English Home 44th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan August 6th 2006 The central meeting in Tokyo Reporting the Assembly Overseas Appeal Messages of Solidarity Hokkaido regional meeting in Sapporo Okinawa regional meeting in Ginowan The 44th International Antiwar Assembly was held in the midst of global turbulences: the impending crisis of a Fifth Middle East War caused by the Zionist government expanding its aggression against Lebanon and Palestine at the instigation of the Bush Empire, and another crisis of warfare in East Asia intensified over the issues of the North Korean missile launch and of 'Taiwan Independence'. In response to the appeal from the Executive Committee for the Assembly on the very day of the 61st anniversary of Hiroshima, thousands of workers, students and other people rallied at the seven meetings throughout Japan, and sixteen messages of solidarity arrived from groups and people in twelve countries in the rest of the world. At the central meeting in Tokyo with 1200 participants, the keynote speaker called on them to 'build the forces to break through the dark clouds of warfare hanging over the Middle East and East Asia'. Every messages of solidarity from foreign friends received the warmest responses after it was read to the audience. Militant resolves expressed by a public worker and the Zengakuren Chairman. All participants concluded the meeting by resolutely voicing: 'Denounce the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Palestine!' and 'Oppose the aggressive policies of the US and Japanese rulers against North Korea and China!' Overseas Appeal for the 44th International Antiwar Assembly Break through the crisis of warfare intensified by the new confrontation between the US and China-Russia! Let us stir up the flames of struggles worldwide against the rebuilding of the US-led alliance system and the strengthening of the new US-Japan military alliance! The Executive Committee for the 44th International Antiwar Assembly: Zengakuren [All-Japan Federation of Students' Self-Governing Associations] Antiwar Youth Committee Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) [JRCL (RMF)] Denounce the continued military occupation of Iraq by the Bush Empire! In his 'surprise visit' to Baghdad, US President George W. Bush showed off the alleged 'killing of the travelling terrorist al-Zarqawi' as if it were proof of 'victory in the war on terror'. He spoke loud and clear to members of the US occupying forces: 'Our military will stay on the offensive. We will continue to hunt down terrorists and bring them to justice' (June 13th). This theatrical show, however, is merely false bravado designed to conceal the fact that the US military occupation of Iraq has gone totally bankrupt. (The alleged individual known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is merely a fictitious figure fabricated by American imperialists to carry out conspiratorial terror attacks in Iraq.) Three years have passed since G. W. Bush declared 'the end of major combat in Iraq'. Thanks to the dauntless resistance of the Iraqi people, the number of US war dead has topped 2,500, even according to an official Pentagon report (June 15th). Around 320 billion dollars have been spent on the war, aggravating the serious fiscal deficit of the US, the world's biggest debtor nation. The permanent government of Iraq, which started with Shiite Nuri al-Maliki as its first Prime Minister in May, is showing a friendly stance towards the US government on the surface. This surface is, however, expedient for a trouble-free transfer of law-enforcement power from the occupying forces. In fact, this government is intensifying attempts to 'peacefully' drive foreign troops out of the country. One by one, the main allies in the US-led coalition, including Britain and Australia as well as Japan, have already started pulling their troops out of Iraq. As a result of all this, opposition to the Bush administration's Iraq occupation policy now dominates opinion polls back in the US. The probability is increasing day by day that the Republican Party will lose the coming midterm elections against the Democratic Party, and that G. W. Bush will become a lame duck. In order to wriggle out of this difficulty, he had to make up his mind to pull out American troops. Now it must be said that the transitional period to the US retreat from Iraq is beginning. The Bush-led American Empire, however, still justifies this war of aggression, saying that 'Iraq is a front in a long war on terror'. Shame on you! Remember all those war crimes: over 50,000 murders of Iraqi people (the Haditha massacre is just the tip of the iceberg); serious radioactive contaminations caused by depleted uranium munitions (an unpardonable crime imposing omnicide upon future generations); horrifying abuses and torture committed by US military officers in Abu Ghraib prison; conspiracies carried out by the CIA and DIA mobilizing special operatives from PMCs to incite sectarian strife between Shiite and Sunnite Muslims (the bombing of the holy Shiite mausoleum in Samarra and other atrocious plots); and so on. For these intolerable acts of state terror, it is the Bush Empire that must be brought to justice by people in Iraq and all over the world. Realignment of the global system of US-led alliancesunder an aggressive war plan against China A warning to people all over the world! The Bush Empire is preparing for more warmongering. It is still trying to justify the 'war on terror' while concealing the total bankruptcy of its military occupation of Iraq. Now Kim Jong Il's North Korean government is preparing drills for launching the ballistic missile known as Taepodong-2. This is a 'policy of martial brinkmanship', intended to draw the US government into direct talks with the DPRK government. In response, the US government is arranging launches of interceptor missiles and other military offensives - by mobilizing the Japanese military - having exaggeratedly propagandized the 'danger' of these missiles. Clearly it is the Bush administration that is deliberately producing military tension. On top of this, the US military is now leading a series of military drills on a massive scale in the Pacific Ocean. Particularly, RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific