The world has been shaken by the criminal war of aggression perpetrated by U.S. imperialism and its allies against Iraq, the second largest producer of oil in the world and therefore centre of greed and of the interests of the oil companies in geopolitical domination – in the important strategic zone of the Middle East – by the large imperialist and capitalist countries. The aggression was carried out against a dependent country, subjected for more than ten years to an economic, political and military blockade by the powers that control the United Nations.

This aggression is the consequence of the acute economic crisis that the capitalist-imperialist system worldwide has been facing for several years. It is a typical crisis of relative over-production that affects the great powers, and of course the United States, which is suffering a sustained recession. The Bush administration sees the war as an escape valve and a solution to the acute crisis of the economy. They hope to reactivate the economy by feeding the war industry, which will provide wealth to those monopolies, but this will not resolve their problems because the military expenses are enormous and the benefits that they hope to obtain will not come immediately, thus sharpening the existing crisis. They try to solve their problems by seizing the natural resources of the peoples and the dependent countries.

The United Stated seeks to consolidate its position as the principal imperialist power, to increase its presence in the world market, imposing on the other powers a new division of spheres of influence. It is competing with the European Union, with the group of Asian country headed by Japan, with China and Russia, with which it has contradictions. Due to the uneven development of capitalism, at present there is no equilibrium among these powers, which leads to the tendency toward a general war. Today this dispute is expressed in a localized manner, resorting of course to the use of arms. While on the one hand, the imperialists make agreements among themselves to impose the rigours of neo-liberal policies on our countries, with ominous consequences in terms of the growth of unemployment and the ‘informal economy’, of poverty and exclusion [of the popular sectors], of dependence, oppression and super-exploitation; on the other hand, they compete among themselves for control of areas of influence, sources of raw materials and the conquest of new markets for their products. In all cases, the U.S. is the most powerful and warlike.

After the collapse of the Twin Towers and the attacks on the Pentagon and White House, symbols of U.S. financial, military and political power, an ultra-reactionary campaign has been aggressively launched by the leaders of that country. They are reviving the thesis of ‘Manifest Destiny’, the total superiority and in all aspects of the North American nation, the necessity of ‘Yankee Westernization’ for all the peoples, etc. that has been accompanied by threats and punitive measures, applied even against its own people. This shows the emergence of a neo-fascist position in the leadership of U.S. imperialism. This is a group with strong economic links and interests to the military, oil and aeronautics industry.

The campaign of U.S. imperialism is meant to frighten the workers and peoples, to show its readiness to confront everyone and to sweep everyone away. It seeks to sow in their minds the idea of its invincibility and, therefore, the futility of rising up against it. However, the aggressiveness of imperialism, which is an intrinsic element of its nature, is not a demonstration of its vitality, but of its decadence, its weakness. In the past, many peoples rose up in arms and despite worse conditions they defeated imperialism: Vietnam and Korea are examples. For more than four decades Cuba has resisted armed aggression, sabotage, terrorist actions and imperialist blockade.

The United States, heading a coalition and based on its military arsenal, has taken possession of Afghanistan and Iraq, and has in mind several other targets, such as Iran, People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, Cuba, declared to be members of the so-called ‘axis of evil’, against which there has already been unleashed a propaganda campaign to justify the use of its machinery of war. They have already gotten allied governments to support the characterization of revolutionary, insurgent and nationalist forces as terrorists.

In Latin America in particular, besides the new outbreak of threats against Cuba, they are implementing the Plan Colombia, the Andean Regional Initiative, joint military manoeuvres and the creation of military bases.

Although the coalition won a military victory in Iraq – not to the degree that it expected – on the political level its defeat is evident. This episode showed the inter-imperialist contradictions existing in the world today, which have not gone beyond the diplomatic level. But above all the contradiction between imperialism and the peoples has been made evident and increased. In the whole planet a powerful anti-war movement has been aroused, which has unmasked and condemned the real aims of the invasion and the war plans of Bush and his terrorist ruling group. The cities of the aggressor countries themselves were the scene of huge marches against the war, which occurred everywhere. The principal component of these mobilizations was the youth, and the struggle of the working class has become evident in various countries.

However, the existence of different currents within this movement against the war is well known. The pacifist positions, which equally condemn all forms of violence, including those used by the peoples to win their freedom, have significant weight. But those sectors that struggle and denounce the reactionary and aggressive nature of the capitalist-imperialist system and work to give an anti-imperialist character to the anti-war movement, linking it to the fight for social and national liberation, with the perspective of socialism, are also active.

The current circumstances compel the revolutionary parties, organizations and forces to work in a broad manner, involving or finding points of unity with the organizations that are involved with political and mass actions, such as the anti-globalization movements or the movements against the war. We must work for the unity of all the anti-imperialist, democratic and progressive sectors of the world; to form an Anti-Imperialist Front, which is expressed by fighting the politics of the IMF, the attempts to form ALCA, confronting the noose of foreign debt, fighting the threats of new invasions and more. In reality, this Front is already manifested in all actions that the workers and peoples are carrying out against foreign domination and the liquidation of the gains of the workers and their democratic rights and liberties in the imperialist and dependent countries.

We must make every effort so that it is the working class which is at the frontlines and leads the anti-war and anti-imperialist struggle, linking it to the struggle for power.

Imperialism is not invincible; the forces and the potential of the peoples, who are fighting with the conviction that they are marching together on the road of history, are greater. This is the way we interpret what is happening in the world, we the organizations taking part in the Seventh International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, held in the city of Quito, Ecuador.

With the unity and struggle of the workers and peoples, we will confront the imperialist offensive and bury the exploiters

Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany
Revolutionary Communist Party – Argentina
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Bolivia
Revolutionary Communist Party of Brazil
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Colombia
Maoist Communist Party of Colombia
Army of National Liberation – Colombia
Workers’ Party of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea
Communist Party of Cuba
Chilean Communist Party – Proletarian Action
Communist Party of Labour of the Dominican Republic
Red Flag Party – Venezuela
Party of Labour – Turkey
Democratic Popular Movement – Ecuador
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador

Quito
Ecuador

July 3, 2003

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