The US Strategic Offensive
Riding on the back of globalization, intensifying exploitation of workers and peasants to make astronomical super profits and expanding political and military influence globally, the US , in collusion with other imperialist powers, mainly Britain , and with the support of their client states, is carrying out its strategic offensive against the people of the world to establish its empire. At this juncture, the main battleground is in the oppressed countries, targeting the masses in the Middle East , forcing a major political restructuring in the region.
Aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq has shown that the most important characteristics of the US strategic offensive is the war on the people which is being carried out under the pretext of “The War on Terror”. This war is a total war, a war on all fronts; military, political, intelligence, economic, ideological, cultural, psychological, environmental, informatics, etc., but principally military. This is also a long war, which will continue for decades to accomplish its strategic goal - to subdue the peoples of the world to the US ruling class.
Subjugating the oppressed people of the Middle East is inseparable from tarnishing their identity. Since Islam emerged 14 centuries ago, the Islamic beliefs and cultures have developed and merged with native beliefs and cultures, becoming an important part of the peoples’ identity. The imperialist global campaign of ideological, political and psychological attacks on hundreds of millions of people with Islamic beliefs has included depicting their prophet as a terrorist and Pope Benedict declaring Islam a violent religion.
These attacks are designed to complement the other aspects of the total war on the people, seeking to justify the imperialist aggression in the Middle East, aiming at undermining the integrity of the oppressed masses and the essence of their struggles against imperialism in the Islamic countries, creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust to divide the people in the imperialist citadels, and also waging a religious and cultural war against Moslems to advance the military offensive.
However, the US strategic offensive has created its opposite - a global people’s resistance. Unprecedented demonstrations, especially in the imperialist countries, even before the occupation of Iraq , only showed the tip of the iceberg of the people’s resistance around the world. Also, the Iraqi people’s resistance movement has shown that responding correctly to the anti-imperialist demands of the masses is the key to developing an effective anti-imperialist resistance movement.
In her article [1], comrade Taylor correctly calls for a “resistance powerful enough to stop it” [the US aggression]. But she does not call for the people in the US and around the world to support the Iraqi people’s resistance movement, which has temporarily stopped the US war machine on its path to massacre millions of people. Why doesn’t she support the Iraqi people’s resistance movement?
Because instead of carrying out “concrete analysis of the concrete conditions”, she bases her analysis on the supposition of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad”. As a result, people’s resistance movements in different countries in the Middle East such as Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan and especially in Iraq, are reduced to an “oppositional movement” with “a fundamentalist vision for the country” and consequently are rejected outright.
However, due to the quality and the quantity of the people’s resistance movement, Iraq, a small oppressed country, divided and under occupation, with it’s economy, infrastructure, military and social fabric very much destroyed and having no support from other countries, has obstructed the only superpower with not only the most powerful military and economy in human history but also the backing of other imperialist powers and nearly all reactionary states around the world.
A Frog in a Well
Comrade Taylor’s analysis ignores the fact that the US’s non-stop aggression against the Iraqi people since 1991 and then the occupation of the country in 2003 has created its opposite force - a united front of all classes in a form of national resistance. Analysis of the situation in Iraq can be scientific and useful, if and only if, one observes and analyses contradictions of the class struggle as they exist in the country today to resolve them.
“The dialectical world outlook teaches us primarily how to observe and analyse the movement of opposites in different things and, on the basis of such analysis, to indicate the methods for resolving contradictions. It is therefore most important for us to understand the law of contradiction in things in a concrete way.”[2]
However, Comrade Taylor’s analysis does not deal with the essence of the class struggle in Iraq to recognise the existence of the people’s resistance movement, and therefore, cannot synthesise that it is legitimate and just and should be supported. Wherever there is oppression, there is also resistance. The occupation of this battered, oppressed country by US imperialism has intensified the oppression of the people to an unprecedented level, creating a powerful people’s resistance. A massive people’s movement, which in spite of its organisational disunity is very much united against the principal enemy of the people and the sovereignty of the country.
Comrade Taylor does not analyse the objective situation dialectically, therefore she is unable to recognise the fact that many years of naked imperialist aggression and then occupation has created a resistance movement consisting of millions of the oppressed Iraqi masses who are actively involved with the war of national resistance against the US and British imperialists. This movement includes forces from all classes, where the reactionary classes are a very small minority and the fundamentalists are only a part.
Instead of understanding the laws of contradiction of the class struggle in Iraq concretely, the supposition of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad” is applied to explain the situation. As a result, all fundamentalist forces, whether they are collaborating with the imperialist occupiers or fighting against them are arbitrarily put together and treated as one. This is two into one, and not one divides into two. Then the whole resistance movement is spontaneously reduced to a fundamentalist oppositional movement, which only reflects a part of reality, because the fundamentalists are only a part.
