English Home The 49th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan August 7th 2011 The Executive Committee for the 49th International Antiwar Assembly composed of All-Japan Federation of Students' Self-Governing Associations [Zengakuren] Antiwar Youth Committee Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) [JRCL (RMF)] The Central meeting in Tokyo On August 7th, the Assembly was held successfully. The central meeting was held in Tokyo, and the regional meetings on the same day in 6 cities (the Hokkaido meeting in Sapporo, the Hokuriku meeting in Kanazawa, the Tokai meeting in Nagoya, the Kansai meeting in Osaka, the Kyushu meeting in Fukuoka and the Okinawa meeting in Urasoe). Every meeting was full of spirits with the active participation by young workers and students, many of whom had been fighting to support disaster victims against the government’s failure in rescue efforts and carrying out struggles against nuclear development, against the strengthening of the US-Japan military alliance. The keynote reporter to the central meeting said: The radioactive contamination from the Fukushima plant is still spreading day by day. In spite of the serious consequences, monopoly capitalists and their government are desperate to continue operating their nuclear facilities. Let us fight against their nuclear development! Let us advance antiwar struggles at the same time against the strengthening of the US-Japan military alliance! Fight in solidarity with fighting masses in the Middle East and all over the world! The participants in the central meeting also listened to the speeches by a militant worker in Tokyo and the newly elected Zengakuren chairman. The Executive Committee for the Assembly received 14 messages of solidarity from 10 countries. All of them were introduced to the audience after having been translated, printed and distributed. Participants were also watching pictures displayed at a lounge. Those were related to the fights mentioned in the messages, including the striking workers and students in Chile, anti-cuts demonstrations of British workers, brave fights by Palestinian youth, a Polynesian event to remember the French nuclear testing. Imagining the comrades fighting all over the world, Japanese workers and students strengthened their determinations to fight internationally in solidarity with them. Comrades all over the world! Let us fight against ‘war and poverty’ being imposed on the toiling masses of the world! Let us fight on the basis of the strengthened solidarity between us! Click to see the messages of solidarity to the Assembly      The Kansai Assembly in Osaka The  Okinawa Assembly in Urasoe      The Hokuriku Assembly in Kanazawa  The Hokkaido Assembly in Sapporo      The Tokai Assembly in Nagoya  The Kyushu Assembly in Fukuoka Overseas Appeal for the 49th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan Advance an international antiwar struggle! Stir up the flames of struggle against nuclear development! Fight against every attempt to coerce the working people into poverty, to impose heavy taxation! Strengthen the solidarity of workers and people fighting all over the world! (1) The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, following upon the March 11th massive earthquake and tsunami, is becoming so serious that it is no longer possible to predict how and when it can be resolved. The cores of Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 have all melted down. What is worse, there is even a possibility that some of the melted fuels have gone through the containment vessels (known as 'melt-through'). Massive amounts of radioactive substances are being released into the atmosphere, the ground and the ocean. They are as massive as, or far more than, those scattered when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former USSR burst into flames. Hills and fields that previously nurtured agriculture and stock farming, together with fishing grounds teeming with marine produce, are now transformed into waste lands and barren seas. The toiling masses are furious at the Naoto Kan-led DPJ government and the monopoly capitalists of Tokyo Electric Power Co. for their incompetence and do-nothingism, both in the rescue efforts and in their handling of the nuclear accident. Workers, students and citizens are rising up in protest on a massive scale under the slogan 'Stop all nuclear plants right now!' We, the revolutionary Left of Japan, are fighting in the forefront of this struggle. The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster has caused shock waves in the rest of the world, especially in countries where nuclear plants are in operation. German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has declared her intention to abandon the country's dependence on atomic energy. And a referendum of the Italian people voted overwhelmingly against the resumption of nuclear plant operation (94% 'No' votes), foiling the machinations of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In the midst of this situation, however, most of the governments of major nuclear states, including the US, France, Britain and Russia, are waving a flag in favour of continuing nuclear development. Unbelievably, the Japanese government is among them. Moreover, they are desperately exporting nuclear facilities. Dependent as they are on these exports, the rulers of emerging economies (including China, India, Vietnam and Turkey) and oil-producing countries in the Middle East are also bent on building or increasing their own nuclear plants. In Japan, 54 nuclear reactors have been built on the limited land available. These facilities have been commissioned by successive Cabinets according to the basic policy of the state. This policy is aimed not only at 'securing energy' for a resource-poor country but also at securing its capability to produce nuclear weapons. The US government has supported Japan in developing nuclear power from the beginning, while carefully controlling it. That government, on the one hand, imposes economic sanctions and even uses military threats against North Korea and Iran, saying that they are building nuclear plants and enriching uranium with the object of producing nuclear weapons; on the other hand, it exceptionally permits Japan to openly hold massive quantities of plutonium. (Of course, the US imperialist rulers can control Japan's nuclear development via the US-Japan Atomic Energy Agreement.) In particular, it permits Japanese institutions and corporations to develop nuclear fuel recycling technology, including the construction of a fast-breeder reactor, which France and the US have already abandoned due to a string of failures. This government sent US-made machinery to the disaster site. We say that the ongoing management of the Fukushima accident is a convenient opportunity for the American imperialists to test their newly developed technologies. On the Japanese archipelago, one of the seismically most active areas of the world, a large number of nuclear plants, nuclear fuel reprocessing plants and uranium fuel processing facilities have been built and are being operated. To reduce costs, they have been operated without adequate security measures under the pretext that 'a massive earthquake and tsunami could not occur' among others. This is nothing other than an act of madness. The Fukushima nuclear disaster is an inevitable consequence of this development; it has completely crushed the myth that Japanese nuclear plants are safe. The Fukushima nuclear crisis is assuming an increasingly serious aspect. While any prospect for resolving the crisis has yet to be seen, problems are arising one after another. Radioactive contamination is spreading from Japan to the rest of the world. This catastrophe has clearly shown the whole world not only the terrible danger of nuclear power generation, previously propagandised as the cream of capitalist technology, but also the inhuman nature of bourgeois technological civilization itself. We, the revolutionary Left, who represent the interests of the Japanese working class and toiling masses, call on workers and people all over the world! In spite of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, the rulers of Japan, those of the US, France and Russia, and those of China and India as well, are still intent on extensively developing nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons. Don't let them continue nuclear development! Based on strengthened international solidarity of workers and people, let us raise waves of struggles to stop nuclear development! (2) But the problem doesn't end there. Immediately after the massive earthquake and the ensuing nuclear disaster, the Obama US administration launched a 'rescue operation' dubbed 'Operation Tomodachi [friends]'. This was far from a rescue operation for disaster victims; it was nothing but an emergency military operation. Assuming a war scenario, US forces carried the operation out with the Japanese army in tow, including military drills for a raid and landing on enemy territory, and for the construction of a base there. The scene of the nuclear accident was transformed into the perfect medium for them to carry out practical training in detecting and removing radiation on the assumption of a nuclear war. A US Forces special unit called CBIRF [Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force] was called up to take part in the operation, and robot weapons whose practical efficiency was as yet untested, a new type of drone and a radioactive decontamination device were tried out. The American imperialist rulers have fully exploited the disaster, the massive earthquake and the nuclear accident, which the Japanese people had to suffer, for their own military purpose. That purpose is to radically strengthen the new US-Japan military alliance as an offensive and defensive alliance against China and Russia, by forcing the Japanese government to be more 'subservient' to US imperialism in political, military and technological terms. In response, Japanese Prime Minister Kan has taken an oath of 'eternal subservience' by saying 'We shall never forget your kindness'. He is accepting all the demands from the US government. He agreed to the construction of a new American base in Okinawa, riding roughshod over the protests of Japanese