Open letter from The Arab European League (AEL) to the anti-globalist
movement in Europe and the United States
THE RESISTANCE SHOULD RISE TO MAKE THE EMPIRE COLLAPSE
Dear friends,
It is now more than ever clear that we are on the verge of an all-out
military attack on Iraq and the Arab and Muslim worlds. It is
important within this context to clarify certain points and to have a
correct analysis of the situation. This war is by no means an
incidental event that is isolated from the global policies of the
American establishment and its plea for hegemony. War is already
waged on daily basis since more than a decade with economical,
societal and environmental weapons of mass destruction. This war is
called globalisation. The military escalation is nothing but the
crystallisation of that onslaught into a final blitz that should lead
to complete victory of the US and its lackeys. Slavery will not only
be re-established de facto but also de jure. We can not and we will
not accept this.
The Arab Nation and the Muslim community (Umma) constitute the
spearhead of the struggle against the brutal face of globalisation
since 1991. We were pushed us into assuming this responsibility not
by choice, but by the forces of history. First the collapse of the
Soviet Bloc and the disappearance of a very important counterbalance
to American domination, and second the ongoing Zionist invasion on
Arab land since 1948. Arabs do not have a choice but to struggle on
three levels. First against American invasion, second against Zionist
occupation, and third against most of the Arab regimes that are
nothing but puppets in the hands of the Americans and the Zionists.
It is a triple combat for freedom, unity and social justice that
makes the Arab National struggle what it is: a national liberation
struggle.
Our people managed to lead the battle without any relevant role of
states or governments. The Arab struggle is popular in nature and in
structure. The resistance in Lebanon was popular, the Intifada is
popular and even the most violent and extreme expressions of the Arab
struggle were carried out by popular organisations and not by states.
It is precisely because the Arab resistance maintains its popular
structure and method, that it is invulnerable and indestructible.
Iraq can be bombed and will be bombed. The Iraqi army might be (and
very likely will be) defeated under the blows of the tremendous
American war machine. The Americans will proceed to set up a puppet
government that will collaborate in the looting of the oil reserves
of Iraq. From its new Iraqi stronghold, the Americans will proceed to
threaten Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran militarily. The
Zionist state will have a free reign to lash out at the Palestinian
resistance and to annex Jerusalem. The real Iraqi opposition (not the
American ceremonial version of it) and the left in the west should
not fall into this trap, how tempting it may seem, and should not
forget that war will demand a high price in blood and treasure of
common people.
Dear friends, the Arab people do not have any choice but to fight
fire with fire and violence with violence. Therefore, our support to
the peoples' resistance should be unconditional and outspoken despite
the ethical and moral dilemmas that might face us. The difference
between victory and defeat will be determined within a fraction of a
second. That fraction of a second can have implications that will
last for centuries, so first fight back and then philosophise about
it. Strike back first and assess it morally later. We are not facing
a moral enemy, so let us not be the victims of our morality. The only
weapons we have sometimes are the bitter desperation and the urge of
survival. In places like Palestine and Iraq this is the only logic
that must prevail. Resistance in places like these should be as
reckless as the onslaught it is fighting or it will be mercilessly
crushed. Moreover, in this context neutrality is not an option,
neutrality means supporting the aggressor. So what side are you on?
What is your choice?
The AEL made a clear choice. We are a radical popular movement
uniting Arabs and Muslims in Europe in the struggle against racism
and exclusion and for solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere in
the world and especially in our Arab and Muslim worlds. We represent
an important part of the most oppressed group in European society. We
are deprived of most of our human rights, our civil rights and our
right to preserve our existence. The AEL is an anti-globalist
movement by definition. We are the victims of this globalisation and
we are determined to bring about a new globalisation that is that of
justice and welfare and not that of exploitation and oppression. As
the Arab and Muslim voice in this anti-globalist movement, we feel
that we have more responsibility towards our brothers and sisters in
Palestine, Iraq and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world. We will
make their voice heard and be the voice of the voiceless. An honest
assertive voice. An independent voice, not an apologetic voice but a
defiant voice.
