The Portuguese Communist Party’ Press Office
The Working Group (WG) of the International Meetings of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP) held in Lisbon, on September 10th and on the occasion of the 36th edition of the “Avante!” Festival, a preparatory meeting of the 14th IMCWP. The 14th IMCWP will be held in Beirut, Lebanon, from November 23 to 25, 2012, hosted by the Lebanese Communist Party, with the theme “Strengthen the struggles against escalating imperialist aggressiveness, for satisfying peoples’ socio-economic-democratic rights and aspirations, for socialism”.
This WG meeting – which was hosted by the Portuguese Communist Party – was attended by all the member Parties of the Working Group and by other Parties which, despite not being members of the WG, take part in the IMCWP process.
The Working Group assessed various aspects related to the preparation of the 14th International Meeting and stressed its importance in a situation where the peoples face a powerful and multi-faceted imperialist offensive.
Solidarity was expressed in the Meeting with the peoples, namely of the Middle East, that are the target of the interventionism of imperialism and its structures of coordination – such as NATO – which seeks, by fomenting tensions, by instrumentalizing and perverting just demands and through interference, destabilization, terrorism and war, to preserve and increase its domination over natural resources, markets and geo-strategic positions. The participants underlined the risks of this imperialist strategy, which can have unpredictable consequences on the regional and international level. Reiterating the peoples' right to organise themselves, to defend their rights, and to choose and define their future, the participants call upon the workers and peoples of the World to mobilize and struggle for peace in the Middle East, against imperialist threats and aggressions - namely those against Syria, Lebanon or Iran - and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In the framework of capitalism's deep crisis and of the system's increasingly acute contradictions the solidarity with those peoples was reaffirmed , namely in the European continent, that are the victims of a far-reaching offensive which, emanating from the European Union, seeks to increase exploitation; to destroy the working class` and people's socio-economic and democratic rights that were won through decades of struggle; to impose an even greater degree of concentration and centralization of wealth, namely by the supranational imposition of relations of economic and political domination at the service of big capital, and which run counter to the sovereign right of the peoples to economic and social development.
In the context of imperialism's force-based response – which is in itself an expression of the depth of the capitalist crisis and of the system's decadence – the importance of the organized struggle of the workers against the measures and policies assumed both by right-wing and social democracy was underscored. The class trade union movement was hailed for its key role in informing, organizing and mobilizing the working masses for powerful actions of struggle, strikes and demonstrations in defense of wages, of social rights and against unemployment, as well as for its determination in rejecting the manouvers and traps of the so called “social partnership”.
The solidarity was reaffirmed in the meeting with the ongoing processes of struggle in various continents, such as in Latin America, against imperialism's aggressions and for peace; in defence of sovereignty; for the right to development and for the reinforcement of national and regional integration processes that meet peoples' interests and can contribute to build alternatives to imperialism's hegemonic domination.
In an international context that is marked by instability and by changes with a true geo-strategic impact, in a situation where grave dangers coexist with real potential for progressive and even revolutionary developments, it was reaffirmed that, by strengthening the struggles for peoples' and workers' aspirations and rights it is possible to make imperialism retreat, to win achievements with an anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist direction and, with the involvement and creative participation of the working and popular masses, to advance towards socialism
