STATEMENT ON ANTI-IMPERIALISM
“Being an imperial power means exerting a controlling influence on other countries’ sovereignty. It can be established through different ways - economic, social or cultural dependence, political collaboration between both countries elites, the threat or use of military force, coups d’état, intelligence operations, trade agreements and investment treaties. Today the United State sits at the apex of a hierarchically structured imperialist system. ”
The Black Peoples Union is a First Nations-led revolutionary organisation with anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist principles. Our goal is to enforce the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and achieve full self-determination. We believe our struggle is part of a larger global struggle against colonialism, capitalism and imperialism and we stand in solidarity with all oppressed workers around the world who are fighting for their liberation. We recognise that workers are the backbone of society and that our struggle for self-determination is intimately connected with the struggle for workers’ rights and economic justice. Indigenous and minority workers of the world have a long history of being the most oppressed and exploited members of the workforce. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we have a unique perspective on the impacts of capitalism and imperialism on our communities and our land, as we know that these systems of oppression are intrinsically linked.
Imperialism is not a vague concept; it is the reality of historical economic dominance by empire. Today, the United States is the global imperial power with its ally states operating as sub-imperial powers to further American interests. Our position is that, on the continent of Australia, anti-imperialism means resisting the Australian colonial state and its role in maintaining American hegemony. The country that people can most influence change in is the one they live in; therefore the responsibility of anti-imperialists on the Australian continent is to oppose the colony’s imperialist occupation of sovereign Indigenous Nations and its wider role in enforcing the American imperial world order. The BPU’s position is that Australian state is not exploited in the US-led imperial system but is itself a sub-imperial power occupying some 300+ sovereign Indigenous nations. As such, it is an active and willing participant in the American empire to preserve its occupation of sovereign lands. It is our international duty to denounce any war-mongering narratives about what Australia has deemed 'enemy states'. This is a crucial foundation upon which our anti-colonialism rests as it is only through critical anti-imperialist resistance that the people, lands and waters of this continent can be liberated from the capitalist interests of the colony.
Anti-imperialism is relevant for all Australians but particularly relevant for Aboriginal communities and people. The continued colonisation of this continent is played out in the destruction of land and extraction of resources for foreign profit, namely the United States and Britain. This foreign profit is part of the imperialism that we speak of; most of the largest companies and much of the lands and natural resources of the continent are American and British owned. Our position is that the Australian colony is a smaller imperial power that is part of and sustains a trilateral imperial order on occupied Indigenous nations which upholds the British and American empires and destroys and exploits Indigenous land, resources, and people to do so. This imperialism is not limited to our shores. At various points in the colony’s history Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu came under the Australian colony’s economic control. Today it interferes with the sovereignty of these nations plus Timor Leste, Nauru and West Papua to name some more – this is without even getting into its role in the wars in the Middle East.
As a sub-imperial power, the Australian colony is an active and willing participant in the US-led global capitalist system. The colonial state has an advanced military and several intelligence agencies that operate in the region and abroad to uphold American interests. The state’s trade and investment agreements are organised with a similar goal in mind. The super profits of the colony and the role of the colony lies in the extraction of resources and supply of goods for privately-owned American and British companies. The BPU understands that if we are going to tackle the issue of land and resource theft then we need to have a proper understanding of what it is we are tackling. This domination of our continent is taking place and not even the wider non-Indigenous population have a say. Not only is Australia providing the raw materials for empire, it is also deeply integrated into the American imperial machine; its intelligence and military apparatus in particular. The Australian colonial state can operate in the so-called rules-based international order with relative ease and freedom because of its imperial conquests within the continent and across the region, the imperial trade agreements with its neighbours, and forcing its integration into the American power structure. Our people are dying and suffering, our lands are dying and suffering, so that the colonial ruling class can play this violent role in the world for their own gain.
The BPU stands with all workers of the world who are subjugated under global capitalism and the American imperial order and call on our fellow workers to stand with us as we resist the Australian colony’s role in enforcing this brutal and destructive capitalist order. We must come together to oppose Australian imperialism, its occupation of sovereign Indigenous nations, and its role in upholding global capitalism and the broader American imperialist structure.
We stand with all international workers around the world and urge our comrades in the colony to stand with us.
Workers of the world, unite!