March 24, 1999
Stop NATO Agression Now!
No "Peacemaking" Troops in Kosovo!
GET Canada Out of NATO!
Statement of the Central Executive Committtee
Communist Party of Canada
NATO forces have now launched a horrific and totally unjustified attack on the peoples
of Yugoslavia. This blatant act of aggression will inevitably result in high numbers
of human casulties -- both civilian and military -- and inflict untold damage on
Yugoslavia, contrary to the empty claims by U.S. and other NATO generals that these
"surgical strikes" will claim few victims.
But this attack will not only bring great harm to the peoples of Yugolsavia, and make
a political settlement of the "Kosovo question" more difficult to achieve; it will
further destabilize the political situation in the Balkans, and could lead to a wider,
even more dangerous conflict.
Military action against the Yugoslavian government and people by U.S. imperialism and
its Western allies violates international law respecting national sovereignty. It is a
further (re)turn towards "gunboat diplomacy" by the NATO powers against smaller,
weaker states and peoples; an act of wanton, unjustified aggression, serving
imperialist ambitions in the region, not the cause of peace.
From the Beginning to the Present
Communists Struggle for a Socialist Canada
Genuine peace can never be secured through means of extortion and blackmail. But that
is exactly what the NATO Alliance -- of which Canada is a full member -- is trying to
do.
This marks the first-ever military action by the U.S.-led alliance against another
country. NATO, since its inception, has been an aggressive military bloc serving U.S.
imperialist interests. Now that the Soviet Union and the socialist community no longer
exist to effectively curb its actions, NATO feels free to throw its weight around with
impunity.
NATO's interference into what is clearly a domestic dispute, and its use of crude
threats and intimidation to force a sovereign government to accept an "agreement"
which the U.S. and other NATO powers want imposed -- an "agreement" which (for the
first time) involves the stationing of NATO troops on the soil of a non-NATO country
-- fully expose NATO's dangerously aggressive character.
Canada is deeply implicated in this NATO bullying. The statements by PM Chr*tien and
External Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy that this action is being undertaken for
"humanitarian purposes" is a gross attempt to deceive the Canadian people. What is
actually transpiring is a case of extortion at the point of a gun, plain and simple.
The Canadian government is knee-deep in this aggression against Yugoslavia. It has
sent several CF-18s to the region, possibly to go into action over foreign soil to
enforce NATO dictate. And the Chretien government has taken such action without any
real debate in Parliament, or consultation with the Canadian people!
For all its 'liberal' pretensions, the federal government has succumbed to the same
big power, bully-like policies and practices as currently prevail in Washington,
London and Berlin. This chauvinist position is dangerously out of step with the views
of the vast majority of Canadians.
The current Kosovo crisis reveals NATO's "true colours"-- not the 'defensive shield'
which it has long pretended to be, but rather an 'offensive sword' acting
unilaterally, without U.N. or even its Security Council blessing. Canada's exit from
NATO is long overdue; it should terminate its membership now, and remove itself from
all military blocs.
The Communist Party urgently calls on the Canadian government to demand the immediate
cessation of NATO aggression, and to press instead for a political resolution to the
Kosovo dispute under the auspices of the United Nations. We also call upon the
Security Council to convene immediately to condemn this attack, and to demand that all
military action by NATO cease.
Our Party also urges peace-loving and democratically minded Canadians to take
immediate steps to mobilize all forms of pressure on the federal government to stop
this aggression and Canada's participation in it, and to seek a peaceful end to this
crisis.
Issued by the Central Executive Committee,
Communist Party of Canada
March 24, 1999
****************************
--- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