Exercise) 2006 was carried out by mobilizing troops from seven countries including Japan, Britain, Australia and South Korea from June 26th to July 28th. Centring on this RIMPAC, they are conducting a succession of aggressive drills from June to August, with the mobilization of three or four US carrier strike groups. This is precisely a war game based on the supposition of China's invasion of Taiwan, and according to the US military manual, to launch a war of aggression against China under the pretext of this 'contingency'. The Bush Empire brands Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran as 'a central bank of terrorism'. Condemning this Islamic Republic and Chavez-led Venezuela as 'resource-rich countries (continuing) misrule at home or misbehaviour abroad', the US government not only regards these two countries as targets to be overthrown. It is the backers of these anti-American spearheads that this government ranks as its 'main enemies' - in other words, Hu Jintao's China and its partner, Vladimir Putin's Russia. This is the core of the new Bush doctrine. According to this new national strategy, the Bush Empire is now desperate to build an offensive and defensive alliance globally against China and Russia by transforming NATO and the US-Japan military alliance and linking the two. This is precisely the doing of the Bush Empire, designed to patch up the bankruptcy of its notorious unilateralism. China and Russia strengthening an anti-American encirclement worldwide Confronting the Bush Empire in its attempt to reorganize its camp for world domination as the 'sole superpower', the Chinese and Russian governments are colluding together to rebuild their own spheres of influence. At the recent summit conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), led by these two governments and attended by Iran, India and Pakistan as observers, it was officially decided that the SCO would conduct a joint military drill on Russian territory in 2007 (June 15th). This decision, following last year's demand for a 'pullout of US forces from Central Asia', signifies a declaration to strengthen the SCO as a military alliance against 'hegemonism', i.e. US imperialism. The Afmadinejad government in Iran is striving to have 'Islamic nukes' by raising a banner 'against US imperialism and Zionism' while stressing the good cause of its 'peaceful purpose'. With this as a centripetal force, this Islamic government is forming an anti-American joint front in the Middle East - beyond antagonisms between Shiites and Sunnites - by embracing the new Iraqi government, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad, and the Hamas-led government in Palestine. In Latin America, the Chavez-led Venezuelan government is advocating liberation of the region from neo-colonialist domination or financial fetters by US and European powers under the banner of a 'Bolivarist revolution'. Presenting these two oil-rich countries as 'flag bearers', the Chinese and Russian governments are steadily forming a world-wide encirclement against US imperialism centred on the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Thus, the contemporary world is being divided into three blocks, which converge on the following poles: American allies centring on the US, UK and Japan (which we call the 'Hakenkreuz Alliance'); anti-American links between developing countries led by China and Russia; and the European Union with its Franco-German axis. The former two poles, in particular, are mutually producing a cold war-like tension in readiness for a 'hot war'. Owing to this explosive opposition, a critical situation is emerging in East Asia and the Middle East, in which the world stands on the brink of war. To make matters worse, the US government is developing 'usable' or 'small-scale' nuclear weapons. The British government is upgrading its system of strategic nuclear arms. To counter these, Russia and China are building up their own strategic nuclear arsenals. And what is called the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Hence, we can only say that, were a 'hot war' to break out, it would bring nuclear fires that would cause the annihilation of humankind. Toiling masses all over the world! Be aware of this critical moment! Rise now in an antiwar struggle against aggressive war preparations by the Bush Empire and the military counteraction by China and Russia! Japan's degradation into a US dependency and our own struggles to overcome the official peace movement At the latest US-Japan summit meeting held in Washington on June 29th, a joint statement was issued under the title of 'The US-Japan Alliance of the New Century'. G. W. Bush and Koizumi Jun'ichiro, as his follower, boastfully showed to the whole world that they had effectively revised the US-Japan Security Treaty without amending its articles. The essence of this revision lies in that the two imperialist states will strengthen their military alliance in reality as an offensive and defensive alliance, on the basis of which they will jointly carry out the so-called 'war on terror' and a war of aggression against China. Koizumi joyfully accepted all requests from his master Bush - Japan's overall support for the planned transformation of US forces (including the payment of 27 billion dollars), the merger and incorporation of the Japanese military into US Forces (degradation to troops of a US dependency), and a drastic expansion of the Air Self-Defense Force's support for US troops in Iraq. Now, in the RIMPAC exercise, the Japanese military is undertaking special training for carrying out new missions, including aerial bombing and assaultive landing in the form of being incorporated into US troops, going beyond its previous assignment as 'rear support for US forces'. Moreover, to transform Japan into a state that can wage war together with US imperialism, Japanese power holders are preparing to delete Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which clearly codifies the nominal renouncement of war and war capabilities. In its place, they are planning to produce a new Constitution imposed by the Bush Empire. The strengthening of the new US-Japan military alliance means, at the same time, a neo-fascistic reaction for Japanese rulers together with US imperialists