Athens Meeting 8-10 October 2004, Contribution of CP of
Ireland
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From: SolidNet, Saturday, October 02, 2004
http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie ,
mailto:cpoi@eircom.net
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Communist Party of Ireland

Resistance to Imperialist Aggressiveness, Fronts of
Struggle and Alternatives
Sean Edwards.

Comrades, the Greek Communist Party has once again provided
a forum for the discussion of the urgent problems facing
our movement. They demonstrate once again the true
internationalist spirit which animates their party. I wish
to thank them for their work in organizing this conference
and for their great hospitality.

This is a time of great stress, of great danger and of
terrible suffering. It is also a time of hope, for
Imperialism is incapable of resolving the problems it is
faced with in spite of its great power and is meeting
increased resistance. We hope, in this conference, to learn
how better to contribute to this resistance.

The increased aggressiveness of the United States, no
longer constrained by the might of the Soviet Union, and
convinced of its own omnipotence, has brought war and
destruction to millions, and a threat to everybody. Behind
a fa�ade of Christian fundamentalism, the U.S. government
claims the right to smite everyone and anyone in the name
of God. This blood curdling rhetoric is seldom heard in
Europe, especially now that Aznar has quit the scene. The
same Sr. Aznar, who lost his job for telling lies most
unusual, that gave a lecture in Washington recently.
Expressing support for the "war on terrorism", he explained
that the Spanish had been fighting Muslim terrorists since
the 8th century.

The European Union likes to present itself as a force for
peace, as a voice of reason. The disagreements over the
Iraq war not withstanding, even France and Germany have
co-operated with the U.S. in the occupation of Afghanistan.
The coup d'�tat against Aristide in Haiti was a joint
Franco - U.S. operation. he E.U. participated
enthusiastically in the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, and
now troops are operating there under the E.U. flag. The
E.U. pretends to oppose Israel's illegal settlements in
Occupied Palestine, but accepts the products of those
settlements as Israeli goods. In trade relations with poor
countries it exhibits the same bullying and predatory
behaviour as the United States.

Yet how many, even on the left, refuse to see the E.U. as
an imperialist entity. A century ago, Rosa Luxembourg
warned that a united Europe, as proposed by Karl Kautsky,
could only be a reactionary force. The united Europe of
today is led by the old imperial powers, and
enthusiastically supported by the bourgeoisie of the other
states, who would happily betray their own people for a
share of the action. The Irish Home Rule Party long ago
aspired to a junior partnership in the British Empire, and
recruited for the British Army in the First World War now
Irish speculators buy house property in Budapest and land
in Poland, an Irish cement company is involved in building
Israel's apartheid wall in Palestine. The political parties
of the Irish bourgeoisie, and of course their newspapers,
are committed supporters of the EU and, of course, of the
proposed European Constitution.

The European Constitution gives a legal form to the
integration of the European imperial power. It makes it
easier for the EU to act militarily, and of course
economically. It reduces what little democratic controls
citizens of member states have over its activities, and
over the actions of their own governments within the EU.
The Irish government, which rarely stands up for national
interests in public, can hardly be expected to do so in
private. The Irish prime minister apologized profusely to
his European colleagues for the Irish people's presumption
in daring to vote against the Nice Treaty and promised that
we would change our mind in a re-run of the referendum.

Persuading the Irish people to vote for the European
Constitution will not be an easy task. Our party will be
playing an active role in the campaign to reject it. The
Irish tradition of military neutrality is valued greatly by
the Irish people this would be finally buried in the
constitution. Many who agreed with the European Union as a
trading bloc are not willing to take the extra step towards
a European State we spent long enough as a part of another
more powerful state.

One of the arguments in favour of the Constitution is that
it would create a counterweight to the power of the United
States. This does not accord with the record of the EU to
date. It has been allied with, even subservient to the US,
and continues to co-operate with it in most of its
adventures. They have their differences, but these resemble
the differences between the good cop and the bad cop rather
than different purposes. Of course the two imperial powers
could come into conflict Who wants to contemplate the
possible consequences of that? Besides, what nonsense it is
to oppose imperialist aggression by the US an condone our
own "nice, humane, well-intentioned" European imperialism.

One of the immediate tasks of anti-imperialist forces in
Europe is the defeat of the proposed European Constitution.

