Statement by the Workers Voice Socialist Movement in New Orleans, La
I saw this statement on the UNAC Discussion list. Great statement by workers in New Orleans. [jb]
Millions go cold in Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Damascus, Syria
What does the working class in these places have in common? Through military force, the U.S. government has seized oil and gas resources and handed them over to private profiteers who wield total control over, what remains for now, a critical means of survival. The military assault on Syria and military spending to seize oil for profits result has caused deprivation and suffering for all.
Syrian oil is nationalized and income from export goes into public programs. The U.S. ultra rich can’t stand this, so they impose Texas-style profiteering by force. The U.S. military occupation of Syrian oil fields is preventing oil delivery to Damascus, Syria which has a population of 2.4 million. They too are experiencing very cold winter weather.
The artic storm was forecast for over a week. No preparations were made by the Texas or the federal government. No prior or after the storm airlifting food, water and thermal blankets and emergency income. No emergency orders to ban price gouging of electricity or gas, no money on the ground to fix broken pipes and restore drinkable water to millions. Texas, once Mexico, refuses to give the pennies of FEMA aid to undocumented workers who carry Texas on their backs alongside other workers. There are still blue tarps from hurricanes Harvey and Laura in Texas and Louisiana and unlivable homes all over.
As the storm approached, however, preparations were being made to bomb Syria. More U.S. weapons were being produced, more U.S. warships were being sent to threaten countries thousands of miles away, more U.S. sanctions were being imposed to starve and kill thousands around the world. Preparations were under way with $27 billion spent on one Mars Rover a mission to strengthen U.S. military space domination.
The U.S. military directs and funds mercenary forces such as the SDF that are currently occupying Syrian oilfields. They are stealing 140,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Hasakah and smuggling it into neighboring U.S. occupied Iraq. The Governor of Hasakah, Mr. Khalil, said the plundering is directed by U.S. military forces.
Secretary of State Pompeo and Sen. Lindsey Graham admitted to looting Syria’s oil in a testimony to the Senate Foreign Relation Committee in July 2020. Pompeo testified that an American oil company was taking crude oil into Iraq.
At that time Trump stated: “We’re keeping the oil, remember that. We want to keep the oil. Forty-five million dollars a month.”
Just like the last five presidents, Biden continues to war-monger in Syria. He continues to fund the fascist state of Israel and arm the brutal monarchy of Saudi Arabia. Both of these governments are carrying out wars of genocide against the Yemenis and the Palestinians who endure the most extreme cruelties every day.
The politicians and energy company executives who celebrated the “jackpot” they hit when Texas residents’ bills rose by more than 10,000 percent should be jailed. Utilities should be put in the hands of the people who, led by energy workers, can then carry out a just transition to safe, reliable renewable energy.
This bombing should be a wake-up call to those who believe we can support Biden or focus on only local issues. Syria today, Iran, Russia, or China tomorrow. The buildup of nuclear weapons and the move to space wars pose unthinkable dangers. We must fight for jobs, housing, and a union along with spreading an anti-war message as an issue of equal urgency.
The U.S. capitalist economy is dying, and the capitalists are resorting to war profiteering, fossil fuel production, and stock market gambling to prop it up. These are the hands behind the rise of the right. If we ignore militarism, if we fail to be in solidarity with workers around the world, then workers here will suffer mightily.
U.S. Out of the Middle East
Money for Peoples’ Needs, not for Billionaire’s Wars!
*Featured Image: People waited to enter a grocery store in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.Credit…Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times