working people, including Okinawan residents. He also increased Japan's share of expenses for redeploying US Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Expenses for host-nation support for US Forces in Japan (the so-called 'sympathy budget') have been decided without delay (an annual sum of 190 billion yen). Such decisions were made by the Kan government, at this very moment when hundreds of thousands, even millions of workers and people have lost their families and been deprived of their homes and workplaces, and furthermore, when millions of people are suffering dismissals and wage cuts forced through under the pretext of the earthquake disaster. Moreover, the government has declared that a huge tax increase is inevitable in order to secure the financial resources for reconstruction. What is worse, so many workers and people have been forcibly exposed to radiation because the government has deserted them in contaminated areas. On no account do we, workers and people in Japan, condone the actions of this DPJ government. Thus, behind the facade of 'collaboration' to cope with the earthquake disaster and the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japanese and US imperialist governments are pushing forward for a radical strengthening of the new US-Japan military alliance, as an offensive and defensive alliance against China and Russia. In opposition to this, the Chinese and Russian governments are collaborating to strengthen their own nuclear capabilities. China, in particular, is hell-bent on reinforcing its navy on a tremendous scale. Amid the confrontation between the US-Japan and China-Russia, military tension is increasingly mounting on the Korean Peninsula and all over East Asia. Based on its economic power, China is rushing headlong to possess its own nuclear capability, befitting 'a superpower' which will eventually overtake the US. Indeed, China now boasts the second highest GDP in the world, as it has already passed Japan. For this purpose, China is focused on strengthening its naval forces under the banner of 'securing China's maritime interests'. Reports suggest that China has already started constructing its first domestic carrier and has already built a base for anti-ship ballistic missiles (the so-called 'carrier-killer' missiles). The rulers of China are now seeking to take over command of the East and South China Seas from US imperialism. In other words, they are actually setting out to destroy the US imperialists' control over the oceans. Faced with this strengthening of China's nuclear capability, US imperialism is deepening its sense of crisis toward China. So are the rulers of Japan and South Korea, both of which are in military alliances with the US. In order to contain the so-called 'rising dragon' of China, the Obama administration is intent on forming a multilateral alliance (an Asia-Pacific version of NATO) including Japan, South Korea and Australia. Under this scheme, the Obama administration has extensively and repeatedly conducted US-Japanese, US-ROK and US-Japan-Australian military drills and 'Rim of the Pacific Exercises'. At the beginning of this year, this administration declared that it would 'maintain a strong military presence in Northeast Asia' by assuming China to be 'a major enemy'. The military tension between the US and China is increasing not only over the Korean Peninsula and the East China Sea but also in the South China Sea. Relying on its reinforced naval presence, China has strengthened its effective control over the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Against this, the governments of Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, each of which insists on rights of possession, are countering China by calling on US military back-up. The Obama administration is taking advantage of these rulers' opposition and peoples' sentiments against China and intending to strengthen its military containment against China. Arrogantly, it declares that 'Free navigation in this area is in the national interest of the US'. In so doing, the US government is carefully avoiding all-out confrontation, because China has become the biggest purchaser of US government bonds. Workers and people of East and Southeast Asian countries, beware of the US imperialist Obama administration moving to revive its military and economic domination over the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, we cannot help feeling anger towards today's China. It still calls itself a 'socialist state', but has perpetrated a capitalist transformation of its politico-economic structure. It is now competing with the United States, militarily as well as politically, by basing itself on the 'logic of power politics', just as the US does. It is doing so under the leadership of a party that claims to be communist. On the pretext of protecting its national interests, it is pointing guns at Vietnamese and Japanese fishermen. In complete disregard for the opposition between the governments and people, ruling classes and working classes of the US and Japan, it aims its nuclear weapons at all of them, branding them as 'enemies'. All of these must be denounced as anti-proletarian acts, crimes against working people. We absolutely oppose any offensive designed to strengthen the new US-Japan military alliance as an offensive and defensive alliance against China and Russia. At the same time, we raise objections to China's and Russia's strengthening of their nuclear military capabilities in rivalry with the United States. Stop US-Japan-ROK, US-Vietnamese, and US-Philippine joint military exercises! Oppose military manoeuvres conducted by the Chinese army to vie with them! Workers and toiling people in Asia, all over the world! All rise together in an antiwar struggle! (3) In the turbulent Middle East and North Africa, a new tension is arising. NATO forces are continuing their aerial bombardment of Libya, with the US, France and Britain taking the lead. Moreover, a new development in the 'Palestinian-Israeli issue' is causing another upheaval. The state of Israel, imperialist America's bridgehead for its domination of the Middle East, has been driven into total isolation. The Egyptian government headed by Hosni Mubarak has collapsed amid the anger of the people. This regime, which styled itself as the leader of Arab nations, concluded a peace deal with Israel and lent a helping hand to the Zionist state rulers with their innumerable barbarous acts, including brutal armed attacks on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the rigorous blockade against them, and military invasion of southern Lebanon. But now, the notorious Rafah border crossing has been opened. In Lebanon, a new cabinet has been formed under the leadership of Hezbollah, the organization of Shiite radicals. In Palestine, Fatah, which holds sway over the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank of the Jordan, and Hamas, in control of the Gaza Strip, have reached an agreement for a united government. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the traitor to the Palestine liberation struggle, was obliged to seek a 'reconciliation' with Hamas after losing the patronage of Hosni Mubarak, and, more significantly, because an 'indirect peace deal' mediated by the US government was rejected by the Netanyahu government and was aborted. Abbas plans to ask the United Nations to adopt a resolution in the forthcoming annual General Assembly in September, calling for the recognition of Palestine as a state and its accession to the UN. Turkish President Abdullah Gul has already expressed his full support for the resolution. Abbas has also gained support from the rulers of EU nations. If the resolution is carried by the assembly, it will gain the support of an overwhelming majority. Israel is literally facing a crisis that threatens its very existence. US President Barack Obama's new 'peace proposal' for the Middle East - that the borders of Israel should be based on the lines prior to the third Arab-Israeli War in 1967 - is a desperate attempt to shore up the Zionist state, which has been driven into a tight corner. Its aim is crystal clear: to settle the 'Palestinian question' by reducing it to the formation of a tiny, unarmed 'miniature state of Palestine', surrounded and policed by the 'Jewish state of Israel', a heavily armed state with high-tech weapons, including nuclear armaments. This scheme proposed by Obama, however, will never bear fruit. On the day of the nakba or 'catastrophe', the day of Israel's birth, thousands of people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank rose up, together with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Syria, in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations to protest against Israeli occupation. As shown here, the Arab people's anti-American, Anti-Zionist struggle for the liberation of Palestine has started to acquire a new uplift. The attempt of the Obama government to re-establish the dominion of American imperialism over this region is headed for failure. We, the revolutionary Left in Japan, recognized the September 11 attacks in 2001 and Bush's frenzied rush towards 'war on terrorism' as the 'beginning of the end of American imperialism'. The accuracy of this analysis is now shown in reality. On May 1st, Obama and the US rulers sent their special operations command to kill Osama bin Laden. This was nothing but state terrorism by American imperialists. They perpetrated it to make it look as if the scheduled withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan were not a defeat in the war. Following the defeat of Bush's war in Iraq, the United States has lost the war in Afghanistan. The fall of American imperialism can no longer be concealed. Upset by the earthshaking changes in the Middle East, where even seemingly adamantine pro-American governments (including Mubarak's regime) have been forced out, this declining imperialism is struggling desperately in Bahrain, in Libya, and elsewhere, in an attempt to avoid being driven out of the region. It is conducting air strikes in Libya in the name of supporting antigovernment forces that are attempting to finally overturn the Gadhafi regime. However, accidental bombing occurs repeatedly; it is not Gadhafi's army or government institutions but the