Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2017

KKE on Dutch Elections: "The peoples of Europe can escape from the vise of phony dilemmas"

On the occasion of the Dutch elections' results, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:

"The so-called "eurosceptic" parties do not consist a solution to the antipeople policy which is getting stronger throughout the EU by all governments and which of course will be continued by the new government of the Netherlands. They are parties which express the interests of parts of the capital, of centers of the establishment, which are benefiting from the centrifugal tendencies in the EU and the eurozone and are seeking another version of capitalist exploitation.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Joint Statement by NCPN and TKP: To the working people of Netherlands and Turkey

Joint Statement by the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (NCPN) and the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP).

To the working people of Netherlands and Turkey.
A crisis is being practiced between the two countries reflecting the rude nature of the bourgeoisie politicians, so severe that we have not observed for many years. Now, they provoke and play with nationalistic emotions among the people and they try to benefit politically out of this tension being escalated.
However, we know that the politicians who are the heroes of this crisis resulting in the crisis reaching scandal dimension have been attacking their own working people and that they have put their signatures under policies extorting the rights of the proletariat. Both parts represent the bourgeoisie class and exploitative monopolies.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Greece's farmers converge in Athens to protest against government-EU policies

After 22 days in road blockades, small farmers are going to give a powerful response to the provocative intransigence of the government which has ignored their rightful demands

After a decision by the national committee coordinating the farmers’ protests, a large rally is scheduled to take place in Athens today as a way of pressure towards the government. Already, since the early hours of Tuesday, thousands of workers with their tractors and pick-up tracks, from all over Greece, began their route towards the Greek capital.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

KKE slams PM Tsipras for visiting Ukraine

With a statement the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) denounces the recent visit of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Ukraine. More specifically, the statement says:

"Prime Minister Al. Tsipras choosed to visit Ukraine in a period when a regime has been imposed in this country through coup actions, with the support of the US, EU, NATO and with the utilization even of fascist groups. 

The visit coincided with the new sharpening (of the situation) in Southeast Ukraine, with the outbreak of a new bloodshed, under the primary responsibility of the current president P.Poroshenko and his reactionary government. He (Tsipras) visited Ukraine when the parody-trial for the prohibition of the Communist Party of Ukraine is in process, when soviet and antifascist monuments are taken down and the collaborators of the nazis are extolled to the youth as "patriots".

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Workers, immigrants and refugees have been targeted by Trump's government for the sake of capital's profitability

Speaking at the European Parliament's plenary during the discussion about "US travel restrictions", Kostas Papadakis, MEP from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), condemned the new measures taken by the Trump administration. More specifically, Papadakis said in his intervention:

"The Trump choice reflects reclassifications between parts of the US capital. The unacceptable restrictions and repressive measures taken by the Trump administration consist a dangerous development. They have targetet millions of immigrants and refugees, the big victims of the capitalist system which the Trump administration manages. The aim is the maximum profitability of the US business groups to the detritment of american workers. 

Monday, January 30, 2017

KKE: Greek and Turkish workers must fight together against the bourgeois classes

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement regarding yesterday's violation of the Greek maritime borders by Turkish warships. More specifically, the statement says:

"The KKE denounces the violation of  the Greek maritime borders, in the area of Imia, by Turkish warships in the presence of the heads of the Turkish armed forces, which took place on Sunday 29th of January.

