The attack on Aghanistan by the US continues. The bombs increasingly fall on civilian
areas killing and wounding increasing numbers of non-combatants. Yet the western
mainstream media continues to provide reports on the matter as if they it is
providing reports on interstellar activity in deep space that make no perceptible
impact on the lives of humanity on planet earth.
It looks like the US can bomb away to its hearts content, it is now known that it is
using cluster bombs, for as long as likes. It now looks as if the western media will
preserve its silence on US atrocities. It now looks as if the political parties in
the west from left to right will ignore the significance of what is being done by the
US in Afghanistan. It now looks as if racism in the West is so inherent in this
society that the attack on the Afghanistanian people can take any form that the US
desires. It now looks as if it does not really matter to the Western media,
politicians and public what is really inflicted on the masses "over there". It is of
miniscule concern because it is some god forsaken backward land filled with Pakis or
whatever!
One positive feature of this military attack is its unveiling of the essential
character of the bourgeois media. It reveals, what is not so obvious under more
normal conditions, the inherently bourgeois character of the media. This is revealed
in the way that it actively sustains the ideological and political conditions
necessary for the pursuit of the imperialism's military actions. This ranges from
tabloid jingoism to grossly partisan analysis to "revisionist" reporting lacking all
empathy. The active bourgeois character of the mainstream media brings home to
communists the need to create a communist media. It brings home to communists the
need to subject economic analysis provided by the bourgeois ideologues to great
scrutiny. It is not good enough to quote OECD and other reports as if confirmation of
our analysis. We must not assume that the statistical analysis and interpretation of
bourgeois ideologues is reliable. We must develop the resources to provide our own
such analysis and interpretations.
The opposition to the war in the West, although relatively small, is not
insignificant. Yet it is still an opposition that is not strong enough to be a cause
of concern to the imperialist bourgeoisie. It is as if the odd protest here or there
is of little or no concern to this reactionary bourgeoisie. This is because the
working class in the West must mobilise against the war by mobilising against the
imperialist bourgeoisie. The problem is that social democracy and stalinism have done
such an effective job in disarming the western working class that there is little
chance at present of an effective mobilisation in the absence of the overthrowal
of its current leadership and the organisation and political structures through which
the working class is organised. These are the reformist structures that have so
successfully rendered the working class ineffective: social democracy, stalinism and
the trade unions. The Western working clas must free itself of these bourgeois forms
if it stands any chance of effectively confronting imperialism. If the Western
working class cannot defend its own living standards and working conditions it is
hardly in a position to mount an effective challenge to the present military attack
by imperialism on Afghanistan. The obvious success of the bourgeoisie in attacking
the living standards and working conditions of workers in the Wet is the principal
condition that provides that class with the confidence to freely to subject the
Afghan masses to relentless bombing.
Before signing off I just want to add one caveat. There are the odd individual pieces
written by liberal journalists, such as Robert Fisk and John Pilger, that make some
attempt to highlight real events and their significance --even if from a more liberal
and thereby limited stance.
Regards
Karl Carlile (Communist Global Group)
Be free to join our communism mailing list
at http://homepage.eircom.net/~kampf/
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