Beloved People of Bangladesh

7th November, 2011 marks the 31st Anniversary of Foundation of Socialist Party of Bangladesh, and the 94th Anniversary of the great Socialist Revolution in Soviet Russia. On this occasion we convey to you our revolutionary greetings.

Friends,

You are all experiencing the grinding oppression, exploitation and destitution that the ruling bourgeois class of Bangladesh has inflicted on the nation. Abandoning the objectives and ideals of the War of Liberation, they have perpetrated every conceivable anti-people act during the last 40 years. They have enacted one undemocratic Black Act after another; killing without any trial has become a common affair under the plea of Operation Clean Heart, Crossfire, Encounter etc. Abducting and assassinating persons, branding them as criminals and robbers, has become a daily affair. All state machineries have been made subservient to the ruling party and are used to cater to the interest and avarice of the party and its rapacious functionaries. The consumables’ market, share market, electricity supply, telecom and all the service sectors are under the tight control of a syndicate. Such unbridled looting has added 6000 more to the list of billionaires in one year alone, while in only one sub-district of Jaipurhat 200 people were forced to sell their kidneys in order to meet their debts. This one fact vividly brings out the tragic picture of disparity in our country. Rampant corruption has destroyed the transport system, so much so that broken-down roads have become the principal contributing factor for traffic accidents and loss of life. Crisis in supply of water-gas-electricity and traffic jams have made the urban life in capital Dhaka and other towns a nightmare. Along with this, cultural degradation has become all-pervasive. Teenagers and youths are getting addicted to drugs and pornography. Abuse of women and children and all forms of repulsive monstrosities are on the increase. All these appear to be separate problems but their root cause is one and the same. The capitalist society, whose sole concern is profit, is the progenitor of all these problems.

We note that added to the loot by the national capitalists our natural resources, including gas, oil and coal, are handed over to multinational companies of the imperialist countries. The terms of the contracts are kept secret from the people, and are not even discussed in the Parliament. The progressive, left-minded people involved in the movements for safeguarding the national wealth have become the targets of oppression, repression and persecution by the state.

Fighting countrymen of Bangladesh,

You are also witnessing how the imperialist countries led by USA are perpetrating wanton acts of aggression, war and occupation in different parts of the globe. To establish control over oil wealth they have killed many millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now they are trying to take advantage of the people’s awakening and their aspiration for democracy in Middle East and North Africa and are interfering with a view to expanding their territory of exploitation. To bring Libya with its rich petroleum resources under its control, direct military attacks were launched under the umbrella of NATO. Economic blockade and threats of military attack have been going on for more than 50 years against Cuba and North Korea, with the object of destroying their socialist system. USA is intimidating and hatching conspiracies against Venezuela, Bolivia and other Latin American countries who have declared to come out of imperialist exploitation and institute a new people-friendly economic system. After the overthrow of monarchy in Nepal, though the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) gained majority in the elections, India-US conspiratorial maneuvers are continuing unabated to unseat them from power.

Compatriots in the struggle,

The imperialists have brought down the most acute crisis in the lives of their citizens, they have launched devastating wars to continue their looting of other countries. The common people all over the world have no other option but to resolutely fight the fascist imperialist powers to ensure advancement of the human civilization. So, the need of the hour is to organize militant anti-imperialist anti-war movements in different countries and to coordinate them to release a mighty global anti-imperialist struggle. In a convention held at Kolkata, India, in 1995, organized by progressive forces and attended by delegates from several countries, this necessity was stressed and a call was given for building up this coordination. Accordingly, at an International Anti-imperialist Conference held at Kolkata in 2007, attended by delegates from several countries and by the well-known anti-imperialist activist and former Attorney General of USA Ramsey Clark, a decision was taken to form the International Anti-imperialist and People’s Solidarity Coordinating Committee (IAPSCC) with Ramsey Clark as President and Manik Mukherjee as General Secretary. A Central Secretariat was also elected with representatives from several countries. Khalekuzzaman of SPB was elected as the representative of Bangladesh in the Secretariat. The 2nd International Anti-imperialist Conference of IAPSCC was held at Beirut, Lebanon, on January 16-18, 2009, in collaboration with The Consultative Centre For Studies And Documentation, Beirut, Cairo Conference (Egypt), Stop The War Coalition (London), and National Gathering To Support The Choice Of Resistance (Lebanon). The 3rd IAPSCC International Anti-imperialist Conference is going to be held at Dhaka, Mahanagar Natyamancha, on November 27-29, 2011, being jointly convened with Socialist Party of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is an apt venue for such a Conference in view of the militant struggle that the people of Bangladesh are now conducting against exploitation and looting of the natural resources including oil, gas and coal, and against the ruling national bourgeoisie of Bangladesh which is in league with the imperialists. Eminent personalities who would participate in this Conference are: IAPSCC President Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of USA; Manik Mukherjee, General Secretary of IAPSCC and Member of Polit Bureau of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist); Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), former Prime Minister of Nepal and Chairman, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist); Carolus Wimmer, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, and Member of Polit Bureau of Communist Party of Venezuela; Sara Flounders IAPSCC Secretariat Member and leader of Workers World Party of USA; Heather Cottin of International Action Centre, USA; Hani Haddadin and Khaled Haddadin of Jordanian Communist Party; Jose Leje and Marcela Maspero of UNETE, Venezuela; Yahia Bakour of Arab Agriculture Union, Syria; Eddebbarh Abdessalem, Moroccan Agronomists Union, Morocco; Explo Nan Kofi, Kilombo Centre for Civil Society and African Self Determination, Ghana; Eliyathambi Thambiah, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, New Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party, Sri Lanka; Ramsurn Lohmus, Communist Party of Mauritius; Alexander Moumbaris, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, Editor, Democrite, France; Mohammad Kassem, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, Lebanon; Mohamed Tay, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, Professor, University of Lebanon; Gyula Thurmer, President, Hungarian Communist Workers Party; Ri Song, Secretary, Korean Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee, DPRK; Moreno Pasquinelli, Anti-imperialist Camp, Italy; Ninu Chapagain, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, and Polit Bureau Member, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist); Paolo Babini, CARC Party, Italy; Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Qasim, Communist Party of Pakistan; Artuso Antonio, NorthStar Compass, Canada; Leila Ghanem, LIBAN/ FRANCE; Steven Riek Deng Mout, National Youth Union of South Sudan; Ibrahim Ghandour, IAPSCC Secretariat Member and President, SWTUF, Sudan; Roberto Gabriele, IAPSCC Secretariat Member, Movement for Peace and Socialism, Italy; Ali Fayyad, Consultative Centre for Studies and Documentation, Lebanon; Ma’an Bachour, International Arab Centre for Communication and Solidarity, Lebanon; Moataz Mahmoud Zaky Elhefnawy of Egypt; El Hadji Momar Sambe of Senegal, Africa.

Friends,

After a long history of fighting against the 200-year imperialist-colonial rule of Britain, and against the 23-year exploitative colonial rule of Pakistan, Bangladesh has emerged as a sovereign independent nation. We have a glorious history of fighting against imperialism. We appeal to you all to come forward to make this Conference a grand success, honouring the anti-imperialist fighting tradition of the people of Bangladesh. Your financial, material and moral support and active participation would strengthen the fight against the monster that is imperialism. Let us come forward to build up and strengthen the Left alternative political power in place of the bourgeois two-party alternative. Let us build up powerful, militant mass movements against capitalism-imperialism for protecting the people and the wealth of the nation. Let us raise the slogan: Down with capitalism-imperialism.

Long live Socialism.

Long live Proletarian Revolution.