There are some events that, because of their historical significance and the lessons they hold, will never be forgotten. Such is the case with the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. Bombings that immediately caused around 200,000 deaths and left an unspeakable trail of destruction and suffering. A heinous crime against Humanity that absolutely nothing can justify, but which the US tried to excuse with the false argument of defeating Japan, when Japan was already militarily defeated and when in fact it was a demonstration of US military power and its aim of imposing US hegemony on the world.
In evoking this tragic reality, the PCP, which has always considered disarmament, and in particular the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons to be a requirement for safeguarding peace, warns of the dangerous situation created by the militarist, arms-oriented and confrontational policy pursued by the USA, including in the field of nuclear weapons, dragging NATO, the European Union and its G7 allies into this drift. This is true of Japan itself, which, in direct violation of the pacifist Constitution that resulted from the defeat of Japanese militarism in World War II, actively participates in the extension of NATO's influence to the Asia-Pacific, and in the increasingly frequent and dangerous military operations in this region directed against the People's Republic of China, which has been identified as the main target, as shown by the exacerbation of tone at the recent NATO summit in Washington aiming this country.
Remembering the nuclear holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a duty of remembrance, but it is above all an opportunity to affirm the imperative duty to fight to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated. It is necessary to defend the historical truth and firmly and courageously fight the overwhelming propaganda campaign of militarism and war, the normalisation of fascism and even the trivialisation of the use of nuclear weapons. It is necessary to persist in unmasking US imperialism which, under the excuse of the so-called defence of "Western civilization", seeks to impose its totalitarian hegemony on the world and which, having been the only country until now to have resorted to the use of nuclear weapons, is responsible for the worsening international situation and the real danger of a war of incalculable proportions.
Evoking the dark events of August 6 and 9, 1945 and warning of the dangers in the current situation, the PCP believes that war is not inevitable, that the last word will always be that of the peoples and their aspiration for freedom, social progress and peace.
The PCP trusts that the development of the liberating struggle of the workers and peoples, against militarism and war, for the political solution of conflicts, for peace, will triumph. And that, by honouring the values of the April Revolution, freeing itself from submission to the dictates of NATO and the increasingly militaristic European Union, respecting and applying the policy of national independence and peace and friendship with all peoples enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic, Portugal can and must make an important contribution to general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, including the abolition of nuclear weapons, the dissolution of political-military blocs and the establishment of a collective security system, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring peace and justice in relations between peoples.
Fighting to break with decades of right-wing policies and for a patriotic and left-wing alternative, the PCP will do everything it can to achieve this goal.
