Secretariat Meeting, 20-21 June 2015, Istanbul, Turkey

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Communiqué of the Secretariat Meeting of the WPC

Istanbul 20-21 June 2015

The Secretariat of the World Peace Council concluded successfully its meeting in Istanbul, hosted excellently by the Peace Association of Turkey on 20-21 June 2015. The meeting took place at the same venue after the two successive regional Meetings of the Middle East and Europe on 18-19 June respectively.

WPC's President, Socorro Gomes, and General Secretary, Thanasis Pafilis, presented their respective interventions and reports to the meeting. They are considered part of the documents of the meeting which have been published and divulged.

The WPC received as well regional reports on the situation in the different continents and expressed its serious concerns about the further growing aggressiveness of imperialism all over the world and in many spheres of life, as well as the need to enhance the struggle for Peace, by strengthening the intervention of each WPC member, aiming at broad, militant and convergent actions in the defense of Peace.

The crisis of the capitalist system is deepening, with its negative social consequences for workers and people, class contradictions, geopolitical conflicts, rivalry among the great powers and blocks that are largely characterizing the situation.

There is growing poverty and extreme poverty in previously high developed and industrialized capitalist countries, with the marginalization of new masses, huge rates of unemployment, phenomena of hunger, malnutrition and desperate suicide rates. At the same time the profits of the big capital, the enterprises and monopolies are growing. The austerity programs jointly approved and applied by the governments, the EU and IMF are deregulating and smashing all workers and social rights are creating new masses of impoverished people.

The ongoing and increasing wars and aggressions are resulting in huge waves of refugees, particularly from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq) and from Libya and other African countries. As consequences of the imperialist plans and policies in these regions violent regime changes took place, invasion and occupation of territories, while civil wars and clashes are daily phenomena. The hypocrisy of the imperialists of USA, EU and NATO is scandalous regarding the refugees.

The US and NATO militarist rhetoric and the strategy of surrounding Russia with the concentration of NATO troops and weapons from the Baltic Sea, Poland, Romania till Bulgaria in Europe, are among the main current threats to international peace and security.

With an arsenal permanently based on the territories of allied countries up North, Central and Southern Europe, NATO, under the US' leadership, prepares new military maneuvers to train forces for “high level response", escalating the conflict in Ukraine, where it gives support to extreme right wing forces and neo-nazi groups. The ground for all the above is the geostrategic importance of the Ukraine, in particular the energy resources in gas and its pipelines and the confrontation with the Russian Federation.

In this framework the WPC salutes the resistence of the peoples and their struggle against oppression and imperialist aggressions, for peace, freedom, sovereignty and democracy, social justice, emancipation, for the right to decide and construct their own future free from any interference.

The 70th anniversary of the anti-fascist victory of the peoples constitutes a special anniversary as the day when the red flag, the banner of the first socialist state, the Soviet Union, was triumphantly raised over the Reichstag by the Red Army. The peoples' Victory of over nazi-fascism will remain in history as one of the brightest pages in the struggle for national liberation and for peace.

This year the global Peace Movement and the WPC remembers and honours also another important anniversary. 70 years ago the US imperialists dropped nuclear bombs on the martyr cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9.

The WPC called 65 years ago with its “Stockholm Appeal” for the total abolition of Nuclear weapons. It constituted the most massive signature campaign with more than 400 million signatures worldwide. The Stockholm Appeal is valid till today.

On the occasion of the 70 years from the liberation of Korea on August 15, a glorious victory of the Korean people, which was later pulled into a war by the US led aggression against the Korean people in 1950, the WPC supports the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, the replacement of the armistice agreement by a comprehensive peace accord and the end of all aggressions, sanctions and threats against the Korean people and the DPR Korea.

The militarization and the interferences are remarkable as imperialism pushes against Africa. We underline here the US African Command (Africom), one of the six spread over the planet by the military doctrine of full-spectrum dominance, with its Head Office in Germany.

The WPC stands firm and in solidarity with the Vietnamese people who liberated their country 40 years ago, but are suffering till today the consequences of the dirty war of the USA against their people, particularly with the old and new victims of the dioxin “Agent Orange”. The WPC denounces and condemns the stand of the USA who is not acknowledging its historical responsibilities towards the compensation and relief of the victims.

The WPC salutes the return of the “Cuban Five” as a victory of Cuba and of the international solidarity movement with the socialist Cuba. The WPC reaffirms its principle positions for the end of the criminal US blockade, the lifting of the reactionary “Common Position” of the EU towards Cuba and demands the end of the interference of USA and other imperialists in the domestic affairs of Cuba. Likewise we demand the shutdown of the US military Base in Guantanamo the removal of the attached concentration camp of the USA and the return of this Cuban territory to Cuba.

The WPC expresses its solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its people and elected leadership, acknowledging that Venezuela has never left the centre of attention of imperialism, since 1998. The recent escalation of the US aggression with the “Executive Order” issued by the US president has been rejected massively all over the world and must be revoked.