This action- 21 years after the Imia crisis- consists a dangerous development added to the successive violations of the Greek air and maritime space, the challenging of the Treaty of Lausanne which defines the Greek-Turkish borders, the threats which Ankara fired recently, after the decision of the Supreme Court for the non-extradition of the 8 Turkish military officers who asked for protection-asylum in our country.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

KKE delegation in EU Parliament denounces plans to move US Embassy to Jerusalem

KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis (up) submitted
the Question to EU's Federica Morgherini.
In a Question submitted to the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, the KKE EU Parliament delegation denounces as "provocative" the US government's announcement regarding the beginning of the procedure to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

More specifically, the Question submitted by KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis is the following:

"It has been officially announced by the government of the United States that it starts the procedure for the transfer of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which, as it was stated, is in "early stages". This move was accompanied by the statements of the israeli occupational forces that they plan:

i) the construction of over 500 new residences for israeli settlers in East Jerusalem

ii) the construction 2,500 new residences for israeli settlers in West Bank.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Solidarity with Greece's small farmers in their struggle against the SYRIZA and EU policies

Small farmers in Greece are back on the roads again. With their tractors of work and struggle, on the roadblocks, in order to survive. They are struggling, tooth and nail, in order to keep their fields and animals, so that their remain in their villages, so that we can sustain our families through our work in a decent way.

The struggle is inevitable for poor farmers. If they don’t struggle, they will be driven off their land, if they do not resist, they will be throwed on the bonfire of unemployment and destitution. 

Farmers from Tyrnavos, Central Greece, set the first blockade on Monday noon, while farmers from Karditsa, Trikala, Farsala, Larisa have scheduled to go out on the streets on Thursday. The protests and the blockades are to take place from South on the island of Crete and Peloponnese to the North in Central and East Macedonia and from East mainland like Magnisia to the West like Aitoloakarnania and Epirus.

Friday, January 13, 2017

KKE exposes and denounces EU and Ukrainian government's new anti-communist machinations

KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis.
PRESS RELEASE: Question of the KKE in the European Parliament on the new machinations of the EU and the Ukrainian government against the CP of Ukraine and the communists in the country.

Source: inter.kke.gr.


To KKE continues its activity, condemning anti-communism, internationally denouncing and exposing the machinations of the EU and the reactionary Ukrainian government against the Communist Party of Ukraine and the activity of the communists in the country. The European Parliamentary Delegation of the KKE submitted a new question to the European Parliament, addressed to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, F. Mogherini, concerning the lack of a law which will allow the examination of appeals against laws which prepare and arrange anti-communist measures, bans and other measures that remove basic popular freedoms.

Friday, January 6, 2017

"Islamic State" (ISIS): A tool in the hands of Imperialism

Photo source: Bēhance.net.
The history of exploitative societies has shown that religious and ethnic differences and contradictions, either existed or fomented, were always been utilized to promote the interests of the ruling classes many times they consisted the formation through which substantial class contradictions were manifested

In the history of capitalism and the imperialist system, the emerging bourgeoisies often wore the cloak of religion and many other imperialist powers have used religious conflicts in order to impose their designs against their competitors. The region of the Middle East is full of examples. 

From the late 19th century until today, we have seen many cases of religious movements which have been utilized by bourgeois forces for the creation of reactionary murderous organizations, from the “Taliban” and the “Mujahideen” in Afghanistan to the recent case of ISIS (also known as ISIL or Daesh). Of course, to some extend, in the process, these organizations may become autonomous from their creators or continue to operate in coordination with them. However, what is important is that without the support from imperialist mechanisms, without access to state mechanisms, their activity could not have such large dimensions and impact.

The notorious murderers of the “Islamic State” (ISIS/Daesh) do not consist a new phenomenon. The relation of such “organizations” and “movements” with european and american monopolies is a very old one. If we go back to 1928, we will see that the french company (Suez Canal) had supported the strengthening of the newly-founded “Muslim Brotherhood” in Egypt. 

Nonetheless, the best known case of mercenaries who used Islam as a cover for terrorist activities towards the promotion of US monopolies, can be found in Afghanistan in the beginning of 1980s. Zbigniew Brezinski, National Security advisor of President Carter from 1977 to 1981, was one of the masterminds behind the recruitment and training of Afghanistan's Mujahideen (predecessors of Taliban and Al-Qaeda) against the Soviet Union. Among these anti-Soviet “warriors” recruited by the United States was Osama Bin Laden. In the name of anti-communism, the US imperialism with the support of its NATO allies, created the monster which later was transformed into Al-Qaeda.

