The Occupy Wall Street movement got big cheers at a recent international gathering of “resistance fighters,” mainly third world communist parties and front organizations, in Dhakar, Bangladesh.
A delegation attended from the ruling communist party of North Korea, plus a cadre from the ultra-militant US Workers World Party.
The Third International Conference of the International Anti-Imperialist and Peoples Solidarity Coordinating Committee met in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from Nov. 27 to 29. The conference’s theme was “Imperialist Attack: Economic, Political, Cultural and Military Aggression and Occupation.” Special reference was made to imperialist aggression in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Cuba and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
The international program opened with an outdoor rally of 20,000 militants organized by the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, a co-sponsor of the assembly. It was followed by a militant march through the capital city’s crowded streets.
The 800 official delegates represented anti-imperialist forces from 24 countries. There was strong representation from South Asia, including from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Two women guerrilla fighters were sent from Nepal. The DPRK sent a delegation. Resistance organizations were represented from Middle Eastern and African countries, including Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Sudan, Iran, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco and Chad.
Straight from Tahrir Square in Cairo, an Egyptian delegate gave greetings from the revolutionary people of Egypt. A representative from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militantly greeted the assembly. Additionally, representatives came from Europe, the United States and Canada.
Manik Mukerjee, Secretary General of the IAPSCC, gave the keynote speech. He said, “Today we are witnessing … throughout the world, including in the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, and even in the metropolitan capitalist countries and in the very citadel of imperialism, waves of people’s movements surging forth.”
Sara Flounders, a Workers World Party Secretariat member, who is on the IAPSCC’s executive committee, expressed solidarity with the conference at a time when people of the world are rising up. When she mentioned Occupy Wall Street, the “crowd roared.”
Sara Flounders’ party is neck deep in the Occupy movement, especially in centers such as New York, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
The mood of the gathering was optimistic. Participants definitely saw the tide of history surging their way.
The Socialist Party of Bangladesh is a vibrant and growing party, