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Yamila Pita Montes, Department of International Relations, Central Committee, Communist Party of Cuba

Tactics and methods of struggle in the anti-imperialist and anti-war fronts

Comrades:

First of all, I would like to express before this audience that for us, it is very fruitful to participate in the Twelfth International Communist Seminar organized by the Workers’ Party of Belgium, and to listen to the viewpoints and criteria that are voiced out here, at a time when this planet is being reigned by neoliberal globalization and the arrogance of yankee imperialism.

The XXIst century is gifted with and benefits from a large number of scientific advances, of information technology and others, which could have converted it into something much better. But it is confronted with the barbarity of imperialism and with a profound economic and political crisis, which has acquired completely international characteristics.

In our presentation, we will refer to the experience of the Communist Party of Cuba, to its tactics and methods in the anti-imperialist and anti-war front. To us, who are fighting for a better society in very difficult circumstances, this has yielded results – of course on a road with certain obstacles - that we are trying to perfect and adapt ever more to the national interests, to the interests of the Cuban people.

What we will express here, we will do with the conviction that we are taking the necessary steps in our conditions, while we always respect the right to the sovereignty and autonomy of the rest of the world’s peoples, just as we demand that ours be respected.

Speaking about tactics, methods and objectives of struggle, it is inevitable to first speak about strategies. For the Communist Party of Cuba, its first strategy, its number one priority is the defense and the strengthening of our socialism and our revolution, from the political, ideological, economic and cultural points of view. It is also the defense of peace in the world and the respect of the international judicial norms.

For the Cuban Party, government and people, to fight and strengthen the revolution is to fight against imperialism, is to fight for a world of peace, is to fight so that our people can enjoy the human rights that are denied to our species in so many parts of the world.

Speaking about tactics in the anti-imperialist and anti-war front, we must recall that since 11 September 2001, the government of the United States has sown terror in the world, in a ruthless and brutal manner, and under the pretext of "the fight against terrorism". All the while, it has restricted the already weak democracy in international relations even more, and it has unleashed with even more force its hegemonic and arrogant power, really believing itself to be the policeman of the international order.

In its arrogance and ambition, the North American administration ignores the United Nations as well as the international public opinion and that of its own country, and it disregards whatever criterion or suggestion that does not concur with its national interests – thereby intentionally confounding and mixing up the security interests of the planet with those of its government.

The war the Bush administration launched against Afghanistan, using as a pretext the terrorist attacks of 11 September, didn’t reach the proclaimed objectives. For it is only through the cooperation of all States, on the basis of a collective analysis and by consensus, that solutions can be found for the world’s problems - among them terrorism and war – and not trough violence which will only generate more violence.

Recently, the Iraqi people has become another target of the ambitions and the hegemony of the yankees, notwithstanding the opposition of the large majority of the UN member states, including nations that are allies of the superpower.

Bush doesn’t care about all this. Under the pretext of combating the so-called "terrorist" regime of Saddam Hussein, he unleashed a war against Iraq, a terror that is all the more violent if it is generated by the superpower that is ruling today’s world, in order to occupy a country in clear violation of the international norms and laws.

Over Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, they sent hundreds of missiles. Missiles that halted a process that could only have reached a genuine and just solution by means of dialogue and diplomacy.

We all know which was the true motivation that led the United States to this irresponsible, unjust and unnecessary war. In the first place, to assure in that region the geostrategical interests of the US, which go much beyond the control of the petroleum. It has to do with Washington’s hegemonist and unipolar ambitions, seeing in that region enormous possibilities to establish a direct and indirect control over other parts of the world, including Europe itself.

Cuba, its government and its people, reject and will always reject the use of force as a method to solve a problem in the international arena. We are opposed to genocide, to the killing of an entire people, and we struggle, and will continue to struggle for the right to life and to peace.

The Cuban revolution, which has been victim of forty years of terrorist policies undertaken by the US territory with total impunity, is conscious of the fact that the battle against war has to be political and ethical.

En the more than forty years of its existence, the Cuban revolution has had to face almost 700 terrorist attacks, resulting in the death of 3478 Cubans and leaving another 2099 people handicapped. But we defend peace, we believe in peace and we are convinced that only a world of peace will make it possible to solve the problems we are confronted with. In contrast, the government of the United States is spending, or rather wasting, 400 billon dollar as its military budget.

Precisely because they fought against terrorism and for peace and security for the Cuban people and for the North American people itself, five Cuban comrades are languishing in US jails.

Gerardo, Ramón, René, Fernando and Antonio are five young intellectuals. They suffered torture and systematic harassment in North American jails, but they didn’t renounce and will never renounce their principles and ideals. They firmly maintain their conviction that the best form to avoid war is to fight for peace.

