7-24-06, 10:11 am
Image 1 right original /trade/productview/5/10>From the National Executive Board of the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy Political Document Approved as Proposed by the National Secretariat
1. The permanent-war doctrine is the means by which the present administration in the US intends to secure its unipolar domination of the world. However, contrary to what this doctrine proposes, a single world power cannot impose a solution to conflicts and secure stability by the use of force. Instead, a policy based on war runs the risk of multiplying conflicts and nourishing instability in the world.
The further aggravation of the Middle East conflict and the dramatic plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the Occupied Territories are an obvious demonstration of how this logic brings about an exacerbation of conflicts instead of their settlement.
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon must be stopped. To this end, the Italian government, which has already expressed a positive attitude in this regard, should play a major role in international institutions in order to restart the peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel based on the principle of two states for two peoples.
A policy of faits accomplis, which are justified a posteriori because they exist, can only inflame the whole Middle East and set the stage for a full-scale war. We further demand that Italy, when it attends the United Nations Security Council session in January 2007, urge the UN to directly intervene in the Occupied Territories to protect the civilian population.
The doctrine of pre-emptive war has missed all of the goals it claims to be pursuing. Terror has not been defeated. Instead, it has increased its capacity to spread into many areas of the world, and not only those with already ongoing conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Terror is a mistaken response to the dramatic contradictions between the North and the South regions of the world. Moreover, terrorism takes advantage of these contradictions to extend its influence and bends them to its own political goals, toward a model of society which is as repellent as war.
War and terror, while claiming to fight each other, nourish each other mutually in a perverse spiral that causes only death and destruction, and annihilates politics as a means by which people can be the main actors in determining their lives and furthering the development of democracy. Both war and terror end up collapsing everything into the chasm of the 'clash of civilizations.'
2. The world peace movement, which rose in the wake of the anti-globalization movement, has steadily opposed this dramatic political and cultural regression, and presents a real alternative to fundamentalism and the clash of civilizations. This movement has succeeded in creating a new political phase and now plays a leadership role throughout the world, which includes directly influencing government policies, especially in Europe.
In Italy, this movement has had a remarkable degree of mass participation, and many political, cultural and social forces have joined it. Despite this, the previous Italian right-wing government did not change its policies, oblivious to the demands of society and completely subject to US interests. With the setting up of the new Union government, the peace movement can now score some remarkable initial achievements. Our task is to link these achievements with a further development of the movement by preserving its autonomy and independence.
3. Our country should participate in international peacekeeping missions, and Italy should contribute to efforts to interposition forces in order to prevent open conflicts from deteriorating. However, in either case this must be at the mandate of and under the direct command of the UN, as in the case of East Timor. We think that our country has to commit itself directly and contribute to interventions in dramatic cases of humanitarian emergency, such as Darfur. We think, moreover, that we need very strong political action to prevent the Middle East conflict from deteriorating precipitously, by sending interposition forces under UN command to protect the civilian population and open the way for the humanitarian aid that is so desperately needed.
4. We strongly restate our support for Italy's disengagement from all war zones that involve the occupation of foreign countries in violation of Article 11 of our Constitution. In this regard, we have already achieved a decisive initial result. We have managed – after years of struggles for peace – to accomplish the full withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, which is a step forward in breaking the dominant role of the US policy of unilateral aggression, and is also part of a more general initiative for peace in the world. This result has been achieved as a consequence of the agreement outlined in the Union program [the statement of principles by the members of Italy's ruling coalition under Prime Minister Prodi – ed.], even though some, including members of our Party, considered this commitment ambiguous and voted against the Union program.
Regarding the intervention in Afghanistan, which is not even mentioned in the Union program, and about which there is no agreement in the Union coalition, we have worked for a establishment of a process of monitoring and parliamentary oversight, and reject the prevailing majority opinion within the government alliance. The outcome of our parliamentary intervention has been the introduction of legislation, including a parliamentary motion which establishes general guidelines for Italian foreign policy, according to which the Parliament itself defines priorities for government action and therefore wins back a major role in the process.
The text agreed upon includes Italy's rejection of NATO demands for an increase in troops and weapons and also changes the rules of engagement and areas of intervention. In a situation such as Afghanistan, where the conflict is tending to intensify and spread, we think that changing the rules of engagement and not increasing troops and weapons, makes a real difference, especially compared to other countries such as Spain, which exchanged its withdrawal from Iraq for increased engagement in Afghanistan. Our parliamentary motion includes programmatic guidelines for changes in Italian foreign policy in accordance with the Italian constitution. Such guidelines also directly concern the Italian engagement in Afghanistan, by outlining a withdrawal from the Enduring Freedom mission, and an accurate assessment of international engagement in that area. To this end, the setting up of a 'parliamentary committee for monitoring' is especially important. This committee, in which peace organizations and representatives of civil society will take part, will be a vehicle for a deeper understanding of developments in Afghanistan and all other military missions. Such procedures indicate a clear path that helps us to find – even at the institutional level – a means of exit from the conflict and the occupation of Afghanistan. Therefore, we have pursued an initiative based on the principle of being effective in our actions within the majority coalition and the government.
The peace movement is autonomous and independent from the government. Our action is in agreement with the need for further developing the peace movement, beginning with the full withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq as well as from Afghanistan. Therefore, our political determination remains focused on withdrawal, and we feel committed to it together with all peace associations, social organizations, and political forces struggling for such a goal.
5. On the basis of the above-stated remarks, the National Executive Board expresses its agreement with the accord achieved in the majority coalition, and urges the parliamentary groups to vote in favor of it in a united manner.
