Now that the excitement over the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York has died down somewhat, it is important to consider the propensity of the U.S. ruling class to find scapegoats whenever they find themselves in a tight spot. One need only remember the cases of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, or of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the racist frameup of the Scottsboro Nine. For the moment, however, the momentum for such a frameup in connection with the huge explosion at the World Trade Center seems to be slowing down.
The reason is not loss of interest by the most reactionary forces in the capitalist government or lack of eagerness to pin the disaster on individual groupings--"foreign terrorists." They seem to be coming up against resistance from imperialist governments in Europe that have huge stakes in the Balkans and elsewhere in direct conflict with U.S. imperialist interests.
If we view it in this context, we will get a better, more accurate perspective on developments arising from the disaster at the Trade Center.
Cuomo's message from Mitterrand
Consider this: When New York Governor Mario Cuomo went on TV to give a long explanation of what had happened, he made reference to a message he received from President Francois Mitterrand of France expressing condolences for the loss of lives. This could not but attract a great deal of attention in the diplomatic corps of the U.S.
Cuomo didn't actually read the message of condolence. Was it a warning against launching a massive "terrorist-hunting" campaign? We can only speculate. Suffice it to say that Cuomo should have at least read a letter coming from one of the most important imperialist states in Europe, instead of making short shrift of it.
Why was it that the president of France conveyed his condolences not to President Clinton but to the governor? And, if condolences are in order from the heads of European states, why have we only heard about Mitterrand? Why not Prime Minister Helmut Kohl of Germany, or Prime Minister John Major of Britain? Or from other European countries, like Portugal and Spain?
It is France's imperialist interests that are most at loggerheads with those of the U.S. right now in the Balkan states that used to be part of Yugoslavia. It was about a year ago that Mitterrand, in his capacity as president, not as a private citizen, braved heavy shelling and went personally to Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina to prove a point. His point was to establish France's deep concern in an area to which the U.S. is laying claim. In this area today the U.S. is using every kind of trick and device, from secret diplomacy to airlifts of food and propaganda, to cover its predatory interests.
We can easily see what difficulty the U.S. is having from a hostile population. The Pentagon has to resort to a leaflet campaign before dropping food parcels from the air. The Nazis used that method during the World War II, with miserable results.
Clinton's Eurobashing
It is no wonder that Mitterrand's message was not sent to Clinton. It was only a few days earlier that Clinton had launched a violent attack against the Airbus, a joint venture of France, Germany, Britain and Spain, calling it a major threat to the U.S. aviation industry. Right after his State of the Union address, Clinton visited the Boeing plant in Seattle and took time to directly attack the Airbus project as endangering the jobs of American workers. He made no bones about specifically naming the Airbus, thereby beginning a campaign of Eurobashing similar to the chauvinist offensive against Japan so prevalent in the Reagan-Bush era.
All this was small consolation to the 28,000 workers at Boeing who, despite Clinton's talk promising prosperity down the road, are still getting pink slips.
But back to the World Trade Center explosion. Any conspiracy theory that involves Yugoslav terrorists, especially Bosnian Serbs, is bound to be viewed with the greatest skepticism in France and throughout Europe. While the European imperialists are as eager as the multinational corporations of the U.S. to gain whatever economic and political advantage they can out of the destruction of the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia. They are not at all eager to pull any chestnuts out of the fire in Yugoslavia in the interests of the U.S.
Clinton's admonition on March 1 to the people of the United States not to "overreact" to the frenzied campaign against foreign terrorists seemed a departure from the track record of past U.S. presidents. They have seemingly delighted in whipping up hysteria, especially against liberation movements in the Third World. But it has to be seen in the context of the international competition of the great imperialist fraternity of predators.
Japanese imperialism, for instance, is not out front in this particular campaign involving the explosion, even though offices occupied by some of its biggest corporations suffered major disruption and damage in the blast. This is strictly a U.S.-European imperialist conflict.
Who'll pay?
None of this should be interpreted as meaning that the repressive forces of the capitalist government are losing interest in a frameup that could get the vast financial and economic interests concentrated in the Trade Center off the hook when it comes to paying the costs of the damage.
Notice with what speed and alacrity both Mayor David Dinkins and Cuomo asked the federal government for disaster relief. Together with practically all the other capitalist politicians in the country they had joined in the campaign to cut the federal budget, yet now have suddenly discarded that approach. In his talk, Cuomo said that the budget now is of no concern--an incredible statement from one who usually measures his words carefully.
The Disaster Relief Administration was originally set up to provide relief in natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, etc. The laws governing the DRA are so stringent when it comes to actually giving out money that thousands of victims of the hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina are complaining they are still homeless months and even years after those disasters--all because of the government's delay in sending out relief checks. Of course, it is the workers and poor, especially Black and Latin, who are left hanging while businesses sometimes get relief in a matter of days or weeks.
Instead of appealing for government funds, the Port Authority should see to it that its private insurers take care of the claims in connection with the Trade Center disaster. Don't the capitalists and their politicians always want to turn everything over to the private sector? But here, all of a sudden, all that is forgotten and they are running to the public treasury.
What about the workers?
The most damning indictment against both Dinkins and Cuomo is that neither one has directed his attention clearly and specifically to the workers, many of whom may suffer long-term health problems, and some of whom risk losing not just work time but their jobs altogether. Again and again, it is mentioned that 55,000 workers are employed there. But who is monitoring the status of their health?
This disaster, like everything else that happens in class society, has to be viewed as a political struggle. Let's discount all the flattery of the capitalist politicians with their effusive praise of the bravery and fortitude of the masses. We know all that. We don't need an overflow of sentimentality to cover up their crass attitude towards those who are losing economically.
In a society divided into classes, the working class has to view even a disaster like this from the viewpoint of its class interests. The capitalist politicians certainly look at it from the class interests of the dozens of multinational corporations and the losses they may face.
Up until now, the World Trade Center was chiefly known as a valuable piece of real estate, where big deals, giant commercial transactions and financial manipulations are made and unmade. Almost never mentioned is the great concentration of 55,000 workers who daily contribute and indeed are indispensable to the operation of the center. The explosion demonstrated in a negative way how really important the workers are.
The explosion showed that the two towers are not just concentrations of commerce and finance. There are also living human beings there, who from a class point of view are workers, and that without them nothing operates. It is potentially a fortress of the working class. The sooner the consciousness of this develops the better it will be for all working people.
One of Karl Marx's celebrated maxims is that behind every political struggle is a raging class struggle. The workers should first of all direct their attention to defending their side in this struggle and be cognizant of the antagonistic interests of the multinational corporations and banks.