With the continuing war in Afghanistan spilling into Pakistan and the country of Kyrgyzstan falling into chaos, the U.S. media again rolled out its tired myths of “ancient ethnic rivalries” leading to conflict. Meanwhile, they gloss over the absence of these “innate” ethnic tensions during the Soviet era. Many news sources have even blamed Stalin (now dead for almost 60 years) for the current chaos in Central Asia.

But it is inter-imperialist rivalry among the U.S., Russia and China for control of valuable natural gas reserves and pipeline real estate that is driving the political disorder, social unrest and wars in the area, strategically located between Russia, China and the Middle-East.

The current crisis in Kyrgyzstan that toppled the government and killed thousands of civilians dates back to 2001, not centuries. Using the 9/11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan as a pretext, the U.S. began pushing for bases in Central Asia. Eventually it received Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan for a measly $17 million/year.  Russia, incensed by U.S. encroachment in “its” backyard, made a similar deal in 2003 for a base only 12 miles from Manas. 

The U.S., upset by the Kyrgyz drift towards Russia, financed the “Tulip Revolution” in 2005, toppling the Kyrgyz government and installing a pro-Western dictator.  In 2009, Russia paid the new Kyrgyz government $2.4 billion to evict the U.S. from Manas Air Base, forcing the U.S. to assemble a $200-million aid package, increasing the base’s rent to $60 million. 

The Kyrgyz government, fearing Russian retaliation, gave the Russians a sweetheart deal on a second base near the Uzbek/Tajikistan border.  Now a new spate of rioting has again toppled the Kyrgyz government, plunging the country into chaos, with many suspecting Russian involvement after the opposition made closing Manas Air Field its primary demand.  

Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, the U.S. has sought greater involvement in the critical Central Asia region, which holds some of the world’s largest energy and uranium reserves. With its 1992 Freedom Support Act, the U.S. has openly funded pro-Western political movements in the post-Soviet states.

Increased military involvement in Central Asia is, a goal which the ruling class’s Hart-Rudman Commission and Project for a New American Century reports listed as critical to containing Russian and Chinese influence. 

In 2002, Russia countered, creating the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. After Uzbekistan evicted the U.S. from its base in 2005, Russia granted the country significant aid packages, inviting it to join the CSTO in 2006.  In 2007, Russia built a base there, adjoining the Novi uranium mining and enrichment plant.  Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia also helped secure an important Russian military outpost in the region, countering the U.S.-financed 2003 “Rose Revolution” which installed U.S. lackey Mikheil Saakashvili as president. 

China, not to be outdone, has been flexing considerable muscle in Pakistan, much to the dismay of the U.S. In 2001, dictator Perez Musharraf declared Pakistan an ally in the U.S. “war on terror” after receiving significant contributions in aid and military equipment.  China then began courting Musharraf by promising to fast-track the heavily-Chinese-financed Gwadar Deep Sea Port construction project. 

By 2006 Musharraf was publicly denouncing the U.S. and its “bullying” of Pakistan.  A year later terrorist attacks against Chinese workers on the port project led Musharraf to declare a state of emergency in Pakistan. Many believed the CIA was behind the attacks.  

This past March, Pakistan brokered a deal with Iran and China to build the Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline. This endangered U.S. plans for the larger Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline as well as the Nabucco pipeline connection in the Caspian Sea.

The U.S. has increasingly been moving military operations into Pakistan under the cover of “attacking terrorist hideouts.”  In response, groups connected to the Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI) have launched terrorist attacks in India (a key U.S. ally) and Afghanistan. The U.S. military is now saying withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan may have to be delayed.

Russia, with its declining population, has no better opportunity than now to seriously counter U.S. power in the region. The U.S., with its faltering economy, needs to seize these resources to contain Chinese growth, while China has the money and opportunity to secure its energy future.

The world’s imperialist powers are moving closer to war with each other. Only communist revolution can free workers from the bloodbaths that capitalist crisis and competition inevitably bring. J

Sources:

[1] AOL News, “Why All the Violence in Kyrgyzstan? Blame Stalin,” 6/16/10; The Economist, “Stalin’s Latest Victims,” 6/17/10; The Age, “Ethnic Fault Lines of Stalin Era Implode,” 6/19/10.

[1] NYT, “US is Building Up its Military Presence in Afghan Region,” 1/9/02; NYT, “In Reversal Kyrgyzstan Won’t Close a US Base,” 6/24/09.

