Daily Times

The Paris massacre happens to be a multidimensional phenomenon. France, a land of revolution, is also notorious for exploiting its colonies mercilessly. Even now 14 African countries are paying tribute worth $ 500 billion to France as ransom money to keep their (sham) independence intact. In the 1960s, approximately one million Algerians were massacred by the French. In the recent absolute destruction of Libya, the role of France was more than evident. The French hegemony of Africa is indispensible for the former’s economy. In 1957, French President Francois Mitterand prophesied that “Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century.”

Since 1961 France has been holding the national reserves of 14 African countries, which include Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. After Napoleon, France has been striving to extend its hegemony yet again to Syria. Young Muslims from Europe were covertly encouraged to participate in a war meant to remove Assad as president. Whether these boys belonged to the same ilk that was once radicalised by the state and ultimately came home to roost will be proved or disproved later but the fact remains that every one of them belonged to European countries. Hence, they were not first generation migrants.

Akin to 9/11 and the more recent terror incidents in Australia, the suspects were very much known to the secret agencies of France. Did they intentionally decide to look the other way or were they dismissed as non-lethal suspects?

The very nature of this violence does not fit the description of a lone-wolf adventure. The whole act has a touch of grotesqueness. They came at a time of perfect choosing, they aimlessly murdered people and then blew themselves up. The calamity became a divine-sent opportunity to the French ruling class. During this difficult period of recession, war and mounting influx of refugees it provided the much needed spine to the dwindling repute of the party in power, which due to extremely unpopular measures named after ‘austerity’ and ‘rationalisation’ is losing its grip on power. One needs not to be remarkably prudish to know that this act will culminate in intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment among the masses, undermining the progressive forces, helping the state to cut down liberty in the name of security and unleashing the bourgeois terror against the working class of France. This is the modern face of fascism. Huey Long once said: “If fascism ever came to power in the US, it would be wrapped in an American flag.” This one is wrapped in French tricolour.

The wrath of the French state has already begun to unfold itself. Behind the facade of counter-terrorism its scales are imminently tilted towards the class interests of the bourgeoisie. According to The Independent, “[In] France, a state of emergency [is] declared for three months, allowing authorities to shut down websites and giving police sweeping new powers…The measures allow for anyone’s house to be searched, people to be put under house arrest without trial and any website to be blocked.” This is how the totalitarian state has decided to nullify an already half throttled democracy. It was Carl Schmitts, Hitler’s right hand man, who said “Sovereign is he who decides on the state of emergency.” In this case, not the democratic institutions but the capitalist state and its watchdog, the police, will be the only sovereigns. Prior to their occurrence, Roman poet Juvenal anticipated these vicious circumstances in his own time and asked “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (who will guard the guardians themselves?). No one, since this is how capitalism works.

The capitalist civilisation loves to glorify individuals as heroes and the same stands true for its institutions: the politicians who have lost their metaphysical character, the civil-military bureaucracy, an eternally corrupt invisible ruler, the judiciary, which usually denies justice, the nation, a mixture of people having divergent and opposing interests and the state, ruled by the owners of the means of production who look towards the army and the judiciary to salvage their interests while these two are dependent upon corporations that produce weapons and through indoctrination enhance nationalism and spirit of sacrifice among the masses through fear. This totalitarian terror is a glorification of the unglorified. This ‘whole’ hegemonic apparatus is made sacred. Under this shadow of Hades, people live in the hope of death or the afterlife. Is it not time this ‘whole’ is abolished so that people can breathe as living human beings?

The ball has yet again bounced back to the court of the working class of the world. The bell is tolling but for whom? The decision entirely depends on them. John Dalhuisen, the director of Amnesty International for Europe and Central Asia, has already sensed the nefariousness of these designs. He has unequivocally stated “Time and again we have seen emergency measures extended and codified until they become part and parcel of the ordinary law, chipping steadily away at human rights.” The battle cry remains the same, so is the slogan of the workers of the entire world to unite and transform this imperialist war into a class war. This is the only possible way to fight this international conspiracy hatched against them. Is there a chance of any success in the near future? “The critical theory of society possesses no concepts that could bridge the gap between the present and its future; holding no promise and showing no success, it remains negative. Thus, it wants to remain loyal to those who, without hope, have given and give their life to the Great Refusal.” The working class has done this in the past. To get out of this quagmire a continuous struggle remains the only option available to the workers. In this most inclement, polarised and hopeless circumstance through their untiring struggle “it may be that dialectic theory finds its present truth in its own hopelessness” (Marcuse).

(Concluded)

The writer is based in Australia and has authored books on socialism and history. He can be reached at saulatnagi@hotmail.com