Lisbon Meeting 10-12 November, Appeal against militarism
and war, for freedom, democracy, peace and social progress
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From: Portuguese Communist Party, Monday, November 13, 2006
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Appeal against militarism and war, for freedom, democracy,
peace and social progress

At the beginning of this 21st century, in a situation
fraught with uncertainty and perils caused by capitalism,
it must be stressed that there is also a real potential for
liberation.

Fifteen years after the disappearance of the USSR,
imperialism's global offensive has brought to our planet
more war, more militarism, more violence, more torture,
more illegal prisons, more restrictions of freedoms and
more anti-democratic repression. The war dead already
number in the hundreds of thousand. And new aggressions lie
on the horizon. There is ever more open talk of using
nuclear weapons in theatres of war. Terrible weapons, such
as white phosphorus, cluster bombs or weapons with depleted
uranium, are being used increasingly often. The sovereignty
and independence of peoples and nations are increasingly
threatened by imperialist powers. Military expenditures are
rising and there is an ongoing arms race. There are ever
more prohibitions and persecutions of democratic and
popular political forces. Racism, xenophobia, fascism and
anti-communism are on the rise.

This offensive is an integral part of the attack unleashed,
on the economic and social level, by the ruling classes,
big business, transnational corporations and the
international agencies that serve them. Everywhere, jobs
and wages, pensions and social security, labour and union
rights, are coming under attack. Essential social services
are transformed into commodities and sources of profit for
big business. The right to an education, to health care, to
a dignified life, which were never a reality for millions
of human beings, are increasingly being denied to those who
had won them. There is growing poverty and extreme poverty,
hunger, exploitation, precariousness and insecurity, walls
for migrants, the threat of an ecological catastrophe,
whilst at the same time there is ever more obscene wealth,
fabulous profits and privileges for the exploiting and
ruling minority. Growing inequality and injustice goes hand
in hand with war and repression. This is the true nature of
capitalism that is well evident in our times.

But this global offensive of imperialism is having to
confront the struggle of the workers and peoples of the
world. From the Middle East to Latin America, from Europe
to Asia, a strong resistance is mounting and processes of
progressive change are forging ahead, showing that it is
possible to invert the present situation. The Communist and
Workers' Parties gathered in Lisbon, on November 10, 11 and
12, 2006, greet the struggles and resistance of the workers
and peoples of the world against the imperialist offensive
of military interventions and occupations and of
neo-liberal globalization, which are the determining factor
for, once again, opening up the paths of peace and social
progress for Mankind. Our parties will strengthen their
cooperation and joint action and will actively contribute
to strengthen the working-class and anti-imperialist
movement. At the same time as we warn of the dangers of our
times and call for the mobilization of all forces of peace
and social progress, in order to prevent capitalism from
launching the world into catastrophe - as it did in the
last Century - we express the profound confidence that a
different, Socialist, world is possible.

Lisbon, November 12, 2006