Big Oil Going Back into Iraq

Commentary by David Hungerford

It’s in the news that four big oil companies that once formed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) are back in Iraq. Up until 1972, Iraq did not ‘own’ its own oil. - Iraqi oil belonged the to IPC.
The four have been back in Iraq for a number of months. They are about to sign ‘service contracts’ for reconstruction of the country’s oil production infrastructure. The contracts do not require approval by the occupation puppet Green Zone ‘government.’

The big oil cartel is arguably the most powerful corporate combine in the world. It has its foot in the door and that’s all it needs to regain dominance. It’s far more than just another ‘war for oil’ story, however. Rather, it raises two other, essential questions about the war: Why war? Why Iraq?

There are many ways to get oil. War is the worst. So why war? There are many countries that have oil. Saudi Arabia has oil but we are not fighting them. So why Iraq?

These are absolutely critical questions but rarely asked. Now Big Oil has raised them in spite of itself.

The IPC was a cartel of four giant oil companies. Today the companies are known as Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and Total. At one time they had been in Iraq for many years. Then in 1958 the Iraqi Revolution put an end to British domination of Iraq. The IPC retained control of the oil, however.

When Iraq achieved a stable government under the Baath Party in 1968 it set about claiming its own oil. Many problems had to be solved.

Iraq needed oil extraction technology of its own and capital. It needed to avoid overthrow by the imperialist countries, as had happened in Iran in 1952 when the government of Mohammed Mossadeq was overthrown in a CIA-instigated coup. Iraq needed to overcome the ability of the oil giants to embargo sales of its oil, something that had also happened to Iran.

The person Iraq turned to for answers to hard questions was Saddam Hussein. Time and again Saddam’s solutions worked. By 1972 the Iraqis were able to tell the IPC that the ‘party was over,’ the oil now belonged to them. As Lee Raymond, a former chairman of Exxon Mobil told Newsweek, “Saddam Hussein threw us out.” (Sept. 15, 2007)

Although he was not yet formally head of state, from that point on Saddam Hussein was the key person in Iraq. He came to power not because he killed or terrorized anyone but because he was the one who figured out how to nationalize the oil. That’s why the U.S. demonized him. That’s why they hanged him.

After the 1973 war with Israel and the use of the ‘oil weapon’ by the Arab countries, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a previously insignificant force, was able to take control of oil pricing away from the big oil cartel. It was a great step forward for all of the OPEC countries not just economically, but also in sovereignty.

Now we have the answer to the question of why there is a war for oil: It is due to the conflict between imperialist domination and national sovereignty

But why Iraq and not the others? Among Arab countries in OPEC Iraq alone had full control of its oil from production through sale. It was the only fully sovereign Arab country in the Persian Gulf. By 1990 the conflict had become so intense that the imperialists could think of nothing better than to rig up the Kuwait crisis and commit aggression against Iraq.

The IPC could get back into Iraq only at gunpoint, by invasion and occupation. That’s the only way it can stay. That’s what John McCain meant when he said he is willing to stay in Iraq for “maybe 100” years. It can’t be done. As long as the occupation stays the Iraqi people will fight. The war has its ups and downs but the people will always fight. Their cause is just. In the end they are certain to win.

[article from Fight Back! News; cartoon from Workers World]

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Freedom Road 2008 Election Analysis

2008 Presidential Elections: Defeat McCain

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

The anti-war movement and a wide array of progressive people’s forces is set to protest outside the Sept. 1 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Organizers are predicting more than 50,000 will fill the streets on Labor Day 2008. Protesters will confront the war-makers, racists and reactionaries who just a few years ago were bragging that Republican rule would last forever.

The Republicans are desperate to turn around their decline, after losing big in the November 2006 congressional elections. More recently they lost three special elections, one each in Mississippi and Louisiana as well as the seat held by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois. The American people are frustrated by the Iraq war, worried about the economy and angry about corruption. The writing is on the wall. It may be in misspelled English, and it may be on the wall of a destroyed house in Iraq, but it is clear that the U.S. occupation is going down and taking the Republicans with it.

