The terrorist attack is the inevitable result of imperialist wars and racist oppression

 

Emergency Statement by the RKO LIBERATION (Austrian Section of the RCIT), 3 November 2020, www.thecommunists.net

 

 

 

1.             According to information of Austria’s Interior Ministry, a sympathizer of Daesh (the so-called and misnamed “Islamic State”) has committed a terrorist attack in the centre of Vienna yesterday night. Four people have died and 15 have been injured before the attacker was killed by the police.

 

2.             The RKO LIBERATION (Austrian section of the RCIT) condemns this terrorist attack as we always condemn the killing of innocent civilians. However, no one should walk into the trap of the government’s propaganda. This incident does not come out of the blue – it is the result of years and decades of imperialist aggression and racist oppression!

 

3.             Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer claims: “Austria for more than 75 years has been a strong democracy, a mature democracy, a country whose identity is marked by values and basic rights, with freedom of expression, rule of law, but also tolerance in human coexistence. Yesterday’s attack is an attack on just these values.” What hypocrisy! Migrants have always been exploited as cheap labor force and are treated as second-class citizens. The Conservative Party, to which Nehammer belongs, is well known for its Islamophobic statements. Until last year it formed a coalition with the extreme right-wing FPÖ which used campaign slogans such as “Daham statt Islam” (“Home instead of Islam”). Only a few days ago, Nehammer himself rushed to express his support for the racist hate-mongering French President Macron and launched a “task force” against “criminal Chechens”.

 

4.             It is telling that Macron was one of the first who stated his solidarity last night with the Austrian government. He wrote on Twitter (in French and German language): “After France, it is an allied country which has been attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know with whom they are dealing. We will not yield.” This is a cynical statement not only because Macron’s Europe is not our Europe and his war against his enemies is certainly not our war! It is also particularly cynical because it has been Macron himself who is politically responsible for yesterday’s night attack. As the RCIT has stated in public declarations in the past weeks, it was Macon’s Islamophobic hate-mongering, praising of the right to insult and humiliate Muslims a la Charlie Hebdo, his aggression against Muslim people which have provoked such terrorist attacks! In fact, Macron wants to utilize incident in order to rally Austria and the whole EU to support his chauvinist and militarist campaign against the Muslim world in general and against Turkey in particular.

 

5.             Furthermore, contrary to the image of a “neutral state”, the Austrian ruling class is not a neutral or innocent actor in the global imperialist war offensive. While it is a small country, it has repeatedly supported bloody military operations of the Great Powers. Such, for example, Austria has supported the NATO occupation of Afghanistan (and even sent a few soldiers to participate). Its army participates in the French occupation of Mali since 2013. Furthermore, Austria is part of the U.S.-led Coalition against Daesh which has been formed in 2014 to wage war in Iraq and Syria 2014. Hence, it is not surprising that such kind of desperate terrorist attacks which have happened in many cities in imperialist countries (New York, London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, etc.) are also taking place now in Austria. In other words, a war which the Austrian state has helped to wage abroad is coming home.

 

6.             In fact, what Vienna experienced yesterday night was a glimpse into the reality which millions of people in Kabul, Bagdad, Gaza, Mogadishu, Timbuktu, Idlib, Grozny, and many other cities of the global South are facing on regular bases. We mourn about the four innocent people who have been killed in Vienna yesterday night. But we don’t forget that this is the result of the barbaric mass murder of tens and hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the South who have been killed by the U.S., EU, Israeli and Russian army and about whom we certainly don’t mourn less.

 

7.             We warn that the government, a coalition of the Conservatives and the Green Party, and the bourgeois media will wage a hysterical campaign against “Islamist extremism”. Such repression will be directed mainly against Muslim migrants. In fact, such a campaign had started already years ago as the government closed down several mosques and banned Muslim organizations. We expect that such a wave of repression and Islamophobic hate-mongering will accelerate in the coming weeks and months.

 

8.             The RKO LIBERATION strongly opposes the plans of the Austrian government to support and to participate in Macon’s Islamophobic crusade against the Muslim world. Any support of imperialist wars and any praising of the right to insult and humiliate Muslims a la Charlie Hebdo can only and will result in more terrorist attacks! It is crucial that all workers and popular organization in Austria (and in the EU as a whole) make clear that there is not one Austria, not one Europe, not one “our values”. There is their Austria, their Europe, their values – and there is our Austria, our Europe, our values. They – the ruling class – stand for imperialist wars, social inequality and racist hate-mongering. We – the workers and oppressed – stand for solidarity, anti-imperialism and equality! These are two different worlds which are in a constant war against each other!

 

9.             In such a situation, it is crucial to stand up for the Muslim brothers and sisters and to defend them against the Islamophobic hate-mongering and the state repression. The RKO LIBERATION appeals to the organizations of the workers movement to help building a broad united front, together with migrant organizations, against Islamophobia and in defense of democratic rights.

 

* Down with Islamophobia! Defend Muslim migrants against repression!

 

* No to Charlie Hebdo and its racist hate-mongering!

 

* Down with Macron’s chauvinist and militarist campaign against the Muslim world!

 

* No to individual terrorism!

 

* Defeat the imperialist wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Somalia, Mali, etc.! Support the popular resistance!

 

 

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

We refer readers also to the following articles and statements of the RCIT:

 

RCIT: Boycott Imperialist and Islamophobic France! Solidarity with the Muslim migrants! Drive out the French occupiers from Mali and other countries! 26.10.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/boycott-imperialist-and-islamophobic-france/

 

Yossi Schwartz: Down with the Islamophobia in France: “We Are Not Samuel!”, 20 October 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/down-with-the-islamophobia-in-france/

 

RCIT: France after the Attacks in Paris: Defend the Muslim People against Imperialist Wars, Chauvinist Hatemongering, and State Repression! 9.1.2015, http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/statement-paris-attacks/

 

Michael Pröbsting: The Racist Character of Charlie Hebdo and the pro-imperialist campaign “Je Suis Charlie”. Solidarity with Muslim People! NOT Solidarity with Charlie Hebdo! 17.1.2015, http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/racist-charlie-hebdo/

 

RCIT: Expel French Imperialism from West Africa! Macron and his G5 Lackeys plan to intensify their colonialist “Operation Barkhane”, 15 January 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/expel-french-imperialism-from-west-africa/

 

RKOB: Austria: Islamophobic Racism on the Rise! Solidarity with the Muslim Brothers and Sisters! No to the Closure of 7 Mosques and the Expulsion of 40 Imams and their Families! 8 June 2018, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/islamophobic-racism-on-the-rise-in-austria/