WPC Executive Committee Meeting held in Hanoi, Vietnam

Friday, December 1, 2017

World Peace Council Executive Committee Meeting was successfully held in Hanoi, Vietnam on 23-25 November, 2017. Meeting's communique is as follows:

Communiqué of the Executive Committee of WPC, Hanoi 23-25 November 2017

The meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of the WPC took place successfully in the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Hanoi, from November 23-25, hosted by the Vietnam Peace Committee. The first EC Meeting after the 2016 World Assembly of the WPC in Sao Luis/Brazil was attended by 44 delegates representing 26 organisations from the same number of countries.
The EC dedicated a special session to the 100th anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution and its service to the struggle for Peace, as decided by the last Assembly of the WPC. The overwhelming conclusion of the meeting was that this extraordinary and most significant event of the 20th century changed the course of humanity and opened the way for further social, economical and political transformations and revolutions, proving that peoples struggle can win and create new societies free from imperialist domination and exploitation. Therefore the October Revolution remains a source of inspiration for the peoples.
By holding our EC in the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, we express our deep respect and appreciation to the Vietnamese people, who fought victoriously against Japanese fascists and French colonialists as well as against the US imperialists in their wars in Vietnam, and who have made remarkable achievements in building of Socialism and national development, despite the still-lasting consequences of the war, including millions of victims through the toxic “Agent Orange”, used at that time by the US Army. The WPC expresses its whole-hearted solidarity with the Vietnamese people for all the above.
The WPC EC meeting reviewed the world situation regarding threats to peace and stability, growing imperialist aggression and wars in several parts of the world, as well as the response of peoples and peace movements, it expressed its gravest concern about the growing dangers of a catastrophic conflict of world dimension, including the use of nuclear weapons.
In a context of a prolonged economic crisis of the system, of grave threats of war, of the continuity of long and catastrophic imperialist wars, aggressions, destabilizing maneuvers and the planet’s accelerated militarization, while also fascist and reactionary forces emerge in various countries, the WPC discussed and set up goals and campaigns that can touch the peoples’ consciousness and raise awareness.
The international scenario remains unstable, full of tensions and threats, which become more dangerous as the crisis deepens, as a consequence of the contradictions of an unequal political, economic and social system. Two opposing vectors characterize the international situation. On one hand, we face the imperialist and hegemonic forces’ offensive and competition to dominate the world and take over the peoples’ and nations’ resources. In this offensive, the imperialists and their willing allies act with fury. On the other hand, there are many indications of the potential of the peoples’ struggle and the resistance of organisations and movements and the forces of peace and social progress. The WPC shall strive for the broadest possible alliance and joint actions that would embrace all these struggles for common objectives. At the same time specific efforts should be made to uncover the root causes of wars, misery and inequality, promoting and strengthening the progressive and anti-imperialist forces and their actions.
The “Pivot to Asia” policy of the US, for shifting 60 % of their military power to the region is being further implemented by the new US President, along with the powerful 7th Pacific Fleet of the US Navy, the more than 200 US Military Bases in the region, including Japan and South Korea, the bilateral military agreements of the US, with the upgrade of which even troops will be deployed in various countries, as its already the case with tens of thousands of US troops in the region. The particular interest of the US and its allies in the area is about the geostrategical control of the whole area, its sea routes and natural resources, avoiding fatal conflicts. But it is also in order to contain the emerging PR China.
The WPC supports all struggles against the US military presence and maneuvers in the region. In Okinawa, a struggle involving broad sectors of society is further growing against the construction of a new US Marine Corp Base in Henoko/Nago City. The WPC express its solidarity with these movements in Okinawa and mainland of Japan.
Nepal has been moving towards the political stability with the local government elections and the forthcoming federal and provincial parliamentary elections. Despite of foreign interference for not moving into the promulgation of a new constitution, attempts to provoke conflict among the various cast and communities inside the nation and provocation of ethnicity based federal states, the constitution is being implemented. While heading towards the parliament elections a perspective exists to have a new progressive government with the vast support of the Nepali people. The WPC would respect this desire of the Nepali people and would like to express its good wishes for the success.
The WPC is following with concern the developments in the South China Sea, particularly about the territorial disputes between several neighbouring countries. We support the peaceful settlement of differences bilaterally and multilaterally between all involved parties. We call upon all sides to refrain from any unilateral actions which may further complicate the situation; we reaffirm our principled position for the respect and implementation of International law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which guarantees the sovereign rights of all countries. We are strongly against the militarization of the area as well as the military presence and actions of non-regional powers, notably the US, which has clearly its own motives and interests. We demand their withdrawal from the region and call upon all sides to de-escalate militarily the situation.