[1] NYT, “Russia to Deploy Air Squadron in Kyrgyzstan Where US has Base,” 12/4/02.

[1] NYT, “US Helped to Prepare the Way for Kyrgyzstan’s Own Uprising,” 3/30/05.

[1] Challenge, “Afghanistan Center of Imperialist Dogfight Over Oil, Gas,” 2/25/09; San Francisco Chronicle, “Why is Russia Bribing Kyrgyzstan?” 2/22/09; Eurasianet, “US Armed Forces to Remain at Airbase for Afghan Supply Operations,” 6/22/09; NYT, “In Reversal Kyrgyzstan Won’t Close a US Base,” 6/24/09.

[1] AP, “Russia Signs Deal to Open Second Base in Kyrgyzstan,” 8/1/09.

[1] AP, “Kyrgyz Opposition Controls Government Building,” 4/7/10; Eurasia Daily Monitor, “Historical Context for Regional Response to Recent Events in Kyrgyzstan,” 5/3/10.

[1] Mahir Ibrahimov and Erjan Kurbanov, “Getting it Wrong in the Caucasus,” Middle East Quarterly, Vol. I No. 4, December 1994.

[1] Asia Times, “US Scatters Bases to Control Eurasia,” 3/30/05; US Commission on National Security/21^st Century, Phase I: Report on the Emerging Global Security Environment for the First Quarter of the 21^st Century, 9/15/1999, p 76; The Project for the New American Century, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, 9/2000, p 47, 35, 18-19.

[1] AFP, “Ex Soviet States Discuss Joint Military Force to Counter NATO,” 7/31/09

[1] Reuters, “Uzbekistan Evicts US from Air Base,” 7/31/05; BBC, “Last US Plane Leaves Uzbek Base,” 11/21/05; Radio Free Europe, “What Does Closure of US Military Base in Uzbekistan Mean?” 8/1/05.

[1] Eurasianet, “An Uzbek Air Base: Russia’s Newest Achievement in Central Asia,” 1/10/07.

[1] NYT, “Georgia-Russia Fight Endangers U.S. Oil Goals,” 8/14/08; The Daily Mail (UK), “The Pipeline War: Russian Bear Goes for West’s Jugular,” 8/10/08; Eurasianet, “Looking Back at the Rose Revolution,” 12/29/09.

[1] New Statesman, “There is No War on Terrorism,” 10/29/01; Center for Public Integrity, “Pakistan’s $4.2 Billion Blank Check for US Military Aid, After 9/11, Funding to Country Soars with Little Oversight,” 3/27/07.

[1] The New Nation (Bangladesh), “Emerging Pakistan-China Relations,” 9/11/08.

[1] USA Today, “Musharraf’s Book Says Pakistan Faced US ‘Onslaught’ if it Didn’t Back War on Terror,” 9/26/06.

[1] Asia Times, “Balochistan is the Ultimate Prize,” 5/9/09; The News (Pakistan), “US Told Not to Back Terrorism Against Pakistan,” 8/5/08.

[1] Asia Times, “Pipelinestan Goes Iran-Pak,” 5/29/09.

[1] NYT, “CIA to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan,” 12/4/09.

[1] NYT, “Militant Group Expands Attacks in Afghanistan,” 6/15/10; NYT, “Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Exerts Great Sway on Afghan Taliban,” 6/13/10.

[1] NYT, “Setbacks Cloud US Plans to Get Out of Afghanistan,” 6/14/10.

PARIS, July 3 — On June 24, nearly 2,000,000 workers protested the bosses’ government’s pension “reform” which will cut pensions by up to 40% over the next 40 years and raise the minimum age for a partial pension to 62 as well as the minimum age for a full pension to 67. The 1.9 million demonstrated in 201 rallies and marches across France. In Paris, 130,000 marched.

Thousands struck — almost 20% of civil servants, 16% of local government workers, and 12.5% of hospital workers as well as half the Finance Ministry workers. These figures doubled the number striking during the previous May 27 action.

Polls reported two-thirds of the country supported the June 24 actions and 56% oppose the government’s retirement “reform.” Half of those opposing the reform said they would fight it.

Pushing back the legal retirement age will especially penalize the working class, most of whom don’t attend college and consequently begin working earlier.

