The following was delivered as a speech at a rally for Palestine in Dunedin on July 6, 2024.
Kia ora tātou, my name is Oscar Bartle, I’m a socialist activist and member of the International Socialist Organisation. I’ve been involved in Palestine solidarity work since October 7th and have been an organiser for these rallies. You may recognise me as one of the marshals or for being a loudmouth on the megaphone. I’ve decided to get up here today because I want to highlight something, something that whether we know it or not, oppresses us, exploits us, that holds us back, something that enables and even encourages crimes as vile as the ongoing genocide in Palestine. This something is of course, capitalism.
Capitalism, the system that links the exploited and oppressed across the world. The uniting set of chains between Palestinians, Kanaks, Māori, Sudanese, Congolese, Queer people, disabled people, and the working class the world over. This profit driven system is the driving force behind the continued complicity of the US, the West, and most countries internationally. Take the United States as the most blatant example. They are currently Israel’s greatest sponsor, they send billions of dollars in funds and military equipment and desperately peddle Israeli propaganda. Why do they do this? Certainly not because the American people want them to, in fact quite the opposite. The United States’ complicity in the ongoing genocide has been identified as a driving factor behind the unpopularity of the current US government and general dissatisfaction with the system. But they keep going, no matter the size of the protests or the scale of dissatisfaction, they keep going, why? Because it’s profitable! They don’t serve the interests of the people, the working class: they serve money, capital, and the capitalist class, and this is by design.
The United States government has deep, systemic ties to the private military industry. The greater the conflict the US can stoke, the greater the amount of working class, tax-payer money they can pour into the hands of those who own these military manufacturing companies which, in many cases, are those very US politicians and their donors. Speaking of political donations, the US war industry companies are consistently major donors to incumbent US politicians, whether they be Democrats or Republicans. Not only do capitalists use the suffering of Palestinians to extract profit, but they also use Palestine and Gaza as human testing grounds for weapons and surveillance technology. This vile disregard for human life and dignity in the face of money and power is not exclusive to the United States.
As I’m sure many of you are already aware, Kanaky or New Caledonia has recently been through a bout of colonial violence following an attempt by the French government to tighten control over their colony. Why doesn’t France just let them go? Why do they go through all the trouble of exerting control over an island nation over 15,000 kilometres away? In case you haven’t yet guessed the theme of this talk, they do it because of capitalism. It is French companies that own most of Kanaky’s industry. Kanaky is home to some 10 to 30 percent of the worlds nickel, nickel makes up about 90% of their exports, it’s worth billions, billions that the people of Kanaky will never see despite having to suffer through the environmental impact, hell, even the French working class will never see this money. The majority goes to French capitalists and the rest goes to international capitalists. This is the way of things under our current system.
In the Congo workers suffer some of the greatest violence and exploitation at the hands of international capitalists. The Congo is one of the wealthiest if not the wealthiest country on earth. For the people of the Congo, because of the current global capitalist system, this wealth has been a curse, not a blessing. Since the birth of capitalism the Congo has been pillaged and plundered for a profit. First it was slavery, with their people being stolen en masse to be forced to work for one capitalist or another. Then it was pillaged for its rubber and ivory. During Belgian colonisation the Congolese were forced to extract their country’s resources under harsh forced labour conditions which killed millions. Following the Congo’s independence in the 60s, Patrice Lumumba was elected on a platform of nationalising the Congo’s vast resources, to for once use them for the benefit of the country. But of course the capitalist powers could not allow this. The US collaborated with Belgium, Congolese opposition forces and foreign mineral companies to kill him, overthrow his government, and to install a more business friendly alternative. Since then the Congo has been chained by constant violence and instability with several armed groups fighting it out with the people of the Congo caught in between, just the way capitalists want it. Nowadays Congolese workers are coerced into working at cobalt and lithium mines for less than the DRC’s minimum wage, which is only $5 a day to begin with!
Don’t you ever wonder why Palestine’s neighbours don’t lift a finger to help? Why don’t they lift a finger to stop the slaughter? Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. They have the strength to stand up to Israel and their people have the will. But they don’t. They don’t because they have ever deepening financial and economic ties to the United States and at the behest of the US they inch closer and closer to Israel. Why stand up for justice when you could have a trade deal, or a weapons deal, or a defence pact or even just a few billion in cash. No, no help will come to the Palestinians from the Arab powers, it’s just not profitable, it’s not in the interest of capital, and under this system of profit, blood, death, and destruction, that is the deciding factor.
I could go on and on, with example after example, I could talk about how the colonisation of Aotearoa and the oppression of Māori was spearheaded by private companies seeking profit. I could talk about the plight of the Sudanese, or the occupation of West papua. I could talk about the exploitation of the working class here in New Zealand, or I could talk about how our electoral systems are designed to maintain this economic system, or that queer and especially trans people along with migrants and minorities in general are used as scapegoats to divert the blame from capitalism. But if I did that we’d be here for a very long time, so instead I’ll say this:
Capitalism is the connection: Our climate, Palestine, The Congo, renters, queer folk, workers, Kanaks, Māori, and countless others, all burned at the altar of capitalism! Capitalism is a plague that stretches around this earth. A disease that will, one way or another, come for us all unless we overthrow it and replace it with one of our own design, and the only way I can see this being achieved is through international, working-class, revolution! To that end, I would like to introduce a new chant that I’ve heard used at rallies and protests across the world for all sorts of movements seeking liberation from oppression.
One Solution! Revolution!
The whole system! Shut it down!
