Censoring Terrorism is Furthering Class Struggle
903/07/2017 by socialistfight
Socialist Fight posts this discussion document from Clara and invites comments.
By Clara
About the Author: Carla is a blogger and advocate of alternative news. Her mission is to show the world how the system is broken. She loves that technology has allowed for a global conversation about the flaws of the ruling class.
Your only need to look at a brief overview of the types of people who join ISIS [3] to realize this fight is not religiously driven. It’s the fight of our fellow proletariat, whose lives have been constantly upturned and oppressed by wealthy Western countries.
Marx famously once said that you could only achieve true communism on a worldwide scale. At the time, this vision seemed near impossible. However, in the modern world, we are more connected than ever. Globalization and technology have opened the door for universal socialist rhetoric, [1] against which the primary weapon is censorship.
Currently, the increasing threat of Islamic terrorism has the Western world gripped with fear. However, our governments and media are doing all they can to quell our worries with expurgation and misinformation. In doing so, they force us to miss the important point:
Most Islamic terrorists are fighting their way out of poverty by attacking what they believe is their ruling class – A.K.A the West.
How Do They Censor Terrorism?
The interference of ‘superpowers’ in second and third world countries is no secret. However, rebellions against this Imperialism are somehow always labeled as ‘religious’ instead of ‘political.’ Despite the fact prolific terrorists have openly stated their cause, the media will not acknowledge it. Consider the harrowing words of Lee Rigby killer, Micheal Adebolajo, moments after his attack: “The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day.”
Great lengths have also been taken to ensure websites and social media posts from the groups are immediately shut down – silencing their voice and potential explanations. Alongside this, new legislation has stripped our human and digital rights in the name of security. Terrorism laws now allow authorities to detain without charge, and valuable online tools, [2] which protect us from government snooping, are banned in an increasing number of countries.
The Message We Need to Hear
Your only need to look at a brief overview of the types of people who join ISIS [3] to realize this fight is not religiously driven. It’s the fight of our fellow proletariat, whose lives have been constantly upturned and oppressed by wealthy Western countries.
Many sign-ups come from the defeated Iraqi army – the one commissioned by America in their notorious war for oil, while others defect come from the Free Syrian Army, one of the few rebel groups left fighting Assad as he massacres their country. All of these people are passionate individuals who turned to the West to help them overthrow their oppressive rulers, but what they found instead was another suffocating authority that cared nothing for the life of the working class.
The Need for Global Socialism
While Trotsky and Lenin believed that one-state socialism could exist, they could have never accounted for the world of today. Every country is engaged in its own personal class struggle, all of which are visible simply by logging onto your computer. How can we ignore the global needs of the many when they are suffering from the same unjust system that we are? Can we condemn extremist fighters when their family, friends and countrymen are slaughtered at the hands of our own ruling class?
A staggering report by Oxfam [4] recently uncovered that the eight richest people in the world earn as much as the 3.6 billion poorest. In Kenya, the wealthiest resident makes over $700 million a year, while 42 percent are starving below the poverty line. While Marx may have believed global communism was necessary for success, it’s now clear that a worldwide focus is required on purely moral grounds. Borders no longer signify divide, the real separation is between rich and poor – and it only continues to grow wider.
The Digital Revolution
The internet was built on principles of freedom and equality. The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, was famous for stating that he wanted ‘no censorship or centralized control.’ In short, it was a tool by the people for the people. Considering this, it stands a poignant homage that the anti-Imperialist revolution is taking place online.
All over the world, people are logging on and sharing their ideas. The cracks in the current establishment are starting to show, and the alt-media is working hard to highlight this. Current statistics suggest that social media networks have gone red, with many mainstream outlets disregarding them as ‘left-wing echo chambers.’ [5]
Could this be the start of a global mindset shift?
Inklings of Change
The past year has been a shock period for politics. In the UK, socialist politician Jeremy Corbyn went from being a media laughing stock to increasing Labour’s vote share by 9.6 percent – the largest swing since WWII. American Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders caused a socialist stir online – although he didn’t get elected. Somewhat similarly, even though his views are abhorrent, many attribute Donald Trump’s victory to his anti-imperialist ways.
No matter what side of the fence you’re on, it’s undeniable the Western world is looking for a change.
Furthermore, the polls surrounding key issues for the electorate [6] have another poignant tale to tell. The topics voters cared about were all socialist in nature. With education, childcare and health all featuring significantly; terrorism didn’t even make the list. From these statistics, it’s clear people are waking up. We are moving to an age where, in the face of recession and war, we are once again prioritizing society and shunning Imperialism. Whether with our votes, our words or, in the extreme cases, with violence, we stand at the beginning of significant worldwide change.
So while the current terror attacks on innocent people are not to be condoned, it is our duty to hear the voices of our fellow humans. Censoring terrorists achieves nothing more than further division and misunderstanding amongst 99 percent of the world’s population while the global elite furthers their share of the pie. Let us not ignore the cry of suffering, just because it’s presented in a language we don’t understand.