US aggression needs to be opposed not by conflicting
imperialist interests but by the popular peace-loving
forces throughout the world. In no European country was
there ever popular support for the cruel invasion and
occupation of Iraq those governments, especially the
British, which support or participate in it do so in
defiance of the expressed wishes of their own people. The
Spanish state which withdrew from Iraq, hypocritically
maintains its forces in Afghanistan as do other states
supposedly opposed to the US. The Irish people strongly
opposed the passage of US warplanes through Shannon
Airport, yet they continue it was reported that prisoners
were being transported through there, perhaps on the way to
Guantanamo Bay.

The US is threatening war explicitly against Iran, Syria,
North Korea, implicitly against Cuba and Venezuela. It is
waging a proxy war against the people of Colombia. Its
proxy Israel continues its genocidal occupation of
Palestine. The EU expresses disagreement from time to time
but cannot be said to be in serious opposition. The
European parliament censured Cuba on "human rights" grounds
when so-called dissidents organized and paid by the US
diplomatic representative were arrested. It lectured
Venezuela on democracy before the referendum there. To
demonstrate its total hypocrisy, it received Alvaro Uribe
Velez, the representative of Colombian fascism. EU member
states may feel obliged to vote against the blockade of
Cuba, or the Israeli wall, at the United Nations, but they
balance that with a reassuring gesture to show the US that
they are really on the same side.

Solidarity organizations in Europe have shown little
interest in the EU institutions and the nefarious role they
are playing. We must hold these institutions accountable
we must hold our governments accountable for what they do
behind closed doors in these institutions. We have good
reason to suspect that they are not in accordance with the
fine words and democratic principles that they espouse in
public.

Solidarity organizations in Ireland draw on our own history
of sympathy for oppressed peoples, the Anti-Apartheid
Movement was one of the strongest in any country during the
Apartheid era in S. Africa, Solidarity with Latin America
received a great boost from the volunteers who went to work
in Nicaragua to support the Sandinistas, and heroic Cuba is
widely admired, even by many with no sympathy for
Socialism. The crimes against the people of Palestine
excite great anger, in spite of the unrelenting propaganda
from the press, whose one-sided reporting seeks to portray
Palestinians as terrorists and Israel as the injured party.
Solidarity with oppressed peoples and with victims of
aggression remains one of the most important priorities of
our work.

We need to co-ordinate our solidarity work in Europe to
counter the role of the European Union

There has been a lot of rubbish written about the
difference between Europe and the United States, to the
effect that Europe believes in the welfare state, in
protecting working conditions in social equality. The Irish
deputy Prime minister, Mary Harney once put it as the
difference between Boston and Berlin, the high social
welfare of Berlin and the low corporate taxes of Boston,
she said she preferred Boston. But the EU although it holds
conferences on combating poverty and social exclusion, as
does the Irish government at the local level, has been one
of the agents of neo-liberal change, as the Berliners are
finding out to their cost. harlie MacCreevy, Ms Harney's
friend and colleague and Ireland's Minister of Finance, is
a neo-liberal of like mind, known as Mac the Knife for his
cutting of social expenditure. He has been sent to be
Ireland's Commissioner in Brussels. Many Irish are glad to
see the back of him, but will soon find that Brussels isn't
far enough, for Charlie is joining the most right wing,
most neo-liberal commission in the history of the EU.

The drive to undo the gains of the working class, the
welfare state free and equal access to health and
education, and the privatization of services such as water,
refuse collection, public transport and electricity is a
part of the EU's program to become an imperial power. The
privatization of the Irish telephone service netted one
individual 300 million, not quite Berezovsky, but not bad
for a small country. The telephone service is now the
property of British Telecom. Our minister of transport
restricted the activity of our State airline Aer Lingus, to
allow Ryanair to take off, the making of another private
fortune. The same minister for transport, now back in
office, is preparing our public transport system for
privatization this time there will be some resistance.
There has been considerable resistance to some schemes, the
imposition of water charges was successfully resisted,
though charges for rubbish collection are being imposed.

Many people in Europe pay for these services, but, with the
government we have, the only logic for these levies is to
prepare the way for privatization. The present Irish
government is the most blatant servant of monopoly
capitalism in our history. While the economy has boomed,
enriching a few and bringing a certain degree of comfort to
many, we have now the most unequal society in Europe,
second only to the US among OECD countries. One of the most
dangerous proposals of our government is to encourage our
universities and technological colleges to solicit money
from industry, so the state won't have to provide it. This
is in effect asking our academics to prostitute themselves
imagine the McDonald professor of Nutrition, the Haliburton
Chair of Peace Studies.