We know that many of the comrades present here, know the case of the five Cuban comrades who are prisoners of the Empire, and that there are among you who have created committees of solidarity with Gerardo, René, Ramón, Fernando and Antonio. The Cuban people thanks you for all the actions that have been undertaken in favor of our five brothers, for whom we are demanding a just trial and their immediate liberation.

We have to fight to make their situation known internationally, and also that of their relatives who are denied visa to visit them and whose communications with our consuls are even being hindered. Our brothers are isolated and confined, and this situation must stop.

We have to fight against the hypocrisy and the lies that the government of the United States is spreading throughout the world. They accuse our brothers of terrorism, men who fought for peace, while in the streets of Miami terrorists of Cuban origin can freely circulate, and Cubans who have committed all types of criminal acts against the Cuban government and people. Hijackings of airplanes and ships, inciting to violence, the distribution of counterrevolutionary propaganda and many more acts that threaten the security of the revolution and of the people. Cuba demands peace, fights for peace and defends peace.

Freedom for Gerardo, René, Ramón, Fernando and Antonio, who are part of our people, of our revolution, authentic defenders of a peaceful world.

For our country to preserve its revolution – which, as we said before, is a way of fighting against imperialism and for peace – we are convinced that the Communist Party of Cuba has to carefully maintain its close links with the masses, with the people. To know the problems of the basis, of the society, to discuss them, to tackle them, to try to solve them, is a priority task of our cadres and of all the militants in general.

A Party that is separated of its people, for whom its struggles and it exerts efforts, is bound to failure, disorientation, and the loss of its objectives and of its identity. Accordingly, we give priority to the political-ideological work within the Party an in our entire society, in order to create the conditions for our people to be better educated, which is the same as to say that they will be freer.

We are waging a profound struggle in the area of the ideas, the Struggle of Ideas, which has shown it to be a revolution within the revolution. For our Party and our government, the most important is our human capital, which we have to prepare and to teach, for it will be the real motive force for the changes that will be produced in the socialism we are building and which we intend to perfect.

To strengthen education, the political, artistic and general culture, to spread knowledge among the masses, to revolutionize the systems of school learning, to facilitate equal opportunities for all, to explain concepts about the most diverse themes, those are the objectives of our Struggle of Ideas.

Based on our own reality, we hold that its is not the same to grow than to develop, for we are convinced that economic growth is necessary and important, but that it is even more important that cultural goods, services and values grow in the globalized and neoliberal world; that is yet another of our forms of struggle against imperialism and for peace.

In this unrelenting battle, to preserve our history, our roots, our identity, with humility and sincerity, is important and most significant, and it is also a form of struggle against imperialism and for peace.

Fundamental and pivotal in our Struggle of Ideas and in our struggle for peace and against imperialism, is the broadening and deepening in our society of the sentiments and principles of solidarity and cooperation, as opposed to the egoism and the inappropriate ambition generated by the consumerist society.

In order to fight for peace, we have to respect peace. We have to help it exist and strengthen itself. Thus, we have to transfer to our children and to our society the ideal of solidarity that was defended by men such as Martí and Ernesto Che Guevara, and that is every day taught to us by comrade Fidel.

We cannot sleep quietly or sit back in peace as long as one man in the world remains oppressed and exploited, as long as there are noble causes to support and as long as there are peoples who call on our modest efforts.

Of course, in order to reach those objectives, and as a Marxist-Leninist Party in power, we have the means of communication at the service of our objectives, of our people, of the universal culture. To transmit truthful and appropriate information, to air polemics and debates, which strengthen the revolution, to create the necessary consciousness: that is the role of the means of communication in Cuba.

The power of the media and their control are indispensable for the Cuban revolution. There is no room in our written, radio or television press for anything or anyone wanting to undermine our achievements and plotting against the genuine interests of the Cuban people.

In our conditions, fighting against the blockade that imperialism imposes on us, a blockade that becomes more cruel and ruthless each day, and against the laws such as the Cuban Adjustment Act which incites to illegal, chaotic and risky emigration, is yet another form of struggle for an anti-imperialist front and for peace.

Conservative figures put the value lost by Cuba because of the application of the genocidal policy of the blockade at more than 70 billion dollar. This figure does not include the more than 54 billion dollar reported as direct damages inflicted on economic and social targets of the country during the past four decades: the acts of sabotage and terrorism undertaken by agents in the service of the United States, tolerated by that country and organized and financed from its territory.

This blockade is becoming crueler and hostile in the conditions neoliberalism is imposing. Precisely the struggle and the confrontation with the neoliberal policies, with the neoliberal globalization as expression of imperialism, is also for us another form of struggle for peace.

The neoliberal globalization is a gross and clear expression of the imperialist objectives to attempt to colonize our peoples, particularly those in the Third World.

To sell one’s natural resources and industries, to sell one’s country is an unforgivable crime, a crime that the peoples are no longer willing to undergo. In its relations and exchange with foreign capital, the Cuban government applies formulas that do not compromise our sovereignty and our independence.

