Another expression of the global tendency of the ruling class towards chauvinist state bonapartism
By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 14 May 2021, www.thecommunists.net
The dramatic upswing of the glorious Palestinian liberation struggle – expressed in the heroic defence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds/Jerusalem, the beginning of the Third Intifada and the Fourth Gaza War – is one of the most important global events in recent times. [1]
All over the world, masses are demonstrating on the streets to show their support for the Palestinian people. Europe is no exception from this global trend. Even Austria, a country not known for a high level of class struggle, saw already a demonstration with several thousand people and there can be no doubt that more such events will follow in the next days. [2]
Tradition of Islamophobia and support for Zionism
European governments react with fear, slander and repression. In France, police dispersed a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris on Wednesday. [3] The interior minister even instructed police to ban a planned large pro-Palestinian protest in Paris this weekend. Authorities even arrested Bertrand Heilbronn, the president of Palestinian solidarity group Association France-Palestine Solidarite, after he attended a meeting at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs together with members of parliament and union representatives! [4]
Such repression reflects the support of the French government for Israeli state terrorism and its hatred against the oppressed people in Palestine and the Muslim world. This is hardly surprising since the ruling class has shown a rabid Islamophobic stance for years. Just remember the ban of hijab in public institutions, the public praise for the ultra-racist magazine Charlie Hebdo [5] and for the racist provocateur Samuel Paty, the numerous raids against Muslim institutions [6], the Anti-Muslim “Separatism Law” recently adopted by the parliament [7], the planned “Police State” Law [8] – all these events express the same tendency: a massive acceleration of the domestic oppression of Muslim migrants combined with an aggressive imperialist foreign policy against people and states with Muslim population (e.g. France military intervention in Mali and other African countries [9], anti-Turkey campaign as pretext to control the gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean [10], attempts to take control of Lebanon, etc.)
In Germany, police also dispersed a pro-Palestine demonstration two days ago. [11] A demonstration in Bremen was only allowed under the condition that no slogans must be shouted which deny Israel’s “right to exist”! [12] The German government stated its support for Israel and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said: “Germany won’t tolerate anti-Semitic demonstrations amid tensions in the Middle East.” [13]
Austria’s government – a coalition of the Conservative and the Green party – publicly demonstrated its “solidarity with Israel” by raising the Zionist flag at the Office of the Federal Chancellor today. And Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tweeted, with a picture of the Israeli flag: “Gemeinsam stehen wir an der Seite Israels” (Together, we stand on the side of Israel”). [14] The Minister for Interior, Karl Nehammer – claimed under the impression of the large demonstration on 12 May – that there exists „a danger for our democracy” if such demonstrations are “misused for anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic slogans”. [15]
Here again, we see a continuation of the imperialist and pro-Zionist line of Austria’s government. In November 2020, police raided 60 houses and arrested more than 30 Muslim migrants, accusing them of sympathies for “radical, extremist ideologies”. [16]
Tendency towards Chauvinist State Bonapartism
In other words, the current threats and repression against the growing pro-Palestine movement in Europe is are continuation and acceleration of a longer existing trend. This trend is characterized by:
* oppression of Muslim migrants and Islamophobia,
* support for the Apartheid state Israel,
* imperialist-militarist foreign policy,
* expansion of the police and surveillance state
These developments, in turn, are part of a more general tendency. The current state campaign and repression against the pro-Palestine movement in imperialist Europe reflects a general trend of the ruling class towards chauvinist state bonapartism. By this we mean the growing number of attacks on democratic rights and the process of transformation from bourgeois democracy to authoritarian forms of capitalist rule.
