A-Infos (en) Britain, Anarchist Federation on Obama - the Second Coming?

Below is a collectively produced statement on the election of Barack Obama by 
Manchester AF. ---- Make no mistake, Barrack Obama's victory in the United 
States does not mean black liberation any more than Margaret Thatcher's 
government was a victory for women's liberation.  Neither does it herald a new 
dawn for the world. ---- We firmly expect that the 130 million Americans who 
voted in the election will soon be sorely disappointed.  Obama looks good 
because he is young, handsome and above all not George Bush.  It was becoming 
clear to many in the USA and the world that George W stole the 2000 elections by 
fraud and cheating.  The wars he has led the US into are increasingly unpopular 
with over 4000 troops dead and 100,000 injured in Iraq alone.


The press almost all supported him in the election, even the normally right-wing 
Murdoch empire.  Obama is presented as a Mr Clean who will sweep away the stench 
of corruption that haunts US politics.  They say he will save the world from the 
current economic crisis, the “credit crunch” and recession.  Mr Clean he may be, 
but he spent over $200 million to get elected – more than $40 million a month. 
Clearly that money is not coming from the poor – a quarter of African Americans 
live below the poverty line - or the quarter of the workforce in low paid jobs 
in a country where the minimum wage is $6.55 an hour (just over £4).   It is 
coming from wealthy donors like bankers and financiers Goldman Sachs, Citigroup 
and companies like Microsoft, whose founder Bill gates is worth $45 billion.


Clearly these press barons and big companies are going to expect something in 
exchange.


We expect the wars to continue.  Although he promises to pull out of Iraq 
eventually, the US will need to keep the government there friendly.  Troops will 
be replaced by advisers and security guards,  who are in reality heavily armed 
thugs.  He promises to send yet more troops into Afghanistan.  Although we 
expect him to close the hell that is Guantanamo Bay, we doubt he'll do much for 
the 2.5 million (mostly black and Hispanic) Americans who rot in prison.  We 
doubt the USA will stop bankrolling the racist Israeli regime and its 
persecution of the Palestinians.


Most of all capitalism is in another of its economic crises.    Obama has the 
backing of the rich and powerful because he  will be better able to inflict pain 
and hard times on the working people in the States and the rest of the world. 
He has been elected not to bring change.  He will stop change happening.


Elections come and elections go.  The faces of our rulers come and go.  But the 
need to struggle and fight against the bosses and the state goes on every day. 
Whoever the Americans voted for, the government got in.  We need to be building 
a fighting alternative, a massive wave of class struggle to finally sweep these 
parasites off the face of the earth.
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://ainfos.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en