So up steps John McCain to receive the Republican crown. McCain is the war and occupation candidate. He is determined to carry forward the Bush agenda and is dedicated to the occupation in Iraq for “maybe 100 years.” “That would be fine with me,” McCain said at a January 2008 campaign stop. More recently McCain changed his tune with a plan to get troops home by 2013 - just in time for the next presidential election. We ask, “Who is he trying to fool?” McCain is more of the same - more war, repression, inequality and tax cuts for the rich. The same tired, worn out politics. Besides, have you seen this man when he gets angry?

On Nov. 4, 2008 we are calling for a vote against McCain. The stage is set to vote out the Republicans and to reject their reactionary agenda of war, immigrant bashing, rolling back the rights of women, racist inequality, discrimination against gays and lesbians and poverty. A vote against McCain will create better conditions for working class and oppressed people to make change in our society. Most importantly, we are calling for a vote against McCain because it will be seen as a referendum on the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Four years, let alone 100 years, is too long to wait.

Barack Obama is on track to be the candidate of the Democratic Party, the other party of big business. This is despite Hillary Clinton’s racist demonization campaign of Obama and his supporters - the distorted attacks on Reverend Wright and the ideas of Black liberation theology, ‘voter registration’ campaigns designed to confuse Black voters and turn them away from the polls and Hillary’s racist appeals to “hard working Americans, white Americans.”

While Hillary Clinton has sunk to her lowest, Barack Obama has risen to answer the attacks and prompted uncomfortable discussions at coffee shops, lunch counters and dinner tables across the country. The United States was built on national oppression: the seizure of land from Native Americans, the slave labor of Africans, the exploitation of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. The struggle against racism and for equality are not just struggles of the past, they continue today, as seen in the fight for immigrant rights, justice for Katrina survivors and against the harassment of Arab Americans and American Muslims.

The facts are plain; Obama parts ways, to a degree, with Clinton on the Iraq War, free trade agreements and racism. He has a message of hope with wide appeal. However, Obama operates well within the confines of the Democrats and their big business backers. That said, his election will create a better political climate for the anti-war, immigrant rights, labor and national movements. And no matter who is in the White House, it is important for progressives to stay active and to fight for an agenda that places the peoples needs first.

Say no to war, racism, discrimination and reaction!

Vote against McCain!

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Video: March on the RNC and Stop the War!

I'm reposting this video from Left Spot's Blog. On it you'll see the leaders of the anti-war movement talking about the importance of marching on the Republican National Convention.

ACTION ALERT: Tell Saint Paul Mayor Coleman and Twin Cities newspapers: "Anti-war protesters have a right to demonstrate at the RNC"

Please also check out:

Protest RNC 2008
Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War

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Victory for SDS and IVAW in Alabama

Alabama: SDS-Tuscaloosa Wins, Anti-war Protesters Acquitted
By Chapin Gray

Tuscaloosa, AL - Applause and cheers erupted in the courtroom at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, May 2, when the judge threw out the charges against four anti-war protesters. “As I was waiting outside to give my testimony, I heard the roar of clapping from behind the door,” remembers Tom Keenan, a member of the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “A mass of people flooded out of the court room, saying ‘We won!’”

The protesters - Jason Hurd, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and SDS members Alyse Deller, Christine Jackson and Jeremy Miller - were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after a mock raid in which protestors reenacted a typical U.S. military raid on Iraqi civilians common in Iraq under the U.S. occupation.


The Tuscaloosa County District Court judge threw out the case after hearing what he called “vague and unclear” testimony from the prosecution’s witnesses. The prosecution attempted to prove that the anti-war demonstration was ‘disruptive’ and constituted disorderly conduct.


However, it was clear to the protesters and their supporters that the university was attempting intimidate the activist organization and to silence political speech on campus. For example, one of the prosecution’s witnesses admitted that sororities were allowed to cheer, dance and otherwise cause commotion inside the Student Center without a permit, and yet the campus police were not called. This shows that what mattered was not that the mock-raid was ‘loud,’ but that it conveyed a message about the current situation in occupied Iraq that the university administration found unacceptable.


Since the arrests, the Tuscaloosa SDS chapter and lawyers from the Alabama chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild worked to build a campaign to drop charges against the ‘Ferg Four,’ as the protesters became known, and to fight back against the repressive actions of the university.


