Welcome remarks by Julie de Lima
Dear Comrades! Warmest greetings of proletarian internationalism. On behalf of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, I am deeply honored to welcome you to this two-day Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War.
I cannot overemphasize the significance of this conference today and tomorrow amidst a period of multiple flashpoints of imperialist wars of aggression emerging left, right and center. From the US-NATO war in Ukraine to the valiant struggle of Kurdish peoples for self-determination, from the rise of armed resistance in Palestine against an imperialist-backed Zionist state to the advance of revolutionary people’s wars being waged in India and the Philippines – we now bear witness to a rapidly changing world situation driven by three major contradictions:
- First, the contradiction between monopoly capital and labor. In the emergence and development of industrial capitalism, the capitalist class could not but create and expand the working class from which it extracts surplus value and accumulates capital but in the process has become the most advanced political force that can liberate itself and other exploited classes by fighting ang overthrowing the capitalist system.
- Second and third, the contradictions between imperialist countries and oppressed peoples and nations of the world; AND the contradictions between imperialist dictates and interventionism and the rise of national liberation movements and the assertion of national independence and socialist aspirations among the people.
- And lastly, the contradiction among imperialist countries now clearly being expressed as realignments in an increasingly multipolar world. We see this in the intensifying rivalries and growing factors for war between the US-led Atlantic-Pacific bloc versus the SCO bloc of China and Russia.
In this context, it becomes imperative for us to discuss the theoretical aspects underpinning this current multipolar world order. The NDFP facilitates this conference not to seek unity on the potential courses of action with respect to each organization’s specific context and objective realities; we are not here to inflame endless debates nor are we here to focus on things that divide us. Rather, we are here to CLARIFY; to DISCUSS; and hopefully to ARRIVE AT A COMMON UNDERSTANDING of imperialist wars which can potentially form the basis of higher unities in the forthcoming period of great turbulence in the global capitalist system.
Throughout this two-day conference, we will hear from Parties, individuals, and organizations, their own navigations of the theoretical aspects and practical ramifications of imperialism in its current stage. While this is a theoretical conference, we do not intend to focus on purely academic discussions. We hope to facilitate a convergence in political positions and explore possibilities of any planned actions wherever appropriate.
The NDFP holds this gathering in a closed setting, but we also deliberately reached out to different worker’s and socialist parties, to representatives of national liberation movements, individuals, and other organizations as a means of developing a more comprehensive view of the current balance of imperialist and anti-imperialist forces in the world today. As a revolutionary united front of the Filipino people, the NDFP holds the position that we cannot impose on each other any of our views that which we derive from and is applicable in our own specific contexts of operation.
Let us be reminded that history has not ended. The epochal struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie continues. The stage is set for an unprecedentedly intense and widescale struggle between the opposing classes as a result of the sharpening exploitation and oppression of the people on the one hand. And the ever worsening economic and financial crises in the US on the other hand. These crises are also felt in other centers of global capitalism and in the less developed and the underdeveloped countries which precipitates extremely favourable conditions for the advance of a socialist revolution.
However, World War III or an interimperialist global war between the NATO powers, led by US imperialism, and Chinese and Russian imperialists is not yet imminent. The balance of power of these two groups of imperialists is still more or less balanced and it is China whose economic and military power is rising very fast enough to intimidate the US imperialists as they continue to decline from the burdens of war. Furthermore, within NATO itself, the various countries, notably France, Germany, Turkey are more economically bound to China through trade and investments, than they are to the United States.
In view of the protracted socioeconomic crisis and global depression, the rampage of state terrorism and wars of aggression, there is a growing desire for revolutionary change among the people. Adherents of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the revolutionary leadership of the working class have been the most resolute, articulate and militant in waging anti-imperialist struggles for national liberation, democracy and socialism and the ultimate goal of communism.
TOGETHER, WE HAVE A WORLD TO WIN!
