CP of Finland, Contribution to the Athens Meeting 21J2002
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From: Communist Party of Finland, Wed, 26 June 2002
http://www.skp.fi , mailto:skp@skp.fi
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Terttu Ahokas
Member of the Political Committee of CC
of the Communist Party of Finland
Athens June 21-23 2002

The World After September 11

The most reactionary imperialists have always used various
means to secure their power. Their methods have ranged from
persuasion to blatant use of violence. Right-wing forces
have also often managed to utilize random factors and
various extremists, among others, to promote the
reactionary aims of high finance.

The tragic events of September 11 provided a suitable
justification for the aims of the US leadership to
strengthen their position in the Caspian Sea region. This
encompasses both the lucrative oil and gas resources of the
region and its strategic significance. New US bases there
and military training provided for their troops and as well
as to some terrorist groups are all evidence of these
objectives. The US administration had held talks with the
Taliban government prior to this regarding the securing of
monopolies in oil and gas industries, but with no results.

The world after September 11 is an imperialistic world, and
above all a world dominated by US ambitions for hegemony. A
world where real Socialism has more or less become extinct,
a world where history is re-written by winners, and where
supranational capitalists dictate their will to the people
through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the WTO. The reactionary circles of high finance
are well represented in the media and science and use this
to suppress the dissident and counter forces.

NATO, which is the weapon used by the USA and its allies in
the battle against the so-called terrorism and `terror
states', is a key player in suppressing the growing
international resistance. America plays the leading role
with aspirations on world supremacy, both naval and air
supremacy, and domination on land, in space and in the
media (Full Spectrum Dominance). The USA is fighting a war
on terrorism with the principal: you are either �with us or
against us� (�with civilization or with terrorism�). This
ultimatum extends to everyone, even an unallied nation like
Finland. The USA has taken the liberty to use its own
judgement on where and how terrorism is combated and has
thus overridden both the UN resolutions and principles of
international justice. America has enlisted the troops of
the Department of the Interior to root out domestic
terrorism and taken steps to tighten the immigration
controls.

The USA has drawn The European Union and Russia into this
so called war on terrorism, too. The democracy deficient EU
has approved the so called terrorism laws, which are vague
in their definitions and can, if necessary, also be applied
to civil activism and the international co-operation of
civic organisations. Prior to this we have already seen
police violence and provocation during international
globalisation-critical demonstrations both in Europe and in
America. A list of terrorist organisations has been put
together in the EU with nominations made by member states
and a member wannabe Turkey.

Russia is sharing its experiences in Chechnya to be applied
to the battle against terrorism. Representatives from the
CIS, the EU, NATO, certain Asian countries, the CIA, the
FBI and the English M5 recently met in St Petersburg to
discuss the co-operation in action against terrorism.
Russia is again contemplating a draft law banning so called
extremist activities. The vague definitions in this law of
extremist activities can be applied high-handedly to
attempts on changing the existing circumstances.
Regulations against changing the current social
circumstances have been developed in the EU based on the
treaty signed in Nice.

War on terrorism is being fought in the name of defending
�common Western values� and it is being supported by
anti-terrorism laws recently passed in the EU.
Intelligence activities linked to the Schengen Convention
are also being planned in the depths of the EU to establish
a worldwide data bank of expressions of opinion. This would
enable the gathering of information on �suspected�
demonstrators who could then be prohibited from entering a
country. A Schengen data bank has been in operation since
1995, where information on EU citizens is stored including
details of taxation, their beliefs, their way of life and
their circle of friends and acquaintances. This is �war�
against the member states' own citizens.

Militarism and the widening interpretation of terrorism is
a dangerous combination that can also be aimed at current
democratic rights in a Europe where intolerance and
anti-foreigner attitudes are gaining power.

Dear comrades

Preparations are being made for Finland to join NATO
although officially the Finnish government states that our
nation is non-aligned under the current circumstances. The
major problem among those for NATO membership is the fact
that nearly 80 per cent of the population is against Nato
membership.

