An Alliance for Domination - A Partnership for Reaction and War

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An Alliance for Domination - A Partnership for Reaction and War

During the Queen’s Speech to Parliament on May 17, the monarch announced that her government would "continue to play its full part in international affairs". Amongst other things, the speech indicated that the government would continue with its criminal and illegal occupation of Iraq, and interference in Afghanistan and other countries on the grounds of the so-called "war on terrorism". The speech also announced that the government would continue its intervention in the affairs of the African continent, with the strengthening of the reactionary EU and NATO and the warmongering alliance between Britain and the US.

On the same day, the full meaning of the government’s priorities was spelt out by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, in a speech entitled "A Partnership for Wider Reform", which he presented not to parliament but to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. Perhaps not surprisingly the main theme of the speech was the arrogant claim that: "The alliance between Europe and America has done more than any other in human history to promote the values of freedom, justice and fairness which we share and which we so prize in others." The Foreign Secretary therefore concluded: "Today, it is more vital than ever that we advance those values and the wider freedom which they underpin." It was on the basis of such an assertion that he proceeded to outline the British government’s mission to spread freedom and democracy around the world.

According to the Foreign Secretary, in this mission there are three priorities. First, "democratic governance, or freedom from tyranny and repression. Second, security or freedom from fear," and third, "the fight against poverty". Of course when he champions "democratic governance" Jack Straw means the multi-party system of representative democracy, which has been so discredited in Britain, the US and other countries, and which is widely understood to be a system which keeps the majority of the people away from governance and any participation in decision making. Turning truth on its head, Jack Straw even claimed that such a system is the best way to deal with "disputes over the fair allocation of wealth and resources". But only a representative of the rich could make such an assertion about a system that in Britain is not, for example, even able to guarantee pensions and free university education. If Jack Straw spoke the truth why would the government even speak of the need for a "fight against poverty?" In fact, as Jack Straw’s speech made clear the issue of "democratic governance" is only used as means to justify the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, to interfere in the affairs of other countries such as, those of strategic and economic importance in the Middle East and Central Asia, and as a justification to attack rival powers such as Russia and China that have adopted different systems of governance.

For Jack Straw "freedom" and "democracy" can be spread around the world by invasion and threats, just as "security or freedom from fear" can also be exported or spread by military means as an integral part of the so-called "war against terror". In this context Jack Straw highlighted the case of Palestine, where the US, Britain and the other big powers are attempting to export their own forms of "democratic governance" and "security" and to create a Palestinian state that conforms to their needs and wishes rather than those of the long-suffering Palestinian people. In pursuit of the goal of "freedom from fear" Britain, the US and others also claim that it is legitimate to threaten Iraq and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in regard to their nuclear power programmes, while the big powers do nothing about their own arsenals of weapons of mass destruction and even seek to increase them so as to secure military domination of space.

The New Labour government’s most pious words are always used in reference to Africa and so it was in Jack Straw’s speech concerning Africa’s poverty. Yet while crocodile tears may shed about the plight of the African continent nothing is said of the role of the monopolies and financial institutions, the IMF and World Bank that have created and continue to exacerbate that continent’s problems, including drastic climatic changes. The British government is attempting to take the high moral ground in regard to Africa so as best to manoeuvre not only in that continent but also in its rivalry with the other big powers. It also uses its alleged "humanitarian concern" as a means to hoodwink the people of Britain.

The experience of the past sixty years does not suggest that the alliance between Europe and the US has brought a "better and safer world" – quite the contrary. Jack Straw’s call for a renewed "alliance of freedom" between Europe and the US and his promise that Britain will play its full part in strengthening that alliance and promoting "wider freedom around the world." shows that New Labour is determined to continue on the reactionary and warmongering path of making Britain "great". It is a path that must be rejected and opposed by all democratic and freedom-loving people, with whom the future of the planet lies.