The top brass in the U.S. military machine feigns shock at the exposure of rape and widespread sexual harassment directed against female recruits by their officers at U.S. Army bases across the country. But this should come as no surprise, either to the generals or to working people. What female soldiers are subjected to is just an extension of the abuse of women that the U.S. officer corps organizes around the world.

For decades the U.S. military has acted to ensure the availability of the sexual services of large numbers of women - at "bargain rates" - for U.S. troops. During World War II the Japanese army forced as many as 200,000 women from throughout Asia to submit to what amounted to repeated mass rapes. Many of these so-called "comfort women" were later organized as prostitutes for the occupying U.S. troops after the war. The areas surrounding U.S. military bases in the Philippines, Vietnam, and many other countries became infamous over the years for their brothels and "massage parlors." The number of prostitutes in Vietnam at the time U.S. troops were forced to leave was estimated at more than 300,000. The U.S. military controlled the health and security features at these facilities.

Opposition from the government of Saudi Arabia prevented Washington from setting up similar "services" in the Middle East during its war against the people of Iraq in 1990-91. U.S. military officials arranged for large numbers of troops to be flown home via Thailand and the Philippines, to make available to them the brothels in those countries.

The tone set from the top in the military often leads to "excesses." The latest wave of protests by the Okinawan people against the presence of 29,000 U.S. troops stationed on their island was sparked by the rape of a 12-year-old school girl by three U.S. soldiers. The servicemen, who U.S. officers at first refused to turn over to Japanese authorities, said they were just trying to "have fun," but didn't have money to pay a prostitute.

The widespread publicity of the recent revelations and the scope of the investigation by the military brass show that rape of women soldiers by their officers does present a problem for the U.S. armed forces. It undermines credibility in the military machine of the mightiest empire and above all, it undercuts military discipline necessary for any army to be effective.

Some military officers, politicians, and commentators are arguing that the revelations of rape and sexual misconduct at the military bases in the United States demonstrate that this behavior is part human nature. At least one congressman so far has suggested that this proves there should again be sex segregation in the military. The "solution" devised by officers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground is to order female recruits to be accompanied by a "buddy" at all times.

The problem isn't "human nature." It's the degradation of women bred and perpetuated by capitalist society, which gets a particularly vicious twist in an imperialist army. The confidence of women in the military to report this harassment more than in the past is a product of the gains won in the fight for women's rights. But the brass will continue to organize conditions that breed these attitudes, as long as there's a capitalist army.

The actions of the Cuban army and its leadership stand in sharp contrast to the Pentagon. More than 300,000 Cuban volunteers fought in Angola between 1975 and 1991, dealing fatal blows to the invading apartheid army of South Africa. This was one of numerous internationalist missions carried out by Cuban revolutionaries in support of the struggles of the working class and oppressed peoples of the world - the exact opposite of every military action taken by Washington and the other imperialist powers.

Former Cuban General Arnaldo Ochoa correctly signed three execution orders for young Cuban soldiers who had raped or murdered Angolan women. The policy of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba prohibiting harassment and violence against women is clear and is implemented unambiguously. It mirrors the practice of the Cuban revolution.

Later, Ochoa himself was executed after being convicted of drug trafficking, black market deals, and outright robbery.

In explaining why it was necessary to apply Cuba's maximum criminal punishment rather than some lesser penalty in this case, Cuban leaders argued that a key principle of the revolution was at stake: the lives of those who wear stars and medals are not worth more than anyone else in Cuba. Raśl Castro, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, explained that if Ochoa were to be treated more leniently than the young soldiers he ordered executed it would mean that human life in Cuba has differentiated value depending on your wealth or political connections.

This is an example of the correct application of the death penalty, used to advance building a society based on human solidarity instead of profit. It's the opposite of how capital punishment is used in the United States, where it's tool of the capitalist rulers against working people.

As the example of the Cuban armed forces show, only the overthrow of the wages system, of capitalism, and the joining of the battle for new social relations that are the foundation of a socialist society can eliminate rape and other abuse against women - in the military or in society as a whole.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home