Against NATO and the wars of imperialism, on the side of working class and democracy.
International Department, Communist Party of Popular Unity (Partito Comunista di Unità Popolare), Italy
As the NATO summit in Ankara approaches on July 7-9, the repressive crackdown is becoming increasingly ferocious, and the militarization of territories and public spaces, along with the suppression of democratic freedom and democratic rights themselves, is becoming increasingly menacing.
In the last days, news broke of a military-style raid by Turkish police forces inside the camp of the World Anti-Imperialist Youth Platform, resulting in the arrest of dozens of comrades and activists, including the international delegation of the World Anti-Imperialist Youth Platform and young Turkish activists.
The raid is taking place in the context of the Third International Anti-Imperialist Conference of the Youth Platform and within the framework of the activities of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform and other movements that will be engaged, during the days of the NATO summit, in a series of activities and initiatives against NATO, against the presence of US and NATO occupation in our territories, against the growing threat, even nuclear, of Western imperialism, against war and for peace.
The escalation of conflict by imperialist governments and those allied with North American imperialism goes hand in hand with the growth in organization and coordination of the various forces engaged in the fight against war and imperialism, and with the growing involvement of broader social and popular sectors, intellectuals and academics, and, first and foremost, the workers’ movement.
Repression, elimination of democratic protections, police violence, and military aggression go hand in hand with the increasingly suffocating militarization of territories and public spaces: the Erdoğan government has practically transformed Turkish territory into a platform serving the NATO summit and, with access restrictions and red zones, has sealed off and closed off entire sectors of the capital Ankara.
Under the usual guise of an alleged “anti-terrorism operation”, over 500 people, including members of Turkish progressive parties as well as social, trade union, and youth activists, have been arrested in a vast campaign of preventative arrests over the past few days. Between June 28 and July 10, all forms of public assembly, demonstration, march, leaflet distribution, and banner display were completely banned in Ankara and all areas hosting NATO military bases, once again confirming the significance of the presence of US and NATO bases on the territory of nominally allied and sovereign countries: a veritable military occupation, impeding the development of an independent international policy and posing a direct threat to democracy itself.
As Communist Party of Popular Unity, member of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform, we unhesitatingly demand the immediate release of the international delegation of the World Anti-Imperialist Youth Platform and all comrades and activists engaged in the international mobilization against imperialism and its wars.
We firmly oppose, fully aware of the increasingly tight connection between the external and internal fronts of the Third World War underway across the planet’s most diverse theaters, the repression, the militarization of territories and public spaces, and the increasingly suffocating democratic suppression that the rearmament and war project brings with it.
We fight against imperialist wars, which are simultaneously wars against workers. These attacks are made to be paid for directly by workers, with the rising costs of energy, gasoline, and all basic necessities, the closure of factories and businesses, and the systematic elimination of jobs: one and a half million jobs directly at risk in the EU alone, the criminal plan to lay off one hundred thousand workers at Volkswagen in Germany, and economic losses linked to the war estimated at over 150 billion euros in Italy alone are tangible signs of the fusion between the external and internal fronts, and of the fact that imperialist war is always a tool of class struggle from above, against the working class and the overall movement of workers.
We reiterate, today more than ever, our slogans and the goals of our struggle: for the closure of US and NATO bases in Italy, for Italy’s exit from NATO, the EU, and the euro, for the resumption of relations with the Russian Federation and the consolidation of relations with the People’s Republic of China, for a policy of strategic rapprochement with the BRICS platforms and the multipolar world, for a future of peace with authentic democracy and social justice, of equal cooperation and friendship between peoples.
