From the Statue of Liberty to the Girls’ Primary School in Minab: Capitalism Means War and Barbarism
Following the end of the Cold War, war criminals employed humanitarian rhetoric, calls for democracy, and opposition to the crimes of dictators to justify the wars they waged, with the code name for these wars being “humanitarianism”. The consciences of the Democrats could not endure the slaughter of innocent people, and their compassionate hearts ached at the scale of the dictators’ crimes. Billions of dollars were poured into these “humanitarian wars” to make their atrocities appear moral, humane, and in defence of human dignity and rights.
The new global conditions have led the global bourgeoisie, with the United States at its forefront, to the conclusion that there is no longer any need to adhere to the previous imperialist international rules, democracy, human rights, and the like. Today, adherence to bourgeois international norms, or reference to “human rights”, has effectively lost all relevance, replaced instead by the stark logic of a “fearsome and powerful army”. In this situation, not only is there no need for bourgeois pretence, but at the heart of this chaos, the “law of the jungle” prevails—a realm where only force determines the outcome.
It is in this context that Pete Hegseth, the Minister of War, casts aside the mask of democracy and speaks candidly about the true objectives of the imperialist war. Like a pirate who no longer feels the need to conceal his intentions, he speaks of the “deadliest, most complex, and most precise air operations in history” and openly defends a military power that considers itself the world’s sheriff. In this gangster-like rhetoric, the aims of war are no longer hidden behind familiar slogans such as “democracy”, “human rights”, or “saving the people”; they are expressed openly in the language of bandits.
Just as a great and powerful pirate sets the rules for other pirates, it is declared unequivocally that the Iranian bandits are not permitted to possess not only nuclear weapons but also missile and naval capabilities. The Minister of War states:
“No democracy building exercise…Destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure and they will never have nuclear weapons.”[1]
It is in this context and environment that the massacre of students at Minab Primary School becomes more comprehensible as a deliberate act rather than a mere military error. Evidence gathered by The New York Times indicates that the airstrike on a primary school in the city of Minab, on 28 February 2026, was carried out not by Israel but by the United States, resulting in the deaths of more than 160 students.[2]
American officials have neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for this attack; however, inspectors from the US military believe that United States forces were likely responsible for the airstrike on the school. Nadav Shoshani, spokesperson for the Israeli military, has also stated that, at that time and in that area, Israel conducted no military operations. In contrast, American officials have announced in public statements that, on the day in question, US aircraft were operating in the area where the school was located.
Just as gangsters consider themselves the embodiment of absolute truth and light, while viewing rival gangs as pure evil and demonic, so too, in response to a Reuters reporter’s question asking whether the United States had attacked a desalination facility in Iran, the criminal Donald Trump said that the Iranians are:
“Among the most evil people ever on earth…They cut babies’ heads off—they chop women in half…I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say, if they’re complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact they shouldn’t be chopping babies’ heads off.”[3]
It would be extremely naïve to imagine that individuals such as Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, and Pete Hegseth, the Minister of War, are merely nodding in agreement to endorse statements even more foolish than their own—statements that contradict Trump’s previous declarations. Previously, Trump had promised that he would restore “greatness” to Iran, that is, to the most evil people on earth; now, in his recent statements, the same promise is presented in a different form. Such a simplistic interpretation conceals the deeper reality behind these pronouncements.
In fact, these statements, far from being the result of individual ignorance or folly, reflect and reveal the conditions and circumstances in which global capitalism operates. In such a context, the stark logic of the “law of the jungle” has increasingly supplanted the language of democracy and the former rules of diplomacy. What is revealed in these statements is a sign of the accelerating barbarity and disorder within the capitalist system—a system increasingly driven towards instability, violence, and imperialist wars.
The Statue of Liberty was intended as a symbol of freedom, democracy, and hope for a better life—a symbol designed to convey the message of American democracy to the world. Yet this image now belongs, above all, to the past. Today, under the approach represented by Donald Trump, there is no longer any talk of spreading democracy. He acts more like a sheriff, seeking to appoint the rulers of every region and to decide the political fate of nations.
