Stop the U.S. bombing of Syria!

Scan page 2

JOIN SOCIALIST ACTION! We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism— women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. We maintain fraternal relations with the agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we driven system is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet. do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

SOCIALIST ACTION Closing news date: May 7, 2017 Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st-class mail): U.S., Canada, Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars.

Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Clip and mail to: Socialist Action newspaper, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Or subscribe on-line with a credit card at www.socialistaction.org.

2 SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 2017 On April 6, the Trump administration launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria’s al-Shayrat military airfield. The U.S. strikes decimated a number of build­ ings and airplanes. At least nine civilians and six Syrian soldiers were killed. Neither Trump nor any other U.S. gov­ ernment agency presented a shred of proof that the government of Syrian Presi­ dent Bashar al-Assad had used sarin nerve gas in its bombing of al-Qaida/Nusra Front or any other “rebel” held buildings in Idlib province.

History has repeatedly demonstrated the need to view with the greatest skepticism U.S. imperialism’s justifications for its endless wars and interventions. Need we mention the 1964 U.S.-manu­ factured Tonkin Bay incident, wherein a virtually non-existent Vietnamese navy was accused of attacking a U.S. destroy­ er? That false flag pretext was employed to launch the Vietnam War, in which four million Vietnamese were slaughtered in a 10-year U.S. conflagration verging on genocide. Or the more recent Iraq “weap­ ons of mass destruction” lie that resulted in the U.S. murder of 1.5 million Iraqis? Even if the latest sarin gas accusations should prove to be true, we must vehe­ mently reject the warmongers’ proposi­ tion that the U.S. military behemoth, with 1100 military bases around the world and currently conducting seven simultaneous wars of death and destruction, has any moral, legal, or other right to be the “cop of the world!”

Bomb first! Ask questions later! Trump and his now bipartisan “Bomb first! Ask questions later” cohorts have effectiveness of mass action.

based on the trade unions. designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. Name City State Phone E-mail ignited what could become a catastrophic escalation in the region, which could even pose the threat of a nuclear confrontation. Immediately before the U.S. missile at­ tack, the Trump administration convened a bipartisan group of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans for a congressional briefing session. While there was no indication of opposition to the Trump attack, a few, cit­ ing the U.S. Constitution, later expressed the need for congressional debate and ap­ proval before waging war.

Trump’s action came a day after Demo­ crat Hillary Clinton had urged the U.S. bombing of Syria. Today, Trump has ad­ opted a version of Clinton’s election-time “no fly zone” advocacy, suggesting that “safe zones” might be established in Syr­ ia—that is, land-based regions policed by U.S. imperialism and its allies. Imperialism’s record in Syria Not one day of the years-long U.S. imperialist-abetted intervention has im­ proved the humanitarian situation of the Syrian people. On the contrary, the U.S. Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Subscribe now!

Address Zip government’s aim—as in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya—is to secure political he­ gemony in the region so as to better serve its profit-driven corporate clients. In order to accomplish its goals, as it demonstrated during the uprisings known as the Arab Spring, the U.S. must foreclose the possi­ bility of self-determination for the peoples of the Middle East.

In reference to the Obama administra­ tion’s “red line” threat of war in 2012-13, Trump stated, “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a conse­ quence of the past administration’s weak­ ness and irresolution. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.” No doubt Trump is fully aware that Obama’s “nothing” included five years of intervention that included CIA and Pentagon training and arming of “rebels” seeking Assad’s ouster, a bombing campaign supposedly aimed at ISIS targets but deadly for civilians, and an increasing number of U.S. boots on the ground.

Fourth International.

• Boston: socialistactionboston@gmail. com • Buffalo, NY: [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] (Photo) Damage at Shayrat airbase following U.S. missile strike.

With Syria’s U.S.-backed “coalition” allies compelled to retreat from much of the Syrian territory that they previously occupied and terrorized, a bipartisan con­ sensus has now emerged in Washington that Obama’s “regime change” orienta­ tion cannot be dismissed.

We are witness to a major shift in U.S. policy, in which Democrats and Republi­ cans alike cannot brook a defeat in a war that they early on fueled and promoted. Today’s crisis-ridden world economy ruled by the wealthy 1% is compelled to pursue and intensify its wars against working people at home and abroad. More military strikes threatened White House representatives state that the administration has not ruled out taking further direct military action against the Assad government. President Trump’s national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, stated on April 9 that the U.S. goals of fighting ISIS and ousting Assad from power were “simultaneous.” The Trump administration’s biparti­ san-supported missile attack is aimed at advancing U.S. leverage at a future bar­ gaining table in a contemplated recon­ structed Syria. It is the first taste of the new administration’s promise to use the grotesque $54 billion rise in the trilliondollar war budget “more aggressively” in the interests of U.S. corporate capitalism. The need for a united and massive U.S. antiwar movement in the streets of cities across the country has never been greater. Without equivocation, the central respon­ sibility of all antiwar and social justice or­ ganizations is to mobilize against all U.S. and allied interventions in Syria and to fully support the right to self-determina­ (continued on page 9, in “Remembering James Connolly”)

For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 2689429, [email protected] Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND US • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 952-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, sfsocialistaction@ gmail.com • WASHINGTON, DC: [email protected], (202) 286-5493 National Office 526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ont. M6G 3R4, (416) 535-8779 http://socialistaction.ca/

----- pull-quotes -----

Socialist Action — $10 / six months — $20 / 12 months ­— $37 / two years — I want to join the Socialist Action Newspaper Supporters Club. I enclose an extra contribution of: — $100 — $200 — Other

Socialist Action Canada