Communique from the Anarchist Black Bloc
It is estimated by UNICEF that since sanctions were imposed on Iraq that
Iraqi children are dying at twice the rate that they were 10 years ago.
This statistic is also confirmed by the Middle East Research and
Information Project, which states that the infant mortality rate has gone
down by 160%. The same report cites the devastating bombardment of southern
Iraq by American forces, where most of Iraq's water is taken from and
sanitized, also having led to an increase in disease. With medical supplies
blocked from sanctions and a devastated infrastructure, the people of Iraq
are dying by scores.
The Bush Administration is now prepared to launch a full-scale invasion of
the country, which will undoubtedly lead to an enormous humanitarian
disaster and the risk of escalating the violence. The policies that brought
the American public to horrific incidents such as the September 11th attack
are being reinforced and expanded upon.
All of this is over oil. It is estimated that Iraq contains 115 billion
barrels of petroleum reserves, which makes them second only to Saudi Arabia
in the region. And only because of three decades of western intervention
and turmoil has there not been an attempt to exploit resources in 55
untouched oil fields.
We put forth the simple principle that we, the American and Iraqi public,
are not cannon fodder for oil wars! We also are willing to take whatever
means are necessary to assert our rights as human beings and remove
ourselves from the special interests that dominate the American state and
its policies. We are no longer willing to ignore the responsibility we have
in the crimes against humanity that are being committed in our name.
At the J26 march in Pittsburgh, an anarchist black bloc contingent broke
away from the rally at the Software Engineering Institute and marched to
the Marines Recruitment Center on Meyran St. There we smashed in the door
of the office and threw paint bombs into the inside with the intent of
causing as much economic and infrastructure damage to the office as
possible. Glass was shattered and paint was splattered all along the inside.
Many anarchists think that the state of affairs in the US is of such that
if the public is to have any rights at all, we must begin to take political
action outside of the official framework. No evidence of this analysis
could be greater then when George W. Bush Jr. virtually bullied himself
into office. The electoral process is run and dominated by corporate
interests. It is failing to be democratic in any way, and that is not only
reflected in its process but also its policies. The American socio-economic
system has not changed much since September 11th. And, the anarchist
approach to the system has not changed much since November 30, 1999.
There is an increasingly dominant feeling within the anti-war movement that
if we are going to be serious about securing human rights, here and abroad,
by stopping the invasion, we are going to have to find new ways of
political action. It is a privilege to not act upon the most direct means
at our disposal. Many of us in the anti-war movement feel that it is also
time to abandon this privilege.
Many anarchists feel that the only way to stop the invasion is to raise the
domestic costs for the state to pursue it. We can do this through various
forms of non-participation and economic sabotage. The Marines recruitment
center has no right to exist. That institution exists primarily for the
purposes of recruiting politically marginalized people into the ranks of
the Marines, who then enforce the policies of America's corporate state
through murder and violence. Its sheer existence is an affront to human
rights.
We encourage everyone in America to refuse to participate in the invasion
and find how he or she can directly change the profitability of the war. It
is also vital that there is support for those who are engaged in
non-participation and direct action. With these two strategies put into
practice, we can potentially avert a humanitarian disaster.
The anarchist position has never been something we have been hiding or are
ashamed to make public. We want social revolution. We want the creation of
direct democracy in our politics and economics and the destruction of
authoritarian social institutions. We stand in defense of inalienable human
rights and will struggle for these principles by any means necessary.
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