Libyan people who are being bombed. As a result, this operation has reached an impasse. Meanwhile, in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, US forces are still conducting indiscriminate bombing using unmanned bombers. Crush 'Obama's war' that is still causing bloodshed in Afghanistan! Smash the desperate attempts of imperialist America to recover its dominion over the Arab world! Denounce NATO air strikes against Libya! Stop the Zionist rulers of Israel slaughtering Palestinian people! Never let the cornered Zionist state resort to warmongering! People of the Arab world! Push forward your struggle 'against American imperialism, against Zionism' for the liberation of Palestine in solidarity across borders! Workers and toiling masses all over the world! Let us fight in solidarity with all the toiling peoples in the Middle East and North Africa who are fighting to bring down their own corrupt regimes, which are subservient to imperialism and Zionist Israel! (4) The quantitative easing policy implemented by the Obama government has utterly failed to buoy up the US economy. The oversupply of the US dollar has resulted in a steep rise in crude oil and grain prices on international markets, provoked inflation in newly emerging / developing countries, and thus directly affected the lives of workers and toiling people who have already sunk into poverty. In the EU, which is shaken with financial crises and the possibility of default in Greece and other countries, rulers of leading states such as Germany and France are compelling the Greek, Spanish and other governments to make major cuts in social welfare expenses and increase taxes, or to sell their public sectors to private companies. This will only cause mass unemployment to spread due to a decline in economic activity as a whole, further impoverishing workers and toiling people. For this reason, in the world over - in Europe and other 'advanced countries', in so-called developing countries, and in newly emerging countries - workers, students and citizens are rising up one after another. The toiling masses of the world are being made to suffer greatly from deepening impoverishment, unemployment and semi-unemployment, low wages, rising prices of daily commodities, and tax increases. This is not all. In East and Southeast Asia, in the Middle East and North Africa, and all over the world, people are agonised by warfare, and are moreover faced with the threat of more war. And on top of that, they are threatened with radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. At every moment, the 'lethal ash' emitted from the reactors into the air and sea is contaminating the land and seas of Japan, and of the whole world. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese experienced at first hand the disaster of atomic bombs dropped by American imperialism. When atmospheric nuclear tests were repeatedly carried out by the US, the USSR and France, not only the people of Polynesia and other Pacific islands but also Japanese fishermen became victims of the lethal fallout. And today, Japanese people are again visited by another nuclear disaster, similar to the one caused by the Chernobyl accident. Not only could the development, deployment and use of nuclear weapons lead to the extinction of humanity; nuclear power generation, promoted in the name of the 'peaceful use of atomic energy', could also bring about such a catastrophe. Workers and toiling people, be aware of this! Denounce the Japanese government and TEPCO capitalists, the very criminals who are responsible for the ongoing Fukushima nuclear power plant accident! Fight to scrap every nuclear power plant in Japan! Create an international struggle to decommission all the nuclear power plants in the world! Taking the lead in this struggle is the duty of us, the working people of Japan, who make a new resolve to combat war every August by evoking our sorrow and anger at the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In spite of this, the leadership of Rengo (the Japanese Trade Union Confederation) and its affiliated major trade union leaders are yelling at workers and say this 'national crisis' must be broken through with 'the government, labour and management coming together and acting as one'. Unbelievably, they are hell-bent on suppressing their union members' voices against nuclear development. These labour aristocrats and trade union bureaucrats are positively responding to the government and monopoly capitalists from the side of the trade unions at the very moment when the government is putting aside its own responsibility and intending to force workers and toiling masses to pay the price for its misdeeds - at the very moment when it is inciting nationalism among the Japanese people by shouting catchwords like 'Japan is one'. We definitely oppose those labour aristocrats' and labour bureaucrats' suppression and distortion of workers' struggles. With a firm resolve, we are advancing our struggle against war and against the US-Japan military alliance, together with our politico-economic struggle against the planned massive tax increase, and now, with our struggle to oppose the development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. On August 7th, we, the Executive Committee, will hold the 49th International Antiwar Assembly. From the bottom of our hearts, we call on you, our comrades and friends all over the world, to fight with us against war, against nuclear development, and against the imposition of poverty and tax increases. This year, 2011, marks the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR. Contemporary imperialism, which at that time gloried in the 'victory of freedom and democracy', has today laid bare its helpless limitations and contradictions as capitalism in its final stages. The world dominion of US imperialism, which became the 'sole superpower' with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has already collapsed. The deceitful nature of the bourgeois ideology of 'freedom, democracy and market economy' has also been disclosed after being forced upon the whole world as universal, eternal values by the Yankee empire, against the background of its unparalleled nuclear military strength. Today, however, the dark clouds of 'war and impoverishment' are hanging over the world more heavily than ever. The working classes of the world have yet to break through this painful reality. This is because the leaderships of labour movements in each country, and above all those in advanced capitalist countries, have adopted a degenerate line of class reconciliation or government-labour-management joint consultation, thus leading their workers into submission to their own governments. This is also because those who claim themselves to be 'communist parties' are constantly distorting the struggles of workers and toiling people. They were astounded at the self-destruction of the Stalinist USSR and, totally unable to investigate the grounds of its self-destruction, have thrown away the very idea of socialism. They are converted Stalinists. This impermissible state of affairs must be broken down with the power of fighting workers and people. The power to change the world rests precisely upon international unity among workers and people fighting in every region, everywhere in the world. Comrades all over the world! Our friends all over the world! Let us fight together by strengthening our solidarity on the basis of proletarian internationalism! (July 7th, 2011) (Translation modified) Messages of solidarity from foreign friends - Revolutionary Marxists in Britain - Fraccion Leninista Trotskista Internacional (FLTI) - Tavini Huiraatira no Te Ao Maohi (Liberation Front of Polynesia) - Union Pacifiste de France - Net'communist - Vladimir Pronin (a member of presidium of antifascism committee in Ukraine) - Larisa Trofimovna Babienko ('For USSR') - Russian Party of Communists - Communists of CPSU & sympathizers in Nizhnyaya Tura - Afghanistan Socialist Association (ASA) - News and Letters Committees - Communist Workers´ Party for Peace and Socialism - Alliance-Philippines - A World to Win   Revolutionary Marxists in Britain July 16th 2011, London, Britain We, Revolutionary Marxists in Britain, send our warm and comradely greetings to the 49th Anti-War Assembly. We salute the struggle of the JRCL and others following the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster to expose the capitalist drive for nuclear power, a drive motivated by both private profit and military interests. Some European capitalist countries, notably Germany, have decided to abandon nuclear power and develop environmentally sustainable energy. The British government, however, insists on continuing its nuclear programme. Britain meanwhile continues its alliance with the USA in armed action in Afghanistan and Libya. Splits and opportunism on the "left" have meant that there has been little action in Britain to oppose the occupation of Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya. The working class has however moved to defend itself against attacks on its living standards, notably against sackings owing to cuts in welfare spending and the government's attacks on the pensions of public sector workers. The leadership of the Trades Union Congress and of the Labour Party were surprised by the strength of support for the demonstration of 26 March against welfare cuts. The strike of 750,000 teachers and civil servants in defence of their pension rights of 30 June showed the willingness and ability of the working class to fight. Labour Party leader Ed Miliband's opposition to strike action shows that the strategy of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to separate the Labour Party from the genuine labour movement has continued. Miliband wants the workers' support at the next election, but he does not want to support workers' struggles. Both Miliband and TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber accept the need for cuts in government spending and thus in welfare and living standards to help capitalism out of its current crisis. The Labour Party and TUC leadership therefore offer no effective resistance to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat (Con-Dem) coalition. The working class are putting pressure on the leadership of the