A NATO summit in Strasbourg on the French/German border has been greeted with widespread protest [Pictures]. According to Bruno Waterfield and Peter Allen (Nato 60th summit in Strasbourg celebrated with street battles and arson, The Telegraph, April 4, 2009):
Many of the protesters – described as a “small army” by one police officer – were members of the sinister Black Bloc group, a notorious anarchist gang.
The violence followed a huge Franco-German police operation, costing 150 million euros (£132 million).
Hundreds of anti-Nato activists have been arrested in the past two days.
President Nicolas Sarkozy had instructed police that he did not want to see any signs of protest during events to mark Nato’s 60th anniversary.
But the wives of world leaders, including Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni, were forced to cancel a visit to a cancer hospice because of the widespread rioting.
And, as Nato leaders departed on Saturday night plumes of smoke could be seen rising from many points across the city.
A revolutionary Marxist reports:
The anarchist crazies involved in the ultra-violence were in no serious sense part of the summit rally. Just like their black bloc mates in Oceania they simply exploited the demonstration for their own purposes.
Right throughout the lead-up to the summit they made clear their hostility to and contempt for state authorities. On the day they did all they could to disrupt the summit and were hostile, abusive, threatening and ultra-sectarian towards the leadership of the movement.
Europe, fortunately, has not previously been blighted by the sort of black bloc anarchist activities which have had such a disastrous impact on demonstrations in Oceania. These people are simply provocateurs that open up protests to police repression. In Oceania their ranks have been riddled by police agents and fascists.
What gave them a certain critical mass at NATO was the presence of considerable numbers of anarchists from overseas. One of our members from New Zealand said he recognised at least 40 NZ anarchists. He knew at least 20 of them by name. There were also a considerable number of black bloc anarchists from Australia. We know of people from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. These people are like football hooligans who travel the world looking for violence.
On top of that there were also a considerable number of anarchists from other galaxies.
Because of the behaviour of these provocateurs the media and the law and order brigade are having a field day, and the wives of delegates have been forced to cancel a hospital visit.
The left should offer no comfort to these crazies. We should do whatever we can to isolate them. They are wreckers. If they grow on Earth it will simply make it harder to build future monuments to Marxist leaders, to recruit new members to the revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat, and to sell the latest edition of the party’s paper.
On a less serious note, the ongoing US occupation of Afghanistan was a major issue at the Summit, with European elites expressing concern over the growing costs of maintaining control of major towns (while rural areas, where the majority of the population lives, remains under the control of various local powers). See Noam Chomsky on US Expansion of Afghan Occupation, the Uses of NATO, and What Obama Should Do in Israel-Palestine, Democracy Now!, April 3, 2009.
A slightly embarrassing subsidiary issue is the legalisation of rape by the puppet government of Hamid Karzai.
In October 2008, on the seventh anniversary of the US invasion (aka ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’), the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan issued the following statement:
Neither the US nor Jehadies and Taliban,
Long Live the Struggle of Independent and Democratic Forces of Afghanistan!
RAWA
October 7, 2008
Seven years back the US government and its allies were successfully able to legitimize their military invasion on Afghanistan and deceive the people of the US and the world under the banners of “liberating Afghan women”, “democracy” and “war on terror”. Our people, who had been tormented and oppressed by the Taliban’s dominance, were filled with hope but soon their dream of the establishment of security, democracy and freedom was shattered in the most painful manner.
By the installation of the puppet government of Karzai, the US reused its creations and continued its deal with the Jehadi criminal warlords. From the very start, Mr. Karzai shunned the demands and trusts of the people and chose to compromise with the criminals of the “Northern Alliance” and placed the filthiest faces in the key posts of the government. In contradiction to the shameless claims of the ministers and other treacherous and corrupt officials, our people feel more ill-fated; the country has been turned to a mafia state and self-immolation, rape and abduction of women and children has no parallel in the history of Afghanistan.
Despite Karzai’s pretence and crocodile tears, we witness that rapists are not only protected from persecution but forgiven, as Karzai announced amnesty for the people who had raped and then killed a woman and with this filthy act, soaked his hands in crime too!
On one hand, Karzai talks high of freedom of speech and democracy in his speeches and on the other hand a young journalist like Pervaiz Kambakhsh is behind bars and sentenced to death by the murderous band of Atta Mohammad; another brave journalist Naseer Fayyaz is forced to leave the country due to constant threats from big criminals including Ismail Khan and Qasim Fahim, and investigation by KHAD simply because he exposes the government and supports the truth. Some other noble and anti-fundamentalist people have been harassed and even harmed by the terrorists in power.
[See also : Blasphemy! Bolt! Hate-fest! Dirka Dirka!, March 14, 2009.]
Karzai’s government requested for $51 billion in the Paris Conference, whereas the previous money flooded into Afghanistan was not spent for the reconstruction of the country because of the atrocious corruption and indolence of ridiculous government officials. Moreover, people have been forced to sell their children due to destitution and starvation. The reality is that till now a big part of the aid have fattened the wallets and waists of the mafias of the “Northern Alliance”, national and international NGOs and the corrupt governmental authorities. The people of the world should know that their aid is going to a government composed of fundamentalist criminals and technocrats who are also secret agents and corrupt to the marrow of bone and their aid has no benefit for the common people of Afghanistan.
The day to day expansion of the power of Taliban reflects the real nature of the “war on terror” which has empowered the roots of fundamentalist terrorism more than ever. This is only a showcase to justify the long military presence of the US in our country and in the region. The result of this war has been such a huge failure that even political and military officials of the US and other countries have mentioned it very explicitly several times.
Instead of removing the cancerous lump of the Taliban and their Jehadi brothers from the framework of Afghanistan, the troops of the US and its allies are bombarding wedding and joy parties and showering bullets on our oppressed people, especially women and children. Furthermore, when such crimes are exposed they shamelessly and haughtily deny them, and when the matter is proved, an arrogant “sorry” is offered, which pours more salt on the wounds of the people…
On a brighter note, while the wives of world leaders were forced to cancel a visit to cancer sufferers, they were able to inspect the city’s renowned cathedral, one of the most beautiful gothic cathedrals in Europe.
Hurrah!