to carry out aggressive military policies for war and neo-liberalistic economic policies. Although we are faced with this gravely critical situation, the official peace movement in Japan has stagnated, or rather, degenerated. The central leadership of Rengo [the Japanese Trade Union Confederation], the largest national centre of labour in Japan, dares to say that the US-Japan military alliance is needed for the 'national interest'. On top of this, this leadership is responding 'from below' to the government's offensive for Constitutional revision. Rengo serves as today's version of the Industrial Patriotic Association, which was inaugurated in wartime by the Tenno-worshipping Bonapartist power to mobilize the nation in its war of aggression. The Japanese Communist Party, which still goes under this name although it has converted to a revised capitalist position, has abandoned the banner of 'Repeal the US-Japan Security Treaty', which was included in its basic programme. Under the autocratic rule of Fuwa Tetsuzo, this party has started to propose an alternative policy to the government, saying 'Operate the Security Treaty according to its principle that it is for the purpose of defending Japan'. This betrayal by the self-styled communist party must be seen as a shameless reproduction of the notorious position adopted by the Second International, which supported the imperialist war for the purpose of 'defending the homeland'. The root cause of this historic degeneration lies in that this party has fallen still deeper into ideological degeneration to curry favour with 'enlightened' elements among Japanese monopoly capitalists. Owing to such bottomless degeneration among the official leadership of the peace movement, Japanese workers and other toiling masses have yet to be rallied as subjective forces of the struggle though their anger is seething explosively against the nationwide reorganization plan for US bases. Unless we organize struggles to overcome the JCP leadership, which has abandoned its banner against the US-Japan military alliance, it will be impossible to create the strength with which to shatter the realignment of the US-Japan alliance for war. Emphasizing this point, we, militant workers and students in Japan, are powerfully advancing struggles nationwide against the strengthening of the new US-Japan military alliance. Sympathetically and positively responding to these struggles of ours, numerous members among the ranks of the JCP are starting to revolt against the Fuwa leadership. Moreover, we have foiled the Rengo leadership in its attempt to officially decide a supportive position for revising the Constitution, on the basis of our efforts to develop mass struggles against the war and Constitutional revision in Rengo-affiliated trade unions. Militant workers are struggling assiduously for the de-construction of Rengo. Build international unity of the working classin solidarity with Muslim people fighting against US imperialism! Comrades all over the world! Let us rise in a revolutionary antiwar struggle to break through the darkness that hangs over the 21st century world! Denounce the continuation of the failed military occupation of Iraq by the Bush Empire! Stop the preparation for another war and war-mongering in the name of 'a long war on terror' or 'battles against totalitarianism'! What is called a 'war on terror', as highlighted by G. W. Bush, has totally revealed its falsehood as well as its essential nature against the toiling masses. Remember what the militarist Empire has done in Iraq and Afghanistan! Indiscriminate mass murders, arrogant violations of Islamic culture, inhuman torture and abuses on captives, environmental pollution, plundering of oil resources, and more. It is exactly this that has caused expansive hatred against US imperialism all over the world. G. W. Bush declares his intention to globally expand Yankee 'democracy'. Yet what is this 'democracy'? Its falsehood is symbolized by the fact that his government did not help poor black people in its own country when they were struck by Hurricane Katrina, and still leaves them homeless. There is also a rapidly widening gap between rich and poor, racial discrimination cruelly continued, a financial system infested with vulture funds, and so on. Describing them as 'universal value' is the extremity of falsehood. Take note of what Afmadinejad writes in his letter to Bush: 'Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of Liberalism and Western style democracy'. While condemning the Bush Empire for 'hegemonism', Chinese and Russian rulers are similarly intensifying their own hegemonistic attempts. Vladimir Putin dared to say that 'A strong military can repel any external pressure'. We must strongly oppose the strengthening of nuclear military power now being attempted by the Chinese and Russian governments. We must also make it clear that Russia has turned to state capitalism of the authoritarian type, based on its Federal Security Bureau (FSB), in the aftermath of the USSR's self-destruction as a Stalinist bureaucratic state. China is also undergoing a capitalist transformation of its politic-economic structure, based on the continuing metamorphosis of the Communist Party of China itself into a party that represents the interests of the rising capitalists, while keeping the framework of autocratic rule by the bureaucracy. And these are two forms of bankrupted Stalinism. Denounce the invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces! Denounce the military offensives of the Ehud Olmert government of Israel, backed by the Bush Empire, to terminate the Hamas-led government of Palestine! We call on workers, students and other toiling masses all over the world. Break through the crisis of warfare caused by the confrontation between the Hakenkreuz alliance, led by the Bush Empire, and China in collusion with Russia! Fight together on the basis of proletarian internationalism, in firm solidarity with Muslim people fighting in Iraq, and in the Arab world, under the banner of 'anti-US imperialism, anti-occupation'! Let us stir up the flames of struggles worldwide against the war and military alliances! July 1st, 2006 Messages of Solidarity - Revolutionary Marxists in Britain - TAVINI HUIRAATIRA NO TE AO MAOHI - The