unions to develop further and wider spread strike action. The workers however lack political leadership, and the Labour leaders will exploit this fact to try to regain working class support. The corrupt nature of the relationship between leading politicians, including Labour ex-Prime Minster Tony Blair and current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, with Rupert Murdoch's News International has been publicly exposed. These politicians have sought Rupert Murdoch's favour to win elections in return for adopting the policies that benefit his company. Cameron, for example, agreed to diminish and privatize the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a policy that would have allowed Murdoch's companies to fill the gap and make huge profits. In return, the Murdoch press campaigned for a Conservative victory. Blair made similar deals. British politicians have thus collaborated with those responsible for phone hacking, including hacking into the phones of the 7/7 victims and the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, and "blagging" (lying and impersonating professional or public figures to obtain personal information). Police officers have also been involved in this corrupt network, taking bribes to give information to journalists. Rebekah Brooks, the now disgraced former Chief Executive of News International, and former editor of the News of the World Sunday newspaper, and Sun daily newspaper, admitted to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Select Committee in 2003 that she knew of payments had been made to police officers. It is only now that Labour MP Keith Vaz, now Chairman of this Committee, has written to Ms Brooks asking her to supply details of payments to police officers. Yet there was no investigation in 2003, under the then Labour government, of the corrupt relationship between the police and News International journalists. These public corruption scandals should not disguise the fact that the main problem is capitalism, and not its corrupt manifestations. The News of the World has closed (with 200 workers losing their jobs) because many large private companies withdrew their advertising. The major capitalists want to distance themselves from these corrupt practices, in order to disguise the inherent rottenness of capitalism itself. The need is for a struggle against the imperialist armed action in Afghanistan and Libya, against the attacks on welfare and pensions, against environmental destruction in the pursuit of profit. The inability of capitalism to solve humanity's problems is evident in the intense suffering and starvation now occurring in East Africa, as it is in Fukushima, and in every corner of the globe. . The workers of Egypt and Tunisia have overthrown corrupt dictators. They continue to struggle against capitalism, and for a better society. This has inspired the working class in the rest of North Africa and the Middle East. The struggle is for a new, socialist world. We fully agree with the Overseas Appeal for the 49th Anti-War Assembly that: "The power to change the world rests precisely upon the international unity among workers and people fighting in every region, everywhere in the world." Fraccion Leninista Trotskista Internacional (FLTI) 2 de Agosto de 2011, Buenos Aires, Argentina  Estimados camaradas: Enviamos con este saludo toda nuestra solidaridad comunista y el más fuerte abrazo internacionalista a vuestra 49º Asamblea Antiguerra. Sabemos que millones de trabajadores y jóvenes explotados en Japón están sufriendo enormes padecimientos por la catástrofe provocada por el terremoto y el tsunami, y más aún por los efectos de la radiación emanados por las plantas de Fukushima. La tragedia que hoy sufren las masas japonesas demuestra que los capitalistas y sus gobiernos solo defienden sus negocios y su propiedad a costa de la vida y las necesidades de los explotados. Por eso el camino a seguir es el que ha tomado la vanguardia obrera y juvenil japonesa que, junto a ustedes, empieza a movilizarse y a entrar en la escena de lucha contra el odiado gobierno del DPJ dirigido por Naoto Kan y el régimen imperialista de las corporaciones. ¡Viva el combate de los trabajadores y los estudiantes japoneses contra el gobierno y los monopolios imperialistas, que las masas certeramente identifican como los verdaderos responsables de sus padecimientos! ¡Solo la clase obrera y sus organizaciones de lucha podrán salvar de la catástrofe a los explotados con los métodos de la revolución socialista, con la expropiación de los expropiadores! ¡No nos detengamos! ¡El camino a seguir es el de la expropiación sin pago y bajo control obrero de todos los monopolios imperialistas, sus transnacionales, empresas, bancos, etc.! Ante la catástrofe, hay que imponer un plan obrero de emergencia: ¡nacionalización, sin pago y bajo control de los trabajadores, las organizaciones obreras y los comités de abastecimiento de toda la cadena de comercialización de alimentos y medicamentos para que llegue a los damnificados! ¡Plan de obras públicas bajo control de las organizaciones obreras combativas, para solucionar el problema de la vivienda y reconstruir los caminos, hospitales y escuelas destruidos por el tsunami! Los trabajadores sabemos que no podemos confiarle nuestra salud y seguridad a los explotadores, ellos solo intentarán salvarse a sí mismos. Es por eso que las tareas de vigilancia, control y rescate no pueden quedar en manos de la casta de oficiales asesina del imperialismo japonés y mucho menos de la base yanqui de Okinawa, supercargada de bombas atómicas. ¡Por comités de soldados, consejos obreros y del movimiento estudiantil Zengakuren para garantizar estas tareas decisivas y darle una salida al flagelo de las masas! ¡Por una comisión de obreros, estudiantes, profesores, ingenieros y médicos solidarios con la causa obrera para controlar todas las centrales nucleares de Japón! Camaradas, los combates actuales de la clase obrera y los explotados del Magreb y Medio Oriente demuestran al proletariado mundial que para poder comer, conquistar el salario y la independencia nacional hay que enfrentar al imperialismo, tirar abajo a sus gobiernos sirvientes, como en Túnez y Egipto, armarse como en Libia y luchar por que la clase obrera se haga del poder con una insurrección triunfante. Este es el camino que deben tomar los explotados de Japón: ¡para resolver las penurias inauditas de las masas, para conseguir el pan y detener la carrera armamentística, la clase obrera debe hacerse del poder! ¡Hay que derrotar al régimen de las corporaciones y al gobierno de Naoto Kan en Japón, en el camino de conquistar un Japón Soviético y Socialista! Camaradas, esta es la única salida para la clase obrera y las masas a nivel mundial ante la gran catástrofe que azota a los explotados del planeta, que no es más que el feroz ataque que los explotadores han descargado sobre la espalda de los trabajadores para que paguen los costos de la crisis de la economía capitalista desatada en 2007. Los estados imperialistas se encuentran quebrados luego de rescatar a sus bancos con miles de millones de dólares de sus reservas, salvataje que se los están haciendo pagar a los pueblos oprimidos del mundo y a su propio proletariado. Ante la quiebra del estado norteamericano, la Cámara de Diputados de Estados Unidos acaba de aprobar el acuerdo para elevar el techo de la deuda del Estado y así evitar el default. Ante la votación de esa cueva de bandidos del Congreso de los “Republicratas”, toda la izquierda del Foro Social Mundial, que llamó a apoyar a Obama y la “democracia” contra “los fascistas del Tea Party”, se ha roto los dientes. Es que Obama y el Tea Party, representantes de los monopolios imperialistas, ya habían pactado de antemano y cerrado un pacto contra la clase obrera: juntos acordaron reducir los gastos del estado por la friolera de 2,1 billones de dólares que se lo harán pagar a las masas con más padecimientos inauditos, con recortes en salud, en subsidios al desempleo, a los jubilados, etc., mientras que no le tocaron el bolsillo a las transnacionales imperialistas. Ese “Bush tiznado” de Obama decidió pactar con el Tea Party para descargar de conjunto el más brutal ataque contra el proletariado de Estados Unidos, al igual que hicieron en Inglaterra los laboristas junto con el partido conservador de los Tories que hoy está en el gobierno, o el socialdemócrata Papandreu en Grecia, sucesor del antiobrero Karamanlis. Este acuerdo de Obama y el Tea Party demuestra que para salir de la crisis, los piratas imperialistas deben redoblar su ofensiva contra las masas. Es que el capital financiero se ha gastado a cuenta 90 billones de dólares que el trabajo humano aún no ha producido. No les alcanza con las superganancias que extraen del mundo colonial y semicolonial con el saqueo y la expoliación de los pueblos oprimidos y la superexplotación de la clase obrera. No les basta con las enormes ganancias del capital financiero que, ante la caída de la tasa de ganancia en el proceso productivo, ha redoblado su parasitismo en las burbujas especulativas como la de los commodities, el petróleo, etc. No son suficientes los enormes negocios que están haciendo todas las trasnacionales en China convertida por el capital financiero internacional en una maquila de mano de obra esclava, brutalmente saqueada por el imperialismo, que no es más que una pequeña tendencia contrarrestante en medio del marasmo de la economía mundial capitalista. Necesitan imponerle a la clase obrera de las potencias imperialistas las mismas o peores condiciones de los obreros del mundo colonial y semicolonial que no son más que las condiciones de las maquiladoras chinas. Este es el objetivo del acuerdo entre Obama y el Tea Party. Esta es la ofensiva del imperialismo yanqui que le ha tirado toda su crisis al mundo en forma de inflación con la devaluación de su moneda haciendo pesar con todo su status de potencia dominante. Mientras, al interior de Estados Unidos 40 millones de obreros desocupados viven con subsidios de 3 dólares diarios, a la vez que se profundiza la persecución y muerte contra los trabajadores inmigrantes a manos de los Sheriffs fascistas y del gobierno de Obama que ha encarcelado a más de 4.000 obreros mexicanos, chicanos, etc. También en Europa los estados en bancarrota avanzan en quitarle todas sus