Report of the General Secretary Thanassis Pafilis

Secretariat Meeting Brussels, October 17­18, 2011

Dear comrades and friends

Once more we welcome you to the Secretariat meeting of the WPC, held here in Brussels, where two of the imperialist organisms are being based, the NATO and the European Union. The WPC is well aware of the reactionary and war­drive nature of these two Organizations, historically, but especially after the year 1991 even more. Thus, our meeting here in Brussels is also of symbolical nature to denounce the crimes of NATO and EU, against the peoples of the world.

The high number of attending Organisations is a proof for the interest and commitment of the WPC affiliates based also on the understanding of the crucial moments in which this meeting takes place.

The capitalist economic crisis worldwide and the capitalist governments taking care of the respective interests with brutal attacks on all social and labour rights are increasingly impoverishing new masses of working people, especially youth and pensioners. Common ground in all cases (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland end elsewhere in the world) is how to let the big capital and the monopolies overcome the crisis by putting all the burdens on the working people. The profitability of banks and corporations is continuing while unemployment is reaching record highs.

We salute the social protests and strikes in various parts of the world against social cuts and attacks on labour rights, against the acute problems of housing, price hiking, privatisations of state sector and unite our voices with the class trade unions and popular movements against the oligarchy in each country and the imperialist financial institutions such as IMF, World Bank etc.

The deeper goal of the escalation of the anti­people offensive in Europe in particular is the reinforcement of the competitiveness of the European monopoly groups in the international capitalist market, where the inter­imperialist competition is apparent. All the member­states of the EU enrich their National Reform Programme and the Stability Pact with harsh new anti­people commitments, which directly specialise the directions of the Euro­Pact. Along with the privatisation of remaining state sector new repression measures are applied against the labour and popular struggles. In this context we salute the massive workers’ strikes and mobilizations in Portugal, Spain and Greece against the identical policies of their governments which go hand in hand with the interests of the capital and the EU and IMF.

The same governments which apply all the austerity measures on their peoples are the ones who participate, steer and support the aggressions of NATO, the EU and the USA in various parts of the world with billions of military expenditure for wars and aggressions. It is the same forces which try to present the anti­people measures as necessity in order to save the “national” economies, while the profits of the military­industrial complex mark growing profits on the expenses of the peoples and their lives.

Some figures are describing the situation of who is benefiting from the crisis and who is paying for it. In 2006 the 400 richest Americans in the USA possessed 1.57 trillion dollars which is more than what 50% of the population possessed, that is to say 155 million people, which means a ratio of approximately

400.000 to 1. If we look at the 50 million of the poorest people that use food stamps to eat in the USA, and even more so at the children that die of hunger in Somalia the numbers lose their meaning. During the economic crisis this chasm has expanded as the richest 1% of the population of the US ended up possessing more than 70% of the financial assets which is an all time record. Correspondingly in 2010 10,9 million of the richest people in the world had 42.7 trillion dollars which is an increase of 9.7% compared to 2009 and a new record. These tendencies are valid in one or another way in all capitalist countries.

Dear comrades and friends

Since the last Executive Committee Meeting last April in Havana, the aggressiveness of imperialism has further increased, the imperialist aggression against Libya has developed into a full scale war and intervention by the USA, France, Great Britain and the whole NATO against the people of Libya, for the complete control of the rich oil and gas reserves and the geostrategical control of the area. The violent regime change the imperialists aim to impose in Libya will bring the willing allies of NATO to power, which were previously closed collaborators of the Ghaddafi regime. Independently of the foreign and economic policies of Ghaddafi, especially the lat 8 years, we cannot consider what happened in Libya as a popular uprising and the imposition of the will of the people, the sole responsible to determine freely its future. The WPC cannot accept by any means this foreign intervention and aggression by the USA and NATO, which has caused already many thousands of dead. The US and NATO sponsored, trained and instructed opposition in Libya is being used as an instrument for the goals of imperialism and the multinational oil corporations in the region. The WPC demands the complete end of the military operations and withdrawal of all NATO troops, Air Force and ships from the area. Libyan people shall decide freely and democratically upon their fortunes and become the masters of their life.

Imperialism’s aggressiveness in the conditions of deep capitalist economic crisis creates an even more explosive situation which could lead through the sharpening of the inter­imperialist contradictions and antagonisms to generalized military confrontations, as a continuation of the imperialist wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The danger particularly in the broader Middle East region and East Mediterranean Sea is growing due to the concentration of interests and realignment of powers.

Indications for the above are the growing imperialist pressure and intervention on Syria with the threats to repeat step by step what happened in Libya. The WPC expresses its solidarity with the Syrian people for its social people’s rights and for the right to determine freely and democratically its fortunes. We observe and denounce the efforts of imperialist forces to interfere and intervene, by triggering violent protests and create conditions of internal instability. Goal of the EU, NATO and the USA is to impose a friendly to them regime through which a strategic control of the region and threats on Iran would come closer. We reject any militarist plans to attack Syria as part of a plan for a future attack against Iran.
The role of Turkey in the region is of growing importance. Without having abolished its commitments to NATO and US Imperialism, Turkey is playing an active role in the Middle East for the promotion of the economic interests of its corporations, seeking for a role as regional power, pretending to be the “protector” of the Palestinian rights, while sharpening its hostile policies in the occupied island of Cyprus. Under these conditions we condemn the threats that the Turkish government unleashes against Cyprus. We support the struggle of the Cypriot people for a unified, independent Cyprus, for a federal, bi­zonal, bi­communal solution with a single sovereignty and international identity, without foreign bases and troops, a common homeland for both Turkish­Cypriots and Greek­Cypriots, without foreign protectors and guarantors. The recent second trilateral meeting of Peace movements from Turkey, Cyprus and Greece held in Istanbul under the auspices of the WPC sends a clear message of anti­imperialist friendship and solidarity of the peoples of the three countries and reaffirms the will of the peoples not to allow war games on their shoulders.