David Gespass, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild who represented the Ferg Four pro bono, was excited by the acquittal, but frustrated by the attempts of the university to criminalize protest. “It is sad that we have reached a point in this country where exercising freedom of speech becomes a chargeable offense,” lamented Gespass, “and that a decision vindicating that basic freedom is seen as a victory and not the natural birthright of a free people.”

Before the trial, dozens of members of SDS and supporters picketed outside the courthouse, chanting, “Hey, hey, U of A! How many kids did you jail today?” and holding up signs demanding an end to the war in Iraq.

SDS members see the mock raid as part of the effort of students across the country to up the social costs of the war. In recent years, student protests have become increasingly militant, from blocking military shipments out of ports in Tacoma, to occupying the offices and lobbies of war profiteers in D.C. to going on hunger strikes for socially responsible investment at University of Florida.


“This acquittal sent an important message not only to U.A. officials but also to all who think they can silence protest,” said Joshua Weiss, a member of Tuscaloosa-SDS. “They can’t keep us from speaking out against the war.”


“We are very happy with the outcome of this trial and hope that this will encourage others to speak out against injustice without fear,” said Jenae Stainer of SDS-Tuscaloosa, one of the organizers of the campaign to drop the charges. “We are also so thankful for all of our allies in SDS and in the anti-war movement who have supported us since day one and helped make this victory possible.”

From: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2008/05/tuscaloosavictory.htm

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SDS / IVAW Mock Raid in Asheville, NC

This counter-recruitment action, the staging of a "mock raid" by members of Students for a Democratic Society and Iraq Veterans Against the War in Asheville, North Carolina is an excellent example of what the antiwar movement needs more of: militant actions that disrupt business as usual, disrupt recruitment efforts, raise the social costs of the war, and tear holes into the fabrications of the war machine. Here you can watch a youtube video of the mock raid that took place there on Feb 5th, and read the "Joint Statement" from UNCA SDS and IVAW-Asheville.

The UNCA SDS / IVAW-Asheville statement reads, in part, "We oppose this war for many reasons. In particular, we oppose the war because it violates the sovereignty of Iraq’s people and their national right to self-determination. Furthermore, the U.S. government forces service members to fight an illegal war. We recognize that the military-industrial complex, corporate profiteering and imperialist designs fuel this war on an oil-rich and strategically important region."

After describing the action that took place, IVAW-Asheville president, Jason Hurd is quoted as saying, "This scenario is based entirely in reality. It is based on the first-hand experience of Mike Robinson, a fellow IVAW member and participant in this action. I also spoke personally with many Iraqi citizens during my tour who explained that raids like this one occur daily in occupied Iraq."

The statement goes on to say, "The guerrilla theater that took place on the 5th is in no way meant as an attack on individual military members, but rather as a statement against war and militarism as well as an indictment against the criminal regime here at home. Our government exploits U.S. soldiers who come predominantly from working-class and oppressed communities. Only the rich profit from this war. Therefore, we express solidarity with all U.S. service members; we see them as our natural allies in the fight against all oppression."

The statement goes on to analyze what military recruiters promise and offers a comparison to how that stack up against "the real world." Finally, the statement says, "SDS and IVAW want all U.S. troops out of Iraq NOW! We realize the futility and criminality of this ongoing occupation and we see the correlation between high-levels of violence and U.S. presence in Iraq. SDS member and participant in Tuesday’s action, Angela Denio said, 'This war is a complete injustice perpetrated against the people of Iraq. The anti-war movement must rise in solidarity with the Iraqi people and their just struggle for national liberation.' From this point forward, whenever any military recruiter sets foot on UNCA campus, SDS and IVAW-Asheville commit to countering their efforts by building a community movement that resists and disrupts war and militarism."

I sincerely hope that we see more of this type of thing in the months to come. As Ron Jacobs put it recently in Counter Punch: "The only existing national organizations that could possibly provide fresh leadership at this time are Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)." As we move toward the fifth anniversary of the war, groups like SDS and IVAW need to take the lead with more actions like this and the SDS call for March 17-21 days of action against the war in Iraq.