conquistas a la clase obrera y las masas, con recorte de las jubilaciones, rebajas salariales y despidos masivos. Frente a la quiebra del Maastricht imperialista y el feroz ataque de los gobiernos europeos, los explotados comienzan a desarrollar una segunda oleada de combates de masas como en España, Grecia e Inglaterra. Por el momento, las direcciones socialimperialistas de Europa se han encargado de impedir que comience la revolución griega y en el resto del continente como parte de la revolución del Norte de África y Medio Oriente, sosteniendo a sus propios gobiernos y regímenes y a Maastricht, transformando las enormes luchas revolucionarias de la clase obrera en luchas de presión impotentes y garantizando la división de las filas obreras. Camaradas, ante la debacle de la economía capitalista, no harán más que agudizarse las disputas interimperialistas por los mercados, las zonas de influencia y por definir qué potencia imperialista también paga la crisis. A no dudarlo, que el capitalismo no saldrá de esta feroz crisis sin nuevas guerras, como ya lo preanuncian las enormes masas de capitales dirigidas a la inversión en el aparato industrial-militar. En esta crisis actual donde sobran potencias imperialistas, las distintas pandillas imperialistas terminarán llevando a la civilización humana a una nueva carnicería que comenzará como terminó la segunda guerra mundial: con bombazos atómicos como en Hiroshima y Nagasaki. La clase obrera es la única que puede impedir una nueva catástrofe llevando al triunfo la revolución socialista. Es que el capitalismo en su fase de putrefacción solo se sobrevive desarrollando aún más fuerzas destructivas para recomponer su tasa de ganancia. El militarismo de las distintas potencias imperialistas no es más que un gran negocio de las transnacionales. Los mismos monopolios imperialistas de Estados Unidos, Japón y del capital financiero europeo son los que les venden armas y tecnología militar a los países del mundo semicolonial como a China y Rusia. Es de esta forma como el imperialismo domina el mundo. La tradición del marxismo revolucionario es defender el derecho de los países oprimidos a armarse, a su vez que alertamos y denunciamos que los fusiles y bayonetas en manos de las burguesías cipayas de los países del mundo semicolonial, como Rusia y China, no están para enfrentar al imperialismo sino para aplastar a sangre y fuego a su propia clase obrera. Ante la bancarrota del sistema capitalista imperialista, Rusia y la China  expoliada y saqueada por los monopolios imperialistas solo tienen dos alternativas: o la clase obrera vuelve a abrirse paso a la revolución y se hace del poder; o de lo contrario, lo que le preparan las potencias imperialistas es la partición de China y Rusia con nuevas guerras de coloniaje como lo hicieran en los Balcanes. Trabajadores y jóvenes revolucionarios reunidos en esta nueva Asamblea Internacional contra la guerra: ¡Sólo el triunfo de la revolución obrera y socialista puede impedir que se abra el camino a la guerra! ¡Sólo con la toma del poder por parte del proletariado se podrá garantizar el desarme nuclear de todas las potencias imperialistas! Bajo estas condiciones, se preparan choques decisivos entre las clases. Cada vez más revolución y contrarrevolución se ven la cara frente a frente. Estamos en presencia de enormes gestas revolucionarias como las de la clase obrera del Magreb y Medio Oriente que enfrentan el ataque del imperialismo y las burguesías nativas, los planes de saqueo y expoliación. La cadena de revoluciones que hoy protagonizan las masas de Túnez, Egipto, Libia, Siria y toda la región, que amenaza con penetrar en las potencias imperialistas de Europa, han puesto en vilo a la burguesía mundial. La clase obrera y los explotados nuevamente se vuelven a levantar en Grecia, con combates en las calles, huelgas y enfrentando la represión del gobierno de Papandreu. Junto a ellos se levantan también los trabajadores y la juventud explotada de España y su heroica “República de los indignados” contra el gobierno de Zapatero y la monarquía. Levantemos juntos el grito de guerra de los “indignados”: ¡Nos habéis quitado demasiado, ahora queremos todo! ¡Al capitalismo no se lo reforma, se lo destruye! Mientras, en el cono sur del continente americano, se ha puesto de pie la clase obrera y el movimiento estudiantil combativo de Chile. Miles de obreros y estudiantes combaten en las calles de Santiago, Valparaíso, Rancagua y todo Chile, protagonizando enormes huelgas y movilizaciones, enfrentando en lucha de barricadas la represión de la policía asesina. Bajo la bandera de lucha de la “¡Renacionalización del cobre chileno, sin pago y bajo control de los trabajadores!” para conquistar salario, trabajo y educación gratuita, las masas enfrentan al gobierno pro-imperialista de Piñera y al régimen cívico militar pinochetista-concertacionista de la Constitución del ’80. La clase obrera y la juventud chilena son los más grandes aliados de los obreros y la juventud de Japón en el enfrentamiento a los traidores del estalinismo. En Chile las masas, al grito de los “pacos (policías) de rojoson los peligrosos” y “Revolución se escribe sin “J” (por la Juventud Comunista)”, enfrentan a los carneros y rompehuelgas del Partido Comunista chileno, principal sostenedor del poder de los explotadores. Identificándolos como sus enemigos al interior de sus organizaciones de lucha, los estudiantes y mineros expulsan a estos traidores de cada huelga, piquete, barricada y toma de colegio. Así los explotados de Chile son la vanguardia en el combate contra la burocracia castrista que se apresta a restaurar el capitalismo en Cuba con su plan de un millón de despidos y restableciendo el derecho a herencia en las propiedad inmobiliaria. Contra estos “pacos rojos” del estalinismo también comienzan las sublevaciones de los explotados de la propia China, que padecen la más feroz superexplotación y miseria impuesta por el gobierno de Hu Jintao y los “mandarines” del PC al servicio de las transnacionales imperialistas. Ante el flagelo de la brutal inflación, en la China profunda, millones de trabajadores, campesinos pobres y estudiantes protagonizan cientos de revueltas contra la patronal. La juventud obrera es la vanguardia de una oleada de huelgas que se han desatado por conquistar un salario digno. Más de 1900 jóvenes obreros de la Honda, en la ciudad de Foshan, se pusieron en pie de guerra contra esa patronal imperialista. En la provincia de Zeng, los explotados han protagonizado un magnífico levantamiento de los obreros y campesinos que sacudió a toda la provincia ante la golpiza que recibiera una joven embarazada de 20 años por parte de la policía. El gobierno sólo logró contener la situación con los tanques de su ejército asesino. Hoy cuando vuelven a ponerse de pie los heroicos obreros chinos, que ayer dejaban sus huesos y músculos para construir toda la infraestructura del capitalismo moderno, y hoy dejan su sangre produciendo como esclavos para las maquiladoras imperialistas, los obreros de todo el mundo debemos seguir su ejemplo. ¡Viva el combate de la clase obrera china! ¡Abajo el gobierno de Hu Jintao y los nuevos empresarios “rojos” del Partido Comunista! ¡Que se abra la tercera Revolución China y triunfe la restauración de la dictadura del proletariado bajo formas revolucionarias! Camaradas ustedes encabezan en Japón el combate contra su propia burguesía imperialista. Los revolucionarios sabemos, como planteaba Marx, que ningún pueblo que oprime a otro pueblo puede liberarse a sí mismo. Por eso la clase obrera japonesa debe levantarse también bajo la demanda de: ¡A igual trabajo, igual salario en China, Japón y toda Asia! ¡Fuera las maquiladoras japonesas que matan de hambre a la clase obrera china! ¡Por el desconocimiento de todas las deudas de China con Japón! ¡Expropiación de todos los bienes del imperialismo japonés en China! Así el proletariado de Japón contará para triunfar con sus mejores aliados: los millones de obreros y campesinos chinos. Obreros y estudiantes revolucionarios de Japón: todos estos combates de clase nos demuestran que la única salida para responder a la altura del ataque de los capitalistas es peleando por todo en lucha política de masas contra todos los gobiernos, regímenes y estados. ¡Que la revolución obrera y socialista que ha comenzado en el Norte de África penetre al interior de las potencias imperialistas! En Estados Unidos, Japón y Europa: ¡hay que pelear como nuestros hermanos de clase de Túnez, Egipto y Libia! ¡Abajo Obama y el régimen de los “Republicratas”! ¡Abajo el pacto de Obama con el Tea Party! ¡Abajo Maastricht y todos los gobiernos y regímenes europeos! ¡Abajo el gobierno imperialista de Naoto Kan y el régimen de las corporaciones! La llave del triunfo del proletariado mundial la tiene la clase obrera de las potencias imperialistas que debe levantarse al grito de “el enemigo está en casa”. Los obreros de Nueva York, Londres, París, Berlín, Madrid, Atenas y Tokio cuentan con el misil más poderoso para derrotar el ataque de los capitalistas y detener la maquinaria de guerra: la expropiación de los expropiadores. Para que haya pan, trabajo y paz: ¡Hay que expropiar sin pago y bajo control obrero todas las transnacionales imperialistas! ¡Hay que expropiar sin indemnización y bajo control de sus trabajadores a los bancos de Wall Street, la city de Londres y Frankfurt, y la bolsa de Tokio! Este es el camino para avanzar en el combate por una contraofensiva de masas a nivel mundial que ponga a la orden del día la lucha por la revolución socialista y la toma del poder, única forma de frenar el camino a la guerra y conquistar el desarme nuclear de todas las potencias imperialistas. Camaradas, para que no se de esta perspectiva, el capital financiero ha reclutado a todas las direcciones traidoras a nivel mundial. Todas las corrientes socialdemócratas, estalinistas y de los renegados del trotskismo, junto a las burocracias sindicales y la aristocracia obrera de los países imperialistas, han corrido a sostener al capitalismo en crisis, echando agua al fuego de la revolución socialista, desincronizando y cercando a cada paso los combates revolucionarios de las masas y dividiéndolos país por país para someter a la clase obrera a la burguesía. Como ayer juntos combatimos a las direcciones que el año pasado se reagrupaban en