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KKE – KNE: Militant rallies against plans to turn the country into a launching pad for wars
With the central slogan "NO to government-imperialist plans, NATO and its bases Out of Greece", a militant rally of the KKE and KNE organizations in Athens took place on 23rd October 2018 within the framework of multi-faceted actions across the country , in cities that have military bases or where plans are underway to create new ones.
General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas addressed the rally in Athens outside the Ministry of Defense, which was then followed by a militant march to the US Embassy.
In his speech, GS Koutsoubas, among other things, stressed that "the bases are launching pads for war, they are spewing fire and death at the expense of other peoples. This was demonstrated by the use of the Base of Souda in US-based operations against Libya and Syria, or earlier in the utilization of Greek territory for the intervention and dissolution of Yugoslavia. We have had bases for dozens of years, but this has not stopped the aggression of the Turkish bourgeoisie, which challenges the sovereign rights of the country in the Aegean. 6% of the territory of Cyprus is occupied by foreign bases, but they did not play a deterring role in the Turkish invasion and occupation. Quite the opposite! The truth is, therefore, that the military bases do not exist for the safety of the peoples nor for peace. They are military and geopolitical "tools" that the imperialists "sow" on the Energy routes, of the raw materials, to gain advantages in the divvying up of the pie of markets, serving their own monopolies, exploiting the peoples, the natural resources and all the wealth that workers produce with their sweat. "
The CC of the KKE stressed that "the logic of all those who support the emergence of new bases in our country is shameless. Indeed, they all recognize that these are a lethal tool of destruction and war, but they pretend that they will "increase turnover" in a number of areas! (...) This specifically-directed argument is aimed at those strata of the people that have been beaten down by the capitalist crisis, who say, "Who knows, maybe you can find some work since if the bases weren't here, they would be somewhere else." But the workers, our people, must not look at things in a narrow-minded, short-sighted way. (...) The bases are not the solution to unemployment and impoverishment, but only a "magnet" for dangers for themselves and their children. Today the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the other bourgeois parties "sweeten the pill" to manage to put NATO "blinders" on the workers, that jobs will be opened up with the bases, with the American vested interest shipyard in Syros, and also those of of Skaramangas and Elefsina which they are laying claim to. However, workers should think that NATO, with which our country is involved, is building major operational projects (...) With the so-called 4 30s, that is 30 battalions, 30 airships and 30 battle ships ready to be deployed anywhere, at most within 30 days, while plans for the use of nuclear weapons are being developed in the context of the competition with Russia. These plans threaten to overwhelm us, to destroy our lives, our children's lives. Under no circumstances, should these plans go through, with the "sack of 30 silver coins" promised by US Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt, wandering around the country to turn it into, together with the SYRIZA-ANEL government, a huge American-NATO military base."
As the General Secretary, D. Koutsoubas, stressed: "The KKE and the KNE, continuing the struggle together with the working class, the popular strata and the youth, demand:
Greece not be used as a launching pad for the imperialists.
The Base of Souda and all the foreign military bases in Greece be closed
Greek troops to return from missions abroad.
No participation of Greek military forces in imperialist missions abroad.
Strengthen the struggle for disengagement from NATO and the EU.
Strengthen the common struggle and solidarity of the peoples against imperialist war and the system that creates it."
24.10.2018