The WPC firmly rejects the US “Pivot to Asia” where the USA is shifting 60% of its military power to the Asia & Pacific region and the bilateral and multilateral military agreements with many of the counties which are creating new threats to peace and stability in the area. We express our concern about the tensions in the Southeast Asia and reaffirm our position that whatever disputed should be resolved by peaceful talks amongst all involved parties based on the UN Convention of the Law of Seas (1982). At the same time we denounce the US presence in the region which is trying to use the existing contradictions for their own benefit.

The recent tragic earthquake in Nepal with the more than 10.000 loss of lives and the immense consequences of injured people, thousands of damaged and destroyed buildings as well as infrastructure, raised awareness and solidarity amongst the peace loving people all over the world, in particular by the WPC family.

We emphasize also on the necessity to keep on the efforts and the struggle in each country and globally against NATO, the armed wing and murderous tool of the imperialists. We recall the murderous bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO which led to the creation of the NATO/EU protectorate in the Serbian province of Kosovo. The imperialist aggression of NATO in 1999 became the precedent case for all later aggressions of NATO in Central Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe today. The recent announcement of EU officials for a permanent EU army shows the growing militarization of the EU, the cooperation with NATO but also the ambitions of the European imperialists to play a greater role in the framework of their coordination/rivalry relationship with the USA. We denounce in particular the planned common military exercise of NATO Response Force in autumn between Portugal, Spain and Italy- under the name “Trident Juncture”.

We reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Cyprus which is for more than 40 years under partial occupation of 37% by Turkey and express our concern about the government‟s moves towards US, NATO and Israel along with reactionary monarchies in the Middle East. We reject a “solution” of the Cyprus issue converting Cyprus into a protectorate in order to serve the geostrategic and energy interests of imperialists in the region having the people of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots as victims. The WPC reaffirms its position for a viable and just solution based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, with one sovereignty, one citizenship and one international representation, with political equality as applied in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

The WPC Secretariat reaffirms its strong positions in regards to the imperialist plan for a „Great Middle East‟, which has been endorsed by the USA, NATO and the EU, along with their allies in the region by various means. The Islamic fundamentalist forces, for so many years tolerated and supported by the imperialists themselves, assumed new role with armed terrorists groups in various countries, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

The project of “ISIS” is the other side of the same coin of the imperialist agenda in the region. It is aiming in the control of spheres of influence and energy resources; it requires willing regimes and ignores any consequences for the peoples of the region. The hypocrisy and double moral is paramount. The crisis and instability created by the imperialists directly and indirectly through armed “jihadist” groups, is being used now for new military operations and invasions in Iraq and Syria, having as “model” the case of Libya which was bombed and cut in pieces. The WPC paid special attention to the negative role of the government of Turkey which is supporting and harbouring the armed Islamist groups all this period.

For the WPC a core issue remains in the Middle East the struggle of the Palestinian people for the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine in the borders before 4th June 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital. The WPC supports the efforts at the UN for the recognition of a full member status for Palestine. The Israeli government, fully backed by the USA and EU, is increasing its aggressions, harassments and apartheid policies in Palestine but also inside Israel against its own citizens, particularly Palestinians of 1948.

The WPC calls upon the peoples of the world to the peace loving forces and to all which identify world imperialism as the root cause for wars, occupation, injustice, misery and hunger, to join the common front of peoples and their movements to struggle for Peace, for freedom and social progress, for a new world order of friendship and cooperation amongst the peoples and to face, and confront and defeat this system in each country, region and globally, in multifaceted struggles and by diverse initiatives and actions.

At the same time we shall work hard to strengthen further our WPC, which has not only a glorious history of 66 years, but a lot to contribute in today‟s conditions on the side of the poor and oppressed, for a world of peace and social justice, free from imperialist domination and all forms of oppression, where the peoples will become the real masters of their fortunes.

The WPC will observe the coming period amongst others the following important activities:

• 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (6&9 August)
• The 10th August, international Day of the victims of “Agent Orange” in cooperation with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA)
• The 70th anniversary of the liberation of Korea in 1945
• The VI. Trilateral Meeting of Peace Movements of Cyprus, Turkey and Greece from September 18-20 in Larnaca
• To dedicate the 21st September this year to the affirmation of the WPC to the struggle for Peace and against NATO, its further expansion and aggressive plans
• Strengthen the international campaign against the NATO and undertake actions to protest the military exercise “Trident Juncture” in Portugal, Spain and Italy (from end September till beginning November);
• To support the campaign for the boycott of products from the Israeli settlements in Palestine, as an act of solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian people
• Continue to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-Fascism;
• Commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the WPC, value it's role and intervention and the urgency and timeliness of the struggle for Peace;
• Commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the Stockholm Appeal and the timeliness of the struggle for the abolition of nuclear weapons;
• Commemorate 65 years from the beginning of USA's aggression against Korea (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953).
• Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the UN Charter;
• Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Helsinki‟s Final Act;
• To hold our next Executive Committee Meeting in Guantanamo/Cuba on 20-21 November, to be followed by the IV. International Seminar for the abolition of all Foreign Military Bases on 23-25 November

WPC Secretariat Meeting in Istanbul
Speech of Socorro Gomes, WPC President (June 20, 2015)

Dear friends:

Our World Peace Council Secretariat Meeting in Istanbul takes place amidst an international context marked by grave tensions and threats, instabilities and uncertainties.