The common anti-NATO attitude in Finland is the reason the
government parties are striving to advance NATO membership
without open discussion. With this agenda in mind the
government parties from Conservatives to Social Democrats
and the Left Alliance are united in a decision to consider
the possible membership after the parliamentary elections
held at the beginning of next year, in the report on
security policy to be prepared in 2004. Opposition
representatives from the Centre Party and the Greens have
also been invited to participate in preparing the report.

When the Baltic states join NATO, the possible membership
of Finland would finalise the re-mapping of the northern
parts of NATO. The long border Finland shares with Russia
would also become the border between NATO and Russia. NATO
has already taken steps within its so called Partnership
for Peace programme to inspect Finnish airports, seaports
and railways regarding readiness to receive and transport
NATO troops. The Finnish Parliament, including even the
members of the Left Alliance and the Green League has
unanimously approved a defence report which includes the
most extensive rearmament programme in Finland since the
second world war in order to bring Finland to level
required by NATO.

The Communist Party of Finland stresses that Finland must
stay out of Nato. In today's world military non-aligned
conciliators and peace mediators are needed. We are also
against the military integration of the EU.

The crisis management of the European Union has become a
way to bring even militarily unallied countries into the
growingly close co-operation between the EU and NATO. As
the Swedish peace analyst Jan �berg has said, the security
model of the EU allows numerous co-operative agencies and
occasional coalitions in the name of reinforcing crisis
management and military capacity. Thus countries like
Finland that are outside NATO are participating in
operations led by NATO and countries outside the EU in
operations led by the EU. There is another military
function which exceeds civilian crisis management that
contributes to Finland having military operations abroad.
Finland is involved in creating an army for the EU. The
member states have promised to allocate 60 000 soldiers at
a time to the European army. In practice maintaining the
military capacity all year round would thus mean a reserve
of 200 000 soldiers.

Crisis management has been declared the main task of the
European army. This can, according to the treaty signed in
Amsterdam, involve peace coercion, and may in reality
involve warlike activities. The military capacity of the
European army relies heavily on NATO and its military
organisations. NATO on its side has confirmed its
intentions to extend its military activities way beyond its
geographical area, and, should it so wish, to act even
without a mandate from the UN.

These operations, which boost militarism and are very
expensive, are being prepared at a time when concepts of
war and peace are blurred. Now after the war in Yugoslavia
there is more and more talk about the grey area between war
and peace. There is also talk about the so called fourth
generation warfare, where the media and the electronic
communication play an ever bigger role.

The Finnish analyst Markku Koivusalo has presented an angle
to this. Using the war in Afghanistan as an example he has
said: �Global battle for control requires a new micro level
of warfare to be developed and a new direction in military
strategy and technique. Although the attack on Afghanistan
commenced with heavy bombardment, it is now time to send in
the electronic strike-force, the i-warriors, for precision
attacks. Developing electronic warfare and special forces
has been part of the Pentagon RMA (Revolution in Military
Affairs) programme, but war on terrorism means a clear step
form mass weapons to precision control and smart-weapons,
from quantitative methods to individual qualitative war. In
other words the Bush administration was keen to return to
the macro strategy of a �big� enemy, but the new enemy
calls for a shift from localised macro war to delocalised
and global micro war. It also means a strategic and
technical merger of the police and military forces and a
new inability to separate the two. Global war on terrorism
as a field covers the entire planet but at the same time is
delocalised both in terms of time and space. It is a war
that has no end and no beginning, no clear place and not
even a clear enemy. Same as the Cold war it mixes the time
of peace and war, it knows no separate battlefield, nor a
time of war that is distinguishable from peace. It is
infinite war in the name of infinite justice, which seems
to be confused with the idea of infinite control.�

Dear comrades

The Finnish government which includes representatives of
the right-wing as well as the Social Democrats and the Left
Alliance is unanimously following a neo-liberalist policy
designed to protect their own interests. Resistance to the
neo-liberalist policy has grown into a mass movement in
Finland, too. The peace movement has organised the largest
demonstrations in over a decade. The privatisation and the
cutting-down of the welfare state implemented by the
government have caused civic movements which are fighting
to keep their local health centres, libraries and day-care
centres. Broad-based campaigns include the Critical Trade
Union Forum, "Pro Municipal Services" initiated by the
public sector trade union movement, environmental movements
and "Pro Democracy" movement of the people concerned about
decreased democracy. There have been massive demonstrations
against building another nuclear power plant. Last spring,
in connection with the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre,
The Finnish Social Forum was arranged. At the moment
preparations are on the way for local social forums, the
second Finnish Social Forum and the European Social Forum.

