We live in difficult times, times of great insecurity and uncertainty.
Imperialism’s growing aggressiveness confronts Humanity with untold dangers, as is well testified by two major wars of aggression – Afghanistan and Iraq.
The US invasion and occupation of Iraq was based upon lies and ignored the extraordinary anti-war movement that arose all over the world.
The United Nation was instrumentalised at the whim of U.S. imperialism’s interests and of inter-imperialist contradictions. Together with the subversion of International Law, the violation of the UN Charter and other lesser military actions, the arms race was intensified, military expenditures have grown, and new aggressive mechanisms are consolidated. Sophisticated weapons of mass destruction have been tested and used in the Balkans, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Treaties and Agreements on the limitation of nuclear weapons are torn up and the U.S. is even threatening to use them. The “Star Wars” project is marching ahead. New U.S. military bases have been set up in Asia. The European Union has been strengthening itself as a political and military bloc, at the same time that it is enhancing its “transatlantic relation” in NATO.
This militaristic policy counters the interests of the workers and the peoples of the whole world.
The 17th PCP Congress, meeting in Almada on November 26, 27 and 28 [2004] repudiates this violent offensive and the Portuguese government’s submission to imperialism, of which the Azores Summit was a disgraceful expression. It demands the immediate withdrawal of the National Republican Guard (GNR) contingent which is posted in Iraq and that, in accordance with the Portuguese Constitution, Portugal undertakes a foreign policy of friendship, peace and cooperation with all peoples.
The 17th PCP Congress considers that peace and security can only be ensured with disarmament measures, with the political solution of conflicts and by fighting against exploitation, poverty, social injustice and inequalities, through far-reaching democratic and progressive transformations. Therefore, the PCP must, in cooperation with other Communist parties and progressive forces, play an irreplaceable role in mobilising the youth, the workers and all citizens to defend peace.
Recalling that next year marks the 60th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-Fascism and the 60th anniversary of the nuclear holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 17th PCP Congress calls on its members, on all peace-loving men, women and young people, to step up actions for disarmament, against war, and in defence of peace, in order to contain militarism and imperialism’s aggressiveness, and contribute towards a new course that may ensure stability and security throughout the world.
The 17th PCP Congress, in hailing the resistance and the workers’ and peoples’ struggle against the imperialist offensive, expresses the Portuguese Communists’ solidarity with the Palestinian people and with their struggle against Israel’s brutal policy of State terrorism, to dismantle the apartheid wall, for the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, and for the inalienable right to build their own independent and sovereign State on Palestinian soil. In spite of the loss of their historical leader, Yasser Arafat, to whom we pay our heartfelt tribute, we trust in the unity of the Palestinian people and in the victory of its heroic struggle.
The 17th PCP Congress also expresses active solidarity with the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan, which are in the front line of the resistance to imperialist wars of occupation. Solidarity which is extended to all peoples of the Middle East that resist the neo-colonialist policies, clearly expressed in the U.S. “Greater Middle East” plan that aims to take control of this region, which is particularly rich in energy resources.
The 17th PCP Congress greets and expresses its solidarity with Socialist Cuba and its brave people in the struggle against the blockade and to defend their revolution, which daily shows that, «yes, another world is possible». It also expresses its solidarity with the peoples in struggle in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Cyprus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Western Sahara, East-Timor, and in many other countries of the world, for their sovereignty, independence and progress.
The 17th PCP Congress underlines the significance of the extraordinary actions for peace that took place in Portugal, namely the great demonstrations of February 15th and March 20th of 2003 and proclaims the firm determination of the Portuguese Communist Party to contribute to a stronger and broader peace movement and its active solidarity with all peoples that confront imperialism.
