Palestinian Communist Party
by M. Alqam

Unity in the struggle of the peoples

Comrades, allow me, on behalf of all members of the
Palestinian Communist Party, to thank the comrades of the
CPG for organising and hosting this important meeting,
which is being held in a period of difficult conditions for
national liberation movements, for the world more
generally, and for the communist movement internationally
in particular.

The associations of the monopoly capitalist countries led
by the USA, which carries the banner of globalisation, the
boards of the multinational corporations, and the World
Trade Organisation headed by the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank, have all just about finished
shaping the world economic system and subjugating the
developing countries and the peoples of the Third World to
their full domination.

Contributing to this process were the lies about the end of
the age of ideology, the so-called end of History, as well
as the questions about the correctness of the people's
choices and the value of their tradition, and the efforts
to influence the behaviour of the young people by isolating
them and distancing them from the issues that affect them.

Nature, the environment, the working class, the masses, and
women and children all over the world, even within the
imperialist world, are the direct victims of the free
market which is being imposed by the forces of
globalisation.

The new shape of the world and the great speed at which the
train of globalisation is moving were observed in the
1980s, and spread after the dissolution of the socialist
bloc.

But even more provocative was the intervention of the
international capitalist organisations, such as the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which
promoted capitalism as an alternative for the developing
countries. Devastating economic reform programmes were
drawn up which, wherever they were implemented, have left
behind poverty and class polarisation.

Also, the nasty word "privatisation" is what is circulating
in the ranks of the capitalist forces, the results of which
can now be seen plainly with the privatisations in
significant sectors such as energy, communications, and
major military industries. All these corrective programmes
have caused millions of working people to be sacked,
resulting in increased poverty and epidemics and deepening
class and social differences.

Austerity programmes place a heavy social burden on
low-wage workers, protect high-salaried employees and big
investors and limit the state's role in social and economic
life, thus opening the door to foreign products and
investors. This caused economic decline and poverty in a
number of countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand,
South Korea, Mexico and others.

Comrades, addressing the challenges of the globalisation
phenomenon is an urgent need for humanity. US domination
must be dealt with in a dynamic way, and these tasks demand
of us communists that we establish a strong, united front
against world imperialism. Real bridges must be created for
a strong alliance of all communist parties whose basic
principles are Marxist-Leninist theory.

The power of imperialism can be stopped only by a
comparable force which is the power of the peoples through
the various organisations, political, labour, youth and
women's. That is, the globalisation of the struggle against
imperialism, or the globalisation of solidarity among the
peoples. It is a long militant struggle, but we communists
are equal to this struggle. The victories have already
started appearing on the horizon, challenging world
imperialism, such as those in Seattle, Davos, Washington
and Toronto, Canada.

The only way for the developing countries to get out from
under the domination of world capitalism and to escape from
the gigantic monopoly corporations is for them to take the
reins into their own hands, to emerge from captivity by
following a planned independent, social and economic
policy, through a government programme which covers all the
needs of the lower strata, protecting our markets, so that
they may become more competitive.

We must also invest in other sectors such as agriculture,
health, education, social security and the rebuilding of
the national economy, based on the principle of
accumulating national capital, so as to achieve social
justice. Thus, we are required to chart a successful
strategy which can be briefly summarized as follows:

1. Creating stable global centres and coordinating
exchanges, such as:
a. The exchange of militant experiences by the mass
movements and above all the experience of the communist
parties.
b. An on-going struggle to reveal the unfair and coercive
treatment of the peoples.
c. Revealing those parties and organistions which have
abandoned Marxist-Leninist theory in exchange for their
receiving funding from world capitalism.

2. Creating special political, social and economic
committees to find solutions and programmes that will lead
to a way out of the economic crisis.

3. Periodical meetings between revolutionary movements in
all sectors.

4. Coordinating actions with non-aligned committees for
human rights and environmental movements and disseminating
the experiences that result.

5. Coordination with the national centres and regional
alliances, such as the Organisation of Islamic Countries,
the Arab League, the League of Latin American Countries,
etc.

Comrades, our appeal stems from the spirit of continuing to
build a bold, strong mass movement against political,
economic, social and capitalist machineries.

Let our slogan be: unity in the struggle of the peoples,
against savage global capitalism.

Thank you very much.