The CGT union leaders who called the demonstrations were surprised that twice as many turned out as they had forecast. The campaign will continue throughout the summer, including holding protest rallies at stops of the Tour de France bicycle race.

The French cabinet is to approve the retirement “reform” on July 13. Demonstrations and another 24-hour strike are planned for Sept. 7, when the French parliament will debate the issue.

But the trade unions remain firmly attached to capitalism. They denounce the pension cuts as a “brake on consumer consumption” which will stall any recovery from capitalism’s economic crisis. Instead of worrying about saving the profit system which constantly attacks the workers, the working class needs to destroy capitalism and its exploitation with communist revolution. 

In Bangladesh, some of the most exploited workers in the world are militantly fighting back and are beginning to come together as a class. Since June 13, tens of thousands of garment workers (85% of whom are women) have closed down 700 factories, shut down main roads to Dhaka (the capital), erected barricades and lobbed bricks at the police who have tried to tear gas and beat the workers. Large demonstrations of workers have divided up into smaller groups and visited factories and brought the workers there out into the streets.

Three million textile workers toil for less than $25 a month. They work in 4,500 factories turning out garments for Walmart, Levi Strauss, H&M, Zara and Carrefour, who sell them for many times what the workers are paid. Besides receiving pennies an hour in wages, the workers work long hours, and are often not paid on time.

The workers are demanding that their wages be tripled. The big retailers like Walmart have made a fortune off the low-paid labor of women workers in Asian countries. But workers in Bangladesh, Vietnam (where 10,000 shoe factory workers recently went on strike), China and other Asian countries are demonstrating once again that exploitation engenders class struggle and some day, revolution. 

PARIS, June 29 — The strike is not over for all of the 6,769 undocumented workers who struck here since last October. On June 27, their delegates decided to maintain their action against all bosses who have not yet signed a “promise to employ.” This document (called a Cerfa in French), is required for “legalization.” But many bosses must be forced to sign them. And there are many details to be followed to obtain “legalization.”

All this week, informational meetings are being held by trade (construction, restaurant, cleaning and security, temporary worker, etc.) to explain the June 18 agreement ending the eight-month strike (see CHALLENGE, (7/7). Next week similar meetings will be held for all the strike-support organizations.

The strikers and their supporters are establishing a massive organization to monitor every striker’s application for “legalization.” This includes opening two or three offices in Paris and one in every département where there are strikers; local and Paris copies of individual data sheets, so that snags at the local level can be ironed out at the Immigration Ministry in Paris; and special monitoring of the “legalization” of undocumented workers against whom deportation orders are outstanding. All this must be done during the July-August holiday months.

While the strikers’ applications will be given top priority, other undocumented workers also will be helped to file for “legalization.”

Mass Multi-Racial Action The Key

Amid all these bureaucratic capitalist roadblocks, it should be remembered that it was mass, militant, anti-racist rank-and-file action against the racist French government that brought these immigrant workers whatever advances they’ve made. As the CHALLENGE article stated (7/7), “The very fact that they struck as undocumented workers was itself a huge victory. It shows the international working class that immigrant workers worldwide can make such a fight and should be supported by all workers.

“A crucial factor essential to conducting the strike was the forging of multi-racial unity, notably between workers of African and Chinese origin, which gave the workers the fighting spirit needed for the ‘illegal’ occupations of work sites….

“PLP has consistently pointed out that as long as the bosses can divide workers by defining some as ‘illegal’ because they have crossed capitalist-created borders — and enables the bosses to super-exploit them and use them against native-born workers — it will weaken the entire working class. That’s why PLP says workers should ‘Smash All Borders!’ — which can only be accomplished through a communist revolution that eliminates all bosses and all borders….

“The continued existence of ‘conditions’ still differentiates these immigrants from France’s native-born workers….”

As soon as the bosses think they can get away with it (and they do hold state power), they will try to break the “legalization” agreement. The racist labeling of some workers as “illegal” undermines working-class solidarity. It enables the bosses to super-exploit the world’s 215 million immigrant workers with lower wages, worse conditions and constant job insecurity, under threat of deportation if they fight back.

Like the outcome of many workers’ reform struggles under capitalism, this one is a compromise. However, by turning the continuing struggle into a “school for communism,” workers can go beyond the struggle for “legalization” and take state power for ourselves through communist revolution.