Date: April 13, 2003 Statement: 297

Countries may be occupied;
The resistance of the peoples is not finished!

DO NOT REJOICE, ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE;
DO NOT BE SAD, FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE!
DO NOT RUSH TO BE AMONG THOSE WHO JUMP FOR JOY BECAUSE ‘BAGHDAD HAS FALLEN!’,
ALSO DO NOT BE AMONG THOSE WHO SWIFTLY LOSE HOPE BECAUSE ‘BAGHDAD HAS FALLEN’!

Wait, because the judgement of history has not been rendered! Wait, because as far as time is concerned there have been only a few days of war, and as far as location goes it is a war that extends beyond the frontiers of Iraq.
Wait, because empires have started to collapse at the point when they seem to be at their mightiest. Wait, for the world will see and history will write; the American Empire will give way to peoples who confront it with resistance and war!
Baghdad has fallen! Iraq has been occupied. The pro-Americans are jumping for joy with “victory” over the degrading of the Iraqi people; the American Empire is fainting with delirium because of its own propaganda that “nobody can stand up to it”. Baghdad has fallen! Iraq has been occupied. OK, is this a “victory” for America? The American media and the media of its collaborators are trying to make everything look as though it is finished on the basis of “Baghdad has fallen and the monuments have been torn down”.
Whether Baghdad had resisted for ten days or 100 days, the essential and characteristic fact about the tearing down of statues to Saddam is that Iraq has been occupied. The occupation of Iraq is a step taken within the American Empire’s plans to make all the peoples of the world surrender. The current media bombardment is an attempt to conceal this truth.
The fall of Baghdad must not cause people to forget the resistance at Umm Qasr, those who carried out sacrifice actions by turning themselves into bombs, the thousands of Iraqis who were killed while resisting, those who are still firing bullets at the Yankees or the curses the peoples have rained down on the USA from the four corners of the earth.
Whatever the extent of the resistance the people of Iraq are able to put up, they do not welcome the occupiers with flowers. This is the truth. The blood of thousands of patriots has been poured out in the occupation. History has not written about the victory of those “conquerors” who have spilled blood on the soil.
What is victory and what is defeat? The answer to this question is found in the depths of history.
Those who judge victory or defeat on the basis of a few days are making a mistake. They are forced to change their assessments from day to day. They remain trapped in a situation where they go from knowing everything to being taken by surprise, and go from cheerful enthusiasm to having their dreams destroyed. Peoples who do not accept defeat no matter how many times they are massacred or occupied cannot be considered to have been defeated.
Since 1991, American imperialism has sought to intimidate the world’s peoples with bombardments that “nobody can stand up to” and gigantic military force in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and once again Iraq. And once again there have been peoples of the world who have resisted. The peoples of the world did not give in; on the contrary, while the illegality and illegitimacy of America’s power is becoming clear, the opposition, resistance and struggle of the world’s people are growing. They will grow further. They will develop further in scope and take on more productive forms. This is not merely what we want; it is the movement that historical development requires.

Can the imperialists bring “freedom”?

