The newly elected social-democratic government in Spain has taken a prowar stance from the beginning—not an “antiwar” position, as claimed by many liberal and radical commentators. It’s easier to understand this when we start with the reality that Spain is an imperialist power. Whichever party or individuals happen to hold office, they are simply doing their job of enforcing the class interests of the billionaire families that rule Spain.

Prime Minister-elect José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Socialist Party has not promised to withdraw all Spanish troops from Iraq. He has said the goal is to keep them there, by giving the imperialist occupation force a United Nations cover. There is no such thing as the “United Nations,” however, that has any functional meaning for the occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan. Only the imperialist governments that control the UN have armies and the power to use them. The new government in Madrid hopes UN sponsorship will improve Spanish finance capital’s position relative to Washington in Iraq.

The Spanish government’s announcement that it will double the size of its contingent in Afghanistan to 250 troops illustrates again that the Spanish rulers are acting to advance their own imperialist interests.

This development also registers the progress Washington is making in its longer-term goal of pressing NATO powers in Europe to take responsibility for the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan and elsewhere. In October of last year, at a summit meeting of NATO powers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. and British officials argued for a transformation of the armed forces across Europe and the growing involvement of other NATO powers in the Atlantic imperialist alliance’s expanding operations around the world. Initially, these governments committed few troops and military hardware in Afghanistan. Today, however, Madrid is taking the lead in this direction.

The “war on terror” is also being used against workers, farmers, and oppressed nationalities on the domestic front. In Spain, the government is widening the use of the Antiterrorist Law, which for many years has targeted Basque independence fighters—hundreds of whom are locked up under brutal conditions. Now Moroccans and other North African immigrants are among those victimized. Such measures have also been used against dockworkers engaged in a union struggle.

In the United States, the Congressional commission on “terrorism” has focused on “intelligence failures”—that is, the charge by Democratic Party politicians that the Bush administration didn’t do enough to crack down on “terrorism” before the September 11 attacks because of its emphasis on overthrowing the government of Iraq. The hearings have served as a platform for Democrats and Republicans to campaign for strengthening the powers of the CIA, FBI, immigration cops, and other political police and further restricting constitutional and workers rights. The target of this increased spying and harassment will be the unions, militant farm groups, Black rights organizations, and others who resist the attacks by the employers and their government.

Working people should demand that all imperialist troops get out of Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Korea, Haiti, Colombia, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and everywhere else—now! We should protest the stepped-up attacks on workers rights, from the United States to Spain, and join with all those fighting for unions, for the rights of immigrant workers, for women’s equality, and other struggles in the interests of working people and the oppressed to advance these goals.
 
 
Related articles:
Spain ‘antiterror’ drive targets workers’ rights
Imperialist powers in Europe step up police spying
2,000 more Marines head to Afghanistan  
 
 
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