Statement of the Communist Party on Terrorist Attacks in U.S.
The Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada released the following statement dealing with yesterday's events in the United States.
**************** 1. The Communist Party of Canada deplores and condemns the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington that occurred on September 11, 2001. We share the sorrow and grief caused by these unpardonable acts.
2. Canadian Communists reject terrorism -- the targeting of innocent civilians in order to achieve political ends -- as a form of political struggle. Genuine progress can only be achieved through the direct and active involvement of the masses of working people in a determined and conscious struggle for democracy, peace and social advance. Acts of terrorism undermine the struggle for progressive change; they sideline and neutralize the mass movement, create fear and disorientation in the broad people's fightback, and provide imperialism and reaction with a powerful pretext to intensify repression.
3. While categorically rejecting terrorism, the CPC nevertheless feels compelled to point out that such desperate tactics are a direct product of growing anger and resentment around the world. Three-quarters of humanity are forced to tolerate the rampaging spread of mass poverty, economic plunder and social disparity in their respective countries; and they must do so under conditions imposed upon them by a handful of dominant imperialist powers led by the United States, and including Canada and the other leading capitalist countries. When countries and peoples have refused to succumb to dictates from Washington, they have fallen victim to U.S.-organized state terrorism, from Cuba and Chile to Iraq and Yugoslavia. It is precisely this master-servant relationship between U.S. imperialism and virtually the rest of humanity that impel individuals, groups and movements to strike back with whatever means are available to them.
4. International terrorism can only be curbed and ultimately eliminated by strengthening international relations based on the principles of peace, economic and social equality, and full respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of all nations and peoples. Unfortunately, it is precisely the United States under the current Bush Administration which is moving to further undermine existing international treaties and the principle of international cooperation in general, in favour of a self-serving unilateralism by Washington and its NATO allies. This dangerous shift is reflected in the attempt by Washington to scuttle the Kyoto Agreement on Global Warming, the unilateral move to cancel the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and launch a massive new round of the arms race through construction of the 'national missile defence' system, and most recently in the withdrawal of the U.S. from the International Conference against Racism held in Durban, South Africa.
5. There is a grave danger that in the immediate aftermath of these terrorist acts, the U.S. Administration will launch so-called 'retaliatory' attacks against certain countries or movements around the world. We call upon the peace forces across Canada and throughout the world to mobilize to prevent a unilateral military response by the U.S., and instead to demand a political solution to this festering problem, based on an increased positive role of the United Nations to seek just peaceful political solutions to local and regional conflicts around the world.
6. The CPC will strongly oppose any attempt internationally or domestically to use this tragic episode as a justification to limit democratic rights including the rights to assembly, privacy, legal due process or extend repression against the people. The Communist Party condemns tendencies in the mainstream press to 'scapegoat' Arab Canadians in the wake of these terrorist acts, and will strenuously combat any and all attempts to victimize or marginalize any national, ethnic, religious or political minority or community in Canada. We call on all labour, progressive and democratic forces to defend democracy and the cause of peace, and oppose all attacks on these principles in the name of 'fighting terrorism'.
Issued by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada September 12, 2001
For more information, contact CPC Party leader Miguel Figueroa at 416-469-2446.
Communist Party of Canada 290A Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ont. M4K 1N6 416-469-2446 (voice) 416-469-4063 (fax) pvoice at web.net http://www.communist-party.ca