Industrial Workers of the World

It is with sorrow for those lost in the attack of October 12th in Kuta,

Bali and for their families and friends that the Industrial Workers of the World issue the following statement.

We mourn for those who have lost their lives.

We grieve for the injured, and for those who have lost family, friends, mates and loved ones.

We mourn for the Balinese. For those who died and for the injured.

All those who are gone live on in our thoughts.

We have grave concern for the plight of the people of Bali now that tourism, the island’s only industry will collapse.

We have grave concern for the people of Indonesia. Already racked by economic dificulty and huge foreign debt, Indonesia will suffer a flight of Western capital and resource. The people of Indonesia will be plunged into greater poverty in a land with no social security. We have grave concern for Indonesia’s fledgling union movement, with military intervention in government now a real possibility.

In the search for a response to the Bali Bombing, it is important to remember that military conflict pits worker against worker, regardless of nationality, and in such conflicts it is always the working class who suffer the most. If political and military leaders and capitalists want to wage war, let them fight it with their own hands. They and their policies are responsible for creating the breeding ground that led to the Bali attack on October 12th, 2002.

The IWW has always opposed militarism and nationalism and in these difficult times the IWW remains committed to these positions. The war to fight is the class war. The means is revolutionary industrial unionism.
The IWW remains committed to fighting the class war because it is there in the battle against those who would control our lives, whether capitalists, religious fanatics, whether Christian, Hindu or Muslim, or state authorities, that we find the solution for eliminating the conditions that produce attacks against innocent workers,

The IWW remains committed to fighting for civil liberties. We oppose the expansion of government surveillance of individuals and organisations. We denounce racist attacks, and the climate that has produced them, against individuals based on their ethnicity, race or religion.

The IWW stands in opposition to the increased military and state power promoted by the capitalist class and its representatives in governments around the world.

Yours in Solidarity

The Industrial Workers of the World