“In approaching a problem a Marxist should see the whole as well as the parts. A frog in a well says, “the sky is no bigger than the mouth of the well.” That is untrue, for the sky is not just the size of the mouth of the well. If is said, “A part of the sky is the size of the mouth of a well” that would be true, for it tallies with the facts.” [3]
Comrade Taylor without “concrete analysis of the concrete conditions” implies that the people’s resistance movement is led by the Islamic fundamentalists. It is true that Islam is playing an important role both in the resistance and the society, but Islam is not the determining factor in the class struggle in Iraq today and the occupation definitely is.
Indeed, there is a need for a thorough investigation of the class character of different forces, including the Islamic forces in the country, however, not all the Islamic forces are fundamentalists. There are also influential communist, revolutionary, nationalist and secular forces within the resistance movement. The polarisation of the society is based on the occupation of the country by the imperialist forces and not on any ideology or political program, as Comrade Taylor implies.
It is important to grasp that the main cause of the resistance’s rapid growth, persistence, unity and effectiveness, in spite of pounding blows and continuous immense pressure, is the right to self determination of the Iraqi nation, and not religion. Some Islamic fundamentalist forces who are opposing the imperialist occupation of Iraq today play a significant role among some sections of the society and the organised resistance and only a thorough and objective class analysis can show that the resistance movement in Iraq is dominated and led by these forces.
However, without an objective class analysis and on the basis of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad”, Comrade Taylor treats the whole situation in Iraq as a contradiction between the US imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism. Therefore, she cannot identify the contradiction between the US imperialism and the Iraqi nation as the principal contradiction shaping the class struggle in Iraq today, and she cannot grasp that the injustice of the denial of the Iraqi people’s right to national self determination has been the burning motive behind their resistance movement.
Who is really threatening humanity?
Comrade Taylor states: “Increasingly, humanity is being confronted with two intolerable choices; Bush’s crusade for empire or reactionary Islamic fundamentalism response …”. [1]
It is true that today humanity is being confronted with a historically unprecedented concentration of military, political and economic power in the hands of a very few - the US imperialist ruling class. It is true that the US rulers are capable of wiping out humanity from the face of the Earth many times over. It is also true that the US juggernaut is in the process of carrying out its strategic offensive to dominate the world, and on its path has massacred millions of people and destroyed country after country.
But, is it true that humanity is increasingly being confronted with Islamic fundamentalism? Is it true that the Islamic fundamentalist forces have been able to amass military, political and economic power globally? Is it true that the Islamic fundamentalist ‘juggernaut’ is capable of wiping out humanity from the face of the Earth? Are the Islamic fundamentalist forces even united and acting as a unified force? Are they in the process of carrying out their strategic offensive to dominate the world? Are they, on their path, massacring millions of people and destroying many countries? The answer to all these questions is undoubtedly negative.
In addition to the US , Britain , Japan , France and Germany there are two new emerging powers on the world scene. Recent global events show that Russian imperialists have emerged from their political and economic crisis and are gaining strength, and China is also becoming a global power. But is there any Islamic fundamentalist state which is even remotely close to becoming a global power?
Again, the answer is undoubtedly negative, because even the most powerful Islamic fundamentalist states such as Iran or Saudi Arabia are semi-colonial “ Third World ” states serving the imperialists with no prospect of becoming a global power. Here, one can see that the supposition of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad” has led to the extreme exaggeration of the power of the Islamic fundamentalist forces.
Contrary to the objective reality of the oppressed countries in the Middle East , Comrade Taylor treats different Islamic class forces, including revolutionary or nationalist Islamic forces as fundamentalists. Furthermore, by ignoring their opposite responses to the US strategic offensive, she does not distinguish between temporary orientations of different Islamic fundamentalist forces. She lumps all different Islamic class forces together, and treats them as fundamentalist. Then without any analysis, categorises this fragmented force not only as an imperialist power, but even as a superpower on a par with the US . The logical conclusion of her article is that humanity is increasingly confronted with two intolerable choices: the US Empire or the Islamic Empire.
Today, the Islamic fundamentalist forces do not play any significant role in China , India , Japan and the majority of the countries in Asia, in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, in the continents of America , Europe and Australasia . And the peoples of these continents are not even being confronted with the choice of Islam, let alone Islamic fundamentalism. Indeed, Islamic fundamentalism does not play any significant role at all in the class struggles of the majority of the countries in the world. However, the US ’s strategic offensive is shaping the global politics and the US “War on Terror” - war on the people - is threatening humanity.
Comrade Taylor claims unequivocally that people in their hundreds of millions all over the world are gravitating to Islamic fundamentalism. She states: “Islamic fundamentalism, in effect, stepped into a kind of secular nationalist, revolutionary, and communist “leadership vacuum” on a world level.”[1]
She clearly states on a world level, not in the Middle East and a few other countries. However, in recent years for example in Latin and central American countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile, Peru, etc., secular Liberals, Social Democrats and even some nationalist forces with leftist social reform programs have come to power one after another and there is no sign of Islamic fundamentalists at all. Here, one can see that the situation in some Islamic countries is blown out of proportion and exaggerated to the world level to conform to the pre-conceived formulation of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad”.
