August 6, 1945 is a date that progressive forces and peace lovers from around the world signal, not to forget the memory of this monstrous crime that was the launching of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima (and three days later on Nagasaki) and draw from this tragedy, which caused thousands of deaths and suffering that continues to this day, lessons for the struggle against militarism and against war and for nuclear disarmament.
It is imperative to defend the historical truth, fight any and all attempts to justify the use of the atomic weapon, demystify the false argument that its use was necessary to defeat Japan because it was already defeated, blame US imperialism for a crime whose only aim was to assert the power and the hegemonic goals of the US on the world stage.
We must not forget that the roots of war and its tragic consequences lie in the power of the monopolies and the unlimited exploitative and predatory appetite of financial and speculative capital, and warn of the great dangers that loom over Mankind as a result of the growth of xenophobic and fascist forces, of militarism, of the multiplication of sources of tension, of destabilization and imperialist wars of aggression, in a situation where the so-called "war on terrorism" is being used as a cover for attacking fundamental rights and freedoms, increasing military spending and interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.
In this broad framework a matter of great concern is imperialism’s aggressive escalation as clearly witnessed in Syria, the Middle East and North Africa, the decisions of the recent NATO summit in Warsaw, in the "common security and defence policy" of the European Union increasingly more articulated with the US and NATO, in the arms race in the Asia Pacific region with intense US military activity, the strengthening of the Japan-US treaty and the revival of Japanese militarism and interventionism. Particularly disturbing, because it involves war scenarios and the admission of the use of nuclear weapons is the installation by the US and NATO of anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe and in the Korean Peninsula, on the borders of the Russian Federation and of the People's Republic of China.
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki is therefore fighting for such a tragedy to never again happen. It means intensifying the fight against fascism and against war, against imperialism’s aggressive policy, for the dissolution of NATO, a political solution of conflicts respecting the sovereignty of the peoples, for disarmament and, in the first place, for nuclear disarmament. It is uniting all the forces that can be united in the struggle for peace and to remove once and for all from the horizon the danger of nuclear holocaust.
Never before the struggle for social progress and peace has been so linked with the struggle for the sovereignty of states and the right of every people to freely choose their path of development. In Portugal, the PCP will continue to act with determination to free the country from external constraints that undermine its sovereignty, against the impositions and blackmail of the European Union, against the involvement of the country in operations of aggression against other peoples, for a foreign policy and defence of patriotic pride and in compliance with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, of peace, friendship and cooperation with all the peoples of the world.
