Morning Comrades.
It may seem unusual for me to start this dispatch with a quote from George Orwell but for all his failings, some observations of his work best for today’s subject.
“War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.”
Now, for the last few weeks I have been mueling over the question of “why” - in this case, not only why the state of Israel does what it does in Gaza ( and obviously, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria ) but on a larger scope, why the entire Western Ruling Class Strata - from the Capitalists to their Governments to their Legacy Media - are so utterly hellbent on not only publicly endorsing the war crimes but furthermore, are using their entire might to on the one hand, moralize through propaganda their reality and on the other, through their solitary stranglehold on state violence, criminalize dissent from their narrative. Why ask why, mostly to understand the mechanisms of capitalism to further solidify our strategies against it and for a better tomorrow.
If you are my age and older, you will know how the West, since the end of their Cold War, has moralized their imperialist realities from Good vs Bad, West vs. East to the Axis of Evil and Bringing Democracy to Libya for example - the sheer and utter inhumane reality of colonisation, no matter what shape and form this takes, is organized and mechanized slaughter and / or displacement - cleansing if you like ( I don’t, its the racist language of the capitalist ) - of humans, just like you and me.
Over the last few years their chokehold on this moralized narrative has diminished, for a plethora of reasons. More and more of us now are starting to understand what our western “rules based order” means in reality and are rightfully standing up to our ruling class. What this has led to is that a growing majority of us are no longer willing to swallow the narrative spun by the US, the UK, France & Germany for supporting the state of Israel on ideological grounds, no matter what happens. This is where this starts as the word “support” misleads the reality of the relationships of the various members of this ruling class. One step back though, in my youth the unequivical, moral support for the state of Israel was a given, when that changed the concept of anti-semitism was weaponized by the entire ruling classes, realities such as zionism and settler colonialism were purposely watered down to a point where all and any criticism was marginalized and punished. This is obviously changing.
Then, however, when one understands that the moralized narrative is a manufactured and false one, the question logically arises as to why this and why now?
Undeniably, there is a metaphysical level to this - I cannot doubt that feelings such as nationalism & religious fervour have and will continue to create material realities. Nevertheless, from a materialist point of view, the answer to the question, “why war?” is always money, and subsequently land and political power, as these go hand in hand. Whilst I fully understand, and I feel the same, that understanding the cause for all this suffering to be so utterly benign as greed to be demoralizing at the very least it is however, so utterly important to help anyone cut through all their bullshit, all their indoctrination and violence. It all boils down to money, land and political power. Understanding this helps you and me to furthermore humanize these insanely complex structures they have built and allows us to formulate strategies and tactics against them, for the betterment of us all.
Obviously, I am not a full time investigative journalist, far from it, so rather than now showcasing my own findings, below are a number of resources that I have found and was given ( thank you ) that shed light on the material realities and reasons for this current war by Israel on Gaza. Understand this, learn from it and let it be the final nail in your coffin of conformity. These bastard capitalists will stop at nothing to maintain and increase their profits. Our representative governments have finally exposed themselves for the legitimizing tool of their oppression that they are, and the only ones we can rely on to build the world we all want, are ourselves.
More after these recs:
Whilst this article does not necessarily tie into the above, anything by Judith Butler is worthwhile in my book and this piece is exactly why I regard them as one of the most important and valuable intellectuals of our time
Last but not least, another important recommendation from me: The comrade Alex, someone whose input, work and intellectual contributions I value highly and hold in high regard, has joined substack. Please give him a follow for his work is important.
As always, stay informed not entertained. We serve the Revolution.
Yours, warmly
V.
In the anthropocene there is no such thing as war over ideology. Natural resources and the money to be gained from them are always the root of war.