Translated "Avante!" Article by Albano Nunes, member of the Secretariat of the CC
The 21st AKEL Congress, Progressist Party of the Working People, took place in Nicosia, from the 25th to 28th November last. An event of the greatest importance for Cyprus and all
the region. The AKEL, a Communist Party with which the PCP has held a long time closerelationship of internationalist cooperation and solidarity , and the main political force of
its country, for many years, achieved 31,1% votes in the last legislative elections and Demetris Christofias, the then Secretary-General, won in 2008 the elections for President of the Republic and is currently the Cyprus government leader.
The Congress reflected the irreplaceable AKEL's role within the Cypriot society and the great support and prestige towards the workers, youth and the people. It expressed a proud party of its struggle patrimony at the Cypriot people 's service, for its liberation from a long British colonial rule, against fascism and freedom. The AKEL expressed it was, undoubtebly, the vanguard of the working class and the workers and the great strength of the Cypriot people's national cause, the
tireless struggle for the North of the Island's liberation from the Turkish occupation, an occupation which lasts since July, 1974 and comprehends 37% of the territory.
It also expressed something of the greatest importance for the struggle we undergo in Portugal. At the moment,when the most violent antipopular offensive is in progress since the April Revolution, and when in unison, the PS ,PSD/CDS, the President of the Republic and all the court of the counter-revolution beneficiaries, want to make belief there is no other way out left for the Portuguese than to kneel before the great capital demands, while Cyprus moves in the other
direction. Out there, a patriotic and progressist government, supported by a strong trade-union class movement - even though far from being a revolutionary government with the conditions of applying the AKEL's programme – refuses the neo-liberal policies , defends the State social functions, fights unemployment and poverty, promotes the economy's stimulation and Cyprus, even not exempt from the capitalist crisis and the capital global offensive , presents results and acroeconomic indexes, unviable for an European Union country. When there exists national dignity and political will, when the problems are confronted in line with the popular interests, when, even in the presence of an international unfavorable force correlation, a government listens to the workers and seeks for their support.
Meanwhile, the great autochthonous capital and imperialism are not resigned with a government which seeks to escape its exploiter and oppressor rage. The existence, within the European Union of a country with a communist President of the Republic and a progressist government is an “anomaly” and an intolerable example. A totally controlled media by economic groups and the right-wing, has declared war to President Christofias. The AKEL allies themselves within the government have broken assumed obligations and behave such as opposition. Nationalist extreme- right -wing forces arouse chauvinism, perform the Turkish occupant game, as in 1974, encourage
the perpetration of the country's partition.
The situation in Cyprus is very complex, and very complex and demanding are the Cypriot communists' tasks, who struggle in all fronts, and currently, in the government, for the workers'
interests and for the territorial sovereignty and integrity of their beautiful country.
But carrying on considering as their central task, such as the Congress underlined, the party's independent action and the taking root within the working masses, the AKEL will continue, whatever happens , to undertake a decisive and unreplaceble role in the life of its country. And longing for, as stated in the PCP's fraternal greeting, read at the tribune during the 21st Congress, with the everlasting solidarity of the Portuguese communists.