The crisis of the capitalist system is deepening, with its negative social consequences for workers and people, class contradictions, geopolitical conflicts, rivalry among the great powers and blocks that are largely characterizing the situation.

An important realignment in strengths is taking place and it underlines the relative decline of the US, China's ascension and BRICS'. Peoples are resisting and struggling everywhere, achieving partial victories in their efforts for peace, democracy, national sovereignty and social justice.

Despite the struggle for peace and for a new balance of forces in the world, the imperialist aggressions are intensifying against those who are not subdued to the imperialist dictates, and this is the real threat of war. 70 years after the triumph of the democratic forces against Nazi-Fascism and the end of the II World War - which we celebrate with important actions - Europe sees Fascist forces reemerging at its very center, forces that are instrumentalized by US and EU imperialism. This is what the situation in Ukraine shows, where imperialist powers supported a State coup and prompted conflicts, aiming to turn the country in an attack platform against Russia.

We meet here motivated by the conviction that another catastrophe is unacceptable, since peoples unite, mobilize, and push forward a broad and solidary anti-imperialist movement, a broad front for peace, for the prosperity of all nations and democracy in international relations.

We have reasons to be optimistic. In the recent period, the World Peace Council organized important regional meetings, in Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific before that. I mention now some initiatives that represent quite well our struggles' essence.

In March 2014, we participated in the international conference "World Peace versus Global Imperialism and Interventionism", organized by the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, on the 15th anniversary since NATO's criminal bombardments against former Yugoslavia.

We also underline the World Peace Council's participation in the events that marked the 75 th anniversary of the beginning of the II World War and the Nazi occupation of Prague, with a meeting in the Czech Republic, and the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the peoples' victory on Nazi-Fascism in a great event in Moscow, last May. In both occasions, we emphasized the necessity of unity and strengthening the international solidarity in the anti-imperialist struggle, to gather more support against war. We reacted against the militarization of the planet and reaffirmed that we continue to struggle for a world of progress, cooperation and international solidarity, based on the respect for the peoples' self-determination.

The WPC's participation in the electoral-observation mission to Syria was very important, in a country confronted with terrorism and with the imperialist powers. There we observed again that the Syrian people continue to heroically defending itself from the criminal attacks by the world's greatest powers and their allies in the region. The elections showed the Syrian people's determination to defend their country, their sovereignty and their right to decide their own fate, and to find a fair solution for the conflict in which they are drowning, choosing dialogue and diplomacy.

Last year, we also organized different activities in different countries according to our call for a Global Day of Action against NATO, which since April has 65 years of threats and aggressions against the peoples. We had a fresh push to our incisive and permanent denunciation against this war machine, enemy of peoples and peace.

The Executive Committee's meeting, in November 2014, in Goa, India, under AIPSO's auspices, marked our commemoration of the WPC's 65 years and was an important fact in our activities in the recent period. I recall that the final communiqué defined priorities regarding our actions for strengthening the peace movement in the whole world, broadening our fronts and attracting new friends to the struggle for the abolition of nuclear weapons, for the elimination of military foreign bases, for NATO's dismantling and for the recognition of the independent State of Palestine, among other essential issues.

In February this year, the WPC has participated in a solidarity mission to Venezuela, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth and by the Venezuelan International Committee for Solidarity (Cosi), with our support. On the occasion, the Anti-imperialist Tribune also took place. The stakes are clear for the social movements and personalities expressing solidarity with the Venezuelan people in defense of their Bolivarian revolution. We carefully follow the transformations not only in Venezuela, since the arrival of Hugo Chávez to the Nation's government, but also in the whole Latin America.

Also in Latin America, we participated, from April 9 to 11 this year, in the Peoples' Summit in Panama, an alternative forum to the Americas' Summit among the leaders of the 35 countries member to Organization of American States (OAS). The US' threats to Latin America and the Caribbean, with over 70 military bases spread over the continent, as well as the interferences in the political processes in Venezuela and Cuba, were issues that we discussed, together with the peoples' endeavor for development and social justice and the construction of an alternative model based in sovereign relationships and solidarity.

Earlier this month, the WPC took our solidarity to the Colombian people, participating in the Second Forum for Peace, which gathered over 1,000 people from the Latin American continent and other regions, where we reaffirmed our commitment to support the dialogues for the peace building process with social justice in Colombia.

Dear friends,

The US' militarist rhetoric and the strategy of surrounding Russia with the concentration of NATO troops and weapons in Europe are among the main current threats to international peace and security.

According to news reports, the Pentagon plans to place heavy weapons in Eastern Europe in enough quantity as to supposedly "contain any Russian aggression", as they put it.

With an arsenal permanently based on the territories of allied countries up North, Central and Southern Europe, NATO, under the US' control, prepares new military maneuvers to train forces for high level of "response" as they call it.

The US Air Force prepares the deployment of F-22 Raptor combat planes, their last generation of planes, to complete the bellicose surrounding of Russia. US airplanes fly frequently over the airspace along Russian borders and the Balkans, accompanied by land and naval joint military exercises, with an intensity that could be compared to the worst moments in the Cold War against the former Soviet Union.

