INTERNATIONAL CHANGES, THE RISE OF COMPETITION AND THE HORROR OF WAR
- The global structural crisis of 2008-09 highlighted the retreat of US capitalism and the countries of the "West" and caused a major change in the economic balances in the imperialist pyramid. Financially, a multipolar world has already been created, and the architecture of the international system is being violently transformed: readjustment of US foreign policy (AUKUS, NATO hardening, the “towing” of Europe), an emerging expansionism of China (in Africa, Asia) and the Russian-Chinese axis, creation and expansion of BRICS, the questioning the dollar prospective, rearrangements in the developing countries (e.g. expulsion of French army from old African colonies), coups aided by the US and general support to the far-right Bolsonaro & Millay for the retreat of the “pink tide” in Latin America, a new cycle of large-scale mobilizations. It is now evident that the antagonism between Euro-Atlantic imperialism and the Russian-Chinese axis is sharpening, highlighting many “hot” fronts internationally and making the possibility of war seem ever closer.
- The war in Ukraine is a historical milestone and a consequence of the above. It has ushered in a new period in which the possibility of multilateral military confrontations is brought to the fore, and nuclear annihilation is transformed from a deterrent to a real possibility. One side of these confrontations is expressed in the acute confrontations in the Middle East, on the ground of the unresolved Palestinian issue, which explodes under the brutal Israeli occupation in collaboration with Euro-Atlantic imperialism. For this, an anti-war movement is needed in our country and internationally, independent from all the great powers, states and capitalist classes, fighting against the imperialist wars and nationalisms of our time. Which will fight primarily for the defeat of US-NATO imperialism by the peoples, to the extent that we intervene in a NATO country. For international nuclear disarmament, for a mutual compromise and a just peace in a fully independent, neutral and anti-fascist Ukraine. For the immediate disengagement of Greece from all wars, the exit of the country from anti-Russian sanctions, the reactionary Israel-Egypt-Cyprus axis under the umbrella of the USA, NATO and foreign base agreements. For solidarity with the Palestinian people, the condemnation and isolation of Israel, its immediate withdrawal from Gaza and the lifting of the blockade. We stand with the Palestinian resistance in its struggle for an independent state, for freedom and justice. Without Israeli and Euro-Atlantic custody and discriminatory apartheid regimes, without settlements and the violation of fundamental human and democratic rights and freedoms.
- The strong attachment of Greek capital to the US–Israel–Egypt–Cyprus axis, the claim to a hegemonic role in the Balkans and the acute, unequal, but doubly reactionary, Greek-Turkish rivalry constitute equal dangers for the peoples. A struggle for friendship and peace with all peoples is required. With mutual respect for sovereignty and sovereign rights, on the basis of the positive acquis of international law reflected in a better international balance of power in the past. We stand in solidarity with the struggle for a united Cyprus in a free, single, democratic, independent state, without Turkish occupation, foreign bases and guarantor powers, with relations of friendship and cooperation between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots and equality of minorities.
- Today, we enter a “dark period” with an extremely reactionary turn in international developments, triggered by the election of D. Trump as President of the United States. This shift has its deepest causes in the structural economic deadlocks of modern capitalism and first of all in its metropolis, which fuel intra-imperialist contradictions. The US trade war is a manifestation of their weakness in productivity and profitability of the economy — hence in the dollar as well — which they attempt to compensate for with the superiority of their military. This shift does not remove, but rather brings the “globalization” of regional military confrontations and proxy wars closer, as well as the enormous danger of the use of nuclear weapons. Serious indications are the new flare-up of the war in Syria, the developing Maidan-type unrest in Georgia, the upgraded direct US threats against Iran. Through the customs war that Trump declares, there are sharpening contradictions both in the allied camp (see related pressure on Canada as in his first service) and with the BRICS, especially China. In this context, new flare-ups in the Far East should be expected. It is also necessary to underline the new tension in the strangulation of Cuba, Venezuela and any democratic tendency in Latin America, while Africa and especially the Sahel zone will not be left alone.
- Nor will the war in Ukraine lead to a just peace, as long as it is managed by the same powers that led to the war and not by the people. These forces are capable of organizing all kinds of provocations to impose their objectives, such as the use of ATACMS missiles, while Russia in response tests new super-weapons and upgrades its nuclear doctrine. What is apparent, however, is an intention on the part of the Trump presidency to close the Ukraine front with some compromise, recognizing the unfavorable reality for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. This will neither be immediate nor easy and certainly will not permanently avert the sources of tension in the region. It mainly indicates the US willingness to turn again to the main front in the East in preparation for the conflict with China, recognizing that both the war and the sanctions did not ultimately weaken Russia as initially estimated and that their economic and political costs are now excessive.
