August 6 and 9, 1945, when the United States launched the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagazaki, causing the death and the most horrific suffering of hundreds of thousands of human beings, wiping out these two Japanese cities, went into history as a symbol of a heinous crime that cannot go forgotten. The memory of such great crimes and the current international situation call on the forces of peace and social progress to denounce all attempts to rewrite history and justify such an ignoble act – whose only aim was to affirm US power- and to intensify the alerts and the struggle so that such a crime will never again be repeated.
In marking this tragic event, the PCP, fulfilling a duty of remembrance of the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear holocaust, aims above all to alert the workers, the youth and the Portuguese people to the importance of the struggle for peace and cooperation; against militarism and war; for disarmament, to begin with the nuclear disarmament; compliance with the Charter of the United Nations and International Law, and respect for the rights of peoples, namely the right to self-determination and sovereignty.
The PCP points out that, seventy years later, the danger of a nuclear holocaust has not only not disappeared, but has grown dangerously after the disappearance of the Soviet Union and its policy of peace and disarmament. The intensification of the aggressive policy and interference of NATO and its powers, especially the USA; the increase in the arms race and the enhancement of nuclear arsenals; the strengthening of the Japanese-American military alliance; the installation of anti-missile systems on the borders of the People's Republic of China; the expansion of NATO to the East and the increasing policy of confrontation with the Russian Federation; the adoption of military doctrines, notably by the USA, which openly advocate a "preventive" use of nuclear weapons, are aspects that, together with the instability and aggressive wars of imperialism, are contributing to an increase in the danger of new tragedies like the one that is being marked today.
It would be irresponsible to ignore this reality because it threatens entire peoples and Humanity itself.
To counter and reverse such a dangerous trend, the PCP believes that it is necessary to firmly face imperialism's exploitative, oppressive, predatory and aggressive policy, and first of all the aggressive strategy of the United States and the great powers of the European Union which, under the pretext of a threat on their "security" and their "vital interests," and hypocritically invoking the defense of "democracy and human rights" or the "war on terrorism", intensify policies of interference, destabilization and direct military aggression throughout the world. Militarism is boosted, spending on arms is increased, military bases abroad multiply.
The response to the migration problems created by wars of imperialism, neocolonialism and underdevelopment - and which have turned the Mediterranean into a huge cemetery - is increasingly a militarized and repressive response, itself a libelous accusation of the objectives and nature of NATO’s and the European Union’s policy.
Faced with the deepening of the structural crisis of capitalism, the relative decline of the hegemony of US imperialism and its allies in the world, and the sharpening of the contradictions of the system, the more reactionary and aggressive sectors of big business are increasingly banking on fascism and war as a "way out" for its insurmountable contradictions, resorting more and more dangerously to manoeuvers of destabilization, terrorism and also to nuclear blackmail.
The struggle to prevent the repetition of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki holocaust, the struggle for nuclear disarmament and peace, is inseparable from the struggle against imperialist interferences and aggressions that have caused so much destruction and suffering in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria or Yemen. It means ending the US blockade against Cuba. It means the end of manoeuvers and campaigns of destabilization, or, in the language already known from other occasions of recent history, operations of "regime change", as is happening in Venezuela, to try to liquidate the process of progress and Bolivarian sovereignty. The roads to peace are based on a peaceful solution of conflicts, on international dialogue that respects the equality and sovereignty of States and the rights of the peoples. It means ending the threats and sanctions against countries like Iran or DPR Korea.
The PCP reaffirms its stand of defending denuclearization and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The insatiable greed of large multinationals to seize the riches and markets of the entire planet and the escalation of tension and military confrontation in various parts of the world can lead to severe uncontrolled and tragic developments. The peoples and all those who are faced today with new lies and propaganda manoeuvers should reflect on the lessons that Hiroshima and Nagasaki teach us. Today, when we see a new offensive led by the US administration headed by Trump against several countries, we must remember this and other events that prove the real aims of those who, in the name of democracy, pursue the establishment of dictatorships or the destruction of countries.
In this sense, the PCP follows with concern the policy of a continuing submission of the Portuguese Government to the policies of NATO and the EU which, among other things, has recently been expressed in Portugal's growing involvement in imperialism’s military operations or in the stand regarding Venezuela,against the interests of the Portuguese community and the necessary re-establishment of the conditions of political stability in that country.
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, portraying the liberating values of April, states in its article 7 that "Portugal advocates the abolition of imperialism, colonialism and all other forms of aggression, domination and exploitation in the relations between peoples, as well as simultaneous and controlled general disarmament, the dissolution of the political-military blocs and the setting up of a collective security system with a view to the creation of an international order with the ability to ensure peace and justice in the relations between peoples”.
It is the duty of the Portuguese State and of the government to break with the policy of submission to imperialism that jeopardises national sovereignty. The defence of national interests requires the adoption of a foreign policy of patriotic pride and national independence, based on the principles of equality, reciprocity of advantages, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs, that fights for an end to the arms race, for disarmament and in the first place nuclear disarmament, for peace, friendship and cooperation among peoples.
Remembering the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the PCP revisits the past but looks with confidence to the present and to the future of the emancipating struggle of the Portuguese people and the struggle of workers and peoples around the world.
Alerting to the dangers that the worsening of the international situation entails, the PCP expresses its confidence that war is not inevitable and that the organised and determined struggle of the forces of peace and progress of the whole world will impose disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