U.S. Out of Iraq NOW!

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SDS Days of Action Against the War in Iraq

NATIONAL DAYS OF STUDENT ACTION AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR

ALL OUT FOR MARCH 20, 2008

This March will mark a grim milestone - the fifth anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Despite the clear mandate from the American people to end the occupation, the U.S. government continues to wage war upon the Iraqi people. Bush’s mocking response to dwindling public support for the war has been the “troop surge,” or simply more of the same, while simultaneously threatening neighboring countries like Iran. For their part, the Democrats refuse to commit to a clear anti-war stance, even as they try to posture as the opposition party. Meanwhile, the threat of domestic recession looms, racist attacks increase, and millions lack decent housing, jobs, education, and health-care.

The war will drag on for many more years–draining billions of dollars and resulting in thousands of more causalities, both American and Iraqi, on top of the hundreds of thousands already killed, injured, and displaced–unless the people stand up and fight for change.Every year, there have been protests marking the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that was launched on the basis of lies and deceit. Students have historically had an especially important role in the struggles against racism and war, and we continue to do so today. Last March, over 80 high schools and colleges answered the call by chapters of Students for a Democratic Society to come together to send one loud resounding NO to the Bush administration and the Republican agenda, to the Democrats who refuse to carry out the mandate of their constituents, and to the University administrations that so often support war efforts.

This March, SDS is urging all students, as part of the broader community of people of conscience, to voice our opposition to the war in Iraq. As the presidential election nears, candidates need to be sent a clear message: we will not stand for vague time lines and empty promises, we will not tolerate sanctions, threats, and aggression against Iran, and that we will stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people who are struggling to liberate their country.We want as many people as possible to join us in this protest; the larger the protest the stronger the impact we have, and the sooner we can help end this war. We are calling on any and all student and youth based organizations that are opposed to the war in Iraq to mobilize their memberships, their campus, their community and hit the streets for the week of March 17-21, with March 20 as the focal point.* We are calling on students to take action on their own campuses, where we have the power to reach the entire student body with our message and build resistance on our own campuses. We are calling on our fellow students and youth to take the lead and do whatever it takes–from rallies, marches, walk-outs, civil disobedience, and direct action–to send a clear message to the U.S. government: Get out of Iraq Now!

U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!

GET ORGANIZED, GET INVOLVED, GET IN THE STREETS!

SDS March 20th Working Group

January 4, 2008

Contact march20sds@gmail.com if you would like to sign on to the call.

*This call is flexible so that each campus/community can organize an action that works best for them. For instance, if March 20th is an inconvenient date due to Spring Break, actions can be held in the weeks prior to or after 3/20. We are encouraging those who are on spring break during this week to mobilize their chapters to participate in the anti-war actions being held in D.C. on the 19th; for more information on the actions in DC, email dcsds@riseup.net.

http://march20sds.wordpress.com/

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Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!

The contradiction between imperialism and the peoples of the oppressed nations is the principal contradiction on a world scale. The main front of this contradiction is in Iraq, where the Iraqi national resistance is in the process of defeating U.S. imperialism. Below you will find some articles about the resistance in Iraq and why they need and deserve the support of the antiwar movement. The Iraqi Resistance is a national liberation movement struggling against occupation for justice, peace, and self-determination. While "TROOPS OUT NOW" must remain the central and unifying slogan of the antiwar movement, raising political support for the Iraqi national resistance as the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people is one of the main tasks of Marxist-Leninists and of all genuine anti-imperialists in the movement today. This is true solidarity with the Iraqi people.

Voices of the Iraqi Resistance:
Leaders of the Iraqi National Resistance Speak at an International Solidarity Conference

By Kosta Harlan

Chianciano, Italy - An historic conference with leaders of the Iraqi national resistance was held here last week. It was the first time that representatives of the Iraqi resistance have been able to speak in the West. Organizers had previously attempted to hold the conference in the fall of 2005, only to have the Italian government withhold visas from the Iraqi participants after intense pressure from the United States government. The scope of the conference extended beyond Iraq to include the resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as representatives from the antiwar and liberation movements in countries from around the world.

