September 24, 2001
The terrorist attack of
September 11, 2001 on the people in America was a crime against humanity and an
act of genocide. News of people saying
their last goodbyes on airplanes used as missiles and from offices in the World
Trade Center as well as images of people burning, screaming for help, throwing
themselves out of windows, and finally being crushed under the collapsed
buildings will haunt us forever. Our
most heartfelt sympathy goes out to the victims, their families and
friends. Our strongest condemnation is
reserved for those responsible. We know
who they are.
The reactionary political
Islamic movement is responsible for the death and destruction in New York City,
Pennsylvania and Washington, just as it has been responsible for death and
destruction and countless acts of genocide and inhumanity in Iran, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, the Sudan, Algeria… Islamic states and movements have made the lives of generations
of human beings in the Middle East and North Africa intolerable. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned
women from school and work. In Iran, youth are flogged in public for listening
to music and women and girls are forcibly veiled. In Iraq, women prostitutes are beheaded. In the 21st century, women and
men are still buried in ditches and stoned to death for entering voluntary
sexual relations; there are public hangings on a regular basis. Labour activists and political
opponents are imprisoned, tortured and killed.
We know who these vile terrorists are because we have also lost
countless of our friends, families, comrades and lovers to them.
But they are not the only
ones who are to be condemned and who are terrorists. After all, political Islam was promoted and maintained by Western
governments as a bulwark against the Eastern Block during the Cold War and
against Left and working class movements.
In Iran, Khomeini was put forward in order to prevent the rise to power
of the Left after the 1979 revolution.
Since then over 100,000 people have been executed. In Afghanistan, the Taliban was armed and
supported by the West vis-ŕ-vis the Soviet-backed government of the time. The West has supported Saddam Hussein's
government in the past as well as the Israeli government in its indiscriminate
killing of Palestinians, mainly youth and children. And the list goes on and on.
Still today, the West continues to support political Islam's terrorist
movements and states. Though corpses
hang from cranes in city centers and public amputations and floggings continue
unabated, today, Jack Straw, the UK Foreign Minister, will be meeting with
officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the founding pillars of
political Islam and terrorism in the world, to obtain their support for the
upcoming 'war against terrorism!'
Yes, we do know who the
terrorists are – both sides kill and murder with impunity. Both sides are in a power struggle to assert
themselves - the US to once again assert its diminishing superpower status and
Political Islam, to prevent its fall.
Their war has nothing to do with ending terrorism, but in fact escalates
and intensifies it.
It is up to us then to
independently come to the fore and demand its end. Much needs to be done, including resolving the Palestinian
question and supporting secular movements in the region. One important step in eradicating terrorism
though is an end to the Islamic Republic of Iran. We must support the people's movement for its overthrow and
demand that all assistance to and collaboration with that regime cease, its
embassies be shut down and its leaders arrested and tried as criminals against
humanity. We must demand open borders
and the protection of all the victims of terrorism - asylum seekers and
refugees fleeing political Islam in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, etc. We must put an end to racist violence
against people who have fled the region.
It is up to us.
Clearly, terrorists
themselves cannot end terrorism, only we can.