Liberation Front of Polynesia (F.L.P) - Union Pacifist of France - Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK) - Socialist Appeal - Workers' Party of Belgium - Northstar Compass - Владимир Пронин Председатель Совета Киевской организации "Прометей" - Региональная партия коммунистов - Всесоюзная Коммунистическая партия (большевиков) - A World to Win - Student Activity Information Resource (Thailand) - News and Letters Committees - Mr David McReynolds - Тюменского обкома РКРП-РПК Revolutionary Marxists in Britain Revolutionary Marxists in Britain send warm greetings to the 44th International Anti-War Assembly. Your Assembly takes place at a time when the Bush empire is becoming increasingly isolated on a world scale. However, without action by the working class this will lead to increased danger of world war. Bush is desperately striving to prevent China from becoming a rival superpower. To this end he seeks to prepare a war over Taiwan. He also seeks to bring together the US-Japan military alliance and NATO. Meanwhile China and Russia strive to confront US imperialism as rival capitalist powers. We fully support your appeal to the toiling masses of the world: "Rise now in an anti-war struggle against aggressive war preparations by the Bush Empire and the military counteraction by China and Russia!" Just as the Koizumi government strives to subordinate Japan to US imperialism, so does the Blair administration subordinate Britain. In Britain, there is widespread opposition to the presence of British troops as allies of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current leadership of the 'Left' in Britain has however failed to build an effective movement against Blair's imperialist policies. This failure owes much to the continued support for the Blair government by the majority of trade union leaders. The military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is matched by the actions of US imperialism's ally, Israel. The murder of civilians in Lebanon by illegal phosphorus and vacuum bombs marks a new level of brutality in Israeli military aggression. As with the government of Japan, the British government is increasing its attacks on the living standards of the working class. Despite its origins as a party of the trade unions, the Labour Party in government has held the anti-union laws firmly in place. The Labour Government also attacks the Health Service and encourages the privatisation of education. It is important that Marxists ensure that the move in the trade unions to break from the Labour Party becomes one of a genuine move to the left of the working class, and that workers break from Labour through developing a revolutionary consciousness. Revolutionary Marxists in Britain pay great attention to the movement you are building in Japan. You are an inspiration and an example to us all. We continue to deepen our understanding through the study of the writings of Comrade Kuroda. TAVINI HUIRAATIRA NO TE AO MAOHI - The Liberation Front of Polynesia (F.L.P) Aux participants du Congres, Freres et Soeurs: Au nom du President Oscar Temaru et des militants du Tavini Huiraatira, nous vous envoyons un grand salut a tous. Aujourd'hui commencent les travaux du 44th congres antiwar assembly; Nombreux sont les espoirs qui dependent des resultats de ce Congres. Par votre determination dans la lutte pour la paix, vous redonnez espoir a celles et a ceux qui ne sont pas ou plus prets a laisser le colonialisme imposer sa politique de misere et de precarite. En ce sens aussi, votre lutte est la notre. Mr jacques chirac a ecrit au secretaire general des nations unies en juillet 2006 pour lui demander de soutenir le droit a l'autodetermination des peuples autochtones; qu'en est il en Polynesie? C'est le developpement du colonialisme Francais qui prive aujourd'hui les Polynesiens de leur territoire. De plus, celui-ci a certainement ete planifiee de facon a empecher l'emergence d'un futur Etat, l'Etat Francais exerce une pression sur le gouvernement polynesien, en s'opposant a toute solution de compromis. La situation est difficile. Et le maintien du colonialisme serait catastrophique pour les generations futures. L'espoir, c'est que notre organisation politique puisse grandir sur tout le territoire et dans tous les secteurs de la societe qui luttent pour une polynesie ou regnerait la democratie, la liberte et la justice; C'est le gouvernement Francais qui refuse d'apporter une solution a nos legitimes revendications. Travaillons donc ensemble, sans relache, pour que nous puissions ensemble concretiser nos souhaits pour un monde plus pacifique; Nous devons pour cela lutter ensemble! Encore une fois, bonne chance dans vos travaux dans le cadre de votre 44th congres et recevez les amities les plus chaleureuses du peuple Maohi. Union Pacifist of France Dear Friends in pacifism, For the moment Union Pacifist of France (UPF) is meeting in Paderborn (Germany) for the triennial of War Resister's International (WRI). And the global village is still burning: the pacifists are murdered by their national army in Colombia, the non-violent populations are bombed in Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, and too many other countries. I suppose that, even if you stay in Pacific (Ocean !!!), you know a lot of things about US bases and about the huge militarization of Asia. But have you even heard of Palau, Vanuatu, West Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga, Nauri, Niue, Tuvalu, Salomon- Cook- Marshall Islands, or of the Micronesia Federation? All these UN member countries present the specificity to be non militarized. There are about 30 states in the world living without army, and rather better than others…. Even if the French have only lesson to receive, because of the war policy of our government, for instance in Africa or in Mururoa and Fangatofa (continuing near Bordeaux, with the Laser megajoule, in order to miniaturise nuclear weapons), as neighbours of Japan, UPF think that "civilization" (if you prefer, you can translate more simply this abstract word with "live in common") is founded on giving. This vital generosity cannot suffer submission to orders, militarization, armies. And it is why, for us, the right to refuse to kill, to refuse to use arms in all circumstances, is the foundation stone of all peace constructions, in any time and in any countries. Yes, you understand that we are for the abolition of all arms and of all armies. It is not serious to act for suppressing only one kind of weapon! The only place acceptable for army is at a horror museum (just to remind young people how stupid was life under military power). For all these reasons, we wish you a fruitful 44th International Antiwar Assembly! UPF hope to keep in touch with all your actions against wars. Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK) Dear comrades of the Executive Committee for the 44th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan, The Central Committee of the Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK), Greek Section of the Coordinating Committee for the Re-foundation of the Fourth International (CRFI), sends to you and to all the Japanese working class and oppressed people our warmest internationalist greetings as the terrible anniversary of the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is approaching. We pay tribute to the memory of the victims of this inhuman barbarism and we pledge to fight to defeat the imperialist perpetrators of this crime. The same social forces - world imperialist capitalism - are again in work, threatening all humanity. These days, the onslaught of the Zionist military machine, with the full backing of US imperialism and the complicity of the European Union and the bourgeois regimes in the region, against the martyred Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip as well as against the people of Lebanon is the new link in the chain of war atrocities perpetrated by imperialism, following the aggression on Afghanistan in 2001 and the war and occupation in Iraq in 2003. The undefeated heroic resistance of the popular masses in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan condemns the war effort of the imperialists to failure. The escalation of imperialist terrorist wars is a sign not of strength but of weakness of a rotten social system in historic decline. Against the permanent imperialist war our answer is: for the permanent revolution, for world Socialism! Let's unite our struggles against imperialism, war and capitalism all over the planet and build together the revolutionary International of the working class needed for the victory of the world socialist revolution! With fraternal internationalist greetings On behalf of the Central Committee of EEK Socialist Appeal Revolutionary Greetings from the United States! The workers and youth supporters of the Workers International League, organized around Socialist Appeal newspaper, send you our firmest greetings and solidarity as you gather across Japan to discuss the world crisis of imperialism and how to take the anti-war movement forward. The international crisis of imperialism has gripped the entire world and is shaking the entire edifice down to its foundations. The world situation confronting us today is one of crisis. Capitalism has once again proved that it cannot offer any future to the working class other than war, hunger, economic crisis and social disintegration. We, as Marxist workers and youth, believe that the only genuine solution to this crisis is the working class of the world. We believe that only way out of this impasse of international capitalism, with its barbarism, war, and disintegration is the World Socialist Revolution. Capitalism can no longer provide a future for the working class and youth, whether in Japan or in the United States, or anywhere else. Truly today, the choice before us is Socialism or Barbarism! in International Solidarity Workers' Party of Belgium The Workers Party of Belgium salutes the participants and members of the Executive Committee of the 44th Anti-War Assembly in Japan on August 6, 2006. On that historic day, the toiling masses all over the world are manifesting their strong desire for peace and freedom from imperialist war and aggression. We sincerely hope that the assembly may be another step forward in the people's struggle against war. The overseas appeal of the assembly, which was distributed in advance, rightly points to the threat of a confrontation between US imperialism on the one hand and the alliance of China and Russia. The document likewise identifies US imperialism as the principal threat to world peace. Indeed, the Japanese government's submission to the US war plans is worrisome and it is encouraging for us to learn about your efforts to expose the Koizumi government and their domestic lackeys. You might be interested to know that this year's International Communist Seminar, which we hosted in Brussels from May 5-7 2006, came up with a resolution entitled: "Let us advance, intensify and broaden the struggle against imperialism, and particularly against the main enemy, US imperialism, its wars of aggression and its threats and preparations for new aggressions!" The resolution observed that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the regional alliance of China, Russia and other Asian nations, has declared to be in favor of the withdrawal of US bases from the region and that the upcoming accession of Iran, India and Pakistan to the SCO, will put US imperialism in Asia in an even more difficult situation. While we are analyzing the onslaught of imperialism on the world's peoples, we also observe that the people are putting up courageous resistance. The people of Iraq clearly reject US occupation and have found effective means to make the US war machine stumble. The people of Palestine and other nations in the Middle East actively resist US-Israeli plans of domination and colonization. In Latin America local leaders like Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales are courageously opposing US imperialism while Cuba has been able to resist US aggression already for almost half a century. In Asia, the people of Nepal, have recently been able to gain significant victories in their struggle for sovereignty and democracy. These are only a few of the many hopeful signs. Even while the aggression on Iraq is still fresh in our memory and even if we are in the midst of revolting attacks on Lebanon, let us not forget the courage and bravery of the people for it is on their strength that we have to