el CONCLAT en Brasil, junto a los estalinistas de Chukaku-ha, para someter al proletariado norteamericano a Obama y los gobiernos “bolivarianos”, hoy más que nunca hay que profundizar esta pelea contra todas las direcciones que se encargan de que la clase obrera no avance hacia la toma del poder. Esta es la obligación de toda corriente que se reclame revolucionaria. Hay que declararle la guerra a la izquierda del Foro Social Mundial que ayer en Estados Unidos llamaba a apoyar al Partido Demócrata, bajo el lema de “todos menos Bush”, y luego sometió al proletariado al carnicero Obama; y a todas las corrientes “anticapitalistas” europeas que se han centralizado por una “Europa más social” para sostener a Maastricht, a sus gobiernos, regímenes y estados. Todas estas direcciones son las mismas que hace unos meses se reunían en Dakar para cercar los procesos revolucionarios del Norte de África y Medio Oriente, hablando de “revoluciones democráticas” para someter a las masas de Túnez, Egipto y Libia a los gobiernos de colaboración de clases, sus Asambleas Constituyentes, etc. ¡Abajo las burocracias y aristocracias obreras! ¡Fuera las manos de todas las direcciones traidoras de los combates revolucionarios de las masas! Heroicos obreros y estudiantes de todo Japón: ha llegado la hora de pelear por el triunfo de la revolución obrera y socialista. Por ello desde la FLTI combatimos a brazo partido por derrotar a todas las direcciones traidoras del proletariado, enfermeras del capitalismo en putrefacción, porque sólo así la clase obrera podrá desatarse las manos para conquistar una contraofensiva de masas a nivel mundial contra sus verdugos y explotadores. El proletariado a nivel internacional necesita una dirección revolucionaria a su frente, un estado mayor que le marque las condiciones de la victoria, para que los aparatos conservadores y traidores del pasado no sigan manipulando, desmoralizando y cercando los procesos revolucionarios que están en curso. Desde la FLTI hemos puesto todas nuestras fuerzas en la lucha por refundar la IV Internacional de 1938, el Partido Mundial de la Revolución Socialista Internacional.  ¡Sigamos luchando juntos a través de las fronteras! Laura Sánchez, Florencia Barcaz y Martín Guerrero por el Secretariado de Coordinación Internacional de la Fracción Leninista Trotskista Internacional (FLTI) Tavini Huiraatira no Te Ao Maohi (Liberation Front of Polynesia) 26 Juillet 2011, Tahiti, Polynesia Te Ao Maohi   Chers camarades! Au nom des militants du Tavini Huiraatira, nous saluons votre congrès et lui souhaitons plein succès Nous sommes profondément attristés par la perte de nombreuses vies humaines et par ceux encore plus nombreux qui ont été blessés dans le séisme catastrophique qui a eu lieu au Japon. Nous aimerions exprimer notre plus profonde sympathie et nos sincères condoléances aux familles directement touchées par ce puissant séisme. Nous offrons nos prières à ceux qui ont perdus leur vie et ceux qui ont été blessés. Nous menons ici à Tahiti nui le même combat que vous, ce régime d exploitation et d’oppression qui menace l’existence même de l’humanité. Nous menons ce combat contre le despotisme et la bourgeoisie locale et contre l’impérialisme français qui continue à piller notre pays et à le maintenir dans le sous-développement. Nous sommes pleinement confiants que votre parti empruntera cette voie et nous vous tendons la main pour marcher ensemble vers plus d’internationalisme qu’exige aujourd’hui la lutte contre l’impérialisme. Chers camarades! Votre combat est aussi le notre. Nous crions avec vous: Ça suffit avec l'exploitation et le colonialisme. Nous n'allons pas payer leur crise! Victoire a la mobilisation populaire! Vito MAAMAATUAIAHUTAPU  Member of Parliament　 TAHITI POLYNESIA　TE AO MAOHI Union Pacifiste de France July 10th 2011, Paris, France Dear Friends, The Union Pacifiste de France sends you much greetings to your annual International Antiwar Assembly. We say our solidarity to the Japanese people. We fight against military nuclear and civil nuclear. Unfortunately, the French government does keep the military and the civilian nuclear. We made demonstrations against that, and we hope to change our government next year. Take courage in your good work. For peace, comradely,   Maurice Montet, Secretary Union Pacifiste de France News and Letters Committees August 1st 2011, Chicago, USA   News and Letters Committees -- the Marxist-Humanist organization founded by Raya Dunayevskaya in the United States 56 years ago -- sends our revolutionary greetings to the 49th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan meeting on August 7 between the days of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In calling to your attention our longstanding solidarity with you in the international antiwar struggle, we, once again, are proud to quote our fundamental opposition to imperialist war, established in the Constitution of News and Letters Committees adopted in 1956: "The age of state-capitalism, whether in its single-party totalitarian form or its parliamentary form, can offer nothing to humanity but the prospect of another war. The advent of nuclear weapons, possessed by all contenders for world power, seriously raises the question of the survival of humanity in the advent of such a struggle. We believe that the working people are the only force in the world today capable of changing present-day society and of evolving the forms and shape of future society." Every year we present our view of the current struggle for a new world built on human foundations, in our Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for the year ahead. This year our thesis is titled: "Revolution and counter-revolution take world stage" as those questions have forced their way back to the center stage of history. We are enclosing for you the full thesis [available at http://newsandletters.org/Issues/2011/May-Jun/DPMayJun_11.asp], and asking for your views. Here are the titles of its four sections: Section I, "The Arab Spring," takes up the world ramifications of what was achieved by the masses in motion in Tunisia and Egypt and how their passion for freedom spread throughout the world -- as well as how the counter-revolution has tested all revolutionaries and was sharpened when the U.S. and its NATO allies were drawn into the armed conflict in Libya. Section II. "The wars at home" against all the gains made by women and workers over the past half century is seen as unseparated from "The U.S. wars and nuclear peril" that has not only raised the specter of World War III, but underscored the urgency of the Marxist-Humanist perspective that "the opposite of war is not peace, but revolution." Section III, "Japan: earthquake, tsunami and meltdown," begins by pointing out that nuclear power -- which is the key dimension to the tragedy tormenting Japan today -- came into being to mask the genocidal nature of the nuclear arsenal first used by the U.S. to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year the earthquake and tsunami caused what Japan had been told "can't happen here" -- but that not only did happen but has contributed to the worldwide opposition to nuclear power today. It opens the way to a new understanding that the solution can come, not from new energy technology, but from what Marx called "human power which is its own end." It reaffirms what he had written long before human beings had learned to split the atom: " To have one basis for life and another for science is a priori a lie." Section IV concludes our Perspectives thesis with a look into how the world's crises and struggles call for practicing what Marx called "revolution in permanence." It is on this basis that we join strongly with you in your appeal to "advance the international antiwar struggle and strengthen the solidarity of workers and people fighting all over the world!" For freedom, The Resident Editorial Board of News and Letters Committees Net'communist July 11th, Italy sends a greeting to your important initiative and an assessment of what the movement against nuclear power in Italy today Communist greetings   Владимир Пронин Член Президиума Антифашистского комитета Украины 24 июля 2011, Киев, Украина   Уважаемые товарищи! 49-я Международная антивоенная конференция происходит в условиях, когда японский народ мужественно борется с последствиями ядерной катастрофы на атомной электростанции «Фукусима-1». Эта катастрофа вызвана естественной для капитализма неистребимой тягой к получению любой ценой максимальной прибыли – ведь её хозяева знали, что эта  АЭС является устаревшей и небезопасной и дальнейшая её эксплуатация может иметь катастрофические последствия для Японии и её соседей. То, что эти предупреждения были цинично проигнорированы, является вдвойне и даже втройне преступным, потому что происходило это в стране, перенесшей варварскую атомную бомбардировку Хиросимы и Нагасаки. Не следует также забывать, что человечество уже имело печальный и трагический опыт аварии на Чернобыльской АЭС и игнорирование этого печального опыта менеджментом «Фукуксимы-1» носило прямо преступный характер. Катастрофа на АЭС, с последствиями которой до сих пор борется японский народ, вызвал во всём мире движение солидарности. Это движение носит искренний и неподдельный характер со стороны трудящихся всего мира, на собственном опыте знающих, что в капиталистическом обществе правящие классы всегда стремятся выходить из кризисных ситуаций за счёт трудящихся. Поэтому рабочий класс всего мира, искренне сочувствуя японскому народу и, прежде всего, лучшей его части – трудящимся, желает им максимально быстро и решительно преодолеть последствия катастрофы и на будущее сделать всё для того, чтобы взять под твёрдый народный контроль охрану окружающей среды и, в частности, работу атомных электростанций в Японии – страны с повышенной сейсмической опасностью, чтобы не допустить впредь повторения подобных трагедий. Все расходы по ликвидации последствий катастрофы на «Фукудзима-1» должны понести не японские трудящиеся, а те, кто её спровоцировал своим непрофессиональными, авантюристическими методами эксплуатации АЭС! С лицемерными посланиями сочувствия к правительству Японии обратились также руководители других империалистических государств. Некоторые из них даже оказали определённую помощь в ликвидации последствий катастрофы. Но не