Humanity today faces huge dangers for world peace. Destabilizing conflicts and actions occur one after the other embodying a dangerous escalation of violence and war. As in other historic periods, capitalist system, confronted with a financial and economic crisis of considerable dimensions, finds in peoples’ exploitation, war and oppression the tools for trying to rule over its own internal contradictions and simultaneously to silence and suffocate resistances that spring up from the workers and peoples’ struggle against the perverse consequences of the capitalist globalization.

In the name of a so-called combat against terrorism, which we condemn and feeds itself with this escalation of violence, the USA and their allies pursue a strategy of global war which only serves their own purposes of world hegemony and control of the markets and natural resources. The planned aggression war on Iraq and its occupation, clearly disrespecting the international Law, is one piece more of this strategy.

Beyond the arrogant demonstration of hegemony of the US imperialism, the true reason of an attack on Iraq is to control a country which owns near 10% of the known world reserves of oil.

An attack on Iraq would only cause more destruction and death in Middle-East and greater suffering to Iraqi people who is doubly hit by the dictatorial Saddam Hussein’s regime and by the terrible economic blockade which directly and indirectly has already provoked more than one million and seven thousands victims.

An attack on Iraq would favour the prosecution and aggravation of the State terrorism policies and the real genocide of the Palestinian people into the hands of the Israel’s zionist government and army.

The Portuguese communists, assembled in the National Meeting of the PCP on the Party’s action and organisation in the enterprises and workplaces:

- express their firm opposition to the breaking out of the war and denounce the USA’ unacceptable pressures to obtain the UN’s covering of their aggressive aims;
- reaffirm their engagement and determination in the struggle to avoid that a new imperialist war be concretised;
- demand from the Portuguese Government a clear inversion of its shameful policies of servility towards the USA and support of their war plans, namely through the yielding of facilities in Lages Base and the involvement of Portuguese troops in combat operations or logistic support to the military intervention;
- claim Portugal’s intervention in the international bodies aiming at the defence of peace and peaceful solution of the conflicts;
- express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and with all the peoples fighting for their liberation.

The US’ war plans are part of the capitalist strategy of unrestrained exploitation of the workers and peoples all over the world. So, the PCP National Meeting appeals to the Portuguese people, and particularly to the youth, to continue their courageous struggle against the violent attacks on their rights by the PSD/CDS-PP Government, to be mobilised against one more imperialist war and to embrace the struggle for peace as an inalienable patrimony of the workers in the whole world and of the Humanity.

Let us stop this war before it begins!

Long live the liberation struggle of the workers and peoples all over the world!

Long live solidarity with all struggling peoples!

(*) Adopted unanimously in the PCP’s National Meeting on the Party’s Action and Organisation in the enterprises and workplaces, held on October,
19-20, 2002)