Recently, the British Foreign Ministry manifested the will to receive the US missiles in the British territory, with nuclear warheads, under the pretext of countering Moscow.

According to news reports on June 13, the Pentagon wishes to position heavy weaponry (tanks, cannons, etc.) and 5,000 soldiers in Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Estonia.

While Washington announces it does not exclude the possibility of installing nuclear missiles in Europe, the Kiev Government announces that intercepting missiles could be based in Ukraine by the US and NATO, just like it happened in Poland and Romania.

US and NATO military commands and bases are acting to prepare "NATO's greatest military exercise since the end of the Cold War", the "Trident Juncture 2015".

The military exercises will take place in Italy, Spain and Portugal, from September 28 to November 6th, with land, aerial and naval unities and special forces from 32 countries (28 in NATO and five other allies): over 35 thousand troops, 200 airplanes, 50 warships. The military industries of 15 countries will also participate to evaluate which other weapons NATO needs.

These exercises' stated goals are to "test the response forces" (with 30 thousand troops), especially their highly fast operational response, also called the "spearhead" (with 5,000 troops). These maneuvers fit the mark of the militarist and interventionist offensive ratified in the last NATO's summit in Wales.

The production of weapons of mass destruction, the new military technologies and the rise on military expenses are part of this framework, in which the imperialist powers endanger the world peace.

Three general categories of technological weapon systems conform this strategy of new military technologies: ballistic missiles, conventional systems for long distance attacks and the space weaponry. Furthermore, the constant militarization and threat against the peoples are predominant in the international relations dictated by the imperialist powers, who present their new approach as if it were, on one hand, to improve their "security systems", as they put it, or, on the other hand, to pretend a good intention towards the reduction of their nuclear arsenals.

According to SIPRI, the Swedish institute, the military expenses last year reached 1.8 trillion dollars (2.3% of the world's GDP, a slight reduction of 0.4% in comparison to the previous year, but followed by rising figures in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia). Saudi Arabia had the greatest rise amongst the 15 biggest military spending: 17%. Although the US have reduced their spending by 20% since the peak reached in 2010, the sum is still 45% higher than in 2001, before 9/11, spending 610 billion dollars in 2014.

The US are still ahead of NATO members' overall expenditures, destining 3.5% of their GDP. Turkey, Greece, France and the UK are tied in the second place, spending 2.2% of their GDP, even in times of a devastating crisis leaving millions of Europeans unemployed, attacking their social accomplishments directly. These percentages reveal a slight fall in military spending in these countries affected by the crisis. However, during NATO's summit in Wales, in September 2014, the central commitment was, besides reviewing the "strategic concept" ever broadening the threat against the world even more, to spend more money in the sector, especially through the US' pressure, defining expenditure by 2% of national GDPs.

Germany, one of the five greatest expenditures in Western Europe (together with France, UK, Italy and Spain), announced that it intends to spend more in the military sector.

In Latin America, we cannot forget to link the revival of the Fourth Fleet in 2008 to the important discoveries of oil in Brazil, and with the accomplishments of the democratic processes conducted by progressive and leftist forces.

Dear friends,

The militarization and the interferences are remarkable as imperialist pushes against Africa. We underline the US African Command (Africom), one of the six spread over the planet by the military doctrine of full-spectrum dominance, and it was officially launched in activities in October 2007, becoming an independent command a year later, with its Head Office in Germany. According to its own website: "the Command's operations, its exercises and its programs of security cooperation support the US Government's foreign policy especially through activities military-to-military and through assistance programs". It goes further: "Our main mission in the assistance to African States and regional organizations for the strengthening of their capacities of defense allows for the improvement of the Africans' defense capacities to deal with their security threats and reduces the threats to the US interests."

This structure is the backdrop for actions such as the criminal bombardments to Libya in 2011. In the same direction, the French offensive against Mali, called Operation Serval (which lasted from January 11, 2013 until July 15, 2014), was launched unilaterally and clearly against the UN Security Council Resolution 2085 (December 20, 2012).

We also underline for the last period the tensions aggravated by the US interferences in the South China Sea, where territorial disputes do not concern this imperialist foreign power. Likewise, the constant destabilization of the Korean Peninsula, with joint military exercises among the US and South Korea, put an obstacle to the reconnection among the Korean people towards the peaceful reunification, a goal that is shared by both sides since their forced separation by the imperialism in the 1950s. This policy accompanies the US support to the re-militarization of Japan, against the very Japanese people's will, in whose territory the US also maintains dozens of military bases. As if it was not enough, Japan and the US agreed to establish military bases in the Philippines, an open provocation against China.

