Party of the Italian Communists

The current economic crisis, that has been deeply affecting the main worldly capitalist economies since months, manifests itself both as systemic and of the international, system.

The reorganization of the world financial system is indeed not the only element put at stake: at risk is also a development that today must come to terms with new and big socio-economic protagonists as China, India and Brazil.

This crisis can be both a chance for the communist organizations and the other progressive forces but, at the same time, a huge danger for its anti-democratic consequences.

And this is also true for those European countries in which the rights and conquests obtained decades ago, which seemed to be achieved once and forever, are now under siege, this is especially true for those nations that seemed safe from authoritarian drifts.

International capitalism is straggling to survive; and if it has been reorganizing itself by letting pay for its crisis as usual those poor peoples, exploited already by an uneven development, it has also another ambitious aim: to redraw the borders and renegotiate the rules in order to question all the rights acquired through the straggles led in the Sixties and Seventies by the working class.

Imperialism shows its face: labour must twist into a sort of neo-slavery, the worker must be totally obedient to the desires of the master.

All the measures undertaken by Europe and the United States to stop migrations follow this direction.

Migrants are welcomed only if their labour can be translated into surplus value, and this is also the reason why labour must be completely deregulated: to allow a new slavery.

It is also in the attempt of opposing left wing forces and denying them their visibility that rules are redrawn. It has been ages since in Italy different electoral laws have been changed in order to prevent communists and the left forces to have an institutional representation.

I want to make this clear: to sit in parliament mustn't be the end of our political action, but a way to obtain that necessary visibility to give representation to the claims of the labour and of the education system, two fields nowadays neglected by the Italian government policies.

But there is another aspect I want to consider, that is included in the reorganization of capital: the geopolitical strategies.

Capitalism is aimed to the exploitation of armed conflicts as means to fall apart and overcome peoples all over the world.

This is especially true in the African continent. For ages, Africa has been indeed despoiled of its raw materials and wealth by an aggressive capitalism that has chronologically and concretely extended colonialism through regional micro-conflicts.

The same strategy has been applied by capitalism in other geographical areas, and in this sense I just mention the military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, assaults intended to cut into pieces those national states and their peoples.

The zionist occupation of Palestine is another example of neo-colonialism: and since I find myself speaking in South Africa, I cannot ignore how much important is to resist this occupation by boycotting culturally and economically the state of Israel, since the same straggle has been incisive and successful to fight against the awful and unjust policy of apartheid.

To boycott means to hit capitalism at its heart: the world marketplace.

This scenario gives the communists a great responsibility, that is, to combine the conflict between labour and capital in new, modern forms, and to make these forms clear for our people.

In this, we have got some important examples: the recent wave of social conflicts in Greece, in which comrades of KKE led impressive demonstrations. At the same time, we must struggle to strengthen those experiences that, in Latin America especially, have been giving support to the worldly progressive movement. Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil are useful not only for the future of South America, but for the whole world too.

I want finally to say that we are facing an important challenge, since our enemies are strong and willing to do anything.

But it is a challenge we must accept: we cannot and will not stand back.

To turn our face away today, not to oppose these injustices or not to fight against imperialism would mean to betray the expectations a lot of women and men are raising: we would never be excused for this treachery.