Athens Meeting 8-10 October 2004, Contribution of Lebanese
CP
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From: SolidNet, Friday, January 14, 2005
http://www.lcparty.org , mailto:info@lcparty.org
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International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties,
Resistance to imperialist aggressiveness. Fronts of
struggle and alternatives
Athens, 8-10 October 2004

Contribution by the Member of the Political Bureau of the
Lebanese Communist Party, Head of the Department of
International Relations, Dr.M.Kuteish

Dear Comrades,

At the beginning, I would like to express our gratitude to
the fraternal Communist Party of for holding this meeting
of Communist and Workers' parties of the world in order to
promote exchange of experience and opinion. Today, this
meeting is acquiring a new meaning in the light of
escalation of tension and instability in the world.

The present tension in the world has been caused by the
capitalist globalization that sharpeners the inequality of
growth, national, political and geopolitical disproportions
in the world. In spite of this, the mechanisms of
globalization do not satisfy the needs of the world
imperialist forces, especially US imperialism. I mean the
mechanisms of the market and imposing of the model of open
society that eases the movement of globolized capital, and
promotes confiscation of the treasures of the peoples for
the sake of the countries of `golden billion'. Therefore,
the US has taken advantage of the policy of waging a new
world war when they started a war against Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, and Iraq. We think that this war would spread
to other countries of the world. In our region, this war
has acquired the form of genocide against the peoples of
Palestine and Iraq, as well as the form of exerting
pressure of Syria and Lebanon by means of the resolution
1559 adopted by the UN Security Council. The whole of the
world, and primarily Communists, have to protest against
the massacres in Palestine and Iraq, and to demand from the
UN to provide help and assistance to these peoples.

Nowadays, Lebanon and Syria have been under considerable
pressure because of the issue that concerns suspension of
the term for the President of Lebanon. However, this is an
issue of the domestic policy. In principle, we were against
this suspension, and demanded the Syrians to reconsider
their attitude towards Lebanon in order to strengthen the
resistance movement against US occupation. We think that
there is no excuse for such an international interference.
It aims at forcing Lebanon and Syria to make considerable
concessions: to stop supporting resistance forces in
Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq. We condemn this interference
of the UN Security Council that ignores the tragedy taking
place in Palestine and Iraq.

This war has nothing to do with those reasons that the US
put forward such as elimination of terrorism, safeguarding
of human rights, and destruction of weapons of mass
destruction. This war has been waged because of other
reasons:

The first, ideological, reason: this war is an insistent
demand of the aggressive liberal ideology that dreams of
such an end of the history that would make capitalism the
last and the only choice of the mankind. Such a dream
demands waging the last war against the remainders of the
previous historical stage. This war is a revenge for the
revolutionary history of the peoples in the course of the
20th century.

The second reason. This war is a demand of the US
extravagant model of consumption that is threatened by the
limited amounts of world natural resources left. This war
is a necessary demand of the extensive model of growth when
the intensive model of growth has reached its top.

These two demands are implemented by means of confiscation
of the world natural resources of those peoples who do not
deserve to possess them. Furthermore, the abovementioned
confiscation demands the recolonization of the world, i.e.
correction of the historical mistake. Every time the
Americans invent a new name for a war: a war against
terrorism, a war against weapons of mass destruction, and
so on. But it is not clear why terrorism and weapons of
mass destruction tend to appear in the vicinity of the
areas rich in oil.

The third reason. This war is the US-backed strategic
demand it is the main means of implementation of the
strategy of US national security that involves export of
instability and problems to non-Western countries in order
to turn other world regions into deserts unsuitable for
financial or intellectual investments.

The aforementioned reasons led to the wars in Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, and Iraq. The same reasons tend to be the
pretext of the threats against Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and
Northern Korea.

In order to accomplish its aims the US Administration
strives to ensure the support of the American people and
the peoples of the West as a whole. For this purpose they
are taking advantage of the policy of threats and
stimulation. They threaten the peoples by terrorism and
weapons of mass destruction, and promise those peoples to
defend them from those threats. At the same time, the US
Administration is trying to win the treacherous elites of
the third world countries to their side in order to open
the borders of those countries for the globolized capital,
to privatize their resources and sovereignty. The US
imperialism is trying to accomplish this task in two ways:

The peaceful way. In those countries where the US
imperialism finds the elites and forces ready to
collaborate in order to open their countries for the
globolized capital.

The military way. In those countries where the US
imperialism meets resistance against its strategy.

Comrades,

The US does not need advanced capitalism in the peripheral.
Remember that its first attack after the cold war period
was against the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern
Asia. Nowadays, the US is trying to disarm the peoples in
order to weaken their capability to take part in the
international struggle.

