Stop All Wars
Wars never solved any problems of the ordinary people such as hunger, poverty, proper health care, access to education, housing, etc. In fact, they have brought the opposite – death, deprivation and the necessity to rebuild war-torn lands. That’s because wars are never about ordinary people. We have no quarrels with the common people of Iraq or Afghanistan or any other area. We actually have a lot in common. We all want peace and security for our families and a chance to participate in and share the production of wealth. Nobody wants to see starving or homeless people.
War is the natural and inevitable consequence of the economic system under which we live and toil. Its competitive nature, its greedy necessity to accumulate capital, to continually grow and expand wherever there is a chance to profit, leads to conflict over strategic territories, areas rich in resources and rights and routes of trade. This has created a series of armed camps with the boundaries of countries used as the line in the sand.
It has also necessitated huge expenditures on armed forces and their equipment – close to $800 billion last year—to protect the interests of those who own the means of production but do not produce – the capitalists. When those interests are sufficiently threatened, or perceived to be, war usually results. When we have a system that works for everyone, when the means of production and distribution of wealth are owned and operated by and in the interests of all, we will be able to use the huge sums that are now wasted on war for human needs.
www.worldsocialism.org
Leaflet distributed recently in Toronto by Socialist Party of Canada members