Kommunistisk Politik
No. 5, March 9, 2001
The word "imperialism" has practically disappeared from the public discussion. Instead, there is a lot of talking about "globalisation", a term which has been introduced as a positive concept and is borrowed from the technological development, the internet and the development of global communication.
The anti-globalisation movement is directed against one single aspect of today's imperialist development: the economic imperialism, and especially the world-wide ravaging of the multinationals. That aspect is an important one, but only just one aspect of the processes taking place today and expressing the generally strengthened position of imperialism at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
A movement like ATTAC seizes on one single aspect. Of course, a limited programme can have a certain strength, but it can also remove the attention from other important questions, which are part of the globalised reality.
The anti-imperialist movement in Denmark must at least deal with the four following themes: (1) the economic globalisation, that is, the economy of imperialism, and with that the multinationals and the international institutions serving them, like the IMF, the World Bank, WTO, G10, etc., as well as the growing gap between the rich and poor countries and the strangling debt problems of the developing countries. (2) the political globalisation, that is, the globally strengthened position of the imperialist countries, the US world hegemony, the construction of the EU as a new imperialist super power and the dominating power on the European continent, the development of capitalist Russia, of China, Japan, etc. (3) the military globalisation, which is serving and forcing through the political and economic hegemony of the imperialist powers, including the struggle against NATO, which is the most important military instrument of imperialism and is about to comprise the whole European continent until the borders of Russia. Instead of trying to realise the old idea of an "nuclear free zone" and "the sea of peace", based on the principles of neutrality, the Baltic States and Poland are arming within the ambit of NATO and the EU. Not to speak of the Great German armament; during the NATO war in Yugoslavia, German soldiers participated in a war outside German borders for the first time since the time of Hitler. The US missile defence shield and the EU task force are both expressions of the new imperialist rearmament race, and (4) the solidarity with the victims of imperialist aggressions, with the struggles of the peoples against imperialism: Palestine and the Middle East, the brutal blockade against Iraq, Plan Colombia, the US aggression in Latin America, etc.
Just seeing only one aspect, and not the whole expanse of the struggle, just focusing completely on one theme and closing the eyes to all the others, will put the anti-imperialist forces on the wrong track.
The development of a coordinated struggle among the leftist forces in all fields is an urgent necessity.
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