rely. We hope therefore that this activity will contribute significantly to rallying the Japanese people against imperialist aggression and war! Long live international solidarity! Down with imperialism! The people united will never be defeated! Department of International Relations Workers' Party of Belgium Northstar Compass Dear comrades: On behalf of the publication Northstar Compass and the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People, we send you our sincere greetings on this 44th International Antiwar Assembly. Your slogans, your work, your dedication and your influence is admired and we hope that it shall be copied and followed by the whole anti-imperialist forces over the world. The danger of fascism is emanating from the US and its satellite in the Middle East - namely Israel - which can bring the world into war. US imperialism must be stopped at all costs. At this junction we feel that the International Antiwar Assembly in Japan can and must be the torch to light the way towards unity, cohesion and outbursts of demonstrations all over the world. Your example will inspire the people. Imperialism is rushing towards fascism and it is up to comrades like you and us to cement our forces, stand united, be full of dedication! The people of Japan must also defeat the growing imperialist tendencies by the present Japanese regime! We are many, the enemies are few! Onwards towards unity! On behalf of the Editorial Board of Northstar Compass and Executive Committee of the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People Владимир Пронин Председатель Совета Киевской организации "Прометей" "Нет - братоубийственной войне!" Народы всего мира с огромным сочувствием следят за героическим сопротивлением иракского народа империалистической интервенции. Мужественное и самоотверженное противостояние агрессии с каждым днем приближает день позорного отступления из Ирака оккупационных войск, чему свидетельством продолжающийся вывод из Ирака войск стран-пособников интервентов, в том числе, украинских, японских и др. Народы всего мира надеются, что недалеко то время, когда последний оккупант покинет иракскую землю и народ Ирака снова сможет стать хозяином своей судьбы. Однако в последнее время все те, кто поддерживает справедливую борьбу иракского народа, с болью отмечают факты усиливающейся религиозной розни между суннитами и шиитами, кровавым проявлениям которой империалисты могут только радоваться и к разжиганию которой они несомненно прилагают усилия через свою агентуру, внедренную в исламистское движение. Для нас нет сомнения, что у народа Ирака нет сейчас более важной задачи, чем достижение максимально возможного сплочения сил против общего врага: империалистов и местных коллаборационистов, объединение всех иракских патриотов независимо от принадлежности к тому или иному ответвлению ислама. Те, кто поднимает руку против своих сограждан только на том основании, что они принадлежат к другому вероисповеданию, должны осознать, что тем самым они фактически способствуют империалистической агрессии и отодвигают день освобождения своей Родины от войск интервентов, помогая империалистическим идеологам, в том числе через подручные средства массовой информации, формировать негативный образ борцов иракского сопротивления и всех вообще иракцев, ослабляя чувства международной солидарности с многострадальным и героическим народом Ирака. Разве недостаточно тех кровавых жертв, которые мужественный иракский народ понес в ходе империалистической агрессии, чтобы иракцы гибли еще и в ходе братоубийственной религиозной розни? Только единство действий самого иракского народа, всех антиимпериалистических сил, в том числе, антивоенных движений в странах-интервентах, позволит не только освободить древнюю землю Месопотамии от интервентов, но и заставит впредь призадуматься даже самых твердолобых реакционеров в правящих кругах империалистических государств. Получив по рукам в Ираке, они десять раз подумают, прежде чем вздумают осуществить агрессию против какой-нибудь другой страны с неугодным Вашингтону и НАТО правительством. Вспомним, как это было после того, как американские агрессоры вынуждены были с позором убраться из Вьетнама и вьетнамский синдром некоторое время препятствовал поджигательским устремлениям наиболее реакционных, самых оголтелых, готовых ради своих прибылей поставить под угрозу само существование человечества, сил. Но крах СССР и мировой системы социализма на какое-то время развязал им руки и у американских империалистов совершенно очевидно закружилась голова. Они почувствовали себя чуть ли не единоличными хозяевами однополюсного мира. Слабое, явно недостаточное сопротивление кровавой интервенции на Балканах, которое было оказано как со стороны народов Югославии, так и со стороны прогрессивных сил во всем мире, позволившее им растерзать эту беззащитную страну, привело к тому, что они вообще утратили всякое ощущение реальности. Но Афганистан и, прежде всего, Ирак, где эти вояки к настоящему времени безнадежно увязли по самые уши, многомиллионные демонстрации протеста по всему миру, особенно, кстати, многочисленные именно в самих империалистических странах, показали империалистам пределы их могущества. Дело чести всех прогрессивных антиимпериалистических сил в мире добиться окончания позорной интервенции против народов Афганистана и Ирака и тем самым способствовать выработке у правящих кругов США и их натовских союзников теперь уже иракского синдрома! Участники антивоенной конференции не приемлют и всегда будут выступать против любой межрелигиозной розни, тем более, если она приобретает кровавый характер, но в условиях оккупированного Ирака это носит вдвойне преступный характер. Только одна мысль о том, что усиление этой розни способствует увековечиванию оккупации, должна заставить горячие головы из числа тех, кто активно разжигает межрелигиозные распри, призадуматься. Разумеется, иракский народ должен сам разобраться в своем доме, но мы не можем не призвать все здоровые силы народа Ирака не допустить дальнейшего разжигания межрелигиозных распрей". Региональная партия коммунистов (Ленинград) Участникам 44 Международной антивоенной ассамблеи в Японии Уважаемые члены Исполнительного Комитета и делегаты 44 Международной антивоенной ассамблеи! От имени Региональной партии коммунистов приветствуем вас, достойно