The World Peace Council expresses solidarity with and support to the people of Laos in their efforts to get rid of the consequences of decades of the wars, especially unexploded ordnances during the end of 1960s and the beginning of 1970s three million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos. Thirty percent of the cluster bombs did not explode, nowadays some of people farmers working in their fields or children playing with the tennis ball sized bombs are maimed or killed by those “Bombies”. Furthermore, the presence of those unexploded ordnances in almost all provinces hampers the development of the country.
We express our sympathy with the Rohingya people of Myanmar, who are facing huge humanitarian crisis and who are being chased and running away for their lives with serious complaints for policies of ethnic cleansing. We demand from the government to ensure the safety of the civilians and take immediate steps to end the violence in order to restore normal socio-economic conditions, including the return of the refugees to their homes.
The WPC EC expresses its serious concern about the growing religious strive and fundamentalism in South Asia which are used to divide the peoples’ struggles. We call upon the social organizations to be alerted about this explosive situation and to mobilize against such divisive agenda.
The WPC reiterates its demand for the withdrawal of the USA and NATO from Afghanistan, as a condition to allow the people to decide freely and without interference about their internal affairs.
The situation in and around the Korean peninsula is becoming “explosive”. All military threats and provocations should stop immediately. All parties concerned should take steps for a diplomatic and peaceful solution without delay. We denounce the presence of 28.000 US troops in the South of the peninsula with all kind of highly sophisticated weapons, including nuclear armaments as well as the establishment of a new US base on Jeju Island. The deployment of the THAAD umbrella by the US in South Korea openly advocates for a first strike option without the possibility of retaliation. It also poses threats to the PR China and the Russian Federation. The WPC stands firm in its solidarity with the Korean people for its desire for Peaceful National reunification and for the right of the DPR of Korea to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity together with its natural resources.
The WPC reaffirms its principle position on the abolition of all Nuclear Weapons and its opposition to the testing of any nuclear armaments. The Stockholm Appeal, a major historical initiative of the WPC, signed by hundreds of millions of people concerned with the threat of use of these arsenals, remains current and continues to be a guideline for our action. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(adopted July 7. 2017) is a milestone leading towards their total elimination, the long cherished aspiration of the Hibakushas and the peoples of the world. The treaty recognizes that nuclear weapons are inhumane with catastrophic consequences if ever used again, and they counter to the U.N. Charter and International law. All states should sign the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons without delay.
Nuclear weapon states and its allies did not sign the treaty. We have to develop further public opinion that would exert pressure on them into abandoning the policy of “nuclear deterrence”.
At the same time we underline the fact that the USA is the only country which has used such weapons in history. Moreover it does not refrain from a first nuclear strike option, on the contrary it has introduced it also to NATO, which has adopted it. We support the proposal for a mutual suspension of the military exercises around the peninsula by the US-Japan-South Korea with the removal of the THAAD and the suspension of the nuclear program from by DPR of Korea. The WPC is stating once more its clear disagreement with any sanctions imposed on the DPR of Korea as they constitute an effort to strangle the people.
The case of Ukraine is the most relevant, contemporary episode in the European continent showing fascist tendencies, as well as the imperialist actions of siege and provocation and its attempt to encircle Russia. The right-wing regime in Kiev, supported by the US and the EU, plays into the strategy of strengthening the imperialists’ presence in Eastern Europe and in order to confront Russia. The World Peace Council supports the Ukrainian people’s struggle. We resolutely oppose the fascist regime and express unreserved solidarity with Ukrainian communists and other progressive forces which are subjected to hateful persecution.
We also follow with concern the persecution suffered by the anti-imperialist peace loving forces in Turkey, particularly the member of the WPC, the Peace Association of Turkey which got banned in 2016 by the government in the aftermath of the attempted coup. We demand its immediate reinstatement. Turkey’s government is allied to US and European imperialism in the region and promotes a reactionary, conservative and aggressive agenda against its own people and neighbors. As a historical and strategic member of NATO, Turkey harbors US nuclear warheads and directly supports extremist forces and terrorists who are fighting in Syria.
We reaffirm our solidarity with people of Cyprus and the WPC position taken at the last Assembly for the re-unification of the island and an end of the Turkish occupation, in a common fatherland for all Cypriots (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots), without foreign troops and bases, without custodians and guardians, in a re-unified and country with one sovereignty, one citizenship and one international personality, as described in the relevant UN resolutions. We furthermore reject and denounce the efforts to bring Cyprus directly or indirectly into NATO, which was also involved in the invasion and partial occupation of the island in 1974.
