U.S. missiles and bombs are raining down on the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. This is a sinister and oppressive development. It will strengthen the ability of the U.S. to exploit people all over the world. It will increase the U.S. ability to forcibly reshape world politics to serve its interests. For years, the U.S. has tightened its control over the oilfields of the Persian Gulf by punishing the people of Iraq. The U.S. is acting like "the dictator of the world" -- this time in the Balkans.
As the U.S. and its NATO allies bomb Yugoslavia, they are bombarding people with lies about their "humanitarian mission." But let's be clear on this: The U.S./NATO operation in the Balkans is NOT about saving lives, it's NOT about promoting understanding between different peoples, it's NOT about defending the rights of the oppressed. It's about asserting big power domination -- militarily, economically and geo-politically. And the masses of people are the ones that will suffer for this.
The same system that aimed 41 bullets at Amadou Diallo in New York City, claims its missiles and bombs have a "humanitarian mission" in the Balkans. But it is coldly imperialist for the U.S. and its allies to impose their political and military decisions. Who can be happy to see German imperialist military forces attack Serbia -- almost 60 years after the Nazis brutally tried to conquer the country? And it is chilling for a whole new generation to see denunciations flying between the U.S. and Russia -- almost a decade after the danger of inter-imperialist war in Europe supposedly ended.
People everywhere have been horrified by the massacres in the Balkans. The U.S. is promising that its attacks will help shield the Albanian people of Kosovo from further genocide by Serbian death squads. But the U.S. is cynically using sympathy for Albanian Kosovars to justify its own power moves. If the U.S. ruling class cares so much about the suffering of innocent people -- let them stop the embargo of Iraq which is killing over 4,000 children a month. Let them stop their monstrous prison boom and the criminalization of hundreds of thousands of ghetto youth and immigrant people.
Clinton has openly explained his imperialist reasons for this attack: the U.S. wants to "contain" the fighting in Kosovo so that it does not disrupt U.S. regional plans. In particular, the U.S. imperialists have big plans for Turkey -- which they want to develop as a major power in the Middle East, a key ally of Israel and a major pro-U.S. player in the fight for control of the oilfields in the Caucasus. The U.S. does not want Turkey drawn into a regional war with Greece over the treatment of Albanians in Yugoslavia. And the other NATO powers, while joining the U.S.-led moves in the Balkans, have their own big power agendas.
These are imperialist goals -- they are plans to rob and exploit whole regions. There is nothing here that is humanitarian or deserves support. The U.S. wants a world ruled by dollars and missiles -- with high-tech sweatshops and free enterprise zones that exploit low wage labor. When the U.S. acts as the "cop of the world," the result is more misery and oppression.
Some people say, "Well, of course the U.S. is acting out of its own interests. But these attacks on Yugoslavia might still cause the Serbs to back off and give the Kosovar people some relief." But U.S. attacks and possible future occupation will not protect the Kosovar people. The U.S. has consistently upheld the right of the Serbian-dominated Yugoslavian government to rule over the persecuted Albanian majority of Kosovo. In the recent negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Albright insisted that the Albanian militias of Kosovo disarm -- and that the Albanian people of Kosovo give up their demands of independence from Yugoslavia.
The U.S. solution has been to demand that all the local forces of this region -- including the Yugoslav government and the Kosovars -- accept a U.S./NATO occupation force in Kosovo. This would be no protection at all. The U.S. is applying military threat and pressure in this region for its own cold-blooded interests--and it will cynically use, abuse, and betray the Kosovo people whenever that serves those interests.
U.S. attacks and pressures around the world are intended to accomplish one thing--increase the ability of the U.S. imperialists to dominate, exploit and bully people. It is extremely important for progressive and class-conscious people to oppose these U.S. aggressions. Any defeat or isolation the U.S. suffers in the course of such adventures will help the worldwide struggles for liberation.
This leaflet and more information are available from RW Online: www.mcs.net/~rw/or