Wars and Rumors of Wars

Can you hear that sound? That drumming?

Those are war drums being beaten.

Do you see who’s playing them? Do they look familiar to you?

They should. That’s the Western, capitalist elite. For them war, chaos, terror, and death is just a business opportunity. That’s for them. The dying part, that’s for you.

Can you see those lines? The ones being drawn between different blocs of allies?

Notice how former alliances are dissolving and new ones are being forged; how fading powers, desperate to cling even to the shadow of power, have grown more and more desperate–more and more bellicose.

Can you see that sign up ahead? The one that reads “Caution”? The one that’s being ignored because avarice and hubris are a dangerous combination?

We are being ushered into a world where danger and uncertainty will crest, giving rise to one where suffering and destruction become general, rather than particular conditions.

This is the world born of the savagery of colonialism and slavery and the avarice of their progeny–capitalism. This is the world as is it and as it will be, that is, until we decide to do something about it.

W.E.B. Du Bois on war and empire

One of the things that I noticed as I was writing my dissertation about Du Bois was his participation in the peace movement. In fact, when I was at Fisk doing research, his opposition to militarism was indelible. To be sure, he viewed war as an instrument of empire, one ultimately incapable of securing the surety of peace and human well-being. Further, war and militarism were linked to capitalism. Hence, for all its horror, warfare is exceedingly profitable.

At any rate, he might say of our present moment that humanity stands at the precipice. I agree. Militarism is increasingly the preserve of dying empires. Moribund powers whose folly will result, not only in their annihilation, but ours with it.

Read “There Is No Such Thing as a Small Nuclear War” by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research: https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/nato-ukraine-nuclear-crisis/