The WPC denounces the presence of the NATO armada in the Aegean Sea, with the pretext of the flood of refugees and migrants and the plans of NATO in the area. We condemn the actions of the Greek government which, while renewing the US-Greece military agreement on the Basis of Souda (Crete), is offering facilities for the deployment of US military helicopters on Greek soil and the perspective of hosting drones in Crete.
Day by day the Aegean Sea is becoming a graveyard for hundreds of families fleeing from wartorn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Greek islands are being converted into refugee camps, without sufficient or adequate resources to receive and host these people. A key issue in this tragedy remains the EU regulations of the Schengen and Dublin II agreements, together with the EU-Turkey agreement. We denounce the hypocrisy of the EU and the governments of many of those countries across which the refugees are traveling that are openly hostile to the refugees.
The WPC reiterates its firm position against NATO, as an instrument of the imperialist domination and the armed wing of the US and EU imperialists. NATO expansion to the east, its encirclement of Russia along its borders, with the deployment of troops from the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria and the installation of the Missile Defense Shield” in Poland and Romania, is aggressively and deliberately escalating the tension. This goes hand in hand with the sanctions of the US and EU against Russia. NATO is developing and increasing its arsenal aiming at nuclear first strike capacity against its opponents. It has decided to increase its military expenditure of all members to the 2% of the annual GDP of each. We struggle for and demand the dissolution of NATO on global scale, while supporting the struggle of the peoples in each member state to disengage from it. The European Union, alone and/or with NATO, is acting against its peoples. Its Common Security and Defense policy constitutes a dangerous tool for foreign intervention and imperialist aggression in many parts of the world.
The reactionary and imperialist plan for the “New Middle East”, endorsed by the US, NATO and the EU, with their open military intervention and in cooperation with the reactionary regimes of the region, has added new suffering on millions of people who fled for their lives to all neighboring countries. Their aim was and is the control of energy resources and supply lines and the geostrategical control of the area with new borders and new compliant regimes.
We express our condolences to the families of the recent terrorist attack in Egypt where hundreds of civilians lost their lives and we condemn this coward inhuman act.
The war-mongering and interventionist policy of the great powers, allied with local reactionary forces, is ever more intense throughout the Middle East. Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon and Yemen are targeted by imperialist aggression and destabilizing interventions. We take positive note of the significant successes of the Syrian people in their fight against terrorism and foreign intervention. We declare our solidarity with the progressive and peace loving people and their organisations in Syria, and reassert their inalienable right to build for themselves a secular, sovereign and democratic country, in which people with different creeds can live together, with a legitimate government and with territorial integrity. The WPC reiterates its condemnation of the US and its European allies, Turkey, Israel and the despotic Gulf monarchies, which have supported directly or indirectly, financed and trained mercenary and religious extremist groups to attack Syria, at the cost of millions of lives.
We express our serious concern about the new threats of the US administration and Israel against Iran, in the light of the possible retreat of the USA from the international accord on nuclear activity signed by the previous US administration and the other permanent SC members of the UN. The dangers for an escalation of the conflict refer also to the deteriorating relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. From WPC side we reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Iran and its peace loving forces, against any foreign interference in their affairs and in support of their struggle for social, political and people’s rights in all spheres.
The WPC is seriously concerned about the provocative statements and threats emanating from US Imperialism directed against Iran that have taken on a very dangerous dimension since Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia - where he finalized a massive $300 billion arms deal–and then Israel in May 2017. These days another war crime is being committed with the biggest current humanitarian crisis, according to the UN in Yemen. A country which is under heavy attack and aggression by a Saudi led “coalition” which today is resulting in hundreds of thousands of cases of hunger and malnutrition and a pandemic of Cholera in the year 2017, apart from the thousands of civilians who have been killed by the bombardments. The WPC denounces the aggression against the Yemeni people, which is being fully supported by the USA and demands the end of the siege and the right of the Yemeni people to decide alone and freely their matters.
We denounce the regime of Israel for its continuing and expanding occupation of the Palestinian lands with the support of imperialism, in order the control of the entire neighborhood. This continues to be a key element in the strategy of domination and of prevention of peace in the Middle East. The WPC reiterates its solidarity with the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people against the genocidal and oppressive policy of the State of Israel, which subjects the people to cruel oppression. We defend the inalienable right of the Palestinian people for the establishment of their independent and sovereign State with the borders prior to the 4th June1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to UN resolutions. We demand the dismantlement of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank and the elimination of the Separation Wall, as well as the freedom of seven thousand Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons, and the fulfillment of the right of return of refugees in accordance with the UN resolution 194. We call for the recognition of the State of Palestine as a full member of the UN by the UN member states. The WPC shall explore and launch a campaign under the slogan: END THE OCCUPATION NOW!
