America and Israel’s aggression in Iran is the latest reminder that violent, expansionist powers will never cease in their desires for warfare and plunder. This “might-makes-right” ideology being put into practice once again sees Israel playing the lead role, with full support from the Trump administration.

This current war, among many others the U.S has engaged in over the last several decades, is never for the benefit of the working class, nor does it serve the interests of the domestic population that is being attacked.

The United States is a war economy, propped up by the development and sale of armaments that end up used against foreign adversaries to ensure that the process of capital accumulation continues unabated. This arrogance – the cavalier use of force now seen in Iran with the indiscriminate killings of schoolchildren and strikes directed at oil facilities – is reminiscent of America flexing its military muscle to stamp out communism worldwide and punish sovereign nations who dared to nationalize a resource and cut into the profit margins of multinational corporations.

There is no existential threat or any country that will put the world into peril – besides the U.S of course – that necessitates such wanton military buildup at the heavy cost of both social services and our tax dollars as well as human lives. But there will always be more money for war. On top of the $1 trillion wasted annually by the American government on ‘defense’ spending, this current war with Iran has already cost roughly $65 billion of taxpayer money.

While not facing foreign intervention or clear threats to sovereignty, the situation inside the imperial core is precarious; fascism is on the rise, an affordability crisis is worsening, massive underemployment is rampant, and wages are stagnating. The billions of taxpayer dollars being wasted to murder civilians overseas and advance the objectives of an apartheid, genocidal state in Israel could have been better served domestically. We could be improving public infrastructure, providing universal healthcare, building affordable housing, or addressing any of the many social inadequacies that exist in this late-capitalist hellscape that is modern day America.

Wartime throws into sharp relief the shortcomings of a society structured around profit, rather than one which meets the people’s needs first and foremost, with a participatory economic structure and truly democratic politics and labor.

In a socialist world, where decisions are made by the populace for their own sustained benefit, there would never be a need for military assaults like this one. As capital accumulation and private property would become a thing of the past, the need to annex regions or confiscate natural resources in new territories would cease to exist. War would no longer be a way of life or a force that has any meaning.

In harrowing times like these, where sadistic forces like the United States and Israel disregard human life and make the rest of the world their military playground, it is vital to maintain a compassionate perspective and avoid disregarding the plight of the victims in a show of trivial patriotism and jingoistic rhetoric.

All around the world, the enemy of the working class are not people who come from different countries or members of different ethnic and religious groups. The adversary of the people are those who seek to pillage, to profit off the backs of others’ labor, and to destroy the planet for their financial gain.

Oftentimes the elite, along with the state and the media, will manufacture a sense of fear and outrage to get the common person on board. That is simply a purposeful distraction away from class struggle – away from our real, shared enemy.

Dominick Conidi

Dominick Conidi is a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an editor of ZNetwork.org. He previously organized with the Sunrise Movement and is a current member of North Jersey DSA.