At present, the USA is putting forward a number of
initiatives to make reforms in our countries in order to
promote democracy and civil rights in the region. These
initiatives have been proposed first under the name `The
Greater Middle East', and later under the name `Partnership
for Future'. We realize well that by means of these
initiatives they would like to distract the attention from
the crimes in Iraq and Palestine; as well as they would
like to reorganize the region in accordance with their
interests.

No one out of the progressive forces in our countries
denies the fact that there is a great deal of unresolved
problems, even a complete deadlock in the development of
our countries. Though our peoples and parties ought to take
responsibility for such a situation; however, the main
responsibility lies on colonialism. Therefore, we do not
trust the projects proposed by the Western countries, and
reject these proposals but not the necessity of reforms
themselves. Why? Let's look into the reasons:

The US does not want the establishment of democracy and
democratic regimes in our countries because it would
increase the negative attitude of the bulk of people
towards the USA as the main cause of their misfortunes

The US does not want security in our countries. If they
wanted, they would accelerate the resolution of the
Palestinian problem and the establishment of its state.
Moreover, they would help the Iraqis to determine their
future by means of complete withdrawal of the US military
forces from Iraq

The US does not want any genuine economic reforms in our
countries because it involves a change of the place of our
countries in the international labour division

The US does not want the establishment of a society of
knowledge in our countries as they claim because it
involves overcoming a technological gap that has been
widening between our countries and the West.

What really the Americans want is open borders, unlimited
liberalization, cancellation of the socio-economic role of
the state in our countries, introducing the mechanisms of
social Darwinism they would like the market to identify
those who has the right to survive.

What the project `Future Partnership' is concerned, it was
a compromise between the USA and Europe. In this respect, I
would like to address our comrades from the European
countries:

We need the Mediterranean Partnership. We need security,
stability and cooperation in order to turn our region into
a prosperous region free of weapons of mass destruction.
But the partnership that has been imposed by the official
Europe serves the interests of the global capital, and
appears to be an unfair partnership. It is the partnership
that concerns the natural resources existing in our
countries but does not concern the field of technology. It
is unfair. We, communists, have to propose a more
democratic and humanistic variant of such a partnership. We
are capable of doing so.

The democratic forces, and the communists, first of all,
have been struggling for introducing reforms and radical
changes in our countries. The US and colonialism, in
general, have been the main obstacle for achieving the
success of reforms because they have been supporting the
reactional regimes in our countries.

Nowadays, the USA proposes occupation as an alternative of
dictatorship. In other words, we have to welcome G.W.Bush
Junior instead of Saddam Hussein. We have to choose either
G.W.Bush or Ben Laden. We reject these alternatives. We
reject terrorism because terrorism threatens our countries
in the same way as it threatens other countries in the
world. The terrorist operations that are made in Iraq
against civil population cannot be considered as resistance
against the occupational forces. These operations serve
well for the electoral campaign of G.W.Bush Junior. There
is another resistance movement against the US Army that we
support, and appeal to the whole of the world to support
it. However, we reject the occupation as a practice, and
interference in the domestic affairs by other countries,
and the USA, first of all. Our peoples know how to solve
their own problems.

Our choice is different. It is a democratic, national, and
liberation choice. It is liberation from occupation and
dictatorship.

The Americans have turned our region into a battle field,
and a polygon for testing the latest kinds of weapons. This
war will last for a long time. Therefore, the 9th Congress
of our party adopted a new plan of struggle in a new
situation that includes:
Organizing a resistance movement against the occupation by
all means. Communists ought to be the avant-garde of the
resistance movement.

Establishment of a democratic state that would warrant
freedom and participation of our peoples in the process of
self-identification; as well as introduction of all
indispensable political and economic reforms. This would be
the main support against the occupants.

Carrying out of a genuine development that would ensure a
complete use of natural resources and the change of the
status of our countries in the world labour division.

The rehabilitation of the mottoes of the Arab Unity, and
the proposals for gradual integration of our countries.

We are sure that the success of our struggle is impossible
without support and cooperation with other world
progressive forces and their struggle. We have the same
enemy, and we are equally threatened. Therefore, we ought
to integrate all the forces opposing the imperialist
globalization into a unified movement. We have to unveil
the truth about those forces who strive for substituting
progressive forces in their struggle. We are the genuine
progressive forces who oppose the imperialist globalization
and its wars. In turn, it places on us the responsibility
for building up new internationalism, its content and its
forms of cooperation and action:
By means of coordination of our efforts, solidarity,
mobilization of our peoples and increasing of their
consciousness, as well as acceleration of the tempo of our
action.

In this context, I would like to support the appeal of
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece to
develop new forms of cooperation among progressive forces
at all levels and in all fields.