Statement of Workers’ Organisations
of West and South Asia
We, the
undersigned members of the West and South Asia region of the International
Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations
(ICMLPO), having convened under the current conditions of the Corona-19
Pandemic to assess the current situation in the world and in South and West
Asia, reviewed the work of our parties and organisations
in the initial period of the pandemic and discussed the details of the work we
are conducting under the conditions of the “second wave” of the pandemic.
The meeting
started with a moment of silence in memory of Comrade Raul Marco whose
contribution to the formation of ICMLPO has been very significant.
The conference
discussed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the conduct of the respective
governments on the working people and their movement and adopted the following
statement.
The toiling
people of the world have been deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which
has exacerbated the pre-existing fundamental contradictions of capitalist
order. The toiling people are faced with massive loss of employment, cut in
wages and increase in working hours along with acute
health hazards. Crisis is endemic to capitalism. The years preceding 2020 saw
growing economic stress with deceleration of growth, increase in unemployment,
and growing inequality. The year 2020 was marked by the pandemic and the
eruption of a new economic crisis of capitalism with a global character, the
crisis which has been aggravated by the pandemic and has developed with it.
The bourgeoisie
has used the pandemic as a means of overcoming some of its economic
difficulties, of suppressing the rights of the workers and toilers and ignoring
their demands. Capitalism used the Covid-19 pandemic to limit and erode
democracy and the organisations of the working
people. The policies adopted by the bourgeois governments with regard to the
pandemic and the medical treatment have a class bias and there has been a
complete disregard for the concerns and requirements of the laboring masses.
In most
countries while the capitalists are economically and financially supported, the
working class, labouring peasantry, lower strata
including the oppressed castes and tribal peoples have all been left
unsupported. Work at full capacity continued at factories and workplaces with
no regard for workers’ health. The pandemic was broached completely with a
class attitude by the rulers which took care of the requirements of the rich
and powerful and ignored the health requirement of the labouring
people. Many of our countries do not have adequate public health systems.
Existing hospitals in general do not provide services for free.
The pandemic
was completely ignored in countries like Iran, and its existence denied. Even
after the virus affected large masses of people, and the Iranian government was
forced to admit its existence it adopted the policy of so called ‘herd
immunity’. The government labeled the call to quarantine the infected areas and
workplaces as the voice of ‘counter-revolution’. Capitalist production was not
interrupted even during the most challenging periods of the pandemic in Turkey.
In India, under conditions of ill-conceived lockdown, migrant workers were
compelled to walk hundreds of kilometres with their
families from the cities to their villages. In Bangladesh, the laboring poor
were left to perish uncared for.
And in the
aftermath of the pandemic, the ruling classes are attempting to present the pandemic
as the cause of the capitalist crisis, thus whitewashing their neoliberal
policies which actually aggravated the crisis. They have also set out to use
the pandemic to take further new anti-worker measures. Laws concerning the
protection of labour and decent working conditions
which were badly implemented even in normal times were largely shelved under
the excuse of the pandemic. Instead of protecting
the workers and the toiling people, the ruling bourgeoisie has been and plans
to continue shifting the entire burden of the crisis and the pandemic onto the
shoulders of the working masses. There has been massive loss of jobs, wage
cuts, unsafe working conditions and forced lay off causing acute distress to
the working people. We cannot accept such transferring of the burdens of the
pandemic and the crisis onto the shoulders of the workers and labourers. All
the blame lies with capitalists and their governments, and the burdens should
be shouldered by the capitalists and their governments.
The pandemic
has not only led to the deepening of class contradictions but has also
aggravated inter-imperialist contradictions. In Asia, we are witnessing the
intensification of inter-imperialist rivalry, especially between the USA and
China, and their fight for the spheres of influence has drawn our countries
within it.