The WPC expresses its solidarity with the peace loving forces in Israel, who face the authoritarian regime of the country while struggling side by side with the Palestinian people for the common cause.
The WPC EC expresses its solidarity with the Lebanese people for the defense of the integrity and stability of the country and denounces the plans to convert it into a theater for agendas of foreign forces. We demand the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Lebanese Shebaa farms.
We express our serious concern about the turbulence in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela provoked by the economic war of the local oligarchy in compliance with the aggressive stand of the new US administration which continues the unacceptable and dangerous policy of the Obama Executive Order calling Venezuela a “threat to US foreign policy and its security”. We denounce the open intervention in the domestic affairs of the country and the threat of a US military intervention in Venezuela, especially after the election of the National Constituent Assembly. We hope that the Assembly will help to open ways in solving the problems in a peaceful and democratic way and at the same time for the deepening the transformations for the interests of the vast majority of the Venezuelan people. We condemn the recent decision of the EU Foreign Ministers who imposed sanctions on Venezuela which constitutes an act of escalation of the interference of the EU in the country.
We reiterate our solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, the colony of the US in the Caribbean, in their struggle for the right to self-determination and against the multi-faceted oppression of its citizens.
We are following with concern the developments in Brazil, where after the parliamentary coup in 2016 against the elected President, an anti-people government took over with clear and open purpose of serving local and international capital and a reactionary agenda.
The WPC expresses its solidarity with the people of Argentina in the exercise of their sovereign rights over the Malvinas islands and condemns the gross violation by the old colonial rulers.
One year after the passing away of the historical leader and Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, we pay our tribute and homage to the leader who did not only change through his decisive contribution the life of the Cuban people, but with his modesty and wisdom he served as a revolutionary leader of world dimension, as one of the few such personalities of the 20th century. The WPC reaffirms its unconditional demand for the immediate and permanent closure of the US Guantanamo Base, which is occupied against the will of the Cuban people, and for the return of the territory to Cuba. We declare our sincere and unwavering solidarity with the Cuban people and its revolution, in defending its achievements and for ending the criminal US blockade and all other attempts at destabilizing interference.
The WPC salutes the peoples of Latin America& the Caribbean and expresses its solidarity with the struggle for the sovereign right to decide for themselves alone and free from foreign machinations and subversion their own future and path of development. We underline the important decision of CELAC which declared the region a “Zone of Peace,” reflecting the genuine feelings and aspirations of the vast majority of the population of the Western Hemisphere.
We express our solidarity with the Colombian people in their desire to achieve just peace and to live with dignity after the signing of the peace accords between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – the People’s Army (FARC-EP). At the same time, we denounce absolutely the cowardly murder of peasants, FARC members and leaders of the Colombian social movement which are taking place in contravention of the accords.
The African continent continues to experiences varying degrees of instability as a direct result of imperialist intervention in pursuit of an agenda to exploit its resources. It is continuing to be marked by both internal and external problems as a result of the machinations local and multinational big capital that have dragged the continent into wars and created political instability, and the outright threats of imperialism. The US Africa Command (Africom) continues to draw parts of the continent into conflict and its expansionist policies have resulted in a widening of the footprint of militarism. Many governments have been drawn into geopolitical games of intra-imperialist positioning and imperialism seeks to conquer more resources and markets for its multinational corporations.
In West Africa France continues to hold sway and has a strategy of dominance because of the historic colonial relations, language and others that have existed for many years. Turkey has also over the last period set itself the target of engaging the continent in order to present itself as a genuine friend of the continent with “no intentions and history of colonialism and dominance”. Erdogan has amongst others convened a Turkey-Africa Summit to mobilize support for his goals and markets for the Turkish bourgeoisie. The EU has set itself a program of so-called promotion of democracy and has bankrolled processes the promotion of democratic elections in many African countries. China has been viewed by many Africans as a threat because of the historical relations of imperialism and its propaganda in the continent.
The WPC reaffirms its solidarity with the people of Western Sahara. We condemn the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and underline our solidarity with the just struggle of the Saharawi people, for their inalienable right to self determination under a free and democratic referendum.
It is with these convictions that the Executive Committee of the WPC is determined to formulate resolutions and motions that push forward broad unity in actions for peace, democracy, social justice and solidarity between the peoples. This way, we will strengthen the peoples' solidarity in the struggle for peace, against imperialism!
The WPC is sending out a message to the peoples of the world, to the Peace loving people in all countries, from Hanoi, the capital of the heroic Vietnam, whose people under the wise leadership of Ho Chi Minh fought heroically, face to face US Imperialism victoriously by liberating and unifying the country. No matter how strong the enemy might appear or be, the peoples have the power to resist and to win, since they constitute the only “super-power”.