For Immediate Release
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.
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Communist Party of Canada
290A Danforth Ave.,
Toronto, Ont. M4K 1N6
416-469-2446 (voice)
416-469-4063 (fax)
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.communist-party.ca