Because of all this, the AEL is criminalised and demonised. We are
persecuted, our houses are raided and our activists jailed. Democracy
does not apply for us and laws are especially invented to criminalise
us. The traditional political parties might disagree on everything
but they agree that the AEL must be crushed.
Just as the Arab resistance is popular, AEL is also popular and
invulnerable. We have no offices to close and no subsidies to stop.
We have no money to confiscate. We are not dependent on these things
to function, our only capital is our activists and they are people
who are ready to die for the cause of justice and equality let alone
go to jail. The more we are faced with oppression the more we will
generate resistance and we will become stronger and more determined.
Dear friends, the anti-globalisation movement cannot be an
exclusively Marxist and Anarchist club. Marxists and Anarchists
certainly constitute an important faction within this movement but
nonetheless we believe that non-Marxist organisations and individuals
can play an important role in it. The Anti-Globalisation movement
should be that of the resistance against oppression and
dispossession, for equality and justice regardless of the analysis
one makes to fight for these noble goals. The resistance of peoples
against the empire is not an ideological choice; it is a fight for
survival.
The empire is united with its States (US and their lackeys) its overt
(Bush and Blair) and covert (multinationals and cartels) leaderships.
It has its Ideology (hegemony and exploitation) and it is on the
move. The resistance is divided, unstructured, confused, and losing
ground. This must change. We have to learn from the experiences of
peoples who are dealing with the empire in its most brutal form:
Zionism. In Lebanon the resistance against Israel was victorious
because it was a popular front, it did not bargain and no state had
control over it. It was a front where Islamists, nationalists and
communists fought side by side for the freedom of their people.
Liberals and right-wingers either watched or collaborated with the
enemy.
In Palestine the factions of the resistance agreed among each other
in rejecting the merchandising of the Palestinian authority. They all
know that the way towards freedom is the unity of all fighters
against the common enemy and for the common good. Let that lesson be
remembered. We exclude any alliance with the right-wing extremists,
but we strongly call upon leftists, centrist religious
revolutionaries and progressive nationalists to unite in one front.
The AEL is itself an example of such a unity. Within our ranks, Arabs
and Muslims from these three tendencies are building a remarkable and
unprecedented movement. Our Ideology is also an expression of this
unity-process between these various factions. We are no more a mere
adding-sum of leftists and religious and progressive nationalists, we
are now all that together and more. We are not saying that people can
not differ on these issues and that they should necessarily melt into
one ideological framework. We are saying that we should
not allow these differences to weaken our solidarity and by doing
that strengthening our enemy. We are at war, and any democrat who is
willing to fight for justice, freedom and equality everywhere should
be among us.
Dear friends, Just as the aggression is globalising the resistance
must also globalise.
Just like oppression and exploitation is mutating into many shapes
and faces, resistance should keep up and also express itself through
many faces and ways. Wherever we are attacked with force and
brutality, we should hit back with equal force and brutality. At the
same time when we are faced with a more subtle form of war, we should
react as subtly and intelligently. We have to resist with the gun
when we are attacked with the gun, and resist with words, and ideas
and demonstrations and elections and strikes and civil disobedience
wherever we get the chance to do so. Just like the empire, we also
should have a thousand faces and strategies but without forgetting
our aims. We should not only ferociously defend ourselves, we also
have to outsmart our enemy.
The Anti-globalist movement is now facing a choice: either it will
turn into a sort of solidarity festival organised each year under the
name of "social forum". Or it will develop itself into an
international peoples' resistance against all forms of oppression,
exploitation and injustice using all the means necessary to achieve
its goals within the rule of law wherever that rule exists, and
beyond the law in lawless states or segregationist states. There is
no third choice, and there is no other time to make that choice. That
fraction of a second separating recuperation and independence is now,
the empire is showing its teeth, the resistance must do the same or
fall. Let the people who believe that history is over and that the
only way-out is to swim with the stream downhill and pray that it
will change course due to their lamentation, let them swim with that
stream until they drown. But we know better: we know that history
will never stop. We can write it our self if we chose to, but above
all, if we are prepared to pay the price. We are prepared to pay that
price: Islam teaches us that making a stand against an oppressor
might cost you your life, but that one moment of dignity is better
than a life of submission to injustice.
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