80 years after the end of WWII the world has turned around a whole circle and is back to where it left off. WWII is considered to be a determining point in the history of modern world. The war exposed the inherent inhumanity and brutality of capitalism. The death and destruction that the war imposed on the world was brutal.
Now 80 years later, after a year and a half of genocide, slaughter and mass murder in Palestine and the Middle East, few years of warmongering propaganda, expansion of NATO, monumental investment in arms, the extreme suppression of civil liberties (1), complete censorship of mainstream media and extreme measures against social media, suppression of freedom and the right to protest, we are witnessing the same horrid situation. Fascism is taking over the whole West. The threat of another world war is looming over us. It is unbelievable how it only took 80 years for the monster to reappear.
The war started by a European power and led to an unimaginable death and destruction. Around 80 million people lost their lives worldwide; 7 million Germans, 2.7 million Western Europeans and Americans, 27 million from the Soviet Union, 20 million Chinese and millions in Africa and Asia. WWII is recorded as the most horrendous crime of modern time (from 1500 to today) considering that since the rise of colonialism there have been many genocides committed by Western states, on top of slavery which is one of the darkest chapters of human history; it shows the extent of brutality and inhumanity exerted in this war.
WWII Just like the first one was about world domination and power. It was created to resettle the results of WWI which aimed at re-dividing the world. And the world indeed changed; some empires fell and some gained more power; new countries were created. However, one thing nobody had expected was the October 1917 revolution in Russia which changed the political dynamic and relationships and created a great challenge for the world powers. The threat of communism became the biggest threat of all time for capitalism and western imperialism. As a result fascism started to grow in Europe.
Hitler’s and the fascists’ aim was to defeat the working class and communist movements which were strong in Germany and also in Europe and to crush the Soviet Union. Many communist and labour activists were sent to concentration camps, something which is never talked about. Since WWI, when Russian revolution shook the world, fascism came to the political scene in Europe first and foremost as an anti-communist movement to combat the Soviet Union and the rise of socialist and working class movements in Europe, and in great parts of the world. Italy is considered the birth place of fascism, but it became very strong in Germany, it was in power in Portugal (Salazar regime) and Spain (Franco regime) collaborating with Hitler but officially neutral, it was the de facto power in France, and very strong in Austria, Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Even though British government officially opposed Hitler, Its leaders, notably Winston Churchill were ideologically fascist.
In 1937, while speaking in favour of allowing Jews to settle in Palestine, Churchill made a statement which is eye-opener:
I do not admit ... for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.
Soviet Union was the main force in defeating the Nazis; the force that they waged the war against. According to all historical documents Soviet Union played the main role in defeating the Nazis, after losing around 27 million of its population. It was the “Red Army” who freed Auschwitz. The picture of the Red army soldiers raising the red flag over the Reichstag Building in Berlin has become iconic. (2) This is not about taking sides. It’s about historical facts and trying to understand and expose the West’s intentions for falsifying the history. Soviet Union was not a socialist state. It claimed to be one. But the world capitalism could not even tolerate a fake socialist state.
However, Western imperialism has been trying to change the history by creating a false narrative. This narrative portrays US as the saviour of the world from fascism and the country that ended the war. They even try to bury the abhorrent US crime of dropping nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war, just as a show of force, testing nuclear bombs or warning the world who the real boss is! The ruling class has created this fantasy world of the good and evil worlds fighting each other, and of course the West is the good, and Russia the evil.
As Western imperialism practically lost the war to the Soviet Union and as a result Soviet Union grew bigger and took over part of Europe, the West chose a very clever ideological-political path or solution to raise the flag of democracy, human rights, individual freedom, rationalism and international law. To create a welfare state with democracy in the West as a propaganda showcase against the Soviet Union and to destroy any socialist movement in the world under the banner of fight for democracy. It was this goal and obsession that led to the creation of Truman Doctrine (3) to rule the world and Marshal Plan (4) to assist Europe.
This only lasted a few decades. By the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war, the “sweet” era of democracy and human rights came to an end in the West.
Comparing the world today with 80 years ago, brings to mind Marx’s deep observation of human history: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” (The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte) However, the farce has gone to the point of absurdity. Two years ago in May 2023 the G7 held a summit in Hiroshima and condemned the war crimes of Russia without even mentioning the nuclear bombs dropped by the US on that very same city!
This only shows how far the ruling class has come and how obnoxious they’ve become. They’re completely disconnected and feel untouchable. They don’t give a damn about what the public think and feel. This is when you scratch your head and ask how far they’re prepared to go and how far will the people take it? The answer to the first question is as long as they are forced to stop. The answer to the second one is more complicated.
