Statement by Ângelo Alves, member of the Political Committee of the PCP

76 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki - «The importance of the struggle for peace and disarmament»

76 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki - «The importance of the struggle for peace and disarmament»

There are milestones that, due to their importance in the march of Humanity, cannot remain forgotten, but rather must be signalled with respect for historical truth, calling to the present the teachings they hold.

Such is the case of August 6 and 9, 1945, the two days when the United States Air Force dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, committing one of the most heinous crimes in history and making the USA the only country that, to this day, has used a nuclear weapon.

This monstrous crime, which completely razed the two cities, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and left a horrendous trail of suffering caused by atomic radiation that still persists today, cannot be forgotten.

Nor forgotten should be the real aims that dictated such an inhuman display of military power. It is necessary to remember that World War II was coming to an end with the victory on the western front over Nazi-Fascism thanks to the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union, and that Japanese militarism was practically defeated, and several negotiations were underway for its surrender.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, besides being a crime against Humanity, was an uncalled-for act from a military standpoint only understandable in light of the policy of “containment of communism” by US imperialism and its purpose of imposing on the world its hegemonic domination.

By evoking once again the tragedy of August 6 and 9 of 76 years ago, the PCP affirms its determination to do everything in its power so that the nuclear weapon will never be used again.

This pledge is all the more important given the disturbing developments in the international situation, in which the aggressive policy of imperialism and the hegemonic aims of the US continue to fuel and generate dangerous situations of instability and confrontation that could evolve into military conflicts of catastrophic proportions. Such is the case of the lines of growing conflict between the US and large countries such as the Russian Federation or the People's Republic of China, aiming to contain their sovereign development in a strategy that the Biden Administration tends to enhance, or even the persistence in strategies of destabilisation, interference and conflict as in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

The PCP considers it is necessary and urgent to stop and reverse the insane arms race promoted in the first place by the US and other NATO members.
It is unacceptable that, when the world is faced with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a large-scale economic and social crisis and a situation of unbearable inequalities at a global level, evident in the gigantic discrepancies in access to the vaccine, the US, NATO and the European Union insist on militarisation strategies and impose on all member States an increase in their military expenses.

Equally unacceptable is the channelling of gigantic resources towards the continuous development and improvement of weapons, while the Biden Administration continues to challenge important disarmament agreements and to include in its strategic priorities the development of new weapons and the continuation of the militarisation of Space.

The PCP considers that the struggle for disarmament, and in the first place for nuclear disarmament, must constitute a vital and foremost direction in the struggle for peace, social progress and the very preservation of life on Earth.

Condemning the systematic violations of the principles embodied in the UN Charter by the main imperialist powers, namely the US, the PCP emphasises that respect for International Law, and in particular for the sovereignty of States and for the right of every people to choose, without external interference, their own destiny and path of development is fundamental for building relations of cooperation, peace and friendship among all peoples of the world.

To this end, the PCP expresses its solidarity with the peoples who are victims of imperialism's interferences and aggressions, several of them subject to inhumane economic blockades, as in the cases of Cuba and Venezuela and to the peoples who are denied their national rights as the example of the People of Palestine.

At a time when new dangers are looming, and highly reactionary and fascistic forces emerge, the PCP considers it necessary to firmly combat the lines of propaganda that whitewash, relativise and justify crimes committed in the past, like Nazi-fascism or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The PCP condemns the theories of the most reactionary and aggressive forces of imperialism that consider the crimes committed in those two Japanese cities as “necessary” to defeat Japanese militarism and even advocate the use of nuclear weapons.

Such theories, as well as their propagation, are inseparable from the option of imperialist sectors to bet on fascism and war as a “way out” of the deepening of the structural crisis of capitalism.

The PCP considers that the Portuguese Government must comply with the spirit and letter of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, thus making an important contribution to turn back imperialism’s aggressive policy and definitively ward off the spectre of nuclear holocaust.

Article 7 of the Constitution spells out a foreign policy of defence of sovereignty and national independence. It is, therefore, the constitutional imperative itself that points to the need to break with decades of a policy of subservience to the interests of imperialist powers and NATO.

And it is the national and international situation itself that demands the adoption of a policy of defence of national independence and sovereignty, of peace and friendship with all peoples, to materialise the patriotic and left-wing alternative that the PCP proposes to the Portuguese people.

The PCP values the important united actions of internationalist solidarity and struggle for peace that, even in the conditions of an epidemic outbreak, have been carried out in Portugal and confirms its commitment to contributing to the strengthening of this important front of the popular struggle.

The PCP will do everything in its power to make sure that Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never happen again.

  • Soberania, Política Externa e Defesa
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