Against all Forms of Imperialism
We stand resolutely on the side of the people, against all imperialisms, be they global or regional. We fight for the abolition of the commercial plundering that ruins the Southern countries, and for the freedom of movement and settlement of workers.
The division of terrestrial space into nation-states is a construction linked to the historical development of capitalism and states. It’s on the ideological foundation of « the nation » that the political domination of the state and the ruling classes, of which it is the instrument, is forged.
Nationalist ideology is based on the ultimate negation of all differences, all antagonisms in a given territory : negation of the plurality of cultures and languages, negation of the class struggle, negation of relations of domination and oppression.
We therefore reject the nationalist political logic that actually construct a myth based on purity and « cultural autarky » in order to set the exploited against each other and to justify their submission. libertarian/anarchist federalism seems to us to allow for the coexistence of multiple cultures and their intermingling, without a single one being imposed on individuals by a political power.
The rise of capitalism in the 19th and 20th centuries could not have taken place without the systematic plundering of the resources of the countries of the South. The consequences were disastrous : wars and massacres, destruction of ecological balances, food crops, local production, to the benefit of sectors exporting wealth to colonial empires. The local economies found themselves incomplete, dependent, unable to respond to the needs of the populations, leading to rising inequalities, misery, hunger, exile.
Our anti-colonialism
We oppose colonial and neo-colonial imperialism, which legitimizes racist speeches, military operations, the organized plundering of natural resources through the alliance between the Western bourgeoisies and their agents at the head of the states of the « former » colonies.
The independence struggles of the 20th century led to a redeployment of imperialism. Formal independence resulted in the transition from a direct mode of domination to an indirect mode of domination, based on support for ruling classes that were now national, but exercising their power in the interests of the former colonial power. In many former colonies, the former colonial power retains a dominant military and economic presence and ensures that the governments in power are compatible with its interests. These relations of domination have been further accentuated with capitalist globalization through indebtedness, monetary control mechanisms and unfair trade relations.
With the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the 21st century new powers have emerged, on a regional, continental and even global scale. They compete with the former imperialist powers, challenging their monopoly of neo-colonial economic predation and their political influence on the local ruling classes. If the latter sometimes take advantage of this situation to serve their private interests, for the populations of the former colonies it’s only a question of perpetuating external domination. It is no less than a new imperialism replacing or superimposing itself on another, and the competition between the two can even degenerate into a proxy conflict of which the local populations are always the victims. As resolute opponents of French imperialism, we demand the relieving of the French state’s trusteeship over the overseas departments, the eradication of the Françafrique networks and an end to foreign military interventionism.
Our support for the peoples’ struggles against imperialism is at the same time lucid and critical. Historically, the anti-colonial struggles, always legitimate in their refusal of domination, and in this a priori always to be supported, have often given birth to militarized bureaucratic regimes, even involved in forms of neo-colonialism. Our solidarity goes to the forces which, in their struggle against colonial domination, combine a project of social, democratic, even anti-capitalist and federalist emancipation, relying on the proletariat and the peasantry.
In doing so, we stand resolutely on the side of the peoples, against all imperialism, whether global or regional. Popular struggles are sometimes supported or despised according to which imperialist side they hinder : we reject this conception of events.
Class solidarity without borders
Capitalism was and is built on a global scale. A class strategy would therefore be unthinkable if it were limited to a single country. The issues are international, and social movements have an important gap to fill. A struggle for an internationalist orientation is necessary, which will have to overcome the body of many partisans of sovereignty and localist resistances.
We are resolutely in favor of freedom of movement and installation. The most powerful states orchestrate the free movement of capital and goods, while erecting borders and walls between the exploited. These borders do not prevent migration : they kill thousands of migrants. On the contrary, they create a category of illegal and disenfranchised workers in the countries of the North. We campaign both for their regularization and for the abolition of the commercial plundering that ruins their countries and throws them on the roads to exile. There’s no possible struggle against North- South inequalities without a struggle for freedom of movement and settlement.
We advocate international solidarity among workers of all countries, among peoples, feminist and LGBTI solidarity, ecologists, against the states and all imperialisms. International unity remains to be built, especially through concrete coordinated actions to confront long-standing multinational powers.
