The Manchester atrocity shows how cowardly acts of individual violence are spawned by the biggest terrorists of them all: UK and U.S. imperialists. It also creates an opening for state violence and fascism against the working class.
On May 22 at an Ariana Grande concert, Salman Ramadan Abedi detonated a device packed with metal nuts and bolts and killed 22 people, injured over 60, many of them children, and terrorized the working class. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility, but there is no evidence providing IS was directly involved (Stratfor, 5/27).
The 22-year-old Libyan Briton bomber’s action was a despicable attack on masses of unarmed youth and families. But, the biggest terrorists are the capitalist bosses. When the UK and U.S. bosses aren’t bombing hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan, they’re shattering the lives of millions with racist incarceration, deportation, segregated housing and schooling, and unemployment. To divert attention from their own monstrous crimes, the bosses will exploit fears of ISIS to stir anti-Muslim racism as well as to pledge allegiance to this savage system to protect us.
A Century in the Making
The imperialists have created their own terrorists. Much of the religious sectarian violence and rise of Islamic militant groups can be traced to the British, French, and U.S. imperialists.
Not only did the British imperialists, along with the French, carve up what is today the Middle East after World War I as a divide-and-conquer strategy, the bosses have used and bred reactionary and armed Muslim groups to back their imperialist oil interests. (See Brzezinski obituary, page 5). UK Secretary of the War Cabinet Maurice Hankey in 1918 viewed control of oil supplies in the region to be “a first class British war aim.”
For example, the UK funded the Mujaheddin as proxy fighters. “It resulted in the spawning of al-Qa’ida, the spread of international terrorism, and the empowering of ISI, the Pakistani secret police, who became their sponsors. …[T]he lesser known by-products [are] the dispatch of Afghan Islamist veterans, with the connivance of Britain and the US, to the wars in the Balkans and the former Soviet republics in central Asia, and ethnic Muslim areas of China.” (The Independent, 7/29/2010).
In Libya, a joint effort on the British, French, and U.S. imperialists via NATO, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton engineered a U.S. invasion in 2011. The massive bombing and missile raids were designed to consolidate oil deals the imperialist powers had made with the unreliable Muammar Qaddafi and each other. The British admit their role “aided the rise of the Islamic State in North Africa” (9/14/16). They also aided in displacing, starving, and terrorizing hundreds of thousands of families.
An Opening for Fascism
The Manchester attack will spur even greater efforts from bosses on all sides to impose fascism on the working class as they prepare for wider imperialist wars.  Increasing racism and capitalist state terror, and foster cross-class collaboration with police forces, are symptoms of rising fascism.
The Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson tweeted, “We need a State of Emergency as France has. We need internment of thousands of terror suspects now to protect our children” (NY Times, 5/23).  Some called for those suspected to be electronically tagged. The Economist called for an “iron-willed application of the law” (5/27).
Working-Class Response
In Manchester, residents opened up their homes to those stranded, taxi drivers gave free rides, and restaurants sent donations to those still searching for loved ones. While the bosses will respond with cynical ploy to build allegiance to its exploitative system, the working class responds with collectivity and antiracism.
The international working class still holds all the cards, including the potential to overthrow the entire murderous capitalist system. No amount of divisions can keep the working class from ultimately taking power. No lesser-evil politician or government can liberate our class. Progressive Labor Party aims to build communism. We will construct a world free of terrorism, racism and sexism.