A brief look at the Middle East shows that a few Islamic fundamentalist states such as the regimes of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Iraq (fundamentalist factions who have capitulated) etc. , are in power, but because of openly serving the interests of US imperialism, these are highly unpopular. Some such as Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon are sharing power, but are popular mainly because of fighting against Israel and the US .
The regime of Iran is unpopular in the country, but because of its anti US stance is popular among the masses, especially in the Middle East . The Taliban became unpopular shortly after coming to power, however, in the last few years mainly because of fighting against the occupation forces, it has become so popular in Afghanistan again that now the question is not if the Taliban will capture Kabul, but when, and in what form?
Like any other class forces, the Islamic fundamentalists have their own particularities, for example, apart from a few states the rest of them are organised in innumerable sects acting as parts of the opposition even in the Islamic countries. At this juncture, whether in state, sharing power or in the opposition, all Islamic fundamentalists are divided into two groups, one supporting and the other opposing the US strategic offensive.
Since the end of the 19th century, lopsided capitalist development and sustaining feudalism; sheer exploitation and naked oppression; despotism and open dictatorship; brutal suppression and rampant corruption, bribery and nepotism; fraudulence and misinformation, arrogance and contempt of the rulers; and many other lethal aspects of the imperialist system have been forced upon the masses in the Middle East by imperialism and its client states. But the masses have always resisted and struggled to change their situation.
All countries in the Middle East are riddled with deep rooted socio-economic problems where regeneration of poverty, disease, unemployment, alienation and regression by the imperialism and its client states have become inseparable aspects of these societies. Globalisation has ballooned the service sector and created a huge “black economy” including the arms, drugs and sex trades, transforming a large part of the working population into dealers, as well as deepening chronic youth unemployment, intensifying the class contradictions of already turbulent societies in the region.
Rapid deterioration of the quality of life under the rule of the imperialist system creating destitution and desperation for the masses has led to the cry of the masses for real solutions for a long time, but all in vain. Today, more than ever, whoever claims to have even some solutions and who temporarily fights against the US imperialism and its strategic offensive in the Middle East wins the support of the masses, and the Islamic fundamentalists are no exception.
The objective conditions of the economic crisis and instability created by the imperialist system and exacerbated by globalisation is at the root of both the surge of the inequalities and the people’s struggle. The subjective conditions of failure of the communists to come up with real solutions for the masses by establishing a revolutionary alternative through People’s War is at the root of the surge of the popularity of the other class forces including the Islamic fundamentalists.
Comrade Taylor even believes that there is a growing danger people in the US choose between crusading McWorld or Reactionary Jihad. She says: “… People in their hundreds of millions - in this country and around the world - must be presented with a third option, an option that refuses to choose between crusading McWorld or reactionary Jihad.” [1]
So it seems that in the US the influence of the Christian (or Islamic) fundamentalists is growing so rapidly that millions of people are converting to the Christian (or Islamic) fundamentalist’ s political programs every month. Or perhaps she believes that the leaders of the Democratic Party are secretly converting to Christian (or Islamic) fundamentalism to challenge the Christian fundamentalist Republicans. In fact, it is none of the above. But these are possible outcomes of basing one’s analysis on the abstract supposition of “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad”.
Rejecting the people’s resistance
There are many factors which have contributed to the rise of Islamic fundamentalist forces in the Middle East . Indeed, there is an urgent need to investigate this phenomenon and its effects on different class struggles deeply. However, every form of Islamic fundamentalism is a constituent part of a class struggle in a particular country and within itself contains its own particular contradictions.
For example, the regimes of Saudi Arabia and Iran in spite of both being fundamentalist have their own histories and particularities - their major difference today is that one fully supports and the other temporarily and partially opposes the US . The particularities of different forms of Islamic fundamentalist forces in different countries need to be analysed, principally their stance and activities in relation to the US strategic offensive, only then can one proceed to grasp the role of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East .
By generalising the role of different class forces without analysing their particularities, and instead relying on an abstract formula such as “Crusading McWorld vs. Reactionary Jihad”, it is not possible to identify the qualitatively different positions of different class forces, including the Islamic fundamentalists, concretely, let alone finding qualitatively different methods to deal with them. That is why Comrade Taylor ends up “unequivocally” rejecting both, the autocratic monarchy of Saudi Arabia , which is thoroughly devoted to and serving the US strategic offensive, and the Iraqi people’s resistance movement, which in fact has pulled the US war machine into a quagmire.
References
[1] US imperialism, Islamic fundamentalism … and the need for another way, Revolution No 91, organ of the Revolutionary communist party ( USA ), June 2007.
[2] Chairman Mao, On Contradiction, Selected Works, Vol. 1, p315.
[3] Chairman Mao, On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism, Selected Works, Vol. 1, p159.
[4] Chairman Mao, On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship, Selected Works, Vol. 4, p.422.
Source: The Science of Revolution