After the attacks of September 11th 2001, the “war against islamic terrorism” became the pretext for imperialist invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The foundations for the creation of ISIS can be found in the destruction of Iraq after the 2003 imperialist invasion. The US-led war in Iraq which was followed by the total destruction of the Iraqi state and the complete dissolution of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party created the seed for the rise of ISIS jihadists.

The leader of the Islamic State (formerly Islamic State of Iraq), the Iraqi sunni muslim Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been arrested by US Forces-Iraq on 2 February 2004 near Fallujah and detained at the Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca detention centers under his name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry as a "civilian internee" until December 2004, when he was recommended for release by a Combined Review and Release Board, while in December 2004, he was released as a "low level prisoner". Right after al-Baghdadi was freed, the Islamic State emerged out of nowhere and rapidly took over important swaths of Iraq and Syria.


US Senator John McCain meeting with members of the Syrian opposition.
Who is the man in the red circle?
There is strong evidence that al-Baghdadi was recruited, trained and financed by mechanisms of the U.S. secret services and Arab governments. His participation in meetings with US Senator- and US Presidential candidate John McCain- has been captured in published photographs. What seems to be closer to reality is that al-Baghdadi was used in the beginning as a supposedly “moderate” sunni of political Islam. The rise of al-Baghdadi and ISIS came as the result of a combination of developments in the broader region of the Middle East, including the imperialist war in Libya, the events of the so-called “Arab Spring” and the US-NATO imperialist intervention in Syria.

The 2011 imperialist intervention in Syria wasn't proved as easy as the U.S government and its regional allies (Turkey, Saudi Arabia) hoped it would be. The plans for the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad's government were proved unsuccessful. The Assad government proved much stronger than the respective authorities of Mubarak in Egypt and Qaddafi in Libya. Nonetheless, the so-called “Arab Spring” had already paved the way for the rise of reactionary forces-tools in the hands of the imperialists, like ISIS.

From 2011 onward, the US and their European and regional allies (Saudi Arabia, Turkey etc), started to supply extremists and terrorists fighting the government of Syria with billions in cash, weapons, equipment, and even vehicles. Multiple publications in the western press had admitted this. Behind the “moderate Syrian opposition” it was the ISIS and other extremist forces, trained, equipped and financed by the secret services of the US, EU member-states, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar. In a few words, the savage murderers of ISIS became part of an imperialist equation in Syria which serves the interests of the monopolies of the states involved in the war.

The Independent, 6 December 1993: Osama Bin Laden, the Anti-Soviet warrior.
The multiple terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS (e.g. Paris, Nice, Istanbul, Berlin, Brussels etc) in Europe, Turkey and elsewhere have added fuel to the fire of repression and intensification of security policies. The “monster of ISIS” has been exploited by bourgeois governments in order to spread fear in societies and strengthen the repressive state mechanisms against the people and the labour movement, to foster xenophobia and racism and to escalate more imperialist interventions. Of course, nobody can reject the possibility that groups within ISIS may operate independently from their imperialist patrons; however, this does not change the nature of the jihadists as a tool of imperialist mechanisms.

The future of ISIS depends on several factors: The developments in the inter-imperialist contradictions and rivalries in the broader region (e.g. US/EU vs Russia) as well as the political and social developments in regional powers (e.g. Turkey, Iran). The people of the region, the working class in the countries affected by the imperialist wars, must organize their struggle against the jihadists and their patrons, the imperialists. For that, it is essential for the masses to understand that the source of this situation is the power of the monopolies and the exploitative system which creates poverty, despair and wars.


Monday, December 12, 2016

Kostas Papadakis (KKE MEP)- No trust in any bourgeois government, any bourgeois class, any imperialist alliance

Source: inter.kke.gr.

Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC and MEP, in the introductory speech of the KKE at the international seminar of the KKE's delegation to the European Parliament stressed the following:

Dear comrades,

Our seminar today aims to shed light on contemporary, complex and serious (for the workers) developments, through the prism of  Leninist thought, as this was exemplified 100 years ago in the work "On the Slogan for a United States of Europe". With the utilization of other works that also analyze the constituent elements of imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism.
Today, we see new inter-state unions next to the old ones, like NATO and the EU. Unions are emerging in Eurasia, Latin America, Asia that supposedly aim to unite the peoples and economic life of entire continents. The problems are serious, because apart from the mutated parties that bear the "communist" title and follow the social-democratic path, there are CPs that are trying, struggling but detach this development from its economic base and salute it, adopting the ideological construct of the so-called "multi-polar world".

Thursday, December 8, 2016

General Strike in Greece: Mass participation in PAME's strike demonstrations sent message to government-EU

Thousands of protesters took the streets in Athens, Thessaloniki and several cities in Greece, participating in militant demonstrations organised by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME). 

Workers, self-employed people, pensioners, youth and women associations, unemployed men and women unified their voice against the antipeople policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the EU and the Capital. They demanded, once again, their rights in labour and life against modern slavery. 

The General Secretary of the CC of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas, who attended the demonstration in Athens' Omonia Square, made the following statement to journalists:

Friday, December 2, 2016

KKE: The people must be ready and vigilant - Statement about foreign policy and the Cyprus Issue


The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, noted the following on 28/11/2016 in his statements on Foreign Policy and the Cyprus Issue:

“The KKE follows with concern the latest developments regarding both Greek-Turkish relations as well as the Cyprus Issue. The KKE expresses its opinion with responsibility and calls on the Greek people to be in a state of readiness and vigilance.

The major everyday problems which afflict our people are expected to worsen in the coming period, as a result of the second “evaluation” and the government's new agreements with its partners in the EU and IMF.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

KKE in the European Parliament: Regarding the issue of the new anti-communist law in Bulgaria

Source: inter.kke.gr.
On the 24th of November 2016 in Bulgaria a "Law for the amending and supplementing of the Law which declares the communist regime in Bulgaria as criminal” was voted upon in first reading, which among other things provocatively provides for the prohibition of the use and placement of  communist symbols and the removal of symbols, slogans, photographs, signs and other marks or objects from the years of socialism from public spaces or, if it is not possible to remove them immediately, the placement of a sign on these which will refer the following: "the communist regime in Bulgaria during the period 09.09.1944 - 11.10.1989 and the actions of the CP of Bulgaria have been declared criminal by a law voten upon by the 38th National Assembly."
Penalties and large fines are also foreseen for those who do not comply, as well as provisions to the Ministry of Education, the universities, schools, the deans, professors and teachers to harmonize school and university books with this unacceptable law.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

KKE: On the developments regarding the "Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)" between the EU and Canada and the stance of the SYRIZA-ANEL government


The complications - due to conflicts within the EU – concerning the ratification of the «Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)» between the EU and Canada which was scheduled for the 27/10/2016 does not mean that the peoples can rest easy. These conflicts have nothing to do with people's interests. They express instead violent contradictions among various monopolies, on the basis of their own interests and plans.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Interview with Kostas Papadakis (KKE): "SYRIZA has been chosen by the bourgeois class to complete the dirty work..."

Special interview with Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC of the KKE and Member of the European Parliament.

International Communist Press, 17th October 2016.

ICP: After the 3rd memorandum in Greece, we are all witnessing anti-worker and anti-popular laws passing from the parliament. Is it possible to say that the people are getting more and more politicized and organized as their standard of living has been decreased into half?