The rise of fascism in the West is real. The ideological narrative promoted by the ruling class is fundamentally the same as the Nazi era, but turned around. Throughout history the WWII narrative has completely changed to Nazis against Jews and all the other factors have been minimised and sidelined. And now in a bizarre way anti-Judaism (anti-Semitism is used in mainstream discourse) has come to mean anti-Israel. By this jugglery they have arrived at the position to call anyone who opposes and condemns Israel an anti-Semite and therefore a criminal. Criminalising any opposition to Israel and its genocidal crimes and to criminalising defence of a suppressed and downtrodden people are the best proof of the rise and power of fascism. Upholding Talmudic values and principles has become officially acceptable and promoted: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently stated that “Europe holds the values of the Talmud,” referring to the central text of Rabbinic Judaism. (5)
NATO has expanded both in size and military capability; warmongering is an integrated official narrative and more bold and practical steps are taken to violate the current international law in order to provoke Russia and China. These are worrying signs.
The West has never stopped creating wars. The West has been more or less safe from war, but wars have been ravaging all over the world, thanks to US, Britain, France, Israel, etc. (We said “more or less”, this refers to the war NATO waged against Yugoslavia that led to thousands killed and misplaced. Belgrade was bombed by NATO for 78 days in 1999). But when the dominant and mainstream spokesmen speak of world war, they mean war in Europe like the 2nd one. The US and the West are struggling with deep crises. Crisis is an inherent nature of capitalism. It is periodical; and each time to overcome the crisis, the stronger becomes stronger, and concentrate more wealth under its control and the weak gets eliminated. The chaotic nature of crisis, if deep enough, can lead to wars.
US while creating the UN as an international institution to deal with world issues, started a brutal campaign to take over the world, suppress any voice for equality, freedom and progress. In fact, the nuclear bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a glimpse to the future, a sign of the shape of the world to come. US organised more than 70 coups during the cold war, bombed many countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea and Laos. Millions were killed under US bombs, by famine and starvation imposed as a result of war, under military juntas supported by the US.(6)
UN has been exposed as the instrument of US and the West to keep their supremacy and power over world affairs. UN is nothing but a theatrical show to engage and distract the minds. Its downfall was accelerated by the genocide in Gaza and its total inability to make any difference. However, when one delves into its history one discovers that from the beginning it was nothing but farce. The former UN general secretary Kurt Waldheim was a former Nazi military officer. He served in the German Wehrmacht during World War II, including in Greece and Yugoslavia.(7)
80 years from its inception, UN has become an exposed, discredited joke in the world. The Genocide of the Palestinians tore the mask and charade of human rights, international law and democracy. All the propaganda about democracy, human rights, superior science-based, humanitarian-based civilisation has been shredded into pieces.
We have enough proofs and documents to expose the ruling class and its plan for the world destruction in an attempt to deal with capitalist crisis on world scale. We need to mobilise. We need to wake up. We need to fight back. The future of humanity is at stake. Tomorrow might be too late.
(1) UK police is investigating Kneecap, an Irish band, and has charged for terrorist offence under terrorism act for singing against Israel and shouting Free Palestine.
(2) The Red Army raised the flag over the Reichstag building in Berlin on May 2, 1945, marking the end of the Battle of Berlin and a symbolic victory over Nazi Germany. This iconic image, often referred to as "Raising a Flag over the Reichstag," is a well-known symbol of Soviet triumph in World War II.
(3) The Truman Doctrine, articulated by US President Harry S. Truman in 1947, committed the United States to providing political, military, and economic aid to countries threatened by communism. It aimed to counter the spread of Soviet influence and establish a policy of containment, where the US would work to prevent the expansion of communism. Another aim not addressed openly in this doctrine is threat of Arab nationalism which Eisenhower Doctrine, announced in 1957, addresses more openly. Eisenhower privately admitted that the real goal of the doctrine was to combat Arab nationalism. US under Truman was the first country to recognise Israel.
It’s been documented that former US National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, was promoting China to support the Khmer Rouge in 1979: “I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could.” According to Brzezinski, the USA “winked, semi-publicly” at Chinese and Thai aid to the Khmer Rouge.
(4) The Marshall Plan was a US-led program of economic aid to Western Europe following World War II, aimed at rebuilding war-torn economies and preventing the spread of communism was a US foreign policy that pledged American support to nations resisting communist aggression or subversion.
(5) 1953 coup ‘d’état in Iran, Turkey 1960 and 1980, Greece 1967, Korean war 1950-53 which resulted in at least 3 million death, Indonesian coup 2-3 million death, genocides in Vietnam and Cambodia, bloody coups all over Latin America; these are some of the atrocities committed by US in cold war under the banner of defence of democracy.
(6) What is dumbfounding is the complete silence of the secularists and feminist movement and organisations with regard to this statement. Those who are lamenting over Islam condemn the misogyny and backwardness of Islam, said nothing, even to raise concern over such outright misogynist and reactionary values. Their silence is deafening.
(7) There were more high Nazi officers and collaborators in Western establishments including Hans Speidel: A general who served in the Wehrmacht and later became the Supreme Commander of Allied NATO ground forces in Central Europe. Adolf Heusinger: A general who served in the Wehrmacht and later became the head of the West German military and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. Many were employed by NASA.
⏩Asar Majedi is a Member of Hekmatist Party leadership & Chairperson of Organisation for Women’s Liberation.
No comments