Thirteen years have passed since1990; all the abortive theories about imperialism have been seen to collapse. What we are confronted with is nothing other than what Lenin recognised, a parasitical, rotting, expansionist monopoly capitalism. The American Empire is the sovereignty of the imperialist monopolies over the economic and political world.
The defenders of theories held by those who spoke openly about an “empire” after the September 11 actions, namely that “imperialism has changed” , “henceforth in a unipolar world, the aim of the USA and EU in intervening in other countries is to bring human rights and democracy” were forced to tone their voices down somewhat.
The defenders of these theories want to encourage them again now that Iraq is “successfully” occupied. Quite the contrary; the masssacre and occupation of Iraq means nothing other than the bankruptcy of such theories.
The freedom brought to Iraq is a murderer’s freedom, a freedom which drains away national resources. And this truth is so obvious that it has become a subject for jokes even in the imperialist press.
Under these conditions, it is necessary to question those who say that American occupation of Iraq “promotes democracy in the region” as to what it is they want to do and whom they are serving.
Can one speak of democracy in a country that is openly or secretly occupied by imperialism? Is it a democratic development in a place where America’s flag is waved under conditions of slaughter and occupation?
In that case the American Empire is legitimate! In that case military occupation by America is legitimate!
If America brought freedom to Iraq, then in the same way in all countries and regions of the world, “America is the key to democratic development” and needs to be defended. In that case fascist and anti-democratic governments and indeed all countries must have their occupation by America defended!
In that case it is necessary for those holding those views to defend the American Empire wýthout hesitation.
If America brings democracy everywhere, if freedom is everywhere that the American flag can wave, if “dictatorships” can be brought down in this way, then in the name of the “left”, in the name of “nationalism”, in the name of “defending Kurdish interests” they are legitimising occupation by America and are like the Ertugrul Ozkoks (note: a well-known journalist in Turkey) who openly defend the American Empire. Those who say America will bring democracy and at the same time half-heartedly mutter “no to war” need to make clear that they have a different understanding.
Those who in the name of the left treat Iraq as an example for the oligarchy (note: of Turkey), saying, “if you do not do it, they will”, are displaying an attitude that cannot be accepted from the point of view of the left’s logic, intelligence or conscience. Those who, in the name of the left, hold up America as an example of democracy have no connection with the left at all.
The defenders of thse theories are in the same position as the “Iraqi opposition” and nationalists of the Barzani and Talabani type. They want power. At the price of the blood of the peoples being spilled, at the price of countries being occupied! This is a war for power conducted in the name of America.
It is as though apart from them there were not hundreds of peoples, hundreds of countries. It is as though there were no world. Only they existed. This is what nationalism is. Here they show the narrow horizons and self-centredness of nationalism. The structure of this cage, a matter of looking after one’s own interests, means tyranny, exploitation and humiliation for all the world’s peoples and means giving support to the Empire.
Isn’t “Turkish nationalism” in the same situation? Didn’t it approve the massacre of the Iraqi people while saying it was “in the interests of Turkey”?
The collaborationists who are called the “Iraqi opposition”, the Talabani-Barzani collaborationists who accept the American military, and those who legitimise these policies with one pretext or another will be cursed by the peoples of the world. Everyone can be certain of this. In imperialism’s war with the peoples, can it be said that those who support these policies are on the side of the peoples?

What view must revolutionaries take?

The aim of the American Empire is to leave not a trace of doubt when it comes to administrations.
All forces, nations, peoples, states and organisations which do not accept complete surrender to imperialism will be treated as targets by the USA in one form or another, and all economic, political and military paths will be used to try and achieve their surrender.
For the world’s peoples there is only one alternative to 100% support for imperialism, and that is to resist and to struggle and organise against imperialism under all forms.
Apart from them, those who reach agreement with America in order to save themselves from being targeted will understand too late that they have made an error. On this subject, the world provides plenty of examples that serve as a warning. The turn will come of the Arab countries who failed to show an appropriate attitude to the attack on Iraq today, as well as the Kurdish, Arab and other organisations in the region which acted in the same way. They cannot escape from this.
The duty of revolutionaries is to defend the UNITY AND FRATERNITY OF THE WORLD’S PEOPLES. A period in which the American Empire announces lists of targets and sets them up ONE BY ONE, a period in which it tries to get them to surrender through occupations and massacres must also be a period in which the unity of the peoples, solidarity and fraternity are remembered and put into practice more than before.
We openly stated at the start that we are on the side of the Iraqi people without any hesitation: we do not hesitate in siding with Iraq’s national resistance. Again we are on its side. To say that “all of us are Iraqis!" means struggling against those who are murdering Iraqis and occupying Iraq.
There are those who say both “no to war” in all the city squares, as well as “Baghdad is ours”, while also seeing the occupation of Iraq and cooperation with the occupiers as legitimate. These politics have no connection with the interests of the peoples.
The world’s peoples can change this picture by stepping up the war against imperialism and the collaborationist oligarchies. Since wars for independence and national liberation are inevitable, military occupation will again play an even more significant role on the world stage.
A struggle with an anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic content should carry within it a perspective of uninterrupted revolution. Those struggles which do not carry this content will not be able to drive back imperialism, weaken it and gradually bring it down. The reason for the paradox that masses of the world’s people poured out onto the streets (note: to oppose the attack on Iraq) while their opposition was ineffective is that the struggle of the peoples lacked direction. Other than through the unity of the people, destroying all oligarchic governments which collaborate with imperialism, which derive their strength from imperialism and at the same time give it strength, achieving independence and democracy, eliminating capitalism through uninterrupted revolution directed towards socialism, no other road of liberation exists.
From the point of view of the world’s peoples, it is not possible to rely on any other alliance, any other force. The hypocrisy of the countries which presented themselves as “against the war”, such as the European Union, China and Russia is obvious. It is clear that they cannot be “reliable” allies for the world’s peoples. They merely watched the massacre and the occupation of Iraq. They raised no objection, and this was a “process” of giving approval. It was the same in both Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Now they are trying to obtain a piece of the cake of plunder and pillage that occupied Iraq constitutes.
The peoples will succeed in their own liberation through their own strength, organisation and warfare.
“World conditions have changed!”; “Nobody can stand up to America”, these are the kinds of thoughts that the headquarters of imperialism produce. The logic of the Talabanis and Barzanis comes from this. America also wants the world’s peoples to think this way.
The peoples see that to accept this means hunger, poverty and national humiliation and they will see this yet more. The peoples have not accepted this for thousands of years and will not again.
The duty of revolutionaries is not to theorise about surrender but to organise resistance.

