CPUSA Calls to Action for Peace and Economic Justice

Thousands will be marching in the streets of Miami, Florida, during the week of Nov. 17-21, protesting the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). They will pour into Miami from all over the country and from all over the world. The protesters will be trade unionists, anti-globalization activists, environmentalists, family farmers, religious activists, civil and human rights activists. Thousands will come to Miami to make their voices heard at a meeting of trade ministers from around the Americas.

From The People's Weekly World: At the heart of any viable solution to the present conflict in the Middle East lies the issue of full national rights and statehood for the Palestinian people. Peoples and governments worldwide increasingly recognize this fact.
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The Communist Party USA calls upon the international peace movement to rise up and defend the rights and lives of the Palestinian people in their hour of crisis. The barbaric violence inflicted upon the Palestinians by the Israeli government, with the support of the Bush administration, has led the region to the brink of an all-out war.

The shocking and terrifying nature of the Sept. 11 assault has done more than temporarily traumatize the nation. It has also given the Bush administration and the far right a new
legitimizing discourse, or, to put it in a less highfalutin way, a new ideological rationale to pursue its political objectives at home and worldwide.

Isn’t it time to step back from the relentless bombing of Afghanistan? Isn’t it time for suspension of bombing?

From Biblical times to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, men and women have dreamed and worked for a world free from war. So far they haven’t done too well.

On September 11 at 8:48 a.m. our country and world changed as commercial jets were transformed into projectiles of senseless death and destruction by hateful and criminal terrorists.

Not only were the lives of thousands of people lost and not only was there destruction beyond belief, but shock waves of profound sorrow, fear, anger, and concern about our future were felt across our country and the world. But also, in that horrific instant and the weeks that have followed, domestic and world politics took an altogether new, frightening, dangerous, and unanticipated turn.

How do we explain this turn in world politics? What direction is it going? Who benefits from it? Where will it end? What can we do?

Opening remarks to the National Committee.

"...in that horrific instant [Sept 11th] and the weeks that have followed, domestic and world politics took an altogether new, frightening, dangerous, and unanticipated turn."

"...Rather than bringing us closer to a solution to the problem, the administration's response to the terrorist attack is sharpening every struggle to the extreme, endangering every democratic gain won over the past seven decades and, most ominously, plunging the nation into wider and possibly unending war."

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ACTION ALERT for peace and economic justice #2 October 10, 2001

The Bush Administration's bombing of Afghanistan Oct. 7 is not a solution to the terrible events of September 11th. Bush's action is driven more by revenge and retaliation, and is aimed at gaining a geo-political advantage. It is not an effective approach to ending terrorism and bringing those responsible to justice.

The bombing of Afghanistan has upped the ante on the urgency of working to build broad coalitions for peace and against terrorism.

ACTION ALERT for Peace and Economic Justice #1 September 30, 2001

In that horrific instant on September 11th, the potential of a wider war spread over our country and the world's horizon. Indeed, in the wake of the terrorist attack, the struggle for peace and against the danger of war has become the overarching issue of our time and a precondition to eliminating terrorism in all of its forms. No issue at this moment and for the foreseeable future looms larger.

The US economy was already suffering record job loss before the terrible events of September 11. In August the AFL-CIO estimated that 800,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost in the current economic downturn for the working class that was already a deep recession.

Terrorism is morally and politically reprehensible. Under no circumstances can it be justified. Its only outcome is to strengthen the forces of political reaction, racism, and militarism in our own country as well as abroad.

Needless to say, the shock of Tuesday's terrible events hasn't worn off. Everyone is struggling with how to take it in personally, as well as respond politically.

The terrorist attacks that killed and wounded thousands of innocent people Sept. 11 are crimes that call for universal, worldwide condemnation. At this writing the toll of dead and wounded is not known but it is certain to number in the thousands, the deadliest terrorist attack ever.

The Communist Party USA expresses outrage and profound sorrow at this horrendous assault. We unequivocally condemn terrorism in all its forms.

We extend heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims including the thousands of office workers at both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and those who died in the crashes of the four planes. We mourn the rescue workers, hundreds of whom died in the line of duty, in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. Amid the carnage and the horror, they displayed uncommon courage and self sacrifice as they struggled to save the wounded and dying.

Some issues are clear: this must not be allowed to become the basis for anti-Arab and anti-immigrant attacks, nor for a call to retreat or give up on the many vital ongoing struggles for peace and justice. That these terrible acts may lead to escalating violence and war is a real danger that concerns many people. And, of course, for everyone, in addition to shock and horror there is the question of why and how such a thing could happen. We shouldn't shy away from discussing the roots of, and reasons for, terrorism, but this is a long term question. Yesterday's events will profoundly shape our world, and have many dimensions we will have to examine and think through.