On the International Human Rights Day

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle condemns the uptick in US-backed airstrikes and drone warfare during the later part of 2022.  On International Human Rights Day, the League calls on its members to keep up the struggle for defense of their lands and livelihoods in the face of foreign intervention and military aggression.

US imperialism has stood out from nearly all imperialist powers in history in the amount of times that it has tried to cast its wars of aggression as in the interest of “human rights”, in particular those of women and national minorities.  Yet, its policies of invasion and fascist regime change have only led to worse violations of human rights of the people of the world, especially those such as women and national minorities whom they claim to protect.  Instead, these policies have only proven to serve the theft of more land, labor and markets for the acquisition of superprofits for the monopoly capitalist ruling class.  US Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent visit to Southeast Asia undergirds this primary objective to continue US-friendly extractive and militaristic policies in the region and around the world.

The uptick in air bombings is a telling sign of the disregard for life, land and human rights on behalf of US imperialism. In northern Kurdistan, Turkey, a NATO member, launched airstrikes killing at least 63 Kurdish and Syrian people, one of which a journalist.  In September and November, Zionist warplanes carried out airstrikes against Syria, killing at least 8 after illegally crossing through Lebanese airspace. In 2022 followed years of US-backed, Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen that have killed well over 24,000. And in the Philippines, the number of airstrikes and bombings in the rural areas has risen to 13 cases affecting 5,253 IPs from 11 provinces in Luzon and Maguindanao;  Each of these was carried out by states backed to the teeth by US military aid.

US direct strikes have also occurred, mostly through the use of drones.  Somalia has endured at least 13 US drone strikes this year, leading to the deaths of over 150, claimed without proof as “Islamist militants.”  Afghanistan, which suffered a brutal 20-year US occupation which brought back the return of the reactionary Taliban regime, US drone strikes continue illegally, with evidence coming to light that drones have even mistakenly struck weddings and other civilian gatherings that were covered up by US sources.  Drone warfare is inherently an oppressive and anti-people form of warfare whose use is only possible through one state’s use of superior technology and political power over another less powerful state or people, meaning that their use is inherently reactionary and anti-people.

This uptick in aggressive attacks comes in the context of a multipolar competition and crisis in the world imperialist system.  The US-Western alliance like the NATO for Eastern Europe against Russia, NATO-Israel-Saudi against Iran; and AUKUS against China-DPRK are the three main focus areas of conflict to preserve US sole hegemony in the multipolar world.  The Philippines represents one of the most widely used launching pads of US imperialist military in Asia Pacific against China-DPRK.  Attacks against Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan are deliberate attempts by the US and its allies to impose on Iran’s independent sovereignty.  Somalia remains in a tug-of-war between US and Chinese finance capital and therefore falls in the undeclared “Pivot to Africa” that has followed the officially declared “Pivot to Asia” policy of the US and its NATO and other allies.

Turkey’s invasion into Northern Kurdistan represents a potential escalation of the US proxy war against Russia.  Airstrikes in Northern Kurdistan, while part of the continued policy of ethnic cleansing against Kurds, also brings Turkey, a NATO member, into territory claimed by Syria, a key Russian ally.  This act, taken unilaterally outside the decisions of the NATO alliance, also demonstrates the cracks in the widely-overstretched US-led alliance.  It is these cracks that the people of the world must exploit so as to target every running dog of imperialism, especially where they are most unhinged.

On this International Human Rights Day, the people of the world must unite to assert their sovereignty and eject all local institutions that allow for US-led wars to encroach into their homelands.  As the war in Ukraine demonstrates, the US is prepared to dump countless amounts of military aid into any situation it deems necessary to maintain its fragile hold on world hegemony.  Let us unite our peoples and build a broad anti-imperialist united front against all wars of aggression.  Human rights must be won through struggle, and the League is just that united front through which to wage that struggle together!#

Signed:

Len Cooper

ILPS Chairperson

12/10/22