In this context, Trump pursued a sort of “Venezuelan solution” to the issue of Iran—a solution under which he would play a role in determining the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic bourgeoisie, with the new Supreme Leader being chosen with his approval. Trump says:
“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.”[4]
From the perspective of the United States, the main advantage of Delcy Rodríguez is that she has been willing, following the US military operation on Venezuelan soil that resulted in the abduction of Maduro, to pursue a pro-American course. Trump was asked: What is the worst scenario the United States envisages for Iran? He replied: The worst case is that:
“I guess the worst case is we do this and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person.”[5]
The worst-case scenario has now occurred: Mojtaba Khamenei has been elected by the Assembly of Experts as the Supreme Leader of the Islamic bourgeoisie, one criminal replacing another. His appointment as the new Supreme Leader presents a challenge for Trump, who had previously deemed him “unacceptable”, and an even greater challenge for Israel, which had threatened to eliminate the new Supreme Leader.
If we set aside the colourful world of criminals, regardless of the rhetoric they employ, and return to the material reality of capitalism, all of these events convey a single meaning: the region is moving towards greater tensions and disorder. In this context, for communist left, all bourgeois factions—regardless of the reactionary rhetoric they use—share one objective: turning workers into cannon fodder in imperialist tensions and conflicts.
Some opponents of the Middle Eastern war claimed that the US war was illegal, as Congress had not authorised it, and that Trump’s war was both mad and warmongering. However, on 5 March 2026, the United States House of Representatives rejected efforts to halt the US war against Iran and to require congressional approval for any hostilities against the country, instead choosing to support Trump’s war.
In other words, all the propaganda suggesting that this war was the product of Trump’s madness and belligerence burst like a bubble, exposing the naked reality: wars are not the result of individual warmongers’ desires, but of the capitalist structure, reflecting the conditions of capitalist existence in the current context.
We have previously emphasised that the claim is deceptive and false, suggesting that the United States and Israel, with their precision strikes, are only targeting the political and military leaders and military infrastructure of the Islamic bourgeoisie, while the Islamic bourgeoisie itself is supposedly only targeting bases and military installations. In reality, all criminals have also targeted schools, hospitals, clinics, residential homes, sports halls, historic buildings, markets, and other public spaces.
Parts of Israeli cities now resemble Gaza; however, the advanced warning systems and the presence of sturdy shelters have kept casualties relatively low. Although airstrikes are taking place across Iran, they are particularly severe and horrific in Tehran, a city of ten million, which is experiencing apocalyptic bombardments. Tehran is being attacked with bunker-busting bombs, and, unfortunately, due to the lack of sufficient warning systems and shelters, civilian casualties in Iran have been reported as very high.
Furthermore, the bombing of oil storage facilities in Tehran by the United States and Israel has caused massive fires, and the burning of large volumes of oil and petroleum products has resulted in acid rain across the city.[6]
If we put aside the Iranian warmongers, the fact that the gangster Democrats have set aside their “humanitarian” mask and turned to carpet bombing is nothing new for communist left. Leaving aside Hiroshima, Vietnam, and other wars, these very “humanitarian” Democrats—who in their propaganda are portrayed as opposing the killing of civilians—between 13 and 15 February 1945, when the war was almost over, saw the British Royal Air Force, with 778 bombers, and the United States Air Force, with 527 bombers, drop over 3,900 tonnes of high-explosive bombs and incendiaries (both barrel and phosphorus bombs) solely on the city of Dresden in Germany, destroying 90 per cent of the city. The same logic and methods are now being applied in Tehran and other cities in Iran.
Capitalism has plunged humanity into an era of perpetual imperialist war. It is a great illusion to imagine that one can ask warmongers to halt the war. Any peace offered by the warmongers can only be an interlude within the warlike structure of capitalism. From the heart of capitalist peace, only the flames of war can flare up again.
It is only the class struggle of workers that can provide a real alternative to the barbarism of capitalism, for the proletariat has no country to defend, and its struggle must transcend national borders and develop on an international scale. Only the global working class, by overthrowing capitalism worldwide, can remove the material basis of imperialist tensions and bring lasting, enduring peace to humanity.
Down with the imperialist war!
Long live the war between the classes!
F.A.
9 March 2026
Notes:
[6] When oil, fuel storage facilities, or refineries catch fire, the fact that crude oil and fuel oil (mazut) typically contain high levels of sulphur means that large amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) are released into the atmosphere during combustion. Sulphur dioxide reacts in the air with water vapour, oxygen, and other oxidising agents to form sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄). As a result, these substances fall to the ground with raindrops, giving rise to the phenomenon known as acid rain.
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