The American Party of Labor emphatically condemns the barbaric, fascistic terrorist attacks on the French working people conducted by the Islamic State Group. These actions caused more than a hundred deaths and numerous injuries, and serve the interests of world imperialism and reaction. We express our solidarity with the victims, their families and friends as well as the people of Paris and all of France.

It is a human duty to resist ISIS, a purely reactionary movement that should be viewed no differently than the fascists of the WWII era, and to label them as “anti-imperialist” is absurd. The attacks targeted a neighborhood known for progressive, pro-immigrant politics. It is also clear that these attacks targeted the largest possible group of people, and that the victims are made up of women, children, the elderly, the youth and the working classes.

These attacks, much like the ones in Beirut in which over 40 people were killed by suicide bombers, were committed by the fascist Islamic State. The reactionary, obscurantist ideology of Islamic extremism, of which ISIS is just one prominent example, are the product of imperialism. This includes the colonial underdevelopment of the Middle East and the Arab world by imperialism, the support of various reactionary regimes opposed to the interests of the people, the support of such Islamist groups by Turkey and other NATO allies in the region such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the imperialist wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

The ruling classes of France, as well the ruling classes of the United States, of the European Union, of Russia and all other major powers, see the solutions as bombing more countries, causing more wars and becoming more militarily involved in current ones. This is the way the leaders of the U.S. and Russia have sought to “solve” the crisis in Syria. This approach does not solve anything but only causes more destruction and human suffering, as well as fan the flames of terrorism worldwide. In addition, the warmakers will use these attacks to justify hatred and oppression of the Muslim population. Modern capitalist imperialism has no solution to the conflicts and contradictions that fuel fundamentalism and reactionary ideology.

It is only through the mass action of working people throughout the world, acting in class-conscious internationalist solidarity, that such acts of terrorist and imperialist savagery can and will be ended. Only socialism and the overthrow of capitalism can solve the inequalities and injustices which create breeding grounds for ethnic and religious conflict and the terrorism that derives from it.

We must continue to live, we must continue to fight, we must continue to struggle!

Categories: France, International, Statements