соблюдающих традицию ежегодных слётов борцов против войны и против империализма - источника и главного виновника непрекращающихся так называемых локальных войн. Ваша ассамблея проходит в дни, когда страшная гуманитарная катастрофа обрушилась на Ливан. Народ небольшого ближневосточного государства стал жертвой безжалостной агрессии со стороны Израиля, столь неадекватно реагирующего на провокации боевиков "Хизболлы". За спиной Израиля стоят открыто их поддерживающие США. Администрации Буша эта военная поддержка своего стратегического союзника нужна, чтобы отвлечь внимание американской общественности от трясины иракской ситуации, из которой США не знают, как выбраться, и от кризисных явлений в собственной экономике, а также, чтобы напугать фундаменталистский Иран. Израильскому правительству эта демонстрация военной мощи нужна в первую очередь для того, чтобы с помощью псевдопатриотического угара преодолеть социально-политический раскол израильского общества, исходя из интересов крупной буржуазии. За спиной "Хизболлы" стоит Иран Ахмединежада. Ему эта новая война нужна для отвлечения внимания от иранской ядерной программы и для того, чтобы опять-таки с помощью инъекции псевдопатриотизма, замешенного на исламистском фундаментализме, преодолеть сопротивление рабочих против усиливающейся эксплуатации. Главный террорист планеты Буш младший вместе со своим израильским союзником и мракобес регионального масштаба Ахмединежад нужны друг другу как спарринг-партнёры для оправдания своих действий. Страдания и жертвы народов их абсолютно не интересуют. К сожалению, разобщённость левых политических сил на национальном и международном уровнях и отсутствие внушительного марксистского ядра внутри этих сил способствуют продолжению военных и других преступлений капитализма. Задача левых состоит в том, чтобы в конкретных протестных действиях преодолеть эту разобщённость. Сплочению антиимпериалистических отрядов объективно помогает всемирное движение альтерглобализма, вехами которого служат мировые, континентальные и национальные социальные форумы. Вслед за 4-м Европейским социальным форумом, прошедшим в мае этого года в Афинах, Греция, 14-15 июля в Петербурге (Ленинград) состоялся 2-й Российский социальный форум. Он прошёл как контрсаммит по отношению к саммиту G8 в Петербурге и был подвергнут беспрецедентному давлению властей с массовыми полицейскими задержаниями организаторов и участников, прибывших из большинства регионов России. Властями была даже запрещена демонстрация по окончании Форума, что полностью антиконституционно. В стае хищников, каковою является "большая восьмёрка", Россия показала себя циничным и трусливым хищником, что вполне устраивает её партнёров. Себе они не могут позволить запретить массовые манифестации протеста, сопровождающие все их саммиты. Здесь же они "не заметили" вопиющего нарушения элементарных политических прав. Тем не менее Форум прошёл плодотворно, хорошо послужив обмену опытом и координации действий. Желаем успеха 44 Международной антивоенной ассамблее! Да здравствует единство в борьбе против эксплуатации и империализма, за прекращение идущих и недопущение новых войн! Да здравствует пролетарский интернационализм! Всесоюзная Коммунистическая партия (большевиков) Дорогие товарищи! От имени большевиков России и Украины приветствуем Ваш форум и желаем успехов в деле укрепления антиимпериалистической солидарности, новых успехов в борьбе за мир, демократию и социализм! Ваш форум проходит в период дальнейшей эскалации агрессивных действий мирового империализма, ярко демонстрирующих его античеловеческую сущность. Кровавые бомбардировки израильской военщиной Ливана, благословляемые верхушкой США, усиление противостояния между центрами империализма, продолжающиеся давление на страны и народы, которые не желают встать на колени перед империалистическим хищниками - всё это реалии сегодняшнего дня. В одной упряжке с ними идёт и нынешнее руководство России, которое, став "хозяином" саммита "восьмёрки", без одобрения своих заокеанских покровителей не может ступить ни одного шага в собственном доме. Большевики России ведут упорную борьбу за интересы трудового народа России. В своей повседневной борьбе мы последовательно защищаем принципы большевизма. Мы - за Россию Советскую, социалистическую, за свободную Родину без эксплуатации человека человеком и за то, чтобы богатства нашей страны служили людям труда, а не прибылями империалистических заправил. Большевики России и Украины решительно осуждают политику правителей наших стран, направленную на дальнейшую эскалацию международной напряженности! Искренне желаем Вам, дорогие товарищи, новых успехов в нашей общей борьбе! Первый Секретарь ЦК ВКП(б) A World to Win Dear Comrades A World to Win organisation sends warm greetings of solidarity to the 44th International Anti-War Assembly in Japan. We stand with the Assembly's Executive Committee in your condemnation of the occupation of Iraq and the war-mongering activities of the Bush and Blair governments as well as regimes in other countries. We denounce the "war on terror" as a war OF terror instigated by warmongers in the White House and Downing Street, against elected governments in Palestine and Lebanon and elsewhere. We condemn the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon taking place at this moment. It could not continue for one day without the backing of the United States and Britain. Israeli munitions, such as bunker-busting bombs, are supplied from the US and flown to Israel via British airports. We therefore call for the defeat and removal of the US and British governments as a precondition for the prevention of full-scale war in the region. We understand Bush's "Project for a New American Century", not simply as a continuation of the old imperialist strategies, but as the capitalist ruling classes' drive to prop up their faltering system by extending the rule of corporate-driven capitalism into all parts of the world. Governments throughout the world, including our own in the UK, are increasingly losing all legitimacy. Over the past decades vast sections of people in the US, Britain and many other countries have lost any confidence and trust they may have had in the ability of governments to protect them and provide for their basic needs. This is shown by the decline in numbers of people voting and