Notes
[1] Socialist Fight, 22-2-16, Ghandi, Marx and the meaning of socialism, https://socialistfight.com/2016/02/22/ghandi-marx-and-the-meaning-of-socialism/
[2] Best Proxy Service For 2017, https://securethoughts.com/best-proxy-software-services/
[3] Who Joins ISIS and Why? By John Graham, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-graham/who-joins-isis-and-why_b_8881810.html
[4] Oxfam report shows widening disparity between rich and poor, http://www.euronews.com/2017/01/16/oxfam-report-shows-widening-disparity-between-rich-and-poor
[5] Is this proof that Twitter is a left-wing echo chamber? http://www.pollingdigest.com/home/2017/3/29/is-this-proof-that-twitter-is-a-left-wing-echo-chamber
[6] YouGov, Top Issues Tracker (GB), Which of the following do you think are the most important issues facing the country at this time? Please tick up to three. https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/iocwdn6gap/YG%20Trackers%20-%20Top%20Issues.pdf
Socialist Fight 
Wahhabist islamic ideology has been around since the late eighteenth century. It’s conveniently backward looking and conservative that it fits in well with the feudal monarchies of the gulf and helps to maintain these various ruling families. To say that acts of individual terrorism are really some proletarian attack on Western Imperialism is quite utterly bonkers. All the various fundamental religious sects have at one time or another been funded and armed by Western imperialism in a war against communism and in war against secular nationalism because thios general suits the global politics of imperialism. Mark Curtis’ book Secret Affairs explains this in great detail.
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I’m not sure I get your point. Are you maintaining that the motivation of Wahhabi mass base today is religously motivated, which is what the article denies. Are you saying what you could easily be taken to say, that the left should cheer the state in censoring suspected terrorists (or at least be indifferent).
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I don’t understand the title, in that the thesis seems to be that censorship of terrorists is aimed *against* class struggle, a claim I see as true and obvious.
Those leftists (like WSWS) who scream that the state “failed” to apprehend terrorists (this uttered supposedly because of the conspiracist implications) strengthen the hand of the security state.
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“Your only need to look at a brief overview of the types of people who join ISIS to realize this fight is not religiously driven. It’s the fight of our fellow proletariat, whose lives have been constantly upturned and oppressed by wealthy Western countries”.
Really does it matter what the original motivations are when they are blowing up people (very often Muslims) through tactics of individual terrorism?
“communism on a worldwide scale. At the time, this vision seemed near impossible. However, in the modern world, we are more connected than ever. Globalization and technology have opened the door for universal socialist rhetoric, against which the primary weapon is censorship”.
What on earth is universal socialist rhetoric? Socialism is won by class struggle and proletarian revolution!
“Great lengths have also been taken to ensure websites and social media posts from the groups are immediately shut down – silencing their voice and potential explanations”.
You’re damn right and the recruitment propaganda of groups like Isis needs to be blocked at every opportunity but what the Imperialists do not do which would be extremely helpful, is stop funding and arming these groups in order to bring down secular regimes.
“Most Islamic terrorists are fighting their way out of poverty by attacking what they believe is their ruling class – A.K.A the West”.
No they’re not fighting their way out of poverty, they’re conducting jihad and very often acting as the foot soldiers of imperialism in the process!
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What do you expect of a Greenie. A reactionary war monger.
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Well that’s fairly standard practice stephenrdiamond. If you can’t construct arguments then employ the ad hominem. I don’t how you can logically categorise me as a war mongering greenie, based on anything I’ve said!
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I thought that it was wrong to extend the original motivation of those who joined to any political endorsement of the reactionary death cult that is ISIS. Point is surely that they exist because of what imperialism did and does in the Middle East and North Africa and everywhere else it goes but their ‘solution’ is a religious-based caliphate of extreme oppression against other religions, against women and the LGBTI communities and not any vision of universal liberation.
That being said of course we NEVER support the attacks of imperialism on any third world group or country, no matter how reactionary its leadership or ideology. To do so would be to capitulate to the suggestion that imperialism ‘sometimes’ plays a progressive role whereas it is the cause of all these conflicts and these religious reactions and the main enemy of all working class and oppressed people on the planet. It was for that reason I would not concede that very point to Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics show on 9 March last year.
The post was a discussion article; we welcome more of these and the discussion they provoke.
Thanks Clara.
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igs editors position is worse than just misanalyzing jihadism as a mass phenomenon. The author supports the war on terror, at least in its domestic aspect. According to the Comment author, the bourgeoisie is derelict in failing to sufficently censor the internet. My god!
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I certainly never said that Stephen Diamond. That’s what’s generally termed a straw man. You imagine that a death cult like Daesh should be afforded mainstream web publication to recruit for their Caliphate? Get real!
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