This tendency has become manifest not only in the above-mentioned developments but – on a much larger scale – in the last 14 months when the ruling class in nearly all countries around the globe exploited the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to launch a counterrevolutionary offensive, to impose mass curfews against the population, expanding the police and surveillance state, introducing surveillance apps etc. [17] To a certain degree, the Stalinist-capitalist dictatorship in imperialist China is the model for such a form of bourgeois regime. [18]
Let us conclude this article by pointing out that this is not a one-sided process. In fact, we have seen an acceleration of two, contradictory and inter-related tendencies – both a tendency towards chauvinist state bonapartism as well as an intensification of massive struggles in defence of democratic rights. More generally, we have seen a dramatic upswing of the global class struggle on democratic as well as on economic issues in autumn 2019 when a global wave of popular uprisings took place – from Hong Kong to Iraq, from Lebanon to Chile, from India to Catalonia. [19]
This wave was interrupted by the beginning of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution in spring 2020. But already in summer of the same year, the George Floyd uprising took place in the U.S. which was crucial to bring down Trump. [20] And the current Intifada in Palestine is creating a global pro-Palestine mass movement and has the potential to ignite a new revolutionary upswing in the Arab world and even globally.
Revolutionaries must understand the character of the current historic events and take an unambiguous Marxist stance.
* Unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle!
* Defeat the Zionist enemy!
* Solidarity with Muslim migrants against racist oppression!
* Down with the COVID-19 Counterrevolution! Defeat Chauvinist State Bonapartism!
* Spread the Intifada from Palestine to the Arab world and around the globe!
This is what the RCIT and our comrades in Convergencia Socialista (Argentina) are figthing for!
[1] The RCIT, jointly with our comrades of CS (Argentina), has published a number of documents on the Fourth Gaza War which compiled on a special sub-page on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/collection-of-articles-on-fourth-gaza-war/
[2] See the report of our Austrian section: Vienna/Austria: Mass Demonstration in Solidarity with Palestine, 12 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/the-fourth-gaza-war-has-begun/#anker_3
[3] See e.g. Yusuf Özcan: French police disperse demonstration in support of Palestine, 13.05.2021, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-police-disperse-demonstration-in-support-of-palestine/2239670
[4] France asks police to ban pro-Palestinian protest in Paris, 13 May 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/13/france-asks-police-to-ban-pro-palestinian-protest-in-paris
[5] See on this e.g. RCIT: France after the Attacks in Paris: Defend the Muslim People against Imperialist Wars, Chauvinist Hatemongering, and State Repression! 9.1.2015, http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/statement-paris-attacks/; Michael Pröbsting: The Racist Character of Charlie Hebdo and the pro-imperialist campaign “Je Suis Charlie”. Solidarity with Muslim People! NOT Solidarity with Charlie Hebdo! 17.1.2015, http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/racist-charlie-hebdo/
[6] See on this e.g. RCIT: Boycott Imperialist and Islamophobic France! Solidarity with the Muslim migrants! Drive out the French occupiers from Mali and other countries!, 26.10.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/boycott-imperialist-and-islamophobic-france/
[7] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: France: The Parliamentary “Left” Fails to Oppose Macron’s Anti-Muslim “Separatism Law”, 14 February 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/france-the-parliamentary-left-fails-to-oppose-macrons-anti-muslim-separatism-law/
[8] See on this RCIT: France: Bring Down Macron and his ‘Police State’ Law! Workers and Oppressed: Unite against Police Violence, Racism and Imperialism! 30.10.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/france-bring-down-macron-and-his-police-state-law/
[9] See on this e.g. RCIT: Expel French Imperialism from West Africa! Macron and his G5 Lackeys plan to intensify their colonialist “Operation Barkhane”, 15 January 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/expel-french-imperialism-from-west-africa/
[10] See on this RCIT: War Clouds in Eastern Mediterranean. Down with the imperialist aggression of the EU, Israel and Arab tyrants against Turkey! Support the ongoing Arab Revolution! 14 September 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/war-clouds-in-eastern-mediterranean/; RCIT: Turkey and the Growing Tensions in Eastern Mediterranean. Theses on the complex contradictions between imperialist and regional powers, the Arab Revolution and the consequential tactics of Marxists, 28 August 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/turkey-and-the-growing-tensions-in-eastern-mediterranean/
[11] Nils Rode: Antisemitische Sprechchöre vor Synagoge in Gelsenkirchen, 13.05.2021, https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/antisemitische-demo-gelsenkirchen-100.html
