We need money to end COVID-19, poverty, unemployment, racism and debt, not space bombs.
by Gavrielle Gemma
Militarism and war are the biggest ways capitalist vampires are sucking the peoples’ blood to amass huge profits. Trump may be on the way out, but Republicans and Democrats have endorsed his nightmarish space wars program – the U.S. Space Force, which was established in 2019. Both parties recently voted to give $15.2 billion to the new Space Force as part of the military budget for 2021.
U.S. throws out international treaty
After the fascist shut-down of the Capitol, politicians proclaimed that the U.S. believes in the rule of law. But the only laws they believe in are laws protecting private profits. In 1967, the U.S. signed an international Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons and military bases in outer space and prohibiting any nation from claiming sovereignty over space. This treaty has been ignored.
New Space Force to threaten the world
Space Force is the Pentagon’s “separate military branch for American supremacy in space.” The Space Force is headed by General Jay Raymond, who wrote the “capstone war-fighting doctrine” for space, the plan for Space Force to encircle the globe with U.S. satellites to control the global GPS and for many satellites to have missile firing capability.
The Pentagon, on behalf of private corporations, has for years been carrying out a U.S. cyber war. There has been a lot of media hype about how maybe Russia, maybe China, maybe Iran hacked into the U.S. systems. These hysteric reports distract us from the failures of the U.S. with COVID-19 and growing poverty. Meanwhile, the U.S. openly bragged in 2019 that they have hacked Russian power grids, which has the potential to endanger the lives of millions of people.
Control of the global GPS could be used for even more deadly ends around the globe, as so many systems rely on this navigation system. Space Force would extend the already extensive hacking by the U.S. into countries’ systems around the world, increasing the threat to lives of the world’s people.
Biden signals he will continue Trump’s investment in space war
Profiteering corporations – including fascist Tesla’s Space X, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, York Space System, Rand Corporations – are racing to feed at this new source of wealth stolen from the working people. Bill Gattle of L3Harris said, “the whole industry is moving from building a few satellites to building hundreds of them.”
In September, Joe Biden told the Military Officers Association of America that, “we have to make smart investments in technologies and innovations – including in cyber, space, unmanned systems, and artificial intelligence […] to meet the threats of the future.” That Biden would be for extending Trump’s Space Force project is not surprising. Biden’s transition team has many militarists, military corporations representatives, bankers, and Wall Street executives on it.
Space News, a publication for the profiteering space ware industry, responded to questions regarding the Biden administration’s support for Space Force. Velos, a military consulting firm, wrote “space continues to be a bipartisan policy and Joe Biden’s campaign has articulated their belief in the importance of the doman.” Velos continued, “the Democratic Party national platform supports continuity with NASA and the Space Force.”
The military section of the capitalist economy is growing ever larger. It represents the most racist and right-wing, pro-fascist elements of society. That is why the Pentagon, who has oversight of operations in D.C., openly delayed National Guard troops moving into D.C., allowing the fascists free reign on January 6.
All the money the government is giving to war profiteers belongs to the people. Their wars in space of on the ground are only to enrich the obscenely wealthy. A working-class anti-war movement can stop them, and we will.