It is
impossible to overcome the epidemics in a humane way in the capitalist system
in which private ownership of the means of production and profit determines
public policy. Pandemics like Covid-19 which are likely to occur in the future
can only be handled effectively in a socialist system in which all productive
resources are publicly held and the interests of the working people determine
policies. It is incontestable that the struggle against the pandemic cannot be
separated from the struggle against imperialism, capitalism, and other forms of
oppression. The conditions we are undergoing have taught us all to struggle
against the Covid-19 pandemic and capitalism together.
In the current
situation, therefore, we call upon the workers and all toiling people, the
democratic and progressive forces of the regions to demand from their
governments to adopt the policy of quarantine while providing support to the
needy masses. We must fight against the laws and activities of the domestic
bourgeoisie that threaten and restrict the rights of the people, and be
vigilant that democratic rights are not violated and that fascism is not
established.
We demand;
* Governments
should abandon the policy of “herd immunity” that has caused innumerable deaths
and take the responsibility of safeguarding the wellbeing of the masses
seriously!
* Health is a
public right; provide equal and free public health services for all.
* Workplaces
with coronavirus infection must be closed down and workers’ pay should be
secured by the states
* Ban
retrenchments and ensure right to paid leave for workers during lock down.
* Ensure safety
of workers in worksites. No safe working conditions, no production!.
* Provide
adequate food and monetary support for working class families, including the
unemployed and those in the informal sector, migrant workers and the displaced
persons without any preconditions
* Prisons where
infection has spread should be evacuated! Political prisoners should be freed!
* Doctors and
health staff in the forefront of the fight against the pandemic should be
supported. Reduce the daily work hours for the medical and healthcare
professionals!
* Discourage
large gatherings, religious or otherwise, which increase the chance of
contamination without compromising democratic rights of people.
* Strikes and
demonstrations cannot be banned; it is not acceptable to restrict the right to
strike, protest, political and trade union association, freedom of the press
with the excuse of the pandemic. No to state repression and the police
violence!
* No to ethnic,
national, and religious discrimination, and xenophobia! Equality of rights and
opportunity for all including the oppressed castes and tribal peoples.
* Give special
protection to at risk segments of the population, those for whom
contamination causes a higher risk of death!
* Quarantine
the provinces and cities in which the corona contamination is on the rise!
* Vaccinate the
population free of charge when an effective and reliable vaccine becomes
available!
* Education
should continue with the necessary hygiene measures in place; classes infected
with the virus should be closed temporarily, and online education should be
provided with necessary equipment, and without cost to the students. Bridge the
‘digital divide’ before resorting to online education.
* End
imperialist wars and military bases across the world.
* Reduce
war expenditures; budgets for armaments should go to health and education.
We call upon
the working peoples of all nationalities of South and West Asia to struggle,
with these demands, against the governments which do not consider the Covid-19
pandemic as a public health issue and against
bourgeois governments which do not carry out this fight by prioritising
public health.
We call upon
the working people to combine the fight against the pandemic with the fight to
end capitalism, imperialism, all forms of exploitation and oppression to create
a new Socialist Society where such pandemics will not lead to mass unemployment,
starvation and deprivation.
We, the
Marxist-Leninist communists of West and South Asia (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan,
India, and Bangladesh) are doing everything in our power to unite Labour against Capital and for progress of its struggle and
will continue to do so.
We can ward off
the effects of the pandemic like unemployment, misery and future uncertainty
only through relentless struggle of the working class and toiling people. We,
the working class, working peasantry, labourers, youth and women can overcome
both the pandemic and capitalism with its destructive crises. It is only we who
can achieve this.
Let us unite to
emancipate ourselves from the rule of capital that has brought us crisis after
crisis!
Long live the
struggle for Democracy!
Only Socialism
can end poverty, misery, health crises, and social injustice!
Communist Party
of Bangladesh (ML)
Labour
Party (EMEP), Turkey
Organisation
“Revolutionary Democracy”, India
Pakistan Mazdoor Mahaz
Party of Labour (Toufan), Iran