For all their talk of competition, monopoly profits are the
best, and what better monopoly can there be than one
granted by the state in the manner of King James I of
England in the early days of capitalism. When state assets
are privatized there is a monopoly to be prized. Water, for
example; people who formerly enjoyed free clean water now
pay for dear and dirty water. Then, wonder of wonders, this
achievement of European civilization can be introduced to
the benighted natives of the third world. The European
Union, which is in a position to bully poorer countries and
dictate terms of trade, has on a number of occasions
insisted on the privatization of water supplies, so that
lucrative contracts can be given to its brave
entrepreneurs. Neo-liberalism at home provides a
springboard to imperialism abroad.

It doesn't always work the people of Cochabamba in Bolivia
defeated an attempt to hand over their water supply to a
British company. The rolling back of the social democratic
gains of the working class, the privatization of industries
and services is a part of the European Imperial project.
When these attacks are carried out by the Social Democratic
parties themselves, it makes it more difficult to resist.

The defense of social services and resistance to
privatization is a part of the resistance to Imperialism.

The Irish Labour Party and Green Party have decided on a
strategy of seeking election as part of a coalition with
the right wing Fine Gael party, thereby turning their backs
on a possible coalition of the left, along with the
nationalist Sinn F�in, which has many progressive policies.
They are preparing to repudiate the anti war and anti
monopoly policies of both parties. For the sake of this
coalition, Labour turned down the chance of running a
progressive candidate for President. The Social Democrats
and Greens mobilized people on the basis of real issues
which remain unresolved, though they have been abandoned by
the leadership of these parties. The mobilization of
betrayed Social Democratic and Green voters in antiwar and
anti-imperialist struggle is a challenge we must face.

Many of the parties represented here will be participating
in the European Social Forum in London next week - a
potentially great meeting place for anti-imperialist
organizations and individuals, demonstrating their
diversity, their strengths and their weaknesses. Among them
will be many Christians and Muslims, all far removed from
the religious fundamentalists, who between them fight a war
of terror in which the victims are the ordinary people of
Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, but also of USA and Spain and
other countries. The war between these fundamentalists is a
sham fight between imperialists and medievalists, who were
allies in the past and will be again. We know that many
religious people will unite with us against these twin
charlatans.

Building unity of action from such diversity is not an easy
task, but the fact that we are all coming to meet in the
one place is already an achievement which can be built on.

The imperialist states resolutely refuse to take
responsibility for the colonial and neocolonial pillage and
super-exploitation of what they contemptuously refer to as
the Third World or the under-developed countries. The
propaganda of the moment is that the collapsed economies of
African states and the absolute impoverishment of their
peoples are the responsibility of their corrupt and
incompetent governments. Even charitable organizations such
as the Irish charity GOAL propagate this idea. This
justifies the harsh treatment of the political and economic
refugees who in desperation try to make a life for
themselves in Europe, after all it's no fault of us
Europeans.

Ireland, long a country of emigration is now host to many
immigrants and refugees. As in other European countries,
life is made as difficult as possible, and many people have
been deported to an uncertain fate.

It was a part of our constitution that all those born in
Ireland were entitled to Irish citizenship. Our government
whipped up a scare campaign that this provision was being
abused and succeeded in having it removed by referendum. Of
course they denied that their intension was racist but the
amount of racist abuse suffered by immigrants and native
black Irish increased. The shamefaced racism of the Irish
state is, I think, a European standard, anti-racist in
words but racist in practice.

Racism needs to be confronted in every form it takes,
wherever it arises. It is a product of Imperialism and is
still one of the weapons which it keeps in reserve.

Ireland is famous for its national struggle, in which the
great socialist James Connolly played a leading role.
Expressing his contempt for the vacillating leadership of
the Irish Parliamentary Party, he wrote

"The Irish working class remains the only incorruptible
inheritor of the fight for Irish freedom." The lack of
interest of our national bourgeoisie in completing the
national struggle is amply confirmed by their subservience
to American and European capital, and to the political
structures of the European Union.

This subservience is matched and even excelled by the
bourgeoisie of many another country, as comrades here can
confirm, so I don't need to give examples. The unsolved
national question continues to pervade Irish politics,
however some might try to avoid it.

We are not unique in that respect, the struggle against
imperialism is a struggle for national liberation, and the
working class belongs in the leadership of that struggle.

The fronts of struggle I have outlined are not an
exhaustive list. In all of them we need to build unity of
action with many diverse forces in popular struggle. Not by
our words only, but by our actions we can put forward the
only alternative to barbarism, which is socialism.