United States

Two years ago, on April 22, 2001, the Spanish paper El Mundo published the following news.

As we have explained many times, the war on Iraq is nothing but an extension of the war on working people and youth here in the US. It is being fought in the interests of the rich capitalists in this country. These people cannot be trusted to work in the interests of the American people as a whole, let alone the Iraqis.

Another general strike against the war called in Greece for April 3

Antiwar feelings are running very high in Greece. There has already been a general strike against the war. This took place shortly after the war broke out. And if some people thought this would die down once the war had started they will have to think twice. The workers and youth of Greece are not going to give the imperialists any respite.

GW Bush claims that the US is the most "democratic" of all countries, and that therefore they have a duty to bring it to the people of the world. But the reality of the situation is very different. What we have is democracy for the rich.

As soon as it became clear that the US-UK war against Iraq was on, stock markets around the world rocketed upwards by as much as 20% and the price for a barrel of crude oil fell back sharply. Now it's a week in and all that bravado has faded. The real costs of this imperialist adventure are beginning to come out.

In spite of what the media is saying, there is still a strong antiwar mood among a significant part of the US population as the following reports clearly show. They report on events shortly after the war broke out.

The Workers International League declares itself in total opposition to US imperialism’s war on Iraq. This is nothing short of an imperialist war, the objective of which is to gain direct control of the Iraqi oil fields in the interests of the US oil corporations as well as being an attempt of the strategists in Washington D.C. to cement their control of the entire region. They are attempting to solidify their domination in the Middle East with the blood of the American and British workers in uniform and the people of Iraq. The pleas of the Bush Administration about the evil of the Iraqi regime and the plight of the Iraqi people aside, this conflict is being waged with nothing other

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Less than twenty-four hours after U.S. missiles struck Baghdad, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney on March 20 announced his “unequivocal” support for the war and presumably for the war’s aims. Sweeney has no business being a shop steward, let alone being the head of organized labor’s largest federation. His urge for basically collaborative relations with Corporate America explains his support of the war on Iraq; just as it explains his starkly feeble resistance to Corporate America’s downsizing of the U.S. labor movement.

In spite of what the media is saying, there is still a strong antiwar mood among a significant part of the US population as the following reports clearly show. They report on events shortly after the war broke out.

The world is only days, or even hours away from war. The farcical charade over UN inspections is over and the American ruling class imagines it can achieve world domination through military force. But Bush disregards the anti-war and labor movement at his own peril. The truly massive anti-war mood which has emerged even before the war begins is a sign of things to come.

Opposition to a war in Iraq is growing steadily, week by week and even day by day within American society. Up until recently, this had been the strongest amongst the youth and students. But there are clear signs that the working class, and trade union members especially, are increasingly joining the ranks of those opposed to war in the Middle East. The same weekend of the massive January 18 anti-war demonstrations in Washington D.C. and San Francisco also saw a conference of 110 trade union officers and shop stewards firmly declare itself against any war on Iraq. This is a big step forward, and increasingly, events like this are on the agenda, which will involve ever wider layers...

The words of George Bush’s annual state-of-the-union address were full of lofty sentiments. But the President aims were more prosaic. There is growing opposition at home to his war plans. And half way through his first term of office, his popularity ratings are falling. He is worried that he may not get re-elected in two years’ time.

On January 18, Washington DC resounded with protestors. Along with San Francisco and other cities, an estimated half a million Americans pledged their solidarity with protestors the world over, rallying under the slogan: No to the War on Iraq! Other slogans included, "Regime Change Begins At Home", "Axis of Evil - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld", and "Dissent is Patriotic". John Peterson looks at the developing antiwar movement in the United States.

According to director Michael Moore, the film Bowling for Columbine paints a portrait of the United States, “a nation that seems hell-bent on killing first and asking questions later” at the beginning of the 21st century. Appealing to the likes of us, we thought, and this proved to be no false expectation. Apart from a film that grabs the spectator by the scruff of the neck, at times being tragic by the bare facts alone, Bowling for Columbine is above all a very humorous and enjoyable documentary about the American weapons industry, but also about the latter’s link with US foreign policy.