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/03/voices.htm)

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U.S. anti-war activist on speaking tour, tells of meeting with Iraqi resistance

By staff

In March, U.S. antiwar activist and Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Kosta Harlan attended a historic international solidarity conference in Italy with leaders of the Iraqi resistance ( see “Voices of the Iraqi Resistance,” Fight Back!, March 2007). Since returning to the United States, Harlan has traveled to college campuses and cities across the South, speaking to hundreds of students and antiwar activists about the Iraqi resistance. He spoke at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte; at Winthrop University in South Carolina; at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and at community centers in Winston-Salem and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/06/antiwartour.htm)

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Petraeus, Bush vow to continue war

Movement to end war grows

By Josh Sykes and Staff

Reporting to Congress Sept. 11, General David Petraeus confirmed what most in the anti-war movement have long been saying: The U.S. has no intention of getting out of Iraq anytime soon - unless it is forced to.

In the course of the testimony and questioning before congress there was talk of the occupation continuing another five years or more. Figures in the Bush administration have compared the occupation of Iraq with the U.S. military presence in south Korea, an occupation that has extended more than half a century. In a speech two days later, Bush endorsed Petraeus’s recommendations, including a plan to ‘draw down’ U.S. troops to pre-surge levels. Practically, this means that the current number of U.S. troops, about 168,000, may be reduced to about 130,000 to 140,000 by next summer. The key phrase here is ‘may be.’ What’s certain is that the Bush administration and the Pentagon are planning an indefinite occupation of Iraq and that Bush is delivering on his promised ‘war without end.’

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/09/petraeus.htm)

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The Iraqi Resistance is Just and Should be Supported:
A Reply to Phyllis Bennis

Kosta Harlan
August 11, 2007

In the four years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, public debate within the U.S. antiwar movement on whether to support the Iraqi resistance has rarely taken place. Consequently the recent polemic between Alexander Cockburn and Phyllis Bennis (a leader in the United for Peace and Justice Coalition) is an extremely positive development and should be welcomed. It is an important debate that needs to take place at all levels within the U.S. antiwar movement.

Some weeks ago Alexander Cockburn wrote of the need for the U.S. antiwar movement to openly support the resistance ("Support their troops?," CounterPunch). In her reply, "Why the Anti — War Movement Doesn't Embrace the Iraqi Resistance", Bennis correctly argues that the basis of unity in the movement should not be "Victory to the resistance", but the demand "Troops out now". But Bennis goes further and argues that anti — imperialists have no responsibility to raise support for the Iraqi resistance. Bennis says that the Iraqi resistance is illegitimate (with some arrogance, she refers to the Iraqi resistance in quotation marks) and is therefore undeserving of support. This conclusions rests on a number of erroneous arguments, concentrated here in one paragraph of her article:

(read the rest: http://www.mltoday.com/Pages/IraqWar/Harlan-ReplytoBennis.html)

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Interview in Madrid with Abu Muhammad, spokesman of the patriotic and nationalist Iraqi Resistance

“The Iraqi Resistance is the legitimate and sole representative of Iraq”

CEOSI, Madrid, 8 October 2007

IraqSolidaridad (www.iraqsolidaridad.org),

10 December 2007

Translated from Spanish for IraqSolidaridad by Sabah Assir, revised by Ian Douglas

“The Iraqi Resistance has no relation with Al-Qaeda, which has its own vision, strategy, purposes and resources. One part of the assassinations that are now taking place in Iraq are executed by Al-Qaeda and another part by the militias and death squads linked to the political parties [invested in the US-imposed political process and] related to the occupation, but which also count on the assistance of Iran through its intervention in Iraq. […] The objective of the Iraqi Resistance is to achieve a total liberation. When the occupiers leave Iraq we will establish a national democratic, multiparty system, based on free elections; a regime in which all Iraqis that believe in collective rights will participate.”

