Μore expenditures for health, education and social security and not for NATO weapons and imperialist interventions.
The World Federation of Trade Unions organizes for one more year an International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace on September the 1st, the dark anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War after the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland. This day is established by the international class-oriented trade union movement as the day of remembrance and honor for the millions of victims of the Nazi and fascist atrocities of the Second World War, but also for all the victims of the imperialist wars, for all those who paid with their lives for the imperialist antagonisms and multinationals’ speculations and bulimia of big capital.
Nowadays, the world is facing a phase of extreme intensification of political, economic, and military antagonism. The imperialist forces, especially USA, NATO, and European Union aim at the control and exploitation of our planet’s economic resources, strengthening their spheres of influence, and changing new borders. The inter-imperialist antagonisms are constantly being exacerbated, the armed conflicts are maintained and intensified and the dangers for the World Peace are grave.
The militant, class-oriented trade unions all over the world join their voices and intensify their struggle against the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations, and the soaring military expenditures. The WFTU demands an immediate end to all imperialist armed conflicts, an end to the war in Ukraine, and full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to freely choose their present and future and the path of their economic and social development.
We demand the dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, and respect for the independence and sovereignty of all states. We denounce the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions imposed by the US, NATO, and the EU against various countries, as they negatively impact the standard of living of low-income families, workers, poor small farmers, and popular strata in general.
Moreover the international trade union movement denounces the decision of the NATO Summit to add new Regional Plans but also to define a minimum limit of 2% of GDP in military spending, which sharpens the confrontation and deepens the preparations and the risk for a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences for the popular strata and the ordinary people who always pay the cost of the imperialist antagonism with death, refugeeism, and the deterioration of their living and working conditions.
In addition to conditions of generalized price rise, inflation, and the long-term austerity policies that have shrunk all the expenditures linked to popular needs and workers’ living standards; In an era where all workers’ demands for education, health, social security, and dignified living conditions, are rejected by bourgeoise governments under the pretext of lack of resources, etc, the further increase in military spending is provocative as well as revealing of their intentions.
We stand on the side of the suffering peoples all over the world and intensifies its struggles against imperialist wars and their root causes. The World Federation of Trade Unions calls upon its affiliates and friends all the class-oriented trade unions to organize anti-war, anti-imperialist actions and demonstrations under the slogan:
Μore expenditures for health, education and social security and not for NATO weapons and imperialist interventions.
The Secretariat
