March 15th, 2005

CANADA SAYS NO TO WAR!

Statement of the Communist Party of Canada on the Days of Action for Peace and Global Justice, March 19-20, 2005

THOUSANDS OF CANADIANS will participate in anti-war protests on March 19-20, the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are joining people in countries around the world in one of the larger global protests in recent years.

This is a truly massive mobilization in support of peace and global justice, the theme adopted for the days of action by the Canadian Peace Alliance, the World Social Forum and world peace movements.

The protests reflect growing and broad anti-imperialist sentiments among wide sections of Canada's and the world's peoples, sentiments in support of people's sovereignty and against the impositions of U.S. imperialism.

Other forms of rivalry in the form of bitter trade disputes are showing millions of Canadians that free trade agreements with the U.S. are worthless. The whole purpose of U.S. foreign policy is to protect U.S. transnational corporations, not to create a fair or level playing field.

Imperialism: Source of the war danger

Capitalist imperialism is the source of the growing war danger. Canada is part of a small number of imperialist countries led by the U.S. that are plundering the oppressed nations and workers and nations of the world. These countries act for the giant transnational corporations that dominate the global economy.

Faced with growing crises, declining profits and other impasses, imperialism is increasingly turning to militarism, issuing threats, adopting aggressive military doctrines, and building the most dangerous weapons.

Mobilize against war!

Mass anti-war mobilizations in 2003 helped to keep Canada and several other imperialist countries out of direct involvement in the brutal U.S. occupation of Iraq. The Liberal Party's official policy of non-participation in that war was a major reason why it won re-election as a minority government in 2004.

Canadians are deepening their opposition to U.S. foreign policy, and have a growing awareness of U.S. militarism. The visit last year by U.S. President Bush to Ottawa and Halifax backfired when he tried to involve Canada in Missile Defense and future military adventures throughout the world.

Millions realize that U.S. Missile Defense is a dangerous plan to dominate the earth using weapons in space. That reality has forced the Martin Liberals reluctantly to back away from the plan.

But the Martin Liberals are pouring billions of dollars into the military, they have close military ties with the U.S., they are crushing democratic rights with so-called anti-terrorist laws, and during twelve years in office they have dealt blow after blow to workers and the needy.

These facts challenge everyone with a vision for a better future to build the peace movement. This is the task of our moment in history, just as the struggle to block fascist aggression was the critical goal in the 1930s. War is the greatest threat to a better Canada and a better world!

International solidarity needed

Trade unions and people's movements around the world must meet this historic challenge, unite against war and imperialist plunder, and inspire the world's peoples with a better future. It is especially important to build solidarity and unity against imperialism in the international labour movement.

In Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Quebec's central labour bodies (the QFL, CNTU and CEQ) should all work together in support of making Canada a voice for peace, and to oppose Canada's involvement in expensive military preparations and aggressions.

They should all work together to build the global movement against war and imperialism. Only strong, united international people's movements against war will be able to confront and eventually prevail over imperialism and the threat it poses to humanity.

The days of action this weekend are another sign that the people's movements are starting to overcome years of disunity and despair. Imperialism will never find a weapons system or army that can defeat the people's movements emerging today. And weapons in space and new military doctrines like "preventive" war will never save the capitalist system from its long-sought defeat.

A World for People, Not Profit and War!

A people's alternative vision is urgently needed to build a world for people, not war and profit. The Communist Party calls for an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament, based on upholding Canadian sovereignty in support of the urgent needs of our country and the world, including:

- End the occupation of Iraq; prosecute those responsible for the invasion as war criminals; end Canada's military involvement with occupied Iraq

- Withdraw Canadian and all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Haiti

- Oppose the brutal U.S. sanctions against Cuba; support freeing "The Cuban Five" jailed in the U.S. for fighting terrorism

- Oppose Israel's occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories; demand the immediate dismantling of Israel's illegal wall built in occupied territories; support a Palestinian state and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees according to U.N. resolutions

- Reject the official "war on terror," a war that attacks democratic rights, incites anti-Arab racism, and divides the international working class; oppose terrorism as dangerous and undemocratic

- Work to ban weapons in space and oppose U.S. Missile Defense

- Respect the United Nations' Charter and international laws that uphold state sovereignty and national self-determination; strengthen the authority of the UN General Assembly in security matters

- Oppose "preventive" war, the "first use" of nuclear weapons and other imperialist official military doctrines

- Support negotiations to abolish weapons of mass destruction and achieve global disarmament treaties

- Withdraw Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; support dismantling all military alliances; ban arms sales to regimes responsible for genocide and crimes against peace

- Abrogate "free trade" deals which undermine Canada's sovereignty, close factories, and fail to protect Canada from unjust sanctions

- Promote trade relations between Canada and all countries on the basis of equality, sustainability and mutual social benefit; cancel the debt of Third World countries; increase unconditional aid by imperialist countries as compensation for centuries of slavery, colonial oppression and exploitation.

- Strengthen and fulfill Canada's commitment to stop global warming contained in the Kyoto protocol; support processes started at the 1992 Earth Summit to address global environmental problems

- Support the right of self-determination for all nations which now are denied that right, including in Canada; promote equal and voluntary relations between nations deciding to remain in the same state.

© 2005 Communist Party of Canada