Kostas Papadakis: The SYRIZA-ANEL government established its own memorandum, which was passed together with the votes of the "rightwing" and "centre" bourgeois parties (ND, PASOK, POTAMI), on the basis of the two previous memoranda. The memoranda are not just an agreement with the imperialist institutions, but the "programme" of the bourgeois class in order to return to profitability, reducing labour rights and the price of labour power.

The SYRIZA-ANEL government, taking harsh anti-worker measures, causes deep disillusionment amongst wide sections of the people. Amongst those who believed that the memoranda could allegedly be abolished via parliament and referenda.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Cyprus Issue: The developments require the intensification of peoples' intervention

The developments require the intensification of peoples' intervention.
By Giorgos Marinos* / Source: inter.kke.gr.

The Cyprus Issue, under its present form, was caused by the Turkish invasion and occupation in July and August (Attila II) of 1974 and remains unsolved for 42 years.

During this historical period, many means of negotiations were used, multifaceted UN interventions, joint statements and many meetings between representatives of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities etc, but the problem still remains.

The Turkish insistence on the continuation of the occupation found supporters in powerful imperialist powers which, among other things, bare responsibility for the creation and perpetuation of the Cyprus Issue, such as the US, NATO, Britain and the EU in general.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

KKE delegation at the European Parliament slams EU and NATO for encouraging Turkey's aggressiveness

Addressing the Plenary of the European Parliament, yesterday in Strasburg, the KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis pointed out the issue of the Turkish government's provocations which raise assertions against the sovereign rights of Greece. As MEP Papadakis mentioned, the aggressiveness of Ankara is supported by the EU and NATO. He said:

"The statements of Erdogan regarding the challenge of the Treaty of Lausanne are especially dangerous, as well as those of the Turkish Republic Party which raise non-existent sovereignty issues for 16 Greek islands. They raise questions of grey zones and borders as a continuation of a stance that nobody can underestimate: the timeless provocation, the continuous violations of the Greek sea and airspace limits, the constant challenges against Cyprus, the dispute of the Exclusive Economic Zone. 

Friday, September 30, 2016

KKE: Statement regarding Turkish President Erdogan’s remarks on the Treaty of Lausanne

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement regarding the remarks of the President of Turkey Tayip Erdogan on the Treaty of Lausanne:

"Erdogan’s statements are dangerous and provocative and are part of the systematic efforts of the Turkish leadership to dispute the Aegean islands and the borders and sovereign rights of Greece more generally, to raise the issue of “grey zones”.
The period when these statements were made was no accident, as the negotiations are intensifying around the “closure” of the Cyprus question, on the basis of two component states, while the bargaining over the refugee issue between Turkey and the EU is underway. With these specific statements, Turkey is objectively exerting pressure in order to settle these matters in an even more negative direction for the peoples.
Once again, the government and the other political forces have been exposed, which for many years have been reassuring the Greek people that the alliance between Greece and Turkey, in the framework of NATO, is an agent for the “peace and security in the region”, the moment when NATO not only does not subdue the aggressive designs of Turkey, but on the contrary foments and reinforces them.” 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The downward spiral of European opportunism has no end

The downward spiral of European opportunism has no end.
Comment published on 'Rizospastis' (24/9/2016), 
Source: inter.kke.gr.

It is well-known that European capital and its union, the EU, have acquired for many years now its "leftwing chorus". Various parties are playing this role, parties that call themselves "progressive" and "leftwing" even some parties that keep a "communist" title, having for many decades now been assimilated into the opportunist, social-democratic current of "Eurocommunism". 

The latter, such as, for example the French Communist Party (PCF) have for many years been divorced from Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, have even abandoned the historic symbols of the communist movement and in the name of the "left' have become the "tail" of social-democracy and also whitewash the capitalist system and the imperialist unions of the EU and NATO. However, they keep the "communist" name and in this way, apart from their misleading activity in their own countries, even participate in the International Meetings of the CPs, seeking to play a similar role. If we can judge from the events of the recent festival of "L'Humanite", the newspaper of the PCF, the downward spiral has no end.