Socialist Fight condemns the apparent suicide bombings at Brussels Zavateen Airport and the Maelbeeck metro station. These incidents are highly likely to be linked to the capture by the Belgian police of one of the chief suspects in the Paris massacre/shootings last November, where around 130 civilians were killed. It does appear from early reports that the death toll in both attacks is around 34, however it is quite likely that this could rise as more details emerge.

Our attitude to these attacks is the same as for the Paris massacre. At the time we wrote:

“Socialist Fight condemns utterly the barbaric terrorist action carried out on Friday 13 November in Paris, which has left around 130 dead, and another 300 injured, 80 critically. These came only hours after other bloody actions targeting Shia Muslims in bombings in Beirut, where 41 died, and Baghdad, where 26 were killed.

“We condemn these actions as bloody crimes against the French, Middle Eastern and international working class, and indeed the civilian populations more generally. We extend our profound condolence, sympathy and solidarity to the families and friends to the murdered victims and the wounded.

“As Marxists we are totally opposed to methods of individual terrorism however ‘anti-imperialist’ the motivation of the perpetrators may be. The inevitable consequences of this is civilian casualties, intended or not. And the attack never weakens imperialism, it ALWAYS strengthens the repressive forces of the capitalist state against the working class and its aspiring revolutionary leadership.” (https://socialistfight.com/2015/11/17/the-paris-massacre-imperialisms-chickens-coming-home-to-roost-17-11-2015/)

This appears to be part of a cat-and-mouse game with Islamist/IS militants seeking to both evade the French and Belgian cops while at the same time engaged in spectacular and bloody actions designed to humiliate the state and show it up as impotent.

Irrespective of that, these actions are reactionary, and in turn strengthen the hand of Zionist and other anti-Muslim reactionaries in the imperialist states. The Paris massacre not only killed innocent civilians, it also allowed the French state to crack down on dissent on a broad level with the state of emergency. These attacks are now quite likely to be extended into Belgium and maybe further afield.

The root cause of this Islamist militancy is imperialism’s crimes against the masses of the Middle East. This created the chaos that allowed IS to flourish. We must therefore oppose all attacks on democratic rights by the state as a result of these renewed attacks.

And we thoroughly oppose all attacks and escalation of the war currently being waged against IS. The working class needs to see beyond the immediate bourgeois propaganda about ‘terrorism’ existing in isolation from imperialism’s far greater crimes. A blow struck against imperialist war in the Middle East, by the workers movement through political strikes, would be a political blow against IS when the bombings of imperialism actually strengthen it’s authority. It would be a blow because it would offer an alternative to the dead end of pointless bloody acts of terror to the disaffected and despairing.

Without that, the cycle of imperialist bombing – terrorist atrocity will go on. Socialists are the most consistent opponents of imperialist wars and attacks on democratic rights not least because they are the only means to undercut reactionary ideologies of the oppressed like that which fuels the IS militants.

Condemn the reactionary attacks!

No to ‘states of emergency’ and attacks on democratic rights!

Defeat imperialism in the Middle East! Defend all forces resisting imperialist aggression!