Friends,

Syria continues to face the dissemination and the advancement of brutal terrorist groups, at the same time when it confronts other violent groups that aim to overthrow a legitimate government. NATO sent its Patriot missiles to the border between Turkey and Syria, from where many of the mercenaries integrating the terrorist ranks depart. NATO maintains around 750 soldiers in the country, according to its own website. In 2012, it has decided to "collaborate to increase Turkey's defense capacities", as they put it, from 2013 onwards, turning the country into the entrance door for mercenaries paid by the imperialists and their allies in the region: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The devastation of cities and homes to thousands of Syrians is already recognized as one of the greatest catastrophes in the region, imposing sufferings the Syrian people never experienced: many were slaughtered or forced to seek refuge. Humanity's historical patrimony, of which Syria is rightly proud of, is systematically destroyed, which demonstrates the brutal obscurantism of the forces confronted by the Arab-Syrian Army. Cities of high strategical importance, such as Palmira, are among the main targets, and the voices of the most aggressive reactionary forces urge the imperialist powers to treat the war on Syria as a comprehensive, but unitary situation, supposedly fighting against terrorism of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" and the very Syrian Government, to overthrow it. As if their goals were not constantly to overthrow the Government.

The Palestinian Question also remains at the center of our attentions and of the WPC solidarity. In 2014, declared by the UN as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we again watched the macabre repetition of the massacre perpetrated by the Zionist regime of Israel.

Violence in the occupied West Bank has reached records, as well as the building of illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories, but as if the daily violation of the Palestinians' most basic rights was not enough, another large-scale offensive was launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip, in July. It was the third of such "military operations" in five years, which left the territory again devastated, with little possibility of reconstruction due to the cycle of violence and the criminal blockade of the territory, killing over 2,200 people - including almost 600 children.

Many world organizations showed solidarity with the Palestinians and the UN agencies have condemned not only the massacre but also the very policy based on systematic impoverishing and subduing. The catastrophe provoked by the new offensive has pushed forward global campaigns against the overall occupation of Palestine by Israel and against the impunity sustaining it. We salute, with hope, the Palestinian strategy to International Law and their position against the complete domination of the innocuous peace process by Israel's greatest ally and sponsor, the USA. The State of Palestine’s accession to the International Criminal Court and the inquiry commission launched by the UN Human Rights Council - with only vote contrary to it, the US' - are paths that could finally lead us to accountability of Israeli leaders responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people. We should push for these actions not to be empty, void, and demand the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. With this new government, even more racist and extremist in Israel and the declaration of an unbreakable alliance by the Obama government - although face with momentary tensions - we must have a clear understanding of the necessity of rethinking the approach, strengthening global movements in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their just cause for liberation and for accountability.

I also wish to refer to Latin America and the Caribbean. The heroic people of Cuba achieved an important victory liberating the five heroes that were arrested in the USA. It was also a meaningful achievement the fact that Cuba was removed from the infamous list of "States sponsoring terrorism". We salute the country's achievements in the struggle against the blockade imposed by the US. We consider it positive for Cuban development and the struggle for world peace the effort for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the US.

At the same time, we raise our vigilance and resistance to the destabilizing offensive by the US imperialist against Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil.

Friends,

If we want peace, we must resist and struggle, strengthen an organizational effort to strengthen our council and turn it into a powerful center in this struggle, which has to do to the very salvation of humanity. Above all, we should read correctly the political situation, to correctly measure the correlation of forces, to understand the general sense of the facts, the essence of phenomena and the gravity of threats posed against the peoples.

More than ever, "peace is a matter of all peoples", as our first president Frederic Juliot Curie put it, and the key is in the broad unity for pushing forward our struggle and our cause's victory.

I recall here the vitality with which the French writer and pacifist Romain Rolland made an appeal in the 1930s for unity against war: "We call on every peoples, all parties, all men and all women of good will. It is not just about one people's interests, or one class's, one party. Everyone is at stake. Salvation cannot come if not by everyone's hands. May all act! It is necessary to leave discussions that dilacerate us aside. We must unite against the common enemy. Let's prevent war!"

May this spirit, this emphasis and this determination preside over our meeting's works and our actions.

Thank you very much.

Socorro Gomes President of the WPC Istanbul - June 20, 2015

Report of the General Secretary WPC Thanassis Pafilis to the Secretariat 20-21 June, 2015 Istanbul/Turkey

Dear Comrades and Friends

First of all our warmest greetings and thanks to the Peace Association of Turkey for hosting this important triple meeting of the WPC at a crucial moment for peace and humanity in the region and world wide.
We express our deepest solidarity to our Turkish comrades and friends, who are struggling bravely in difficult conditions in Turkey, against the reactionary policies of the government in all fields, but in particular against the active negative role of Turkey in the developments in the Middle East with a war drive and pro-imperialist attitude to the detriment of the Turkish people and of the peoples of the region.
The WPC is proud of its Member Organisation, the “Peace Association”, which is in the front line of the struggle and mobilizations against Turkey’s involvement in the imperialist plans in the region and which is once again showing its deep internationalist commitment to our common cause and to the WPC with this meeting.