приходится сомневаться, что на самом деле сообщение об аварии, принёсшей столь тяжёлые  последствия для Японии, вызвало у них скрытую радость и определённые надежды на использование этой трагедии в собственных корыстных интересах, как возможность потеснить соперников в конкурентной борьбе за расширение сфер своего влияния. Сейчас мировой империализм после определённого периода затишья, вызванного неудачами в Ираке и Афганистане, вновь начинает переходить в наступление – этого требует вся его агрессивная природа. И если прежде, после поражения в Корее и Вьетнаме, империализму США нужно было какое-то время, чтобы переварить эти поражения и преодолеть корейский и, особенно, вьетнамский синдромы, то на этот раз они, не выпутавшись ещё из афганской и иракской авантюр, уже разжигают новые очаги пожаров в Ливии и Сирии, стремятся использовать народные выступления в Тунисе, Египте и Йемене, для того, чтобы привести к власти  в этих странах ещё более устраивающие их режимы. В союзе с нынешним российским режимом они стремятся свергнуть президента Лукашенко в Белоруссии, а  в перспективе открыто готовят очередную «цветную» революцию уже в России, чтобы не допустить возвращения в президентское кресло Владимира Путина, политика которого недостаточно устраивает США и их союзников. В который раз империализм выказывает своё истинное звериное обличье и вновь и вновь подтверждает, что судьба человечества зависит от того, уничтожит ли трудящиеся всего мира империализм или же империализм  поставит под угрозу само существование человечества. В завершение хочу передать привет участникам и организаторам конференции и пожелать им успехов в их благородной антиимпериалистической борьбе.     Лариса Трофимовна Бабиенко Главный редактор газеты «За СССР» 1 августа 2011, Москва, Россия   Уважаемые товарищи! Поздравляем Вас с открытием 49-ой Интернациональной антивоенной ассамблеи! Мы, коллектив газеты «За СССР», рады, что у вас нашлись силы провести эту ассамблею после тех ужасных событий, которые происходили в Японии на протяжении нескольких месяцев. Мы рады, что и в сложных условиях вы держитесь по-пролетарски: плечо к плечу, и помощь всем, кому она срочно необходима. Только так мы сможем в своих странах выстоять и даже просто элементарно выжить в жизни, в которой нынче капитал торжествует свою чудовищную победу над народами почти всего мира. Желаем Вам по-прежнему не терять присутствия духа и пролетарской солидарности. Моя книга «Зачем же люди расстаются»… Помирить людей разных национальностей можно при одном условии: если заводы и фабрики находятся в руках государства, как это было в Советском Союзе. Делить тогда в массовом масштабе нечего, отнимать друг у друга нечего. Делай станки, пиши книги, снимай фильмы, люби свою семью… что еще человеку надо? Капитализм развращает человека. Алчность его в условиях конкуренции и погони за прибылью вырастает до космических масштабов. Эта квинтэссенция алчности, массовость алчности и приводит не только человека, но и целые регионы и отдельные страны к грабежам и разбоям, что и происходит нынче в Ливии, которую из-за нефти терзают негодяи Запада. Удачной вам работы, здоровья и хорошей семейной жизни! С уважением.     Российская партия коммунистов 26 июля 2011, Санкт-Петербург, Россия   Уважаемые товарищи! От имени Российской партии коммунистов выражаем солидарность с организаторами и участниками 49 Международной антивоенной ассамблеи. В этом году ассамблея проходит в тяжёлое для японского народа время – незаживающей боли по погибшим в катастрофе Фукусимы. Мы, представители страны, пережившей Чернобыльскую трагедию, близко к сердцу приняли горе жителей Японии и вскоре после страшного землетрясения и цунами с последовавшей аварией на АЭС Фукусима-1 направили послание сочувствия и соболезнования от членов РПК и АМО. Вполне понятно и оправдано стремление к осмыслению причин, повлекших мартовскую катастрофу. Эта тема неизбежно займёт значительное место в выступлениях участников Ассамблеи. Важно при этом не поддаваться одним лишь эмоциям, сводя решение проблем радиационной безопасности …к требованию запретить ядерную энергетику, закрыть все действующие АЭС. Этого требуют некоторые ультрарадикальные политики так называемых зелёных партий. Невольно, а подчас и вольно, выполняя заказ нефтяных, газовых и угольных «королей». Имеем ли мы, коммунисты, право походить на своего рода луддитов XXI века, призывая остановить технический прогресс? Луддиты в Англии начала XIX века ломали машины, видя в них конкурентов рабочих текстильных мануфактур. Недопустимо ту практику, давно осуждённую сознательным рабочим движением, переносить в наши дни. Ядерная энергетика освобождает национальную экономику от углеводородной (уголь, нефть, газ) зависимости и, при правильной эксплуатации, с выполнением всех требований радиационной безопасности, является наиболее экологически чистым (если не считать гелио- и ветроустановки) видом массовой энергетики. АЭС не выбрасывают в атмосферу вредные топливные газы, в том числе диоксид углерода, и не оказывают, в отличие от ТЭС, негативного влияния на климат. Заявления канцлера Германии Ангелы Меркель и премьера Японии Наото Кана об отказе от АЭС вызваны понятными настроениями момента и носят популистский характер. Альтернативную энергетику нужно развивать, но в близком будущем она не сможет заместить долю ядерной в мировой энергетике. Какой вывод должен быть сделан из Фукусимской катастрофы левыми политическими силами во всём мире? Требовать от правительств установления жесточайшего контроля над выполнением всех технологических норм эксплуатации АЭС, контроля с высокой периодичностью работоспособности всех систем безопасности каждой станции, ввести в практику ежеквартальные отчёты руководства АЭС о состоянии этих систем перед населением окружающих районов, ввести строжайшую экспертизу проектов новых АЭС. Кстати, по-видимому, первопричиной мартовской катастрофы явилось проектирование и строительство Фукусимы-1 в зоне досягаемости цунами. Наконец, необходимо обличать каждый случай экономии на безопасности людей, допускаемый властями или руководством АЭС. В качестве фундаментальной проблемы безопасности АЭС мы видим  то обстоятельство, что ядерная энергетика  в условиях капиталистического общества служит, как и иные формы промышленного производства и постиндустриального бизнеса, в основном, для извлечения сверхприбылей, что, в свою очередь, влечет за собой экономию на безопасности, экологических системах, функциях контроля. Люди гибнут не только в результате страшных аварий на АЭС. Капитал множит число своих жертв экономией на всём во имя наживы. Не обновляются основные производственные фонды, не соблюдается с необходимой полнотой технологическая дисциплина, не обращается должное внимание на технику безопасности, зато растёт прибыль. Только в России и именно по этим причинам за последние два года погибли более 300 человек: в аварии на крупнейшей Саяно-Шушенской гидроэлектростанции на Енисее, в шахтах Кузнецкого угольного бассейна, на круизном теплоходе «Болгария», утонувшем совсем недавно, в июле 2011, на Волге. Мы согласны, в основном, с анализом текущей обстановки в мире, представленном в Обращении к 49-ой Международной антивоенной ассамблее её организаторами: Союзом японских революционных коммунистов, Дзэнгакурэн и Комитетом антивоенной молодёжи. Год, прошедший между 48 и 49 антивоенными ассамблеями, изобиловал огромной важности событиями острой классовой борьбы. На рубеже 2010 и 2011 годов взорвалась Северная Африка революциями в Тунисе и Египте, свергнувшими диктаторские режимы Бен Али и Хосни Мубарака. Главными движущими силами тунисской и египетской революций, вызвавших невиданную до этого революционную волну на огромных пространствах Ближнего и Среднего Востока, были молодёжь и организованный в профсоюзы рабочий класс. Но, учитывая слабость левых сил в этих странах, давление буржуазных партий и активность вышедшей из подполья крайне реакционной организации «Братья-мусульмане», можно будет считать большим успехом, если тунисская и египетская революции завершатся превращением этих государств хотя бы в буржуазно-демократические «социальные государства» европейского типа. Что касается Ливии, то ситуация в ней изначально отличалась не только от тунисской и египетской, но и от ситуаций в других охваченных восстаниями ближневосточных странах. Ставка НАТО, ЕС и аравийских монархий на восточноливийских повстанцев явно провалилась, а наглая и циничная военно-воздушная интервенция американского и европейского империализма явилась ещё одним саморазоблачением фальши «демократической» риторики, прикрывающей истинную цель вмешательства в гражданскую войну в Ливии – завоевать контроль над богатейшими запасами углеводородов. И как бы ни относиться к авторитарному Каддафи, теоретику и практику «зелёного социализма» по Корану, то благодаря действиям США, НАТО и ЕС его морально-политический имидж только выиграл. Характерно, что в события в Сирии и Йемене, где уже около полугода правящие диктатуры жестоко, с большим количеством жертв, подавляют выступления против президентов Асада и Салеха, прямого вмешательства США/НАТО/ЕС и связанных с ними арабских правящих элит не происходит: эти страны не располагают, как Ливия, значимыми запасами нефти и газа, являясь лишь их транзитёрами. Мировой капитал мечется, будучи не в силах разрешить раздирающие его противоречия. Греция, Испания, Португалия охвачены мощными, непрекращающимися выступлениями трудящихся, категорически протестующими, чтобы за их счёт Евросоюз выходил из долгового кризиса. К краю финансовой пропасти, угрожающей дефолтом, подошла экономика главной страны глобального капитала – самих США. Давно не видела эта сверхдержава таких выступлений американских трудящихся против наступления на их трудовые и социальные права, которые в марте-апреле прошли во всех штатах. Новая волна мирового финансового кризиса неизбежна. И нельзя исключать возникновения не в одной, а в ряде стран той самой революционной ситуации, когда «низы откажутся жить, а верхи не смогут более управлять по-старому». Готовы ли левые к миссии политического авангарда? В том состоянии разобщённости, в котором они находятся на национальном и интернациональном уровнях, – вряд ли. Поэтому нельзя сегодня ограничиваться призывами к интернациональной солидарности. Нужно заняться по-деловому трудной, кропотливой работой по объединению в достаточно сильные марксистские организации. Мы в России встали на этот путь. Он труден. Но медлить нельзя. Если мы хотим революций, а не бессмысленных бунтов. Желаем успеха 49-ой Международной антивоенной ассамблее!     