Editorial of the Socialist issue 1292
With Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, the Middle East is facing the danger of regional war. With it, a spreading and intensification of the huge suffering that already exists, the vast majority of it at the hands of Israeli state forces.
The latest Israeli assaults in Lebanon come after Gaza has faced a year of brutal air strikes, a ground invasion and relentless cruel attacks on schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and more. Palestinians in the West Bank face violence, killings and repression, so too in East Jerusalem, and also discrimination in Israel.
The latest escalations – the Israeli forces’ killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and now sending ground troops into southern Lebanon.
At the time of writing, it is unknown what and when the retaliation will be from Hezbollah or any of the other forces that also form part of Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’. US sources report a planned Iranian missile attack towards Israel.
Israeli forces have ratcheted up their murderous terror – targeting a residential building in Lebanon capital Beirut and bombing targets in Yemen too.
One million people in Lebanon have fled their homes. Many receiving the ominous ‘warning’ from an anonymous number on their phone, at just a few hours’ notice in the dead of night, that their neighbourhood faces destruction.
Western capitalist governments, primarily the US but also including Britain, continue to supply the Israeli state war machine with weapons and ammunition. Meanwhile, hypocritically, calling for a ceasefire.
The US, Britain, and other major powers are desperate to avoid regional escalation. It would put world trade and energy supplies into jeopardy, as well as their power and influence in the region – impacting on their own capitalist classes’ profits.
As the article in Socialism Today marking one year on since the 7 October attacks and start of the war on Gaza points out: “Throughout all this, the elites across the Middle East and the world powers have tried making diplomatic interventions to prevent the war from spreading, but not in a unified way because at the same time the region is a battleground between the world’s main powers for influence.”
The accumulation of atrocities carried out against civilian populations brings with it the risk of provoking mass movements of the working class and poor across the region. This, the ruling elites on all sides are desperate to avoid.
Accelerating crises
War is deepening the pre-existing social, political and economic crises facing working-class and poor people. The recent period has seen huge upheavals and workers’ struggle in Lebanon, in Iran and in Israel, as well as across the Middle East region during the Arab Spring in 2011-12.
As recently as 2019-21, a mass movement swept Lebanon, workers uniting across religious and sectarian divides to fight against tax rises and corruption, then in protest against a deadly explosion (see ‘Stop the war on Lebanon’ at socialistparty.org.uk). In 2022-23, Iran faced an uprising sparked by the state ‘morality police’ murdering 21-year-old woman Masha Amini. Huge protests swept the country and developed into strikes.
In Israel, a general strike against the Netanyahu government took place on 2 September. This following a pre-war mass movement and general strike.
Any reprieve from the masses’ anger that ruling elites can get by virtue of being at war will be temporary. A further escalation in the conflict does not increase the safety of ordinary people on any side. A deepened and widening war inflicts huge misery and suffering, it also stores up even more material for future social explosions and mass revolts that can threaten the ruling elites.
The Socialist Party has argued throughout the year of war in the Middle East that it is the working class and poor masses that have the power to bring an end to the war, and to win national and democratic rights for Palestinians and other oppressed nationalities. By getting organised and developing democratic structures independent of the capitalists, steps can be taken towards the development of independent mass workers’ organisations and parties.
By adopting a socialist programme, based on taking wealth and control out of the hands of the ruling elites and instead developing a plan to meet the needs of all, a route can be charted towards working-class collaboration across the Middle East and internationally, and an end to capitalist wars, through building a voluntary, socialist confederation across the Middle East.
In Britain, our members have energetically taken part in the mass protests, fighting for the mass workers’ organisations – the trade unions – to take a leading role. We have worked with others to ensure the widest possible working-class and socialist stand against Keir Starmer, the Tories and the rest of the pro-war capitalist politicians in the general election.
Published 2 October 2024.
