The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) is holding meetings at campuses across Australia and in New Zealand to oppose the drive to war against Syria.
Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, the Obama administration is once again dragging the United States into a war based on lies, with incalculable consequences. Claims by Obama that a military strike would be in response to the use of chemical weapons, or have only a “limited” character, are a complete fraud. What is in fact being prepared is a much broader war that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East and lay the groundwork for a conflict between the major powers, in particular, the US, Russia and China.
Opinion polls show that the great majority of the population of the United States and the world is against any attack on Syria. The past decade of unending war has not been lived in vain. Millions recall the lies over “weapons of mass destruction” that were used to justify the criminal slaughter in Iraq.
This overwhelming opposition has seen the British parliament refuse to endorse a strike, and Obama agree to the Russian plan for the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.
It would be a grave mistake, however, to believe that the diplomatic moves now underway signal a fundamental shift in US policy. It at most represents a postponement. War will come, and it will be all the more ferocious and dangerous for the delay. US imperialism is stepping up its global campaign of disinformation, intimidation and provocation to manufacture a pretext to finish the violent regime-change operation it has been pursing in Syria for the past two years.
The Australian government, under Gillard and Rudd, and now under new Liberal-National Prime Minister Tony Abbott, has, along with the corporate-controlled media, given unconditional backing to Washington’s militarist agenda in the Middle East.
Opposition to war in Syria will only be taken forward through the development of a conscious political movement of the working class against all the parties of the political establishment, including the Greens, and their pseudo-left backers—Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative.
This is not a time for watchful waiting, but conscious political action! There is no time to lose. It is necessary for all those who oppose the war to make their voices heard. The burning issue of war must be taken out of the hands of the ruling elite and its political representatives.
We urge all students and young people, along with academics, university workers and readers and supporters of the World Socialist Web Site, to attend our meetings and become involved in the fight to build them.
UWS—Bankstown Campus
Wednesday, October 2, 3 p.m.
Room BA-01.1.114 (Conf)
Macquarie University
Wednesday, October 2, 2.30 p.m.
Building W5C, Room 220
UWS—Parramatta Campus
Monday, October 7, 1 p.m.
Room PS-EA.G.33