Two days ago, on November 18, 2025, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted (with the abstentions of China and Russia) to accept the Trump government plan for “peace” in Gaza. On paper, what this means is a concretely imposed ceasefire (which Israel has repeatedly violated anyway),[1] the authorization of an “international stabilization force”[2] that will back a transitional government with token Palestinian representation, and a “board of peace”[3] chaired by Donald Trump and viceroyed by imperialist stooge Tony Blair. What this means in reality is a total and complete abdication of anything resembling humanitarian responsibility, a total capitulation to the machinery of imperialism, and the betrayal and abandonment of the people of Palestine. Trump took to his Truth Social to gloat, saying that the so-called Board of Peace will include “the most powerful and respected Leaders throughout the world.” [4] Who those leaders will be is a mystery to the people of the world, though it is childishly easy to speculate that the Gulf states, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, will be involved in some capacity. This peace deal, where it is being discussed, is wildly unpopular; furthermore, it was evidently brokered with no input from or support by the Palestinian people. In response, Hamas has said that it will refuse to disarm and continue fighting; now, however, this means that the militant group is potentially on a collision course with the United Nations itself.[5]

There are three main and urgent takeaways from this global political betrayal. Starting with the most important

1: Campism (leftists siding with Russia and China in particular, but indeed the notion of simple “imperialist” and “anti-imperialist” powers) is dead. This vote was unanimous, 13 to 0.[6] China and Russia, with the power to veto as permanent members of the Security Council, abstained. Algeria and Somalia voted with the United States and Denmark to ratify this nauseating treaty from above that authorizes what is, essentially, a United Nations-backed and United States-owned protectorate in Gaza. The facts tell the whole story: there is no statist anti-imperialist camp. These are nation-states, acting as representatives of capital to terrorize the globe and enable imperialist extraction. More on this below.

2: The other utility of this peace treaty is propagandistic. The imperial powers of America and Europe have seen mass protests in support of Palestine over the past few months. Palestine has emerged as the issue of the day. The U.N. is (not for the first time) enacting diplomatic propaganda; this is a cover for occupation and colonial administration. It is imperative that this is communicated far and wide, and as loudly as possible. The appearance of peace covers the progress of imperialist, capitalist, genocidal violence and serves only as an attempt to (temporarily) pacify the people of the imperial core, who are sickened by the constant barrage of horrific imagery, accounts of starvation, and the brutality of the IDF in Gaza.

3: The staying power of this treaty, and the most important developments to watch for are inside Gaza and across Palestine as a whole. It is unlikely that the Palestinian people will accept this treaty. Speculation abounds of a renovated version of Trump’s real-estate fever dream “Riviera of the Middle East” plan.[7] Hamas, as mentioned above, is refusing to disarm. The people of Palestine continue their resistance; what this entails for the proposed “Board of Peace” and United Nations Security Council-backed transitional government remains to be seen. Relatedly, those active for the cause of Palestine across the world must also recognize this sham peace for what it is and continue to put pressure on their states. Leftists everywhere must strongly oppose and condemn this plot against the people of Gaza.

The first point, regarding campism, is particularly important to understanding the situation globally. It is a theoretically indefensible error to continue advancing under this flawed hypothesis. Below, we explain why:

Before we explain the theoretical error of Campism, we’ll briefly explain what Campism is. While the term “Campism” isn’t used by campists themselves, it is a semi-popular view on the Left. On this view, the world is divided into competing “camps,” or coalitions, of nation-states. To elaborate this view further, there is the hegemonic and imperialist coalition composed of nation-states, usually from the imperial core, while the opposing side is an anti-imperialist coalition composed of nation-states, usually from the periphery. In the context of the Cold War, the competing “camps” were, on one hand, the coalition of Western nation-states from the imperial core and, on the other hand, the so-called actually existing “socialist” countries and some anti-colonial nation-states from the periphery. In our present-day context, the prevalent view among many leftists, whom we describe as “Campists,” is that the imperialist and hegemonic camp remains relatively the same (e.g., NATO nation-states and NATO-friendly countries), but the anti-imperialist camp is spearheaded by China, Russia, and Iran against Western-led Imperialism.