[12] Joerg Helge Wagner: 1500 Teilnehmer bei Palästinenser-Demo auf dem Domshof, 13.05.2021, https://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/stadtteil-mitte/1500-teilnehmer-bei-palaestinenser-demonstration-in-bremen-doc7frjktz4nsi1li5wva0c
[13] Germany’s Merkel condemns anti-Israel protests, 14.5.2021, https://apnews.com/article/israel-middle-east-gaza-454c29e273d195c7de8aeec5a146c12c
[14] ORF: Israel dementiert Bodentruppen in Gaza, https://orf.at/stories/3212967/
[15] ORF: Ermittlungen nach Anti-Israel-Demo in Wien, 13.5.2021, https://wien.orf.at/stories/3103710/
[16] See on this e.g. RKO LIBERATION: Austria: Hands Off Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas! The Austrian government aids the state terrorist regimes in Israel and Egypt! 9. November 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/austria-hands-off-muslim-brotherhood-and-hamas/; RKO LIBERATION: Austria: Scandalous Bann of a Rally against Islamophobe Racism! Minister for Interior suppresses freedom of speech … in the name of freedom of speech, 9. November 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/austria-scandalous-bann-of-a-rally-against-islamophobe-racism/; RKO LIBERATION: Austria: Daesh is the Bullet but Macron is the Political Assassin! The terrorist attack is the inevitable result of imperialist wars and racist oppression, 3 November 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/austria-daesh-is-the-bullet-but-macron-is-the-political-assassin/
[17] All RCIT documents on the COVID-19 crisis are compiled at a special sub-page on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/collection-of-articles-on-the-2019-corona-virus/. In particular we refer readers to the RCIT Manifesto: COVID-19: A Cover for a Major Global Counterrevolutionary Offensive. We are at a turning point in the world situation as the ruling classes provoke a war-like atmosphere in order to legitimize the build-up of chauvinist state-bonapartist regimes, 21 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-cover-for-a-major-global-counterrevolutionary-offensive/. In addition, we draw attention to our book by Michael Pröbsting: The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It. A Marxist analysis and strategy for the revolutionary struggle, RCIT Books, April 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/the-covid-19-global-counterrevolution/. See also by the same author: How the Ruling Class Prepared for COVID-19. A number of events before and after the beginning of the pandemic demonstrate the political nature of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution, 3 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/how-the-ruling-class-prepared-for-covid-19/; The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution. On the ruling class strategy in the current conjuncture, its inner contradictions and the perspectives of the workers and popular resistance, 20 July 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/the-second-wave-of-the-covid-19-counterrevolution/; The Police and Surveillance State in the Post-Lockdown Phase. A global review of the ruling class’s plans of expanding the bonapartist state machinery amidst the COVID-19 crisis, 21 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/police-and-surveillance-state-in-post-lockdown-phase/. See also our joint statement with Convergencia Socialista (Argentina) No to the Lockdown Policy! 20.4.2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/rcit/rcit-y-convergencia-socialista-declaracion-primero-de-mayo/#anker_2
[18] On China’s rise as an imperialist power see e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Chinese Imperialism and the World Economy. An Essay published in the second edition of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (edited by Immanuel Ness and Zak Cope), Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-91206-6_179-1; see also by the same author: China‘s transformation into an imperialist power. A study of the economic, political and military aspects of China as a Great Power, in: Revolutionary Communism (English-language Journal of the RCIT) No. 4, http://www.thecommunists.net/publications/revcom-number-4
[19] For an overview and a characterization of these events see, in addition the relevant statements on the individual countries, Michael Pröbsting: Are We Nearing a New “68 Moment”? A massive upsurge of global class struggle in the midst of a dramatic shift in the world situation 22 October 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/are-we-nearing-a-new-68-moment/; See also by the same author: Confirmation by the Class Enemy. A new IMF report discusses the global class struggle and its relationship to the COVID-19 crisis, 14 October 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/confirmation-by-the-class-enemy-imf-report-on-global-class-struggle-and-covid-19-crisis/; A Powerful Confirmation. A bourgeois study on the revolutionary character of the current historic period, 12 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/confirmation-of-revolutionary-character-of-historic-period/.
[20] All RCIT documents on the George Floyd uprising are compiled at a special sub-page on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/north-america/articles-on-uprising-after-murder-of-george-floyd/