04.06.1998

Breaking imperialism’s rules

India and Pakistan

According to the well rehearsed and oft repeated script, the ‘collapse of communism’ could only usher in universal peace and happiness. But recent events from the Balkans to the Gulf have rudely punctured this cosy picture. Now the old nightmares - supposedly exorcised forever - are recurring.

Newspaper headlines over the last week have warned of nuclear confrontation - ‘On the nuclear precipice’, as the front page of The Guardian put it (May 29). But these grim prophecies were not referring, of course, to the possibility of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia, but between India and Pakistan. Both states have recently engaged in open and truimphalistic nuclear weapons testing.          

The response of the imperialist powers to this nuclear testing has been predictably hypocritical. Bill Clinton declared without blushing: “I cannot believe we are about to start the 21st century by having the Indian sub-continent repeat the worst mistakes of the 20th century when we know it is not necessary to peace, to security, to prosperity, to national greatness or national fulfilment.” Robin Cook’s comments were equally cant-ridden - and paternalistic. How dare India and Pakistan get ambitions above their station? The nuclear club is meant to be exclusive. So exclusive in fact, that under the Non-Proliferation Treaty no one but the US, Russia, China, Britain and France may possess nuclear weapons. Furthermore the US and its allies supposedly have a natural and divine right to police the world.

To crown it all, Cook demanded that India and Pakistan “should accept the rules” and “sign up to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without conditions” - a treaty which the US has refused to ratify.

The nuclear tests have unleashed a wave of euphoric national chauvinism on the sub-continent. Opposition parties declared their support for such a noble state-building task as gaining the bomb. The Communist Party of India - in the spirit of cross-class solidarity - announced that the promotion of the country to the nuclear club was a “blow against imperialism”. Crowds took to the streets of Delhi and Islamabad in order to celebrate the coming of age of India and Pakistan. Both governments fired aggressive verbal salvos. After hearing of Pakistan’s nuclear tests Atal Behari Vajpayee, the prime minister of India, stated: “They have vindicated our policy. India is ready to meet any challenge.” In Pakistan Abdul Qadeer Khan, head of the nuclear programme and known as Pakistan’s Dr Strangelove, has been feted as a hero - almost a film star.

For Britain to bemoan the latest crisis is particularly galling. The former colonial power, in a carnival of reaction, partitioned the sub-continent into a hindu India and a muslim Pakistan. Now - years later - we have a ‘hindu’ bomb and a ‘muslim’ bomb. The words of Bill Clinton can also be treated with particular contempt. The US helped to ‘nuclearise’ Pakistan - a good anti-communist pawn, especially under the helmsmanship of the military dictator, Zia ul-Haq.

During this latest crisis we have been moralistically informed that there are enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over. So why is there need for any more in the shape of the ‘hindu’ and ‘muslim’ bomb’ - or, for that matter, a ‘Jewish’ bomb? All very fine and well. But then again, you can be sure there are enough bullets in existence to kill every single person on the planet a few times over as well - and that right now large numbers are on the receiving end of this very conventional weaponry. It is not weapons of themselves that threaten humanity, but the political system - and regimes - that utilise them.

To serve peace, a violent struggle against the imperialist-dominated new world order is required. It is a class struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie of every country. This means that the main enemy is at home. Genuine communists would not be celebrating with their rulers, but exposing them in front of the masses.

Only hours after the tests, Pakistani president Mohammed Rafique Tarar declared a state of emergency - giving himself the right to suspend virtually all civil liberties. Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister, has appeared on television saying that austerity measures would be necessary to fund Pakistan’s nuclear programme - even if it meant selling off government buildings and offices. Very movingly, he also made the following pledge: “If the nation will only take one meal a day, my children will take only one meal a day.” 

Not much there for the oppressed and exploited to applaud.

In every country, we have to press home the ‘extreme’ message that not a single penny should go to the bourgeois standing army - whether it is spent on tanks, a battery of Trident missiles or a ‘peace keeping’ force is immaterial. All are used to prop up the ruling class and its inhuman political system.

Paul Greenaway