queer community, and communities of color.
Along with the domestic tragedies facing young people, the Bush administration is helping to create a world dominated by greed, racism, injustice, and unchecked imperialism. Iraq is only the second country, after Afghanistan, to face invasion by Bush. If Bush remains in office we can expect to see action taken against North Korea, Iran, Syria, and possibly Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia.
It our responsibility to fight the imperialism of our nation being violently imposed on the world because peaceful coexistence based on equitable relations is in our own interest.
We want a world free of terrorism and war where people use global links to promote health and education. We also have an interest in preventing starvation, racial and economic exploitation, sexism, homophobia and poverty diseases. These problems are larger than solely the war in Iraq.
We must launch a campaign of regime change here in America in order to begin building the world we want and the peace we need. We must take the large consensus in America against this war and begin building a powerful movement to vote out the Republicans in 2004. That will be the ultimate victory against war and ultra-right policy. I am not naïve enough to argue that the liberals or capitalist parties are the answer to all of our problems. However, we must think strategically because Bush, Cheney, and the rest certainly are. Building regime change democratically requires us to engage the mainstream politicians that must speak to the concerns of working people.
We cannot simply stop a war that is an inherent part of the right wing agenda. We must stop those who propose such agendas and are vowing for four more years of war, militarism and budget cuts.
M. Davis is a member of the Wesleyan club of the YCL,
and a member of the YCL National Council.
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Dynamic Magazine
