Wallace's Corner

A socialist perspective on today's events

Pro-environment Maiming, Killing and War

21 July 1999

An environmentally friendly war can now be assured by the capitalist class need they ever want to defend or expand their interests.

Apparently the U.S. Army has developed a "Green Bullet" which can maim or kill, but is not poisonous to the environment. Instead of utilizing lead, tungsten which is less toxic is used in the bullet's core.

The Globe & Mail noted that the London based International Tungsten Industry Association "extolled the switch from lead in its latest newsletter, touting tungsten bullets as having the military advantage of being just as deadly to humans in combat as lead but far more friendly to the Earth." (July 21, 1999, page 1)

What is behind the development of this environmentally friendly way of killing people? The newspaper report notes, "besides its obvious environmental benefit, the use of the new material is being used as a magic bullet for boosting the tungsten-mining industry's flagging fortunes."

And here's the killer (pardon the unintended pun), according to the association's spokesperson, Michael Maby, "We're always looking for good news for tungsten."

Good news indeed! Now the members of the working class can be sent off to war, guns in hand, killing each other while not damaging their environmentally concerned Masters.

Can anything be more clear than that about the bloodsucking power of capital?

Environmentalists, "Green" supporters take heed. As long as capitalism itself remains unchallenged, human life will be cheapened, used and discarded as just another commodity, no matter how "environmentally friendly" capital becomes.

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