Communists are participates in these activities and insist
that the international and the domestic be combined.
Opposition is also made stronger by reinforcing the peace
movement and radicalising the trade union movement. This is
where the Finnish Communist Party plays an important role
in initiating and bringing together activities.

Dear comrades

In order to ensure the international co-operation of
communists it is essential to create a plan of action under
the new circumstances marked by the ever-stronger US
hegemony in the international community on the one hand,
and the growing need to restrict it and the supremacy of
supranational corporations on the other, and to increase
democracy.

The second demand is co-operation of the counter force of
neo-liberalism and capitalist globalisation. Building this
co-operation, developing it and defending it against any
sabotage attempts provides a challenge to communists.

The third current challenge is strengthening human values
and concepts of civilisation under circumstances where
reactionary forces stir up cultural juxtaposition and
racism.

There are differences in the way many questions about
defining our times are posed among the different political
trends. For instance, what is globalisation, what is the
future of the national state, what is democracy and what is
progress? Our own classics, critics of capitalism and
revolutionary fighters Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels,
Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci and many
more, have in their time been faced with these questions
and have had to define their points of view. That new form
and the new phenomena, where these matters, contradictions
and forces of change come before us, are what we now have
to work out.

- It is due to the conditions set by capitalist
exploitation that present day drudges remain so downtrodden
by deprivation and destitution that they �are not moved by
democracy�, they �are not interested in politics�. And that
while normal life goes on undisturbed the majority of the
population have been excluded from the society and
politics, as Lenin wrote in his book The State and
Revolution. We also know that increased pressures at the
workplace, longer working hours and unemployment prevent
people form participating in societal activities. A new
phenomenon in this progress of social discrimination in
Finland is a situation where the eight-hour working day has
in reality been done away with especially in the highly
technical it-field and where a large part of the workforce
is effected by short-term contracts. This is especially
true for women. It is no small matter either that the trade
unions with the highest membership figures are for the most
part withdrawn from the social struggle while they are busy
supporting the neo-liberalist politics of the government.

Dear comrades

Finnish women were given civil rights and the right to vote
as a result of a struggle by the workers movement way back
at the beginning of the last century. EU membership and
right-wing government politics have, however, weakened the
position of women in the Finnish society. Women's wages are
still only 80 per cent of the wages of men doing the same
work. Sexism linked to the culture of violence is
coarsening manners and as a result especially women and
girls suffer.

Women are active in numerous civic organisations and strive
to bring equality to social decision-making. A national
committee was founded in Finland recently to promote and
support the next UN Women's Conference in 2005. In
preparation for the parliamentary elections in 2003 a
�that's enough!� cross-political taskforce was created to
oblige women candidates in the elections to commit to
concrete measures for promoting equality. A programme
striving for change is currently running, which defines the
effects of legislation and decision-making on both sexes.

Many issues concerning the status of women and families are
societal and social by nature and are thus directly related
to political work carried out by parties. In addition to
this it is necessary to introduce the female specific to
the discussion. Again in this matter the co-operation and
exchange of experiences within the international communist
movement are political and weighty questions.

Dear comrades

Under the cover of war on terrorism the bourgeois are
currently pursuing global power terrorism, and they are not
afraid of using any means available, even fascist ones. The
international counter force still has a chance, though,
before the plans are finalised, decisions made, laws
passed, prisons built and the rearmament complete, to
change the course of this lethal progress. We must grasp
this chance together with all of those who put their trust
in the hope that a different, just, democratic and peaceful
world is possible.