Millions of people around the world were out on the street this past year to protest the murderous US-backed Israeli war machine as it ravages through the Middle East, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying whole cities. Anger has focused on the Democratic Party’s refusal not only to end this massacre but in fact breaking records funding it.
With a lack of a dynamic and organized mass anti-war alternative on the ballot, Trump stepped in to rebrand himself as the anti-war candidate. Back in power, however, Trump’s plans for the Middle East are far from peace.
The Middle East is one of the main arenas of intensified global struggle between the two imperialist blocs around the US and China, and Trump is planning to turn up the heat. Allies of the two dominant imperialist powers are already battling over trade routes around the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. Several rival regional powers are funding opposing armies in the horrendous war in Sudan in part to win naval access on its coast.
Trump plans to continue Biden’s “blank check” policy towards the reactionary Netanyahu regime, avoiding even the empty and symbolic warnings that Biden and Harris have raised over the past year. For US imperialism, the massacre of Palestinians is merely a necessary sacrifice to achieve their wider regional interests.
“Maximum Pressure 2.0”
The China bloc’s strongest and most important ally in the Middle East is Iran. Trump is planning to restore “maximum pressure”, in his words, on Iran which would include increased sanctions and bans on oil sales to other countries, risking further conflict. War and poverty is all global capitalism is able to prepare for us. This is shown by Trump’s support for Israel bombing Iranian nuclear and oil facilities.
Following mass popular pressure to lower inflation in the US, Biden was forced to lift some of the sanctions on Iranian oil to allow higher global output. Trump’s intent to strangle oil production and massively increase tariffs threatens to bring inflation back up. Of course, increased attacks on Iranian energy is primarily felt by the masses in Iran. This shows that working people in both countries have a basic shared interest to oppose imperialist conflict and war.
We Need A Mass Anti-war Movement
Trump’s reactionary war agenda will intensify the global crisis and further risk a wider war in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. We need to rapidly prepare to build a mass anti-war movement that can mount an alternative to both parties of war and environmental destruction.
The labor movement has a special role to play, organizing workers in the weapons, energy, and shipping industries. International solidarity with workers around the world is a fundamental principle for socialists serious about fighting for a world free from the misery promised to us all by the rotten global system of capitalism.