(read the rest: http://iraqsolidaridad.org/2007/docs/10-12-07-Entrevista_Abu_Mohamad_ingles.html)

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Iraqi Resistance Demands U.S. Withdrawl and Recognition

Published Oct 20, 2007 7:16 AM

Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto participated in interviews in Madrid on Oct. 10 with Abu Muhammed, a spokesperson for both the post-invasion Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Iraq and for the Supreme Command of the Front for Struggle [Jihad] and Liberation in Iraq (FSL), whose formation was announced Oct. 2. This front is one of the major coalitions or fronts of organizations that participate in the Iraqi National Resistance (INR) to the U.S. occupation.

This was the first set of interviews by an official representative of a major coalition of the Iraqi resistance outside the Middle East. He came to Spain at the invitation of the group CEOSI (iraqsolidaridad.org) and held media, political and institutional meetings.

(read the rest: http://www.workers.org/2007/world/iraq-1025/)

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'US is the main irritant in Iraq'

By Ahmed Janabi

Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, is arguably one of the most influential Iraqi Sunni leaders today. His unequivocal opposition to the US-led occupation and criticism of the Nouri al-Maliki government attracted threats against his life and forced him into exile.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, al-Dhari says the slight improvement in the security situation in Iraq "is due to a decision by the Iraqi government to reign in its death squads".

(read the rest: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/358F4592-A9B6-4BBC-8C3A-4FBC700C0BBC.htm)

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Iraq - Eye to Eye with the Occupation • Chapter III: The Historical Roots of Resistance

First published in French and Dutch in May 2004, Iraq: Eye to Eye with the Occupation by Mohamed Hassan, former Ethiopian diplomat and Middle East specialist, and David Pestieau, Belgian journalist (www.solidaire.org) has now been translated into German, Italian and Turkish.One of the first books on the occupation of Iraq, it gives facts and analysis on the historical, political and social roots of the Iraqi resistance against the US army and its allies.

(read the rest: http://www.solidaire.org/scripts/article.phtml?section=A3AAABBSBA&obid=26821)

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FRSO Fifth Congress Resolution:
Victory to the Iraqi Resistance

As the U.S. occupation of Iraq enters its fifth year, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization salutes the Iraqi resistance in its heroic struggle to liberate Iraq from imperialism and colonialism. We join with progressive forces around the world in recognizing that the victory of the Iraqi resistance is the only possible path towards a just peace in Iraq.

FRSO condemns the U.S. occupation of Iraq as a crime against humanity. Millions of people are suffering daily under the boot of military dictatorship. Hundreds of thousands have died in the four years of occupation. Millions live as refugees, both in and outside of Iraq. The U.S. has established a sectarian puppet "government," bound hand-and-foot to Washington, and calls it "democracy." FRSO calls on the antiwar movement to refuse any support to this puppet regime and recognize the national resistance as the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people.

(read the rest: http://www.frso.org/about/5congress/resolutioniraq.htm)

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The Movement Against War in Iraq:
A New Period and Our Tasks

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Lessons From 17 Years of Aggression and Resistance

Iraq has been under attack by the United States government and military for the past 17 years. The current war and occupation has lasted for four years, and the U.S. faces military defeat by the Iraqi resistance. The American people do not support the war and want the troops brought home. It is an important time to look back at the movement against the war, try to learn some of the lessons that are available and look ahead to the tasks for the U.S. anti-war movement.

(read the rest: http://www.frso.org/about/statements/2007/antiwartasks2007.htm)

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FRSO Fifth Congress:
Main Political Report 2007
International Situation

Introduction

Since 2004, the international situation has continued to develop in a way that is extremely favorable for the world’s peoples to make gains. In fact, the imperialist centers have been dealt heavy setbacks. On a general level we can say that the four basic contradictions are sharpening–between imperialism and the peoples of the oppressed nations, between the imperialist powers, between the working class and the capitalists, and between socialism and capitalism–and that this intensification of the basic contradictions exists in the context of the long-term decline of U.S. imperialism. (1)

The principal contradiction in the world today is between the peoples of the third world (2) and imperialism. The U.S. is the preeminent imperialist power in the world today and as such it is the main danger to the world’s peoples.

(read the rest: http://frso.org/about/5congress/mpr2007.pdf)

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Meeting Resistance: A Documentary Film about the Resistance in Iraq

What would you do if America was invaded?

(check it out: http://www.meetingresistance.com/)

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For more see also: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/resistance.htm

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