In a crude and insulting message which is his trademark, Trump issued a new ultimatum to Iran: if the Strait of Hormuz weren't reopened, the United States would attack the country’s main infrastructures to “send Iran back to the Stone Age”.
Will he carry out his threats or will he look for a way out to limit the oil crisis and the chaos he has caused with Israel by bombing Iran?
Every scenario is possible because, even in crisis and in war, his capitalist and billionaire friends are getting richer than ever. The global economy and trade may be disrupted and oil supplies compromised, it's all the better for them, just another opportunity to speculate and rake in billions of dollars!
Trump’s inner circle, his own sons included, hasn't held back. They've made a fortune by speculating on oil and are now suspected of conflict of interests and insider trading. This is the reality of war as experienced by the gang of thieves and criminals who govern us!
Stock market prices may prevent them from sleeping, but not the dead. And who still cares about the number of dead in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Ukraine?
The world’s leaders, the capitalist class and its political representatives, couldn't care less about the consequences of war for peoples and for workers like us. Our misfortune is their good fortune. The rise in fuel prices is a massive blow for the working class but it's a tremendous windfall for oil companies and refiners.
TotalEnergies is making a grand gesture by blocking gasoline and diesel prices. It can afford to because, by speculating on the rise in oil prices since early March, it’s already pocketed a billion dollars in exceptional profits.
Refiners have multiplied their margins fourfold in a single month. They buy crude oil at higher prices but boost their profits by raising gasoline, diesel and heating-oil prices by even greater proportions. And of course, their share prices have soared: + 16% for TotalEnergies, +13% for Shell and +22% for BP.
They are predators, war profiteers and speculators who pounce on all the world's misfortunes to reap more money. We must refuse to be shaken down by this band of thieves!
Many politicians, starting with Le Pen and Bardella, don't want to target corporate profits and only denounce taxes and VAT. These taxes are certainly unfair because they weigh equally on the rich and the poor. They should be suppressed and the big bourgeoisie should be forced to compensate the state's shortfall. But right now, at the very moment when oil capitalists are carrying out one of the biggest heists of the century, talking only about that serves as a distraction.
Oil companies and multinationals must be made to pay. It’s up to the big bourgeoisie, up to the billionaire shareholders who control the economy, to bear the consequences of the crisis of their system and the wars they provoke. Because it's in their exclusive interest that their heads of state and allies, such as Trump, instigate these conflicts. It's to secure markets for them, the control of raw materials and the domination of trade routes.
We mustn't accept being victims of their economy, their rivalries and their warmongering policies. Unlike the Palestinians, Ukrainians, Lebanese, and Iranians, we are not yet paying the price in blood but our leaders, who are at the origin of all these wars, will make us pay that price someday if we don't rise up in protest.
So, let's start by saying that we refuse to be victims of their economy, on top of being exploited or laid off. Let's take advantage of this growing anger to discuss, organize, reflect on our demands, and engage in the fight.
We must confiscate the war profiteers’ profits for the needs of the working population and demand the expropriation of TotalEnergies, Exxon, BP and Shell, otherwise they will never stop lining their pockets at our expense.
And since the rise in gas prices will inevitably affect all other prices, we must demand a massive increase in wages, pensions and benefits, and their indexation to prices!
Nathalie Arthaud