Dear friends and fellow fighters for peace

The successful holding of the last Executive Committee Goa/India last November provided a positive ground with its decisions and plan of actions. The WPC developed and carried out several campaigns and initiatives in these 7 months, based on our principle positions and views about the imperialist dominated world, which we oppose and fight back.
The global developments in the world are increasingly characterized by the growing aggressiveness of imperialism, its internal antagonisms under the light of the deep capitalist economic crisis for more than five years now. The global capital, the multinational corporations and monopolies are intensifying with the cooperation of the willing governments their attack on workers’ right, social security and welfare, trying to shift the consequences of the crisis to the shoulders of the working masses, the self employed, small peasants, the pensioners and the youth. There is growing poverty and extreme poverty in previously high developed and industrialized capitalist countries, with the marginalization of new masses, huge rates of unemployment, phenomena of hunger, malnutrition and desperate suicide rates. At the same time the profits of the big capital, the enterprises and monopolies are growing, despite the smaller rates in comparison to the past.
The recent Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP) as an example shows the strong strive of the monopolies and their governments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean (the EU and USA), to deal with the economic recession and crisis by coordinating efforts to shift the burden on the peoples. It constitutes actually a type of “Economic NATO” safeguarding the interests of the multinational corporations and their profits.
Despite the economic crisis of the system, huge amounts are being still spent for military expenditure. According to the SIPRI institute in 2014 1.776 billion USD was spent for military purposes. 610 Billion USD by the USA, with a small decrease, due to budget deficit control measures. A huge increase is being noted in the Gulf region Middle East. Military Expenditure is growing in Eastern Europe drastically. All the above are helpful for the war industries and the weapons exports pushing up further the profits of the enterprises feeding and providing tools and weapons for the murderous imperialist aggressions and plans worldwide.
One small part of the global military expenditure would be enough to deal and cover with all hunger and misery in the world, with curable diseases and underdevelopment globally. It is with great concern to note that almost one third of the population of earth is living below or at the margins of poverty, especially in Africa, parts of Asia and recently in the Middle East. In several European Countries more than 25% of population lives below poverty line, as a new phenomenon of the economic crisis. The austerity programs jointly approved and applied by the governments, the EU and IMF are deregulating and smashing all workers and social rights are creating new masses of impoverished people.
The ongoing and increasing wars and aggressions are resulting in huge waves of refugees, particularly from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq) and from Libya and other African countries. As consequences of the imperialist plans and policies in these regions violent regime changes took place, invasion and occupation of territories, while civil wars and clashes are daily phenomena. The hypocrisy of the imperialists of USA, EU and NATO is scandalous. On the one hand they trigger and orchestrate the instability and the wars, on the other hand they neglect and ignore the many thousands of refugees who are trying to reach the European coasts, running for their lives. Several thousands of them are dying in the sea, many more are victims firstly of the “smugglers of human souls” who earn millions of dollars and secondly of the inhuman detention centers in Italy, Greece, Spain, Malta, due to the reactionary Dublin agreements. This is the brutal face of imperialism which is spreading death and terror directly with its troops and bombs or indirectly through the armed religious fundamentalist groups and sends warships to face the poor refugees with the pretext of fighting the “smugglers of migrants”.
The WPC, while fighting for the end of the imperialist aggressions, demands immediate measures for the rescue and relief of these refugees and the guarantee for them to travel peacefully and with the necessary documents to their final destination. This is the minimum assumption of humanitarian responsibility by the ones who have caused and are still causing the waves of refugees.

Dear friends

This year marks important anniversaries for the World Peace Council and the peoples of the world. The 70th anniversary of the anti-fascist victory of the peoples was celebrated and commemorated in dozens of countries, with the active involvement of the WPC members. This anniversary, the day when the red flag, the banner of the first socialist state, the Soviet Union, was triumphantly raised over the Reichstag by the Red Army will remain in history as one of the brightest pages in the peoples’ history.
The WPC pays tribute to all those who gave their lives or were disabled on the battlefields and in the underground resistance in order to smash the fascist monster, which was created by capitalism. To the vanguard forces all over the world which led the national liberation struggles.
To all those who fought with weapons or with leaflets in their hands, maintained a heroic stance in the jails and in the face of the execution squads. To the countless who died of hunger, the main victims of which were children. To the millions who were tortured in the horrible concentration and death camps, and in every place where unspeakable horrors were committed, where the exploitation of man by man reached its peak , with the absolute degradation of human existence.
It is very important for the workers, the peoples and especially the youth to search for the truth, the real facts and causes that led to global and local wars, to the rise and prevalence of fascism-Nazism is certain countries.
Particularly after 1990, we have witnessed an enormous effort, led by the EU and the forces that support the capitalist system, to falsify the historical truth. They are attempting, via the distortion and falsification, to turn the historical truth on its head, to conceal the fact that fascism is the creation of capitalism.
They are trying to conceal the enormous and decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, to equate the victims with the persecutors, to identify the most reactionary inhumane and appalling theory of fascism with the most human and progressive theory of communism. Even the day of victory itself, the 9th May was pronounced by the EU provocatively as “Day of Europe”, to divert from and distort the historical truth of the victory against fascism.
The WPC paid tribute to this important anniversary by attending with a delegation of the Secretariat the central events organized in Moscow by the CPRF this May. On this occasion an important common statement was issued by the six (6) International Organizations (WPC, WFTU, WFDY, WIDF, FIR, IADL), which has been published and sent out. The visit to Moscow was useful also for exploring the contacts and potential partners for the WPC in Russia.
This year the World Peace Council honored as well the 40th anniversary of the glorious liberation of Saigon (today Ho Chi Minh City) and the defeat of the US imperialists in 1975. The WPC stands firm and in solidarity with the Vietnamese people who liberated their country, but are suffering till today the consequences of the dirty war of the USA against their people, particularly with the old and new victims of the dioxin “Agent Orange”. The WPC denounces the stand of the USA who is not acknowledging its historical responsibilities towards the compensation and relief of the victims. The 10th August, international Day of the victims of “Agent Orange” has to be observed by the WPC and its member organizations properly.
This year the global Peace Movement and the WPC remembers and honors also another important anniversary. 70 years ago the US imperialists dropped nuclear bombs on the martyr cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, children and entire families were “extinguished”, although the war was already over three months before. Many thousands till today are living the consequences of the nuclear horror. For the WPC this brutal action of revenge against the Japanese civilian people underlines as well the fact that the USA was the first and only country which used nuclear weapons in history. Our position against imperialism, fascism and Japanese militarism does not allow us to neglect the massive murder of people for the sake of nuclear supremacy. The WPC called 65 years ago with its “Stockholm Appeal” for the total abolition of Nuclear weapons. It constituted the most massive signature campaign with more than 400 millions signatures world wide. The Stockholm Appeal is valid till today, despite the change of correlation of forces 25 years ago.
The WPC shall highlight in many countries these important anniversaries the coming months and is expressing its solidarity with the Japanese people and their demand for the global abolition of all Nuclear Weapons but also for the shut down of all Nuclear Energy plants in Japan, which have caused terrible consequences in the last years.
The WPC honors as well this year the 70 years from the liberation of Korea on August 15, a glorious victory of the Korean people, which was later pulled into a war by the US led aggression against the Korean people in 1950. The WPC supports the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, the replacement of the armistice agreement by a comprehensive peace accord and the end of all imperialist aggressions, sanctions and threats against the Korean people and the DPRKorea.

