CP of Turkey, Contribution to the Athens Meeting 21J2002

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMUNIST AND WORKERS PARTIES
ATHENS, JUNE 21-23, 2002

THE NEW SITUATION IN THE WORLD AFTER SEPTEMBER 11

PRESENTATION BY KEMAL OKUYAN
GENERAL SECRETARY of the CENTRAL COMMITTEE of
COMMUNIST PARTY of TURKEY (TKP)

I'm sure that the headline on one of the prominent daily
newspapers in my country on the 12th of September was
expressing exactly the same approach with some other
newspapers in different countries: �Nothing will be the
same!�

Communist Party of Turkey, just after the attacks in New
York, had to announce that �without any discussion on who
(and why) organised the attack, we should be very clear
that, the world is on the eve of a new wave of an
imperialist aggression.� �Nothing will be the same� was
the code coming from the imperialist policy makers to
prepare the mentality of big masses in each country for
this aggression.

This preparation was to create fear and astonishment
especially among the middle strata which makes the most
sensitive section of the population as long as the
so-called terrorism is concerned. It was to get approval
for reactionary policies based on military operations and
anti-democratic legal adjustments.

However, the main goal for the imperialists was to change
the basis or the theme of politics all over the world. This
was why Bush immideately declared that �be with us, or you
are our enemy�.

So they tried everything to persuade the people that
�nothing will be the same�. We have to accept that it
worked. Even among the progressive forces in different
countries one could easily see the drastic shift. The
concepts that are used in daily political life changed, the
slogans changed, the alliances changed, the attitude
towards racism changed...

The problem is, the character of imperialism is remaining
the same! Few has changed since the First World War or 1929
or 1933 or 1939 or the cold war period.

This reality did not help. Progressive forces did not or
could not resist the ideological initiative taken by the
imperialists to impose the idea that the world is
completely different after September 11.

This weakness on our side can clearly be seen when we
remember the main popular slogan that summarized the
attitude of the progressive movements. �No to war and
terrorism� was the wide spread answer of the left to U.S.
policies that can be identified or coded as �the war
against terrorism.�

Now we have to know that, this was a trap. The two terms
�war� and �terror� can be so concrete but at the same time
be so abstract. We are all struggling for peace, we are all
against armed conflicts, we are all engaged in anti-war
movements. However, when we say �we are against the war and
the terror�, this is something else. This is something that
can easily create an excuse for the imperialists in their
war plans. On the one hand there is terror and on the
other, war against it. Of course we all know that this is
not the reality.

Although so many months passed since the September 11
event, communists still have some time to change their
conceptual preferences. We all are against crimes such as
the attacks in New York, but we can use our own terms. In
this case, we can choose fundemantalism which also lacks to
cover all what we need but for sure it is much better than
to use the term �terrorism�. It is obvious that, �being
against terrorism� is playing too much with the psychology
of the middle classes who are against everything that
disturb their daily life. In fact these classes are the
main conservative social force in many cases.

The islamic fundemantalist organisations were always
suported by the United States and other imperialist
countries mainly Germany and France. They served the U.S.
plans against Soviet Union, against progressive forces in
many Middle East countries. The communists in Turkey
suffered alot from the counter-revolutionary character of
the fundemantalists which were side by side with the
fascists. Yes, it is true that now some of them turned
against or play to be against the U.S. interests. However
the key point is not whether they are really against U.S or
not. The key point is whether they express the interests of
the poor people, whether they have anything connected to
anti-imperialism.

There is no doubt that fundamentalists are far from being
an ally of the progressive forces. So we should be clever
enough to show the broad masses that there is nothing
common with the revolutionary forces struggling against
imperialism and the subversive activity of the
fundamentalists which we never know where they are financed
or controlled from exactly. But if we continue to use the
term �terrorism�, then we will help the imperialist
propaganda that creates a big illusion on this matter. How
can we still say that �we are against terrorism and war�,
when United States is financing the state terror and
illegal counter-revolutionary organisations in all
continents and blaiming the revolutionary movements as
being terrorists?

The same with the term �war�. Why don't we use the term
imperialism or imperialist war inorder to make clear that
we are not trying to be a judge or watching all these
sitting in the tribunes. No, we refuse that the working
classes are not involved in this conflict. We don't agree
with the idea that the communists are out of the game as
long as the September 11 event is concerned.

It realy is not a conflict between the terror and the war.
It is a terror and a war against the working classes,
against the progressive forces including the communists.
The Taleban gang was killing our comrades in Afghanistan
during the 80's and they were backed by United States,
Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. So that time it was our
struggle. Today it is also our struggle. A struggle against
U.S and E.U. imperialism. A struggle against
fundamentalism. A struggle against imperialist war plans. A
struggle in defence of socialist Cuba and Korea. A struggle
for peace and socialism.

What can we say about the near future of this struggle?

We have to decide. We have to decide whether we will
continue to try to response the initiatives taken by the
imperialists or try to do it our own way. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, we've exercised a period in
which the decisions were taken mainly by the big capital.
As I said before, they decided on the concepts that we
should use. Just for an example they created the term
globalisation instead of imperialism. They decided on the
means of our struggle. They insist that non-party
organisations or the so-called new social movements are
superior to the avangarde party and the traditional
trade-unions. They even decided on when and where the
conflicts between the working classes, the progressive
youth and the police or the security forces who are
representing the international capital should take place.
It is very important that thousands of people who are
against liberalism, who are against the rule of capital are
gathering in different parts of the world but it is also
important that the agenda or the calendar of the broad
masses are determined by the leadership in imperialist
organisations.

So let's try to impose our own way. It is true that, the
communists and the working classes are weak in many
countries but there is only a single way to challenge that
weakness: To try to be a decision maker, to try to be an
active actor as long as the class struggles are concerned.

The world is so dear for us to be abandoned to the
imperialists.