Them and us fishes, image by Suzanne Beishon

Them and us fishes, image by Suzanne Beishon   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Poppy profit

A hedge fund investor made over £2 million in profit from a 2014 Armistice Day installation.

Ben Whitfield profited from the sale of 888,246 ceramic poppies. They had previously covered parts of the Tower of London for the centenary of World War One.

That war was a great imperialist slaughter. It took place only because the leading capitalist nations had carved up all the world’s resources and markets between them. The only way to expand profits – a permanent drive under capitalism – was to battle other imperialist powers.

17 million people died to advance the bosses’ profits in that war.


Working class loss

Meanwhile, the working class of all countries sees no benefit – we are just a human battleground for the capitalists.

Businesses had made at least $138 billion from the invasion of Iraq by 2013, according to a Financial Times analysis. Over half of this went to just ten big corporations.

Of the soldiers who came back to the UK, 41% have post-traumatic stress disorder. A survey by charity SSAFA found half of working-age ex-soldiers cannot afford basic essentials.

The UN reckons the invasion created around two million refugees, and 1.7 million internally displaced people. It killed around a million, according to pollster ORB – mostly Iraqi civilians.

Their wars. Our dead.