Коммунисты КПСС и сочувствующие из Нижней Туры. 7 августа 2011, Нижняя Тура, Россия   Уважаемые товарищи – единомышленники!   Приветствуем Вашу 49-ю интернациональную антивоенную ассамблею! Поддерживаем Ваши требования против разжигания войны, против строительства АТС на нашей планете, заражающих при авариях радиацией весь Земней шар. Сочувствуем Вашему всенародному горю, унесшему жизни Ваших граждан и детей: во всех бедах народов виноваты капиталисты, у которых единственная цель в жизни прибыль и обогащение за счет чужого труда. Мы уверены, что только при социализме не будет эксплуатации человека человеком. На нашей общей планете Земля созданы все условия для жизни / единственной в солнечней системе!!! Спасти от уничтожения жизнь человека и всего живущего задача каждого здравомыслящего человека. Правительства капиталистов-олигархов не хотят прислушаться к голосу угнетенного народа. Поэтому лозунг Карла Маркса остается злободневным и сейчас, как никогда: "Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! Желаем всем коммунистам удачи на избранном пути! С уважением! Afghanistan Socialist Association (ASA) July 18th 2011, Afghanistan   Death to war and exploitation  Dear comrades of International Anti War Assembly We express our strong solidarity with you and all victim people of Japan as result of the highest earthquake. The imperialist governments always sacrifice the workers and the oppressed people of their own countries and other nations to ensure and gain their dirty and illegal interests. The war, killing and military intervention in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Arab world and now the "rescue efforts" in Japan is the part of US imperialism hegemonism. It is the duty of all anti war, peace loving and socialist and progressive forces around the world to resist and make a strong block against imperialism and their puppet regimes.   - Down with imperialism and occupation! - Long live anti war movements! - Long live workers and the oppressed solidarity! Communist Workers´ Party for Peace and Socialism August 4th, Finland   We greet feelings of solidarity with all workers and students who participate in the 49th day of protest in Japan, 07/08/2011, against war and poverty. This time reminds all of us that the USA is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons for military purposes. Disastrous effects of those USA dropped bombs are still in the Japanese reality. Those already distant events and the subsequent development of Northeast Asia raises for the working class an important demand to release from militarism and imperialism, which the most prominent representative  USA is on the region. U.S. military bases in Japan and South Korea are evidence of the occupation and the occupying power's efforts to create a confrontation among the Asian peoples in the interests of USA. Actions of  USA tighten tension on the region. Very harmful example of such a tense situation is on the Korean peninsula. Alongside the USA  imperialist operations in the world has risen also the European Union. In Finland, we are fighting against the EU and all the repressive imperialist policy. Only a strong anti-imperialist struggle against capitalism can bring with a situation in which increased poverty will be defeated and self-determination of peoples will be restored. Let the peace and socialist future to be our common international goal.   With solidarity  Communist Workers´ Party for Peace and Socialism Finland Hannu Harju, Chairman     Alliance-Philippines August 6th, Los Angeles, USA   Mabuhay! The Alliance-Philippines based in the United States greets you with a militant greeting of solidarity on your anti-War assembly in Japan on August 7. This is being held at the time we are buffeted by earth shaking changes. In your country, the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, following upon the March 11th massive earthquake and tsunami, is assuming a serious aspect to such an extent that no estimation is possible as to how and when it can be settled. This comes to the heels of the fact that you are victims of the first nuclear tragedy when the A-Bombs were used in your country during the Second World War. But in spite of this situation, however, most of the governments of the major nuclear states, including the US, France, Britain and Russia, are waving a flag for continuing nuclear development. Of all things, the Japanese government is among them. The Alliance is aware that the US government has supported the Japanese government in carrying out nuclear development from the beginning while carefully controlling it. And yet Japan openly holds plutonium in massive quantities. Russia, and those of China and India as well, are still intent on developing nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons extensively. We must stop this madness; we wont let them continue nuclear development any more! Based on the strengthening of the international solidarity of workers and people, let us raise waves of struggles to stop their nuclear development! The military tension between the US and China is increasingly growing not only over the Korean Peninsula and the East China Sea but also in the South China Sea. Relying on its reinforced naval forces, China has strengthened its effective control over the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Against this, the governments of Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, each of which insists on its right of possession, are countering China by resorting to the US’s military back-up On the other hand, China is rushing headlong to hold its own nuclear capability suitable for ‘a superpower’, which overtakes the US and passes it up, on the basis of this state’s economic power that has the second highest GDP in the world as it has already passed Japan. Here in the belly of the beast, the imperialist rulers are conducting a direct assault on the American people and all nationalities minorities. They are using the debt-ceiling drama to tinker with social security, Medicare and Medicaid. Cutting billions of so called ‘ entitlement, they will rather cut benefits and services for the poor in favor of no taxes for the rich 1%. At the same time pouring trillions of dollars for the war against the people of the world. There is no let up in the war against Afghanistan, the Zionist war against the Palestinians and the people of the Middle East and the whole world. The US is now using the Philippines and Vietnam as a bludgeon against China in its assertion of dominance in the China seas, total control of natural and mineral resources of the seas and the nations around it. We are with you in all you revolutionary work and mass actions for the people of Japan and the proletariat of the whole world. We must be united against the imperialist and Zionist and all reactionaries who are holding our world in its advance to progress. We again, congratulate you for your progressive and militant work for the people and your solidarity to all struggling people everywhere. Again, we greet you and wish you good work ahead! Comrades in the world!  Our friends in the world!  Let us fight together by strengthening our solidarity on the basis of proletarian internationalism!   Alliance Philippines, National Committee, Los Angeles       A World to Win August 6th, London, Britain   Dear Comrades and friends A World to Win sends warmest greetings to your Assembly. At this moment capitalism has just lurched into its deepest crisis since 2008 – and there is no end in sight. As shares crash around the world, United States, still the world’s biggest economy, has just been downgraded by the credit rating agency Standard and Poor. The European Union faces its own crisis as the contagion of indebted countries at its periphery spreads to the bigger economies of Spain and Italy.  China, the largest foreign holder of US federal debt – is now getting anxious, masking its concern with nationalist rhetoric. The financial and economic crisis of globalised capital has gone side by side with the hollowing out of bourgeois democracy. As governments around the world have been absorbed into the orbit of gigantic corporations, they have lost credibility in the eyes of their citizens. This is particularly true of Britain. The recent telephone hacking scandal revealed the closest relationship between the police, the media and political leaders of the major parties. Like you, we demand the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan and an end to the US drone-bombing in Pakistan as part of its so-called war on terror.   We support the people of Japan in their opposition to the operation of nuclear reactors, especially in the light of the Fukushima disaster.  The continued building and maintenance of unsafe untested nuclear power is a grave danger to all of us. The insistence on the “growth at all costs” agenda endangers the planet and all its inhabitants. A World to Win salutes the young people, workers and professional people of the Arab Awakening. Since the uprising in Tunisia and the toppling of Mubarak in Egypt they have set an example to the rest of the world. We support the people of Syria, Bahrain and Yemen in particular who face the guns of their governments with incredible courage. At the same time we oppose the NATO bombardment of Libya. It is up to the people of Libya to decide their own fate, not to the war planes of the United States, Britain and France. We salute the Real Democracy Now movement in Spain campaigning for an alternative to the existing political system, which has camped and held marches to Madrid and Brussels. We support the youth and workers who occupied Syntagma Square in Athens. We greet the movement presently sweeping Israel where tens of thousands have marched against the Netanyahu government and others who are camping for housing rights – as well as demanding rights for Palestinians. We therefore call for the building of people’s assemblies as an alternative to the existing political and economic structures. We are working for this aim here in Britain. We look forward to a global network of people’s assemblies.   Corinna Lotz A World to Win, London, UK