The first day of the international symposium organised by the Anti-Imperialist Front on Anti-Terror Laws, NATO aggression, Political Prisoners and Disinformation ended.
The opening of the symposium started with the speech of Eda Deniz Haydaroğlu, who has been on hunger strike against the fascist 129 laws in Germany for 231 days. In her speech, Eda Deniz Haydaroğlu first called for a minute of silence in honour of all the martyrs we lost in the people’s liberation struggle.
Then Haydaroğlu talked about the content of the 129 laws and explained the reasons for the hunger strike resistance she has started against it. Stating that they tried every way until they came to this method, Haydaroğlu mentioned that she has started a hunger strike as a last resort.
She stated that the hunger strike method is the form of action that affects society the most. Haydaroğlu explained that the hunger strikers did not intend to die, but that their honour was more precious than their lives and that this was a part of the class war.
Eda Deniz Haydaroğlu ended her speech by stating that the only way to win is to resist, that we have to resist together and that our common enemy is imperialism and NATO.
Then the first panel of the symposium was on NATO aggression. The panel started with the speech of Konstantina Kalcioti from the Anti-Imperialist Front. Kalcioti emphasised that the resistance continues in Palestine, Germany, Donbass and everywhere and that the resistance and massacres against it continue.
Explaining that the resistance also continues in Anatolia, Kalcioti also commemorated the 4 Turkish revolutionaries who were massacred on the banks of the Evros River recently.
After the 2nd World War, the USA established hegemony in the world through NATO and NATO still aims to expand its borders today. Konstantina exemplified this with the recent Ukraine process.
Kalcioti ended her speech by emphasising that thousands of our people are being massacred by imperialism and NATO all over the world and the only way to stop this is through the unity of all of us.
The second speaker of the panel was Professor Inaki Gil de San Vicente from the BASK region. Inaki started his speech by giving examples of the use of the concept of terrorism and talked about the distortion of the war of the weak as terrorism and the clean war as the terrorism of the strong. Inaki explained that the only purpose of NATO was to destroy socialism and the Soviets, and ended his speech by reminding that thousands of NAZIs took part in the establishment of NATO.
The panel continued with the broadcasting of Alexey Albu‘s video greeting the symposium on behalf of Ukrainian Marxist organization “Borotba” from the Donbass region. Albu spoke about the latest situation in the region, the imperialism’s predicament, and how a defeat in Ukraine would be devastating for them and would create a domino effect.
Albu concluded his speech by saying that imperialism starts wars whenever it needs money and that this is a disaster for the rights of the world and by giving a message of unity.
The fourth speaker of the panel was Stefan Natke from the Communist Party of Germany. Natke said that the process we are going through is a transition period and imperialism has increased its attacks. He attributed the USA’s attack on Russia to the fact that the USA sees China as its biggest rival and Russia as China’s strategic ally.
Speaking about Germany’s imperialist policies, Natke emphasised that Germany was one of the biggest supporters of the Nazi regime in the Ukraine agenda. He also mentioned that political bans have increased in Germany. He gave the banning of Palestinian structures and symbols of socialism and the Soviets as examples. Natke concluded his speech with a call for unity.
The fifth speaker was a representative of the “Revolutionary Party of All African Peoples”. The representatives explained that the main contradiction in Africa is between imperialism and the African peoples. Explaining the recent anti-imperialist uprisings in West Africa and the thoughts of the people, the representatives of the party concluded their speeches by saying that their goal is a united socialist Africa.
The sixth speaker of the panel was Markus Heinzman from Switzerland, a representative of the Anti-War Coalition. Heinzman started his speech with the example that Switzerland has anti-terror laws similar to Germany. Explaining the historical development of NATO, Heinzman said that the dream of socialism is not an utopia. Referring to the massacring policies of NATO, Heinzman ended his speech by mentioning that what is happening in Palestine today is also the dream of the NAZIs.
The seventh speaker of the panel was the representative of the Struggle Against the NATO Commission from Greece. Speaking about the aims and objectives of their organisation, the representative explained the current government’s support for the Nazi Kiev regime despite the Greek people. Giving examples from the struggle of the Greek communists against imperialism, the representative concluded his speech with a message of unity and the necessity of the struggle against imperialism.
The last speaker of the panel was Stephan from the 23 September Movement in Bulgaria. Explaining the process of Bulgaria’s accession to NATO after socialism and its historical development, the representative said that the biggest enemy of humanity is imperialism and that anti-imperialists should strengthen the communication between them and increase their unity against it.
The first day of the symposium continued with a panel followed by a workshop with the same content. The first day of the symposium was over at the end of fruitful discussions on how the unity against NATO can be and what can be done.
