CP of Norway, Contribution to the Athens Meeting 21J2002

* by Tarald B. Ellingsen

Dear Comrades,

First of all I would like to thank KKE, on behalf of the
Central Committee of Communist Party in Norway. Communist
Party of Greece has - once again - taken the initiative and
facilitated for the communist and workers' parties of the
world to exchange views and discuss the most important
developments in present time.

Common understanding is the basis for common action, and we
the communist militants have a lot to gain from being more
efficient in our work.

We think that in the era of Imperialism, and especially now
in the world hegemony of US-imperialism, terrorism is the
order of the day. If is not, as some corporate media
portray it, a totally new phenomenon which occurred on
September 11th last year in the USA.

If the definition of terrorism covers conscious killing of
innocent people, then the present world system of markets
dictates by the monopolies which every year kill tens of
millions of children, are just that: incarnation of terror.

On the other hand, there are the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, US-imperialism wars against Korea, Vietnam and
many more. And now the latest against Iraq, Yugoslavia and
Afghanistan provide a lot of evidence of who is using
terror-methods in warfare most systematically.

So, the question of the day for us, the communists, is
still how to fight back against Imperialism with all its
terrors and overcome capitalism.

This does not mean that the consequences of the fact that
buildings in USA were hit by some well organised force on
September 11th, should be understand - Absolutely not.

Broadening of conflicts

What happened on September 11th has broadened all existing
conflicts that are part of the capitalist economic system.
First of all it has been used as argument for transferring
resources from workers to the military industrial complex,
most especially in the USA.

It has been used as a pretext for putting pressure on
socialist and progressive countries. There is a constant
danger of war, and it increases when the imperialist
themselves get too many problems to handle. In the West it
is us, the revolutionaries, and the movement who oppose
imperialistic globalisation who get targeted with so called
�anti-terror laws� that really aim to criminalise
resistance to their profit making policies at the cost of
the majority.

Because the growing resistance is the imperialists main
problem. The resistance of the workers who get sacked or
have their working conditions and salaries targeted. The
resistance of youth who do not see any future in a system
only benefiting the already benefited. The resistance of
fact itself, as numerous scientists and environmentalists
not under the control of the monopolies present clear
evidence that the present development consists of a series
of negative factors. Now mainly negative for the workers
and oppressed, but in the end negative for all people and
all life.

In Norway we are, until now, lucky to be formally out of
the European Union, but still of course this main
instrument of imperialism in the European region affects
our lives very much. The anti-terror laws that now are
being prepared in Norway, come more or less directly from
EU.

As stated by communist parties in our Nordic region lately:
it is through EU that the imperialistic globalisation
process is forced upon Europe. The principles on which EU
has been built, are the model for NAFTA and the later Free
Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). We bind ourselves
to fight for keeping Norway out of the EU and at the same
time cancel the European Economic Agreement (EEA), as well
as supporting Denmark, Finland and Sweden resigning from
the EU membership.

We think that it is necessary to fight the process of
establishing an EU Charter with all the negative
developments that will come from the imperialistic
rivalries of the three main centers of monopolistic
capital: USA, EU and Japan.

Communist Party of Norway strongly supports regional
co-ordination and strategies against imperialist, and think
it is necessary to further develop such methods and tools
among ourselves. This might also be helpful in achieving
more common and co-ordination at the world level.

Now, in this situation when the imperialists have increased
their attacks and in a more ideological form, our struggle
has to be more ideological too.[We think that the political
and ideological forms of class struggle must be given
priority. It demands that we, the communists, prepare and
develop our ideological analysis to better inject it in the
anti-imperialistic movement.[With jointed forces, if we the
communists can produce action and useful materials
together, it will be easier to achieve this aim.

Imperialism today is more violent and attack rights that
have been taken for granted for instance: the right to
demonstrate, the right to organise meetings, parties and
organisations.

A fresh example can be given from Oslo where the World Bank
will hold its annual ABCDE- Conference. During this, on
Monday June 24th, different progressive forces have
prepared demonstration to be held against the general
policies of the World Bank. The inner city has been locked,
car-parking has been restricted, and collective with busses
and metro has been stopped. - The pretext used by ht
Norwegian authorities for this, is �hindering terrorism�.

During the latest three years Norway has been in two wars
of imperialism, against Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. The
NATO war was formally led by Javier Solana as General
Secretary, - he is now the Foreign secretary of the
European Union. US-and EU - imperialism had more of less
common interest in breaking down barriers of their
expansion, but the imperialists interests are very opposite
when it comes to who is getting control over resources
manpower and markets.

It is probably not because imperialistic Europe has �better
values� to offer to the world, but just because of their
own ambitions that they now take a somewhat different
position towards Palestine, Colombia, �The axis of Evil�
and other areas that the US - imperialism gives priority
to.

People are tired of wars and insecurity all over the world.
We have a long way to go but should know what we are aiming
at. The time is right for more common taken action by the
communists. The time is right for making the imperialist
shiver more!