At the beginning of this 21st century, in a situation fraught with uncertainty and perils caused by capitalism, it must be stressed that there is also a real potential for liberation.

Fifteen years after the disappearance of the USSR, imperialism's global offensive has brought to our planet more war, more militarism, more violence, more torture, more illegal prisons, more restrictions of freedoms and more anti-democratic repression. The war dead already number in the hundreds of thousand. And new aggressions lie on the horizon. There is ever more open talk of using nuclear weapons in theatres of war. Terrible weapons, such as white phosphorus, cluster bombs or weapons with depleted uranium, are being used increasingly often. The sovereignty and independence of peoples and nations are increasingly threatened by imperialist powers. Military expenditures are rising and there is an ongoing arms race. There are ever more prohibitions and persecutions of democratic and popular political forces. Racism, xenophobia, fascism and anti-communism are on the rise.

This offensive is an integral part of the attack unleashed, on the economic and social level, by the ruling classes, big business, transnational corporations and the international agencies that serve them. Everywhere, jobs and wages, pensions and social security, labour and union rights, are coming under attack. Essential social services are transformed into commodities and sources of profit for big business. The right to an education, to health care, to a dignified life, which were never a reality for millions of human beings, are increasingly being denied to those who had won them. There is growing poverty and extreme poverty, hunger, exploitation, precariousness and insecurity, walls for migrants, the threat of an ecological catastrophe, whilst at the same time there is ever more obscene wealth, fabulous profits and privileges for the exploiting and ruling minority. Growing inequality and injustice goes hand in hand with war and repression. This is the true nature of capitalism that is well evident in our times.

But this global offensive of imperialism is having to confront the struggle of the workers and peoples of the world. From the Middle East to Latin America, from Europe to Asia, a strong resistance is mounting and processes of progressive change are forging ahead, showing that it is possible to invert the present situation. The Communist and Workers' Parties gathered in Lisbon, on November 10, 11 and 12, 2006, greet the struggles and resistance of the workers and peoples of the world against the imperialist offensive of military interventions and occupations and of neo-liberal globalization, which are the determining factor for, once again, opening up the paths of peace and social progress for Mankind. Our parties will strengthen their cooperation and joint action and will actively contribute to strengthen the working-class and anti-imperialist movement. At the same time as we warn of the dangers of our times and call for the mobilization of all forces of peace and social progress, in order to prevent capitalism from launching the world into catastrophe - as it did in the last Century - we express the profound confidence that a different, Socialist, world is possible.

Lisbon, November 12, 2006