Peace at Any Price

The Israel Palestine conflict is something of a cause celebre on the Left these days, with accusations of anti-semitism, inconstistancy, bruitality, stupidty and and any otehr type of -ty you can think of.

As an Impossiblist, I will state, for the record, that I believe in the abolition of Israel. Before the cries begin of double standards, special pleading, etc. may I point out that I believe in the abolition of Palestine, Ireland, Morrocco, Peru, Latvia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, United States of America and the UK. That is, I am an anti-nationalist. As an impossiblist I am opposed in principle to nationalism and nationalist revolts, I do not support any national liberation movement.

Consequently, I am not singling out the Jews as for specific opposition, but maintaining my consitent approach to refuting the idea that national independence is of banaefit to oppressed groups.

My basis for this is taking the class line. That in the end, a nation state is a unit of property, and that Jewish people do not own Israel, Jewish capitalists do, the rest remaining wage slaves who are exploited by them as own and control the state. Changing national boundaries, names, pack-drills, etc. just means a change in ownership and management, the wage slaves remain wages slaves nonetheless.

Hitching a ride with the new owners does not guarantee any safety for these wage-slaves, no extra protection, merely the opportunity to be dragooned into the defense of their masters property. Only the struggle for common and democratic ownership of the world by the human race can alleviate the the suffering caused by oppression and power. In any conflict, I am on the side of the workers.

Thus, in Israel, I, and the cause of the working class, is diminished by every worker slain by a suicide bomber - Israeli or Palestinean. Evrery child gunned down, every bairn blown up, everyone slaughtered in a rocket blast, are losses to the army of socilaism.

War itself is a noxious evil for the workers, an anti-democratic darwinian machine that saps our productive strength and our capacity to work together and co-operate - a fact learnt in every workplace. Hence why we take the position, of peace at any price. Capitalist peace, that is, when the organised slaughter is suspended, and the workers have the opportunity to organise and build consciously and directly to take power, peacefully, in their own interest.

It is better an 'unjust' peace, with one bunch of capitalists screwed over by the other, with the boundary drawn in the wrong place, with the military position emasculated, than to fight in the capitalists' wars.

For me, then, the clear Impossiblist position is to oppose the conflict in Israel/Palestine as such, and figure the workers' movement as a world-wide force, as the only thing capable of bringing a 'just' resolution, one in which the interests and divisions of capitalist conflict are eradicated.

Workers have no country.