Recently the Palestinian struggle entered into the centre of the world’s attention with the formal motion of the Palestinian National Authority and the PLO to the United Nations for the recognition and full membership of Palestine as independent State, in the borders of 4th June 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital. The political manoeuvres of the US administration to dilute the whole project, by exercising strong pressure and interference along with the leading forces inside the EU are a clear expression of tolerance and cover up of the brutal occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, its army and settlers. The Imperialists are speaking about a “two state solution”, without mentioning the borders, the capital, the time frame, the settlements and of course not about the refugees, the political prisoners etc. The EU and the US Administration are cynical accomplices of the occupation which Israel maintains and expands through the settlements which have multiplied since the Oslo agreement in 1994. The recent solidarity mission of the WPC together with the World Federation of Democratic Youth to Palestine took place the very days of the discussion in the UN and was a concrete expression of the solidarity and support to the Palestinian cause. We keep on demanding the full recognition of the State of Palestine and its affiliation to the UN. We express our full­hearted solidarity to the Palestinian people and to the peace­loving forces inside Israel which are struggling side by side with the Palestinians for the Independent Palestinian State, in the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel.
Ten years after the invasion of Afghanistan by NATO and eight years after the occupation of Iraq by the USA and its allies, many thousands of civilians have lost their lives. The bombing of Afghanistan and Pakistan takes new forms of aggression through drone attacks, while millions of people are displaced and victims of an imperialist war with the pretext of “fighting terrorism”.

The Imperialist “New Middle East” plan, aiming in the complete political control and the control of over the energy resources is taking advantage of the popular uprisings in countries like Egypt and Tunisia against totalitarian regimes some months ago, with the goal to install new willing allies of imperialism, whether through “moderate” religious regimes or through more western type friendly regimes, without changing anything deeper in the social­economic system. The peoples of the region have nothing to win from such developments. The discussion in the World Media about the so­called Arab spring is distracting the attention of the peoples for example from the invasion of Saudi Arabia in Bahrain or the ongoing occupation of Palestine by Israel or about the real goals behind the efforts to overthrow the regimes of Libya and Syria, which is the geo­strategical control over the area its rich oil and gas reserves. It is hypocritical and cynical what the NATO governments claim when they speak about Human Rights in the Middle East. We observe a dangerous tendency with the efforts of imperialist forces to create popularity and acceptance for “moderate Islamic” regimes, (like the one of Turkey) for the Middle East.

Part of the aggression against Libya is also to secure and install from imperialism side its domination in Africa, the US administration is seeking to install its AFRICOM on African soil, others (France, Italy, Britain) to secure oil contracts and their position in Northern Africa. Africa with its rich natural resources has become target for the Multinational corporations for their exploitation and new markets, while hunger, misery and underdevelopment are spreading all over the continent.

Under the lead of US imperialism new plans to install foreign military Bases in Latin America are going on. Threats against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador are still on the program, while the imperialists have not given up the subversive actions against the elected governments (like before in Honduras). We support the campaign for the abolition of all foreign military bases in the region and we are proud for having held in the Cuban Guantanamo province last May an international event against the US basis and its concentration camp. Cuba remains under the criminal economic blockade by the USA which continues the acts of political and ideological revenge with the case of the Five Cuban political prisoners in US prisons, under the false accusations for being terrorists. The WPC demands the immediate release of the Cuban Five

Seven months after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, the Japanese people are still suffering from the consequences. Fukushima, is by far the biggest nuclear disaster in human history that makes Chernobyl look like a Sunday pic­nick, since at Chernobyl a reactor burned for 10 days, while in Fukushima all 5 reactors, 2 of them in partial and 3 in total melt, burn out of control by March 11, 2011, and will continue to burn for at least 1­3 years. It is proved that as long as Nuclear energy is being dealt for speculations and profits, human life will be treated as commodity. Protection measures are being sacrificed by the monopolies for the sake of profitability. The WPC expresses its solidarity with the peace loving people of Japan and its peace movement and demands drastical measures of alleviation of the families affected by the disaster along with the end of the operation of the nuclear plants in Japan.

WPC took note with great concern that as India is emerging as a growing economic power in Asia, there is a plan to bring India closer to the imperialist agenda and to maintain the US interests intact in the region. This is being backed by the planned propaganda of “strong and powerful India” for strengthening also the so­called “democratic developments” in the region.

The capitalist economic model followed by the ruling class in the emerging and growing economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America are not inclusive in their nature of development and resulting in growing miseries and downgrading of the living standards of the common people.

The WPC supports the peace process and the efforts for a new constitution in the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, where the Nepali people shall become the masters of their country and the richness it has, after the bloody civil war following the abolition of the monarchy.

Dear comrades and friends

The World Peace Council has marked increasing activities all over the world in the recent period, on regional, national and global level. Without underestimating the difficulties and obstacles in our struggle, we strongly believe that we can improve our ability and effectiveness, our collective initiatives and campaigns by which we will uncover the imperialist aggressiveness and create better ground for the peoples and the peace movement to fight back the attacks. Especially in times of deep capitalist crisis we are aware of the aggressive nature of imperialism, which is not hesitating from provoking or carrying out even generalized wars or clashes.

We call upon the peoples and the peace loving forces to stay alerted and vigilant, to rally forces around the anti­imperialist peace movement, together with the workers and peasants, together with the class oriented trade union movement and the militant women and youth movement in order to organize the counter attack of the peoples against imperialism, its servants and governments, its structures and mechanisms.