A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #21-25 - Turn the Table Over. Let's Free Ourselves from Wars, Oppression and Exploitation. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Where will the next war front open up? In Taiwan? In the Balkans? In 
Asia or Africa? The process of redefining areas of influence knows no 
stopping. The great and medium powers are working to secure energy 
sources, which are essential to guaranteeing the strength needed to 
impose their domination. While there is fear of the outbreak of a 
devastating world conflict that would repeat the immense massacres of 
the two wars that caused tens of millions of deaths in the twentieth 
century, war continues to flow in the adoption of forms and words that 
aim to be reassuring. War is no longer proclaimed, declarations of the 
beginning of the conflict are no longer presented to ambassadors; 
rather, its name is changed. The invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops 
becomes a 'special military operation', the US and Israeli attacks on 
Iran (and the missile responses) are not 'acts of war', as are the 
periodic bombings on Lebanon and Syria. Proxy wars have become the means 
to redefine areas without having to expose oneself directly. Those 
behind the civil conflict in Sudan are the same ones who on other fronts 
propose themselves as mediators of 'acts of war'.

Meanwhile, today in the world there are 123.4 million people forced to 
abandon their homes due to a war or an environmental crisis (data from 
UNHCR, the UN agency that deals with refugees and displaced persons): 
one person in 67, with an increase of 6% compared to the beginning of 
2024. Obviously these are civilians, the privileged victims of modern 
wars. Like the one that has faded into the background, after the attack 
on Iran, and which continues to be called a war while it is a real 
massacre planned and aimed at the forced transfer of those who survive. 
Obviously I am talking about the Gaza Strip where, together with the 
bombings and the cannonades, a food distribution system has been 
inaugurated, managed by agencies controlled by Israeli troops, 
structured in such a way as not only to not satisfy the needs of the 
Gazans, both in terms of methods and quantities (the food parcels - for 
those who manage to get them - contain only 1750 calories per person); 
but above all designed to be used as a pressure weapon to push the 
population south. The result is that from May 27 to today more than 200 
people have been killed while trying to get food. Small stuff, one might 
say, compared to the numbers that have marked this strip of land since 
October 2023 in the apathy of the majority of the world's population. On 
the other hand, it is the same lack of empathy that is felt towards the 
populations that are victims of other conflicts and other massacres, 
fueled and fomented by the regime's commentators, by the paid hacks, by 
the ruling classes, by all those who are only concerned with a possible 
welding of the oppressed classes at an international level and are 
strongly committed to stirring up the nationalist and identity fetish, 
functional to divisions and antagonisms.

Increasingly sophisticated and powerful weapons are accompanied by 
ancient methodologies; targeted killings go hand in hand with 
indiscriminate massacres; repressive legislation accompanies the 
illegality of teams in balaclavas (as in the USA with the hunt for 
immigrants): the defense of Democracy and the West passes through here. 
As it passes through the decisions of the recent NATO meeting, where an 
increase in military spending to 5% was agreed upon, to the detriment of 
those who are easy to imagine.

Never before have democrats and autocrats shown their true colors, and 
one might say, paraphrasing a phrase from an old movie, 'when the going 
gets tough, the tough get going'. When it comes to dividing up the 
world, when it comes to getting out of their own crises and economic 
contradictions, the great powers - USA, China, Russia, EU - are 
gradually abandoning the old tools of control and social swindling to 
show and exercise their muscles. The story involving Israel, Iran and 
the USA is exemplary.

