first thoughts - bombs in madrid
WORKERS, APRIL 2004 ISSUE
WHEN THE bombs went off in Madrid last month, the Spanish government claimed that the modus operandi bore the imprint of ETA, a desperate and ultimately failed lie whose aim was to avoid to electoral backlash. Later, commentators found evidence of al-Qaeda involvement. There was much talk about kinds of explosive, and so on. But the real evidence linking 11 September with Madrid was there for all to see: they were both attacks on workers.
In the twin towers it was workers in the workplace; in Madrid, on the way to work. Those who commit these fascist acts make lofty claims about attacking imperialsm, but they prefer to kill workers instead. In neither attack was there any warning, but then the object was to kill as many workers as possible, of whatever national origin. That is the fascist way.
Bush and Blair claimed that their attack would make the world safer, but it hasn't. Iraq is not safer, nor is Spain. If Blair thinks that Britain is safer, why is he hiring another thousand spooks and increasing his attacks on our civil liberties? And why did Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens proclaim last month that a terror attack on London is "inevitable"?
A war against terrorism? If only! And we will wait in vain for one from Blair and Bush. Removing them from power must be part of our working class war on terror, but it is only a part. The terrorists and those who supply them live among us: it is for all of us to remain vigilant and to expose these fascists.