Dear friends
The last period after the EC of Goa, the WPC has carried out important solidarity activities with peoples under imperialist threats and interventions. We express our satisfaction with the return of the three Cuban patriots in December 2014, who were unjustly jailed for 16 years, joining the other two who previously returned to Cuba after serving many years in US jails. The return of the “Cuban Five” is also a victory of the international solidarity movement with the socialist Cuba. The WPC reaffirms its principle positions for the end of the US blockade, the lifting of the reactionary “Common Position” of the EU towards Cuba and demands the end of the interference of USA and other imperialists in the domestic affairs of Cuba. Likewise we demand the shutdown of the US military Basis in Guantanamo and the removal of the attached concentration camp of the USA. In this light we support actively the III. International Seminar to be held this end of November in the Cuban Province of Guantanamo hosted by the MOVPAZ.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its people and elected leadership has never left the center of attention of imperialism, since 1998. Under this light the WPC participated with WFDY in a solidarity mission to Venezuela end of February 2015 in which the firm positions of the WPC have been highlighted. The recent escalation of the US aggression with the “Executive Order” issued by the US president calling Venezuela an “extraordinary threat to the Foreign Policy and Security of the USA” has been rejected massively all over the world. The WPC called and organized with COSI a Global day of action in solidarity with Venezuela on 19th April with more than 40 member organizations participated in it. The WPC participated through its member organizations along with COSI in the Peoples’ summit events in Panama and Brussels recently.
The recent tragic earthquake in Nepal with the more than 10.000 loss of lives and the immense consequences of injured people, thousands of damaged and destroyed buildings as well as infrastructure, raised awareness and solidarity amongst the peace loving people all over the world. The WPC called upon all friends to show by all means their support for the relief of the victims, many WPC members, especially from South Asia have already taken concrete initiatives. We express our full-hearted condolences and solidarity to the Nepal Peace & Solidarity Council and call upon all friends to undertake initiatives through the social movements and through pressure on the governments, to increase the humanitarian aid to the suffering Nepali people.

