The International Students for Social Equality calls on students around the world to take up the fight against war and inequality, to join the ISSE and to build an international socialist movement of workers and student youth!
Students are returning to school this month as the world’s nations slip closer to war, in the midst of a global recession and the greatest economic crisis in seventy years.
The progress of the American election has made it clear that neither of the two parties offer any way forward for the population of the US, nor for that of the world, which is following the US elections with great interest.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who sought to appeal to the American people’s near-universal hatred of the Bush Administration with vague promises of change, has shown his true political colors since the end of the primaries. He has voted to increase the government’s spying powers and backed off from his earlier pledge to repeal the Bush administration’s tax cuts for the rich, all the while seeking to present himself as the most capable helmsman for the US war machine.
An Obama administration would indefinitely continue the occupation of Iraq, while sending more US troops to Afghanistan. In recent weeks, Obama issued statements against Russia just as bloodthirsty as those of McCain and the Bush administration. No section of the Democratic Party has questioned the aggressive US policy that threatens to provoke a confrontation with Russia, sparking a war between the world’s two most powerful militaries. Throughout all this, Obama sings praises to “national service,” in an attempt to get young people used to the idea of military conscription in preparation for the next war.
The American ruling class has in store more bloody conflicts—whether against Russia, Iran, Pakistan, or other countries—that will add millions more to the one million already killed in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the US government has responded to the economic crisis by throwing open the treasury doors to the banks and billionaires, most recently in the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, nothing is being done for the tens of millions who are losing their homes and are being buried under mountains of debt. In fact, the American ruling class has used the crisis to mount a colossal onslaught against workers, pushing down wages by over three percent in the past year alone.
It has been known since Aristotle’s Politics that democracy and social inequality are mutually exclusive. And, true to form, the US government has curtailed fundamental democratic rights as social inequality has grown. The erosion of constitutional protections was in full display at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, where protestors were rounded up to be prosecuted as “terrorists.” This is only a taste of what is to come.
The outbreak of war and the world downturn are symptoms of a broader, global crisis of the capitalist system. There is no way forward along this path; but humanity can and must move forward. The solution lies in socialism—the planned and democratically controlled reorganization of economic life that makes full use of the global economy and the riches produced by the modern technology to meet social needs, not private profit. But socialism can only be achieved through mass struggle, through the conscious understanding of the theory of socialism, and through the creation of a political party of the working class. This is what the ISSE fights for.
The International Students for Social Equality is the student organization of the Socialist Equality Party. We appeal to students throughout the United States and around the world to take up the fight for this perspective; to join and build ISSE sections at your college or high school.
Join the ISSE! The ISSE will be holding a series of meetings throughout the United States in the coming months. Contact the ISSE for more information.
Read the full statement of the ISSE:
Click here to download this statement for distribution at your school.