FrenchCommunist Party

French Communist Party

Let’s Build a France & a world in common

41For several months now, the whole world has been hit by a pandemic that has simultaneously brought about a major health crisis - more than a million deaths and nearly 30 million people already infected by the virus - and underscored the structural crisis of ruinous capitalism, with its exploitive and predatory strategies on the economic, social and environmental levels that have considerably worsened injustice and inequality throughout the world, within nations and on the regional scale.

The 2007-2008 fi nancial crisis, characterised by the massive intervention of States to preserve the interests of capital, was an important moment in the off ensive waged by dominant capitalist powers to impose their destructive dogmas: maximum profitability for capital to the detriment of labour, ever more reduced and restricted; constant diminishment of public spending and privatisation of public services; erosion of social protection; lowered wages; growing inequality between women and men under a reinforced patriarchy.

Thus the systemic crisis laid the foundations for an acceleration of the factors that gave rise to the current health crisis, but not only that.

In France, the pandemic crisis highlighted the failings of a health care system rendered inadequate by the dismantlement of public services and the disregard of the right to dignifi ed, well-paid work. The main social advances that the French people inherited from the Resistance movement, Social Security and the pension system, are now endangered.

At the same time, other characteristics of the crisis facing today’s system are a result of the sharpening contradictions between the imperialist powers under the under the aegis of the United States: outbreak of new wars of aggression, multiplication of confl ict zones, questioning of the principles of the

42 United Nations charter and international law. This makes it all the more urgent that we give fresh impetus to our fi ght for multilateralism based on cooperation and solidarity among peoples, founded in peace. How can we act to promote a diff erent globalisation that would give priority to the sovereignty of nations and peoples, workers’ rights, social and democratic progress, necessary changes in the modes of production and development for the ecological transition, and cooperation in solidarity among people who are beaten down by imperialist powers that control the levers of the fi nancial markets? For our part, the economic and democratic sovereignty of States and peoples is indispensible for encouraging our country’s engagement in the eff ort to create a new world order based on cooperation and solidarity, supported by truly democratic and multilateral institutions. Our programme Construisons la France en commun - Building France in Common - includes a number of proposals to be implemented immediately or in the medium term and that express our will to give our country a strong, independent voice for internationalism today: Act for the establishment of public health policies, in coordination with and supported by the WHO, with a primary goal of “decommercialising” the sectors of medicine, health and social protection and achieving a universal right to health care. Undertake a strong initiative in favour of the massive reduction of military budgets and the total elimination of nuclear weapons and WMDs; end the mad arms race; free up generous funding for health, education, employment; France must sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW);

France must leave NATO, a political-military alliance bent to the will of the United States; contribute to the creation of shared frameworks for cooperation and collective human security, as well as treaties on overseeing exchanges for the development of infrastructures, the commons and public services, to replace the current free trade agreements that impoverish people and lay waste to the planet. Call a COP on social and fi scal justice under the aegis of the United Nations: to stand up to the ravages caused by injustice and the pillage of the earth’s resources, this Conference would enable an eff ective, coordinated fi ght enable an eff ective, coordinated fi ght against tax havens, tax evasion and optimisation.

Promote construction of a diff erent Europe: the budgetary austerity pact, or so-called “stability and growth” pact must be defi nitively repealed. It is imperative that we replace current European treaties with a new social and democratic pact that will lay the foundations for a Union of free peoples and nations, sovereign and associated.

The off ensive by the forces of capital and imperialism has made it diffi cult for the forces of resistance to express themselves in each of our countries and on the international scale.

And yet, these struggles do go on in all their diversity, against all forms of exploitation and discrimination.

The struggle goes on in the most admirable Black Lives Matter movement: its strong message of emancipation has meaning and repercussions far beyond the United States.

The struggle goes on where women seek to break free of patriarchal oppression in all of its forms, which capitalism has largely favoured and structured.

Struggles for national liberation go on: waged by Kurds, Saharawi, and through the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people for the defence of their right to a sovereign State within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The struggle goes on in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the people fi ght the new imperialist off ensive that threatens their sovereignty and social and democratic advances.

The struggle goes on in Africa, shaking off the chains of predatory, oppressive neo-colonialism, rising up against despots who go hand-in-hand with predators on a large scale.

The struggle goes on in the popular, planetary movement for public policies to combat global warming and preserve biodiversity and ecosystems,

combined with socio-economic, human and democratic advances, ecological development and transition, bearing aspirations for a world of peace and solidarity.

The struggle goes on in the movements against economic and social inequality, corruption and authoritarianism that began in 2019 and continue around the world, from Chile to Lebanon, by way of Algeria.

We must fi nd forms of action that unite us against Trump’s exacerbated imperialist policies, as he fl outs all resolutions based on international law and seeks to destroy multilateralism by ramping up strategies of embargo, sanctions and isolation - targeting China today - provoking an unbridled militarisation of international relations and a new arms race.

We will not be resigned to France’s continued support of these policies and participation in the arms race or war operations held under NATO command.

The crisis of capitalism, the imperialist off ensive and its devastating eff ects call for the strengthening of internationalist solidarities and contributions to cooperation, unifi ed action by progressive forces, wherein Communists aspire to play a major role.

The necessary confl uence of struggles and diff erent experiences is fundamental. It will come from cooperation and shared unity of action on a multilateral level: Fronts or regional Forums, which we intend to participate in.

We believe that our meetings of Communist and Workers’ parties can be a part of this convergence if we fi nd the right ways of exchanging in depth, respecting diff erences and specting diff erences and stimulating the necesstimulating the necessary solidarities against sary solidarities against the common enemy, the common enemy, stepping up to meet the stepping up to meet the challenges that confront challenges that confront humanity today.

2020 is the year of the French Communist Par-43 ty Centennial. We wish to celebrate by turning our gaze resolutely to the future. It is with our feet fi rmly on the ground that for the past months, including during the period of lockdown, our activists have developed many daily actions and initiatives to mitigate the eff ects of the inequalities exacerbated by the multidimensional crisis through solidarity: distribution of masks and food, day trips to the seaside; our MPs spoke before the National Assembly and the Senate to defend workers and the population at large, whose working and living conditions have been seriously degraded by the crisis, supporting their demands and now joining the battle against the many job cuts that are being announced. Throughout the country, we carry this message by way of our national campaign for job security and training opportunities, in the perspective of immediate and long-term transformation of the existing order.

We have decided to extend our Centennial initiatives into 2021, a year that will be notable for the disastrous social and economic situation, elections, and for our party, the 39th Congress, just one year ahead of the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for 2022. It is vital that we bring the forces of the left together; we may be excluded from presidential fi eld by if we fall into the trap of disunity. And we believe that it is indispensible that such a union should provide the prospect of genuine change and a break from the decades of neo-liberal politics of austerity, mobilising citizens who would be served by these deep changes but who now abstain from voting in growing numbers, only to see power taken from them by neo-conservative, hyper-nationalist and neo-liberal forces. To all of the participants in the International meeting, we extend our warmest regards in solidarity.