support for established political parties. We have neither democracy nor representation. At home, the New Labour under Blair has overturned legal and civil rights legislated over centuries with hundreds of new laws giving unprecedented powers to the police. New Labour's "anti-terror" policies have led to attacks on totally innocent people such as Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by a state killer squad as he sat peacefully on the London Underground. That is why A World to Win recently launched a campaign for Rights for a 21st century democracy. We call for a written constitution for a truly democratic, republican Britain. We call for an end to all occupation and call for the self-determination of peoples in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Yours fraternally A World to Win (incorporating Movement for a Socialist Future, MSF) Student Activity Information Resource The civilians have never won anything from the imperialistic war but dead bodies, blood and tears. This is a saying that is undoubtly true, no matter meant for the incident 61 years ago or for the current circumstances at this moment. In Lebanon, the Israeli troops supported by Bush empire government have bombarded Lebanon with highly destructive weapons without at the least regarding that the war would bring true tragedy to all the Lebanese, including children and the old. What is left of this war are countless mortal remains and blood baths, in the other hand, it is also the shameless excuses for the US and Israeli government to commit another immorality. In Iraq, the troops of US government and the allies have claimed the false accusation as an excuse to exploit the natural resources. As in any other imperialist wars, the civilians of Iraq must sacrifice their lives for the sake of US government and allies' interest. We, Student Activity Information Resource, feel ashamed that Thai government under the capitalist Thaksin Shinawatra administration has been part of this empire war. We feel deeply sympathized and sorry for Iraqi civilians for letting Thai government use the power on behalf of Thai people to side with the crime carried out at another part of the world. Not only committing crime in Iraq, Thaksin government has established the vicious and ruthless war against our Muslim fellows in the southern Thailand, which brings great loss to the people of Malay Muslims and local officials. We commemorate to every loss of every incident and condemn imperialist governments which value bloods and lives of the people less than the political economic benefits of their own. We support assembly, gatherings and other movements of people who stand up against the power of Imperialism in order to cease the war, and to bring the real peace to the world. Always in solidarity Student Activity Information Recourse (SAIR), Thailand 6 August 2006 News and Letters Committees Dear Comrades: Revolutionary greetings from Marxist-Humanists in the U.S.! We join with you in solidarity at your antiwar assembly on August 6, 2006, in commemoration of the true "day of infamy" as Raya Dunayevskaya declared it at the peace rally she had been asked to address held in Hiroshima on Dec. 8, 1965, during her lecture tour of your country following the publication of the Japanese edition of her work, Marxism and Freedom. Here is how she began her talk that day: "While I do not wish to minimize Japanese militarism's role in the second imperialist world war, the day of infamy that will never be erased from history is not Dec. 7, but Aug. 6. And when that day of infamy was extended, and on Aug. 9th, Nagasaki was atom-bombed, hell on earth seemed to be the only reality left. Because we are gathered here to make sure that that dehumanized version of reality does not repeat itself, our anti-war struggles must be inseparable from those aimed at eradicating that which is at the root of all wars: class society." This year we in News and Letters Committees are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Constitution of our Marxist-Humanist organization. Our principled position on war that we established there remains our firm ground today: "The necessity for a new society is clear from the working people's opposition to war. That opposition is based upon a vision of a new society in which they, to a man, woman and child, control their own lives. Any opposition to war which is based on less than this must end in capitulation to the war mongers." It is in that spirit that we are sending you our greetings and solidarity today. In September we will be meeting in convention to decide on our Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for 2006-2007. As part of our contribution to your antiwar Assembly we are sending you here the outline and some aspects of our Draft for those Perspectives. The full document can be found on our web site (www.newsandletters.org) and in our newspaper. We will welcome your thoughts on it. The Resident Editorial Board, News and Letters Committees Mr. David McReynolds Dear friends, Please accept my warm greetings, pass them on to others who may remember me. At this time of terrible conflict in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Gaza, one realizes how little the human race has learned from the past. And, as an American, how guilty the United States is for this current situation. Across the boundaries of time from 1945 to now, and from the distance from New York City to those of you in Japan, my greetings, my hope we continue to work together. Peace, David McReynolds NYC Тюменского обкома РКРП-РПК Уважаемые товарищи японские коммунисты! Мы, как и вы, глубоко возмущены бесстыдными агрессиями США против Ирака и Израиля против Ливана. Эти и другие агрессии лишний раз подтверждают античеловеческую сущность капитализма, доказывают необходимость решительной борьбы с ним. Мы прекрасно понимаем, что избежать войн можно только уничтожив капитализм во всем мире. Российская коммунистическая рабочая партия - Российская партия коммунистов ведет бескомпромиссную борьбу с капитализмом и наиболее реакционным его проявлением - международным империализмом. Мы поддерживаем японских коммунистов в их справедливой борьбе за мир во всем мире, борьбе за социализм и коммунизм. Секретарь Тюменского обкома РКРП-РПК по рабочему движению