Asian Marxist Review editorial statement

As the scorching summer heat begins to recede, the lengthening shadows and falling leaves announce the onset of another autumn. After blistering Asian summers the autumn monsoons tend to bring some relief. Yet this year there is no respite for the oppressed and the deprived of the region. The "freedom" and "democracy" being shoved down the throats of the people of Iraq has only aggravated hunger, misery and disease. But by removing Saddam Hussein's state machine the imperialists now have to face a resistance they had never envisaged. This fierce resistance is making the Americans and British pay in blood and cash for their inhuman aggression. Their arrogance and brutality is now entering into a phase of desperation and insanity.

Since times immemorial every imperial power has had to face resistance, from those supposedly weak and docile. And such encounters when prolonged, have led to the demise of the mighty.

As predicted by this journal a new, real war has begun in Iraq. The fear, frustration and cowardice of the present US leadership are becoming more and more evident. On the ground their troops are lurching from one blunder to another. The US causalities are rising and panic haunts the corridors of power in Washington and London.

Arafat's threatened assassination, exile or incarceration is only going to create a bigger crisis in the Middle East. The so-called "Road map" has been torn to pieces by the explosive events erupting with severe ferocity. Even the US imperialists are terrified of the consequences of excluding Arafat - "the terrorist" - from the process. Sharon and his coterie of bloodthirsty Zionists are losing their options. The "Peace Talks" from Oslo to Camp David were an exercise in futility. And it is not just that ‑ "all options" under the yoke of imperialism are running out fast. From war to peace, from compromise to individual terrorism, and from mass genocide to the brutality of the monstrous Israeli state backed by imperialism, have only worsened the situation. The crisis is so deep, the pain so intense that these tragic manipulations cannot heal or solve the underlying cause of this conflict - the organic crisis of a decaying system. The Palestinians have been forced into dreadful misery, while apart from fear of life, the Israeli workers and masses have to suffer the worst capitalist recession and consequent cuts of the last 50 years. Even with this orgy of violence and bloodshed the Israeli trade Unions may have to call a general strike against Sharon. Elements of class struggle can emerge even in this religious and nationalist frenzy. The obsolete and reactionary Arab regimes across the whole region are also teetering on the brink.

But it is not just the Middle East. Across Asia and around the world the regimes of capitalist decay are creating the basis of unprecedented worldwide turmoil. The mean and contemptuous attitude of the bosses towards the environment has resulted in global warming and a threat to biological life on the planet. They are prepared to let the ozone layer become depleted rather than their profits. The failure of the WTO talks was a foregone conclusion. Trade between unequal partners inevitably becomes exploitation. As the crisis of the advanced capitalist countries intensifies more and more the burden is being shifted onto the shoulders of the already impoverished and exploited. The rulers of Asia, Africa and Latin America only act as hard taskmasters for their imperialist bosses. These states are only performing the function of intensifying exploitation of human labour.

As if all that was not enough the US imperialists have embarked upon direct military aggression ravaging and devastating one country after another. The wounds being inflicted upon the human race by this death agony of capitalism are now festering. The policy of bragging about "Democracy" and "freedom" on the one hand and the inflicting of the most gruesome atrocities on the oppressed by US imperialism have only aggravated the crisis. This has exposed the redundancy of capitalism and the historical failure of the present rulers.

They have embarked upon a war against humanity as a desperate attempt to perpetuate their class rule through the most monstrous, hypocritical and cruel means yet witnessed by humankind. Their calculated deception and brutal actions expose their intrinsic weakness and failures. They can go to any degree of destructions and madness.

They must to be stopped. After all it is a question of the survival of the human race. The only way to defeat this capitalist onslaught is through a class war. From Palestine to Indonesia nothing can be solved without a socio-economic transformation. Anything else is deception and utopia. Hence the only real and practical option for the oppressed is to launch and fight this class war until victory.

The resilience and resistance of the masses of Iraq shows that once the ordinary people overcome their fear, then the fate of even the mightiest of the armies and the most vicious of the regimes is sealed. Once the masses begin to move and the class struggle is invigorated the tasks and aims will become clear. This historically doomed capitalist system has to be overthrown through a socialist revolution. That is the only way out of this misery and exploitation.

In today's integrated world a socialist victory in any of the main countries on this planet would unleash an avalanche of revolutions all over the planet.