Dear friends
The WPC will continue fighting against the imperialist plans around the world. We emphasize here on the US “Pivot to Asia” where the USA is shifting 60% of its military power to the Asia&Pacific region and the bilateral and multilateral military agreements with many of the counties which are creating new threats to peace and stability in the area. We express our concern about the tensions in the area of the “South China Sea” and reaffirm our position that whatever disputed should be resolved by peaceful talks amongst all involved parties based on the UN Convention of the Law of Seas (1982). At the same time we denounce the US presence in the region, which is offering its “good services” to various sides. The WPC expresses its discontent with dangerous nationalist tendencies in the region, which are not helpful for the peaceful and comprehensive solution.
We emphasize as well on the dangerous developments in the crisis in the Ukraine. After the imperialist intervention by USA and EU in November 2013 and the orchestrated Coup d’état in Kiev a reactionary regime was installed in the Ukraine. Political and physical persecution of political opponents, demolition of symbols of the USSR and restoration of Neo-fascist (even in the government) are prevailing. The Russian speaking minority in the country and especially in its eastern part, is being harassed, thousands of civilians have lost their lives under heavy bombing of the Donbass region by the Kiev regime while the Communists and their party in the Ukraine have been illegalized, offices burned down and leaders physically attacked. NATO is increasing its troops in Poland and the Baltic States, along with the plans to affiliate Ukraine into NATO. The ground for all the above is the geostrategic importance of the Ukraine, in particular the energy resources in gas and its pipelines and the competition with the Russian Federation in the area. The WPC reaffirms its solidarity with the peace loving forces in the Ukraine, denounces the “witch-hunting” of the Communists and demands the end of foreign imperialist interference in the country.
We emphasize also on the necessity to keep on the efforts and the struggle against NATO, armed wing of imperialism and murderous tool of the imperialists. We do not forget the murderous bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO which led to the creation of the NATO/EU protectorate in the Serbian province of Kosovo. The imperialist aggression of NATO in 1999 became the precedent case for all later aggressions of NATO in Central Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe today. The recent announcement of EU officials for a permanent EU army shows the growing militarization of the EU, the cooperation with NATO but also the ambitions of the European imperialists to play a greater role in their competition with other imperialist centers and forces.
We reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Cyprus which is for more than 40 years under partial occupation of 37% and express our concern about the right wing government that strengthens its bonds with the oil multinationals, the US, NATO and Israel along with reactionary monarchies in the Middle East. We reject a “solution” of the Cyprus issue converting Cyprus into a protectorate in order to serve the geostrategic and energy interests of imperialists in the region having the people of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots as victims. The WPC reaffirms its position for a viable and just solution based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, with one sovereignty, one citizenship and one international representation, with political equality as applied in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

Dear comrades and friends
Without underestimating any of the regions and areas in the world, where people are suffering from the consequences of imperialist domination our special attention all this period goes to the Middle East region. We salute the members of the WPC who held two days go here in Istanbul their regional meeting and call upon all members and friends of the WPC in the Middle East to be vigilant about the increasing aggressive plans of the imperialists in a period which is described in the regional Middle East Report “as the most dangerous and bloody period with the imperialist forces to intervene in many countries directly with catastrophic results, killings, destructions, redrawing boarders and division of the countries , aiming at the control and exploitation of the richest oil and gas reserves in the world without caring about the life and peoples”.
The WPC took clear positions, from the very first moment, in regards to the imperialist plan for a ‘new Middle East’, which is endorsed by the USA, the EU, its allies in the region by various means. The massive uprisings of peoples in 2011 against previously friendly to the imperialists and reactionary regimes in Egypt, Tunisia etc, were likewise used under the ‘Arab Spring’ for the purpose of their plans. The Islamic fundamentalist forces, for so many years tolerated and nurtured by the imperialists themselves, assumed new role with armed “holy warriors” in various countries, particularly in Iraq and Syria. The project of “ISIS” is the other side of the same coin of the imperialist agenda in the region. It is aiming in the control of spheres of influence and energy resources; it requires willing regimes and ignores any consequences for the peoples of the region. The hypocrisy and double moral is paramount. The crisis and instability created by the imperialists directly and indirectly through armed dijhadist groups, is being used now for new military operations and invasions. The “model” of Libya which was bombed and cut in pieces is the danger for Iraq and Syria. The WPC did never accept NATO’s or any other imperialist intervention under any pretext. There cannot be any “humanitarian military intervention” by the ones who have slaughtered the same people. Special responsibility in all this is bearing the Turkish government, without which the plans in Syria would have not been able to be applied. The millions of refugees in Turkey and other neighbour countries is the tragic result of a plan to overthrow the regime in Damascus by multinational armed gangs entering mainly from Turkey, co-sponsored by the Gulf monarchies.
The WPC expresses once more its sincere solidarity with the Syrian people and all peoples in the region; their suffering is big these days. The WPC will take initiatives together with our member organizations to uncover the plans and spread the truth about the real intentions behind the crisis. To confront the lies and hypocrisy of the corporate media controlled by the imperialists and rally forces around the anti-imperialist solidarity with the peoples.
We convey in particular our solidarity to the Syrian National Peace Council, our partner and member of the Secretariat, who apologizes for the absence today, despite their strong wish to be here. They thank the WPC for the firm and consequent positions on the side of the Syrian people.
A core issue remains in the region the struggle of the Palestinian people for the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine within the borders of 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital. The WPC supports the efforts at the UN for the recognition of a full member status for Palestine. The Israeli government, fully backed by the USA and EU, is increasing its aggressions, harassments and apartheid policies in Palestine but also inside Israel against its own citizens, particularly Palestinians of 1948.

Dear friends and comrades
We have in front of us challenges deriving from the growing imperialist aggressiveness. The peace loving forces, all people which identify world imperialism as the root cause for wars, occupation, injustice, misery and hunger, are called to join the common front of peoples and their movements to face, confront and defeat this system in each country, region and globally, in multifaceted struggles and by diverse initiatives and actions. At the same time we shall work hard to strengthen further our WPC, which has not only a glorious history of 66 years, but a lot to contribute in today’s conditions on the side of the poor and oppressed, for a world of peace and social justice, free from imperialist domination and exploitation, where the peoples will become the real masters of their fortunes.