The theoretical error of present-day Campism begins with Campists overly attributing agency to nation-states as primary actors of the world stage, but in doing so, it falls for state-fetishism. Instead of viewing each nation-state as a political personification of an aggregate of capitals within its border, Campism tacitly treats nation-states as subjects acting independently from the logic of capital to exert power on the world stage. The state-fetishism attributes independent power to nation-states as subjects at the expense of the subjectivity of the working class and oppressed peoples. The nation-states are subjects, while the working class and oppressed people are passive predicates who belong to nation-states. But in treating nation-states as subjects who set things in motion on the world stage, Campism unwittingly abstracts nation-states away from capitalism as a world system. This abstraction of nation-states away from capitalism as a world system is inherently ideological because it not only mystifies nation-states but also conceals the totality of capitalism as a world system. This ideological abstraction is Geopolitics. Geopolitics presents itself as an objective science providing empirically informed analysis of actors in the world stage, but Geopolitics is ideological because it conceals how nation-states are compelled by the mute compulsion of the law of value to compete with each other in the world system of capitalism.

By concealing how nation-states are compelled by the mute compulsion of the law of value to compete with each other, Geopolitics transmogrifies nation-states from state-machinery of capital into subjects who enact change. But the ideological process of fetishizing nation-states reduces the working class and oppressed peoples to predicates belonging to nation-states. The social relation between people takes on the dehumanized and estranged form of the social relation between nation-states. The subjectivity, self-movement, and self-activity of the masses as subject is attributed to nation-states as independent titans of history. Class struggle transforms into its opposite: the clash of the titans. The result is that most people are reduced to the role of passive spectators of history who support one of the teams of titans in the Geopolitical team sport. Campism uncritically, unconsciously, and unwittingly accepts the ideological spectacle of Geopolitics in which people are largely passive spectators who support one of the teams of titans. Campism is incapable of being self-critical because its whole existence depends on the uncritical acceptance of the spectacle, the clash of the titans. Campism uncritically and implicitly accepts that the working class and oppressed peoples are no longer the revolutionary subject, but rather the titans are the revolutionary subjects. The “anti-imperialist” titans will save the proletariat and the oppressed peoples from the clutches of the imperialist titans.

But the titans of Geopolitics, who seem imbued with their own personalities, are in fact personified state-machines of capital. Each personified state-machine of capital will compete with the others on behalf of the ruling class over the accumulation of capital. These personified state-machines of capital will do business and trade deals with each other to facilitate the mobility of capital and its further accumulation. When we bear this reality in mind, it is not surprising that China and Russia trade with Israel. In fact, it shouldn’t be surprising that part of the reason why China and Russia abstain from voting against the U.S. draft of the resolution on Gaza is that they are stakeholders in Israel’s political economy who are deeply integrated into the world system of capitalism. But this is difficult to see when people remain enchanted by the halo around China and Russia, disguising them as titans of resistance. To be enchanted by the halo around China and Russia is the power of state-fetishism. Campism is based on the enchantment of state-fetishism. Instead of recognizing real power as latent in the working class and oppressed peoples, Campism attributes such power to Bonapartist states. When the enchanting halo around Bonapartist states wears off, there only remains a naked reality that these Bonapartist states are personified state-machines of capital. These personified state-machines of capital, like any state-machinery, ought to be smashed by the working class and oppressed peoples for a genuine democratic republic of the working class.

[1] AJLabs. “How Many Times Has Israel Violated the Gaza Ceasefire? Here Are the Numbers.” Al Jazeera. Accessed November 19, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/11/how-many-times-has-israel-violated-the-gaza-ceasefire-here-are-the-numbers.

[2] Lewis, Simon. “UN Security Council Adopts US Resolution on Trump’s Gaza Plan.” Middle East. Reuters, November 18, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-security-council-vote-us-resolution-trumps-gaza-plan-2025-11-17/.

[3] ibid

[4] Truth Social. “Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump).” Accessed November 19, 2025. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115519726463094783.

[5] Lewis, Simon. “UN Security Council Adopts US Resolution on Trump’s Gaza Plan.” Middle East. Reuters, November 18, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-security-council-vote-us-resolution-trumps-gaza-plan-2025-11-17/.

[6] Fulton, Adam, Lucy Campbell, Frances Mao, Adam Fulton (now), and Frances Mao (earlier). “UN Body Passes Resolution – as It Happened.” World News. The Guardian, November 18, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/nov/17/un-security-council-donald-trump-gaza-israel-palestine-middle-east-latest-news-updates.

[7] NBC News. “Trump’s Plans for a ‘riviera of the Middle East’ in Gaza Condemned by America’s Allies.” February 5, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trumps-gaza-israel-plans-riviera-rcna190748.