Within this process of globalization and in our fight for peace and against imperialism, Cuba is resolutely opposed to the implementation of what is being presented as "processes of integration", which in reality are nothing but brutal political and economic traps such as the FTAA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas. They put the freedom of our peoples at stake and they presuppose a process of the poorest being absorbed by the richest.

The FTAA is nothing but a shameless and brutal colonization, boiling down to the simple annexation of Latin America by the United States. A humiliating agreement, enslaving, unequal for the transit of capitals and goods from the countries of Latin America to the superpower that today rules the world.

We are firmly opposed to the FTAA, as we are opposed to the continued payment of the foreign debt. The foreign debt is bleeding our economies and contributes to the inequality in the appropriation and the distribution of the wealth of this world – a basic principle of imperialism and a fundamental cause of war on this planet.

Among debt payments and interests, the Third World countries allot up to 50% of their national budgets. What remains for their development, to counter the hunger of their children, women and elderly?

This world needs changes, transformation, and room for broad, profound and democratic discussion of these problems. For this, it is also urgent to democratize the United Nations. This way, we will be fighting for peace.

We believe in the United Nations, but in a United Nations that is independent, authentic and true to the principles for which it was founded. If we want to fight for peace, the Organization of the United Nations should be disposed to discussing in serenity and in a truly neutral venue about the compliance with international law, free from pressure, blackmail and intrigue.

It is clear that the UN today is confronted with serious problems and that it is ill prepared for many of its proceedings. Its General Assembly, in which most States of the world are presented, has no power at all, while the Security Council, its executive organ – or supposedly so – counts only five countries with a right to veto, a right that limits the democratic character of this organization.

Nevertheless, we have to fight to strengthen the UN. A world without the UN would be a catastrophe. In the United Nations, one should defend the point that the struggle for peace is a political battle and not a military one; that it is a battle of the mind, of conviction, of understanding, and not one of brutal force, of arrogance and of pressure.

For all this we say that in order to fight against imperialism and war, in order to save the world from catastrophe, we have to unite among the progressive and revolutionary forces of the planet. Among the good men, willing to fight for the just causes, we have to unite.

This is not the moment of exclusion; it is the moment of understanding, of polemics, of debate, to create a common front to fight to save humanity from catastrophe, without abandoning our Marxist positions and our identity as political parties.

We have to be very clear about our objectives and our strategies. We have to be very clear about who are our enemies. We have to be convinced that the lack of unity of the Left and among those who are disposed to confront the evil of globalization, is favorable to imperialism, to the backward forces, to the Right.

As progressive forces in the world, as Marxist-Leninist parties, we cannot give ourselves the luxury of isolation, of locking ourselves up in a crystal vase. In order to better serve our peoples, we have the duty and the obligation to keep in touch of what is happening in the world, to relate with, discuss, exchange with different political forces.

That way, we will make ourselves also stronger, we will be able to spread our ideas and our aspirations, we will be able to improve our targets and to take up more challenges. We have to closely follow the anti-globalization movement with its experience, motivations, forms of struggle, mobilizing capacity and shortcomings.

The recent World Social Forum, held in the city of Porto Alegre and a heterogeneous and plural affair, counted with the participation of thousands of people from the whole world, all opposed to neoliberal globalization.

Women, men, children spoke out against poverty, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few while millions die of hunger in this world. They spoke out against unemployment, against death by avoidable illness, against ignorance and against so many other scourges of today’s world.

We cannot turn our back to these movements. We have to follow them closely and we should not allow them to loose their enthusiasm, strength and anti-globalization and progressive inspiration.

Humanity is going through difficult moments. The Cuban government, party and people are prepared to go ahead, however hard the conditions. We don’t want war, we want peace. We are of the opinion that the best way to maintain or to reach peace is to reaffirm to our enemies, from our revolutionary front of struggle, that we will not yield before the economic pressures, that we will not yield before the political pressures, that we will not be provoked by arrogant and irresponsible threats.

We do not want war, I repeat. Cuba wants and fights for a world of peace. But at the same time, we are prepared to confront imperialism with arms if necessary. We are independent, completely sovereign and we will continue so.

Comrades:

We are at a crucial and complex moment in time, full of challenges we have to confront. But we do so with optimism and with the conviction that justice and reason will prevail.

We have to be convinced that we can, and that we have the duty as Marxist-Leninist parties, defend our ideals up to the end. This is the only way to be true to our peoples and to our cause, and to fight in an effective manner for peace and against imperialism.

Let us stop the imperialist madness, arrogance, ambitions and hatred. Let us halt the war, the poverty, the discrimination, and the illiteracy. Let us be in solidarity with the peoples in the world who count on our help. Let the genocide of the Palestinian people be stopped. Let us defend our right to a world of peace.

Thank you very much.