- The reactionary developments in Syria are of crucial importance. After a whole decade of civil war, sanctions, and imperialist interventions and rivalry, it took 11 dramatic days for Assad's government to fall and for Syria to fall into the hands of an alliance of reactionary Islamist groups, who were just a while ago considered as terrorists for the US and the EU, but are now being dubbed “rebels”, “revolutionaries” and “moderate Islamists”. These groups were trained, financed, led and continue to be led by US and NATO forces, with Turkey playing a key role. The victory of these groups has nothing to do with democracy, workers' needs, people's and women's rights, national self-determination, religious tolerance, equality, peace and progress in Syria, but constitutes a reactionary development for the Middle East as a whole. The fall of Assad is not from a progressive point of view, because those who come will bury the last remnants of the secular state and civil rights imposed by the Syrian popular and leftist movement that were left in that long-suffering country. Apart from the way in which the map of international imperialist confrontations in the region is being redrawn, the 11 days it took to bring down a regime that had endured a harsh 12 years of civil war and imperialist interventions, show us that when popular support is lost, no power can rely on foreign saviors. Moreover, he victory of the extreme jihadists in Syria is a reactionary development, because the genocidal, far-right government of Israel is being strengthened and allowed to “finish the job” in Palestine undisturbed. This is because the so-called “Axis of Resistance”, on which the struggle of the Palestinian people leaned on, out of necessity, has been broken in half. This bleak immediate prospect does not justify the celebrations for the fall of Assad by some progressive and leftist forces supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people, and even by forces within it. On the contrary, it requires us to understand that the greatest effort is needed at this moment to save the Palestinians from genocide, persecution and enslavement sought by the far-right Netanyahu government. Also, the turn of events has led to a regional upgrading of Turkish capitalism in the region. The dynamics of things lead to a direct “encounter” between Turkey and Israel on Syrian soil, which is very likely to cause great tensions in the future. While at the same time it pushes the neo-Ottoman aspirations of Turkish capital for the region even further. Settling these conflicts in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean will become increasingly difficult within NATO. The US-NATO propaganda speaks of an “inclusive governance” of Syria and the same promises are made by the new Damascus key holders. But we must not forget that similar “overthrows” in Yugoslavia, Libya and Iraq led to the formal or actual dissolution of these countries as single entities and their fragmentation for the benefit of the Western imperialist powers. It is a question of how the ruling Islamists will manage the relations between the various religious sects, the relations between their competing patrons such as Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Most of all, the big question is how they manage their relations with the Kurds who are already facing major attacks from the Turks and their allies in the region. The Kurdish Left choice of alliance with the US, the most reactionary and opportunist power on the planet, is a disastrous choice for the rights of the Kurdish people and risks being paid for in the near future with much blood. Russia and Iran, to varying degrees, are retreating in this chess game of regional contradictions. These two states, serving their own interests, have supported Assad during the domestic conflict financially and militarily throughout the past decade. But the labor and communist movement, the Left in NATO countries must never forget, first and foremost, the crimes of their own camp. NATO, the Americans and Israel have repeatedly bombed Syria, destroyed it economically with sanctions (its GDP has fallen ten times since 2011), stolen its oil and pushed it to become a “drug economy” of the region in recent years. They funded and supported the grim international of Jihadism and ISIS. But this duty should not make us lose sight of the second lesson from the developments in Syria: Peoples must and should make use of the contradictions between the capitalist and imperialist camps, but they must always rely on their own strengths. The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily a friend. The liberation of the peoples will be the work of the peoples themselves, otherwise it will not exist.
- These developments bring even more into focus the global “war preparations” that are underway. In the days when the situation in Syria was changing, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on all European countries to make immediate war preparations by increasing military budgets. It is clear that the intensification of intra-capitalist and intra-imperialist conflicts will bring even greater threats and dangers for the peoples. The peoples, the workers' - people's movement and the Left must intensify their own united movements to put a brake on the global threats to peace. With a mass anti-war movement against the imperialist powers and their governments. With practical solidarity with the affected and struggling peoples. Against all involvement and participation in imperialist wars and interventions. With the world of exploited labor, for peace, against war and capitalism, for the defeat of US–NATO imperialism by the independent action of the peoples. Popular anti-war sentiments exist. But these, so far, are not adequately represented by the Left, they are rather exploited even by far-right currents. From this point of view, we need to sound a warning bell about the great lag in the development of a mass anti-war movement, especially in our country. Certainly, the above is related to the continuing inability to reverse the defeat, especially in our country, despite some significant countervailing signs. However, it is necessary to understand that the development of a modern, anti-imperialist antiwar movement is the way to and, perhaps, a precondition for the reversal of the defeat and for a new upward course of the workers’, people’s movement and the struggling, anti-capitalist and communist Left. Initiatives are needed with the two-point slogan, “with the world of exploited labor for peace against war and capitalism — defeat of US-NATO imperialism by the independent action of the peoples”. We insist that the mass anti-war struggle demands the independence of the movement and the Left from the bourgeois camps involved, without this meaning, in general and abstract terms, equal distances from the warring sides, since our country is, in fact, a warring party on the side of the Euro-NATO camp. We propose the united struggle for an independent, anti-NATO and anti-government anti-war movement with the following basic axes: First, an immediate halt to all wars and a return to diplomatic negotiations. Second, a neutral, demilitarized, denuclearized Ukraine and, correspondingly, a zone of countries in Europe, between Russia and NATO. Third, the launch of an international process of complete destruction and prohibition of all nuclear weapons. Fourth, an immediate reduction in military armaments and an increase in social spending. Fifth, immediate disengagement of Greece from the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. Sixth, severing diplomatic and economic relations with Israel and recognition of the State of Palestine. Seventh, friendship and cooperation of the peoples of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and the Balkans against the bourgeois antagonisms and the US-NATO domination of our region. Eighth, closure of all foreign bases, indiscipline, rupture and exit from NATO for an independent foreign policy of peace and friendship. With these axes, we call on all the forces and people of the fighting Left to contribute together to the formation of the anti-war movement regardless of our other differences.
