THE national council of the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC) is meeting during a dramatic moment in history, at an extremely dangerous time for humanity when fascism is reemerging with the intention of exercising its brutal dominion over the planet. The war of conquest that has been unleashed against the people of Iraq, in absolute contempt of worldwide public opinion and the community of nations, brings to mind the 1936 fascist intervention in Spain that constituted the prelude to the Second World War.

In those sad days, fascism tested its weapons of extermination in places like Guernica and initiated a lengthy escalation that would culminate in the invasion of Poland and a conflict that cost 50 million lives and the destruction and ruin of entire continents. We are faced today with an even greater danger because this return to fascism on a universal scale does not have, as it did then, an armed opposition or some wall of containment, and its war machine is of such devastating power that it is capable of destroying any country whatsoever in a question of minutes.

With its invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government has openly disregarded the principles of coexistence between nations and the very San Francisco Charter that established the hope of a peaceful, balanced and just world order through the United Nations Organization. It has imposed an interventionist criterion that violates all the accords relating to international law and is attempting to obliterate the sacrosanct principles of sovereignty and self-determination. In its own time and with similar aims, Nazi Germany abandoned the League of Nations. As has been rightfully said before, it is a case of the fateful substitution of the empire of law by the law of the empire.

In this conflict, we can see perfectly articulated fascist theories of a pre-emptive war or lightning strike, along with a powerful system of propaganda and misinformation. Without doubt, the legacy of Goebbels is present in this neofascism.

The U.S. propaganda machine repeats its accusations in a deliberate way, without ever showing evidence; it presents the empire's forces as "liberators" and as a "coalition." It announces the "democratic" nature of the colonial administration that it will impose. It uses the term "humanitarian aid" in a repugnant way and it intends to leave the victims without a face, and without culture or morals. It shows an aseptic image of what was a massacre by systematically blocking information, so that the blood and the deaths of thousands of civilians, the casualties of the attackers themselves, and resistance to the invasion cannot be seen or assessed by the U.S. people or by worldwide public opinion.

The manipulation of information is nourished by ridiculous theories like that of the supposed clash of civilizations and that of civilization versus barbarism, masks for the racism that has always accompanied wars of conquest and colonialism.

This machine floods the planet daily with a reiterated message regarding the superiority of the United States and the Messianic role of the savior of humanity that it has attributed to itself, complemented by an absurd and xenophobic vision of the "Other", particularly in relation to the Third World. At the same time, it emphatically insists on the manipulation of history as is evident, for example, in the attempts to erase the so-called "Vietnam syndrome" from the memory of the U.S. people.

However, despite the enormous influence of the media war, a new anti-war and anti-imperialist awareness is growing among humanity, which began to emerge with the announcements and preparations for the genocide of the Iraqi people and has a dignified precursor in the "Not in our Name" manifesto signed by thousands of the most outstanding artists and intellectuals in the United States. It is only just to recall that UNEAC celebrated last 4th of July in order to stress that U.S. culture and people have nothing to do with the atrocities of the government they are enduring.

We also salute other documents published in various countries with similar intentions such as "Against Barbarity" and the "Manifesto of the International Committee of Intellectuals Against the War," emitted respectively by European and Latin American colleagues, expressing rebellion, clarity and the spirit of justice of men and women within culture. Like never before, the people have been taking to the streets to condemn the monstrous crime. This commotion has helped intellectuals to recover their place in society and inspired them to participate in this reactivation of the civic and humanist conduct of their peoples. It is one of the most notable events in these days of upheaval when the problems of life and death of the human species are being debated.

The tragic and repudiated acts of September 11, 2001 have been made a pretext for implanting a preconceived policy of universal domination and looting.

The alleged battle against terrorism has facilitated an unprecedented deployment of arms and resources, a splendid business that was always the dream of the military industrial complex.

The war in Iraq is a global phenomenon occurring there today, but tomorrow it could be anywhere. The expansionist program justifying this aggression was elaborated by the U.S. ultra-right, inheriting the thinking of those who, in their time, denounced the amazing and historic vision of José Martí. We are living a time when the plundering of territories and wealth is even worse than during the colonial era, with the most sophisticated weapons of the 21st century in the hands of the most powerful imperialists ever to have existed.

We are witnessing the sinister objective of imposing a global neo-fascist dictatorship guaranteeing the imperial superpower's control of markets, raw materials, sources of energy, industries and the planet's fundamental services.

As we did in the recent workshop titled "No to War" the writers and artists of Cuba are calling on all men and women of goodwill to join an anti-fascist front, in line with noble precursors such as the Congress in Defense of Culture organized under the bombardment of Spain in 1937.

When, at the beginning of the 19th century, Simon Bolívar observed that the United States was destined by providence to plague the Americas with misery in the name of freedom, it is now the case that this threat has drifted over all the regions of the world. Combating it with all our strength is our undeniable duty. As was proclaimed on the 150th anniversary of the birth of José Martí, sowing ideas, sowing awareness should be our primary task.

Taken from Granma International, April 12, 2003