Netanyahu, to get out of an increasingly complicated situation due to 
the emergence of criticism in the allied camp, the economic situation, 
the increase in internal dissent, his own judicial situation, launches a 
'surprise' attack against the enemy par excellence, the Iran of the 
tyrannical ayatollahs, proposing a change of regime; Khamenei, already 
on high alert, so much so that he had the most important parts of the 
country's nuclear industry hidden, responds with missiles, showing all 
the limits of Israeli defense; Trump, after having orchestrated the 
farce of the nuclear negotiation tables with the Persians, rushes to 
support his ally with super bombers and super bombs; Iran then threatens 
to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20/30% of oil transport by 
ship passes; China then intervenes on Khamenei and the threat falls; at 
this point Trump declares himself satisfied, does not support the regime 
change desired by Israel and agrees with Iran on a farcical bombing to 
close the game and allow all the players in the game to proclaim 
themselves winners. Netanyahu loudly proclaims that the possibility for 
Iran to build a nuclear weapon has now been postponed for years, 
enjoying the climate of popular favor created in the wake of the attack 
on the historic enemy (at least since the affirmation of the Khomeini 
revolution in 1979), favor certified by the latest polls that show his 
party on the rise (while the governing coalition would not reach the 
majority necessary to reconfirm itself); meanwhile, attacks by settlers 
in the West Bank and killings of civilians in Gaza increase, in a 
process of accelerating the annexation of territories and progressive 
expulsion of Palestinian residents.

Even Trump - slavishly praised by former NATO chief Rutte - declares 
himself the winner. Like a new Caesar he seems to say 'veni, vidi, 
vici', I came, I saw and I won by imposing my peace, and woe betide 
anyone who dares to question the extent of his victory. Trump cannot 
afford to show any weakness; the US is experiencing a phase of deep 
economic and social crisis, its debt has reached stellar proportions and 
placing bonds is becoming increasingly expensive and uncompetitive with 
other economies, the dollar is below parity with the euro and is 
slipping further and further, raising a crucial question: how long can 
it remain an international exchange currency and reserve asset in a 
situation in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to print money 
to refinance the debt? In one year, the cost of interest has gone from 
753 to 1,235 billion dollars, exceeding military spending itself. The 
imposition of an increase in military spending by NATO countries, as 
well as the seesawing tug-of-war over the issue of tariffs, are part of 
Trump's plans to try to remedy an increasingly slippery situation, to 
which military interventionism must contribute. The measures taken 
within the US also demonstrate how much Trump fears the growth of 
internal opposition to his policies that inevitably spill over into the 
working classes. The National Guard, ICE agents, and the Department of 
Justice now depend on his directives, not on the mechanisms provided for 
by the Constitution; Congress has been stripped of control of budgetary 
power, assumed by the president, and there are numerous signs of a 
crisis in the institutions that have marked the life of this country. 
From a president who says he is convinced he was sent by God to fix 
things, we can expect anything. Even several of his own have understood 
this and are distancing themselves from him.

The Iranian government, for its part, took advantage of the attack, 
which was foreseen and announced, to crack down further on its 
opponents, while simultaneously rallying its supporters. But more than 
its own military strength, Iran took advantage not so much of the hairy 
declarations of solidarity from the Muslim world, which were mostly 
instrumental, but of its status as a key country in a region of the 
world that is essential to an increasingly interconnected and 
interdependent global economy. Hitting Iran hard, seeking a regime 
change, would have favored its disintegration as a unitary state entity, 
given its ethnic composition with almost 40% of the population 
non-Iranian (Kurds and Baluchis first and foremost), generating a 
situation of further instability in an area in which Turks, Saudis, 
sheiks, Chinese and Indians are playing their games to progressively, 
but cautiously, assert their 'soft power'. So everyone is a winner!

Those who never win are those who are at the bottom, on the social 
ladder, and unfortunately also in the bombings. Yet there would be the 
strength to overturn the table if only we had the will and the ability 
to recognize ourselves as equals in a human condition made of oppression 
and exploitation. The path to take is long and complex, but perhaps the 
speed with which the transformations are taking place will be able to 
foster a collective awareness that prevents the mistakes of the past and 
leads to a real anti-authoritarian revolutionary process. Let's continue 
to work for this.

Massimo Varengo

https://umanitanova.org/rovesciare-il-tavolo-liberiamoci-da-guerre-oppressione-e-sfruttamento/
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