Have the people of Iraq been defeated? No!

The resistance will continue in various forms. The clashes and actions continuing in Baghdad and other corners of Iraq are a sign of this. The powerlessness of the resistance and why it took this form is a separate subject for discussion. All peoples, revolutionaries and patriots will derive lessons from such a discussion.
It could be touched on that the Saddam government had good relations with imperialism for a time and maintained an oppressive regime over its own people. Certainly it is not possible for those who practise repression and tyranny against their own people and who trample underfoot democracy, the people’s will and rights of speech and decision-making, to instruct the people in feelings of patriotism.
But even here, nobody should forget that we are talking about people who were bombed by the enemy for years, whose houses and workplaces were burned or destroyed and who were left impoverished. If the people of Iraq have fallen into a state of powerlessness it is primarily Britain and America who are responsible. Nobody should forget this.
The occupation being carried out after such an administration will also create disadvantages for the development of the Iraqi people’s resistance to the occupation, and perhaps we will also witness other betrayals. But there is no room for doubt that resistance will continue and independence be won. The French occupation of Algeria lasted 132 years. Legal parties, reformist methods, every road was attempted. But after the armed struggle was begun, only 10 years elapsed. So Algerian patriots shortened the road to victory by embarking on armed struggle. In the end the masses learned through their own experience. In Iraq the resistance might take a short time to be organised or might take a longer time. But it is certain that occupation by America will not be accepted.
It is not the reality of Iraq that was shown when America put on a performance with a small number of collaborators and overturned a statue. American and British forces encouraged plundering. See how, to be able to make backward and primitive propaganda, they used the plundering to humiliate the Iraqis. Then they could step onto the stage as the “civilised liberators”. The reality of Iraq is represented by the hearts of Iraqis which today beat with growing anger against the occupiers and who resist the occupation.
In the meantime, to those who say, “Look how the Iraqis were not able to resist... they finished Saddam”, we would like them to turn around and look at the reality of their own country. Also if they turn to their own country, they must see how much pressure our own people live under. Look how the implementation of the IMF programmes leaves our people hungry and without work and how relentlessly collaboration with America is pursued. This is the reality of the people, deprived of organisation and subject to repression. For this, the imperialists and their collaborators, all ruling class governments deprive our people of organisation and intimidate them with repression and terror, and want them to be in a condition where they do not rebel against hunger and do not resist occupation...
It is the revolutionaries who are working to change this picture, this situation of the people. It is a pathetic contradiction that those who are complaining that the Iraqi people did not put up sufficient resistance are mostly the ones who in their own country describe as terrorists the revolutionaries who are adding to the resistance to imperialism and fascism and are organising the people. A people whose revolutionaries have been ground down, destroyed and slaughtered are a people who are defenceless against fascism, a people left to drift without guidance. Nobody should forget this.
The struggle of Iraq’s people will also develop under the leadership of the patriots and revolutionaries. In this struggle, while one front, one position is defeated, in another position advances are made. If the seeds of resistance are sown, these seeds will sprout from the soil in some form. The resistance is continuing.
In our country now, the revolutionaries and patriots must not forget that the greatest solidarity with the Iraqi people is to raise higher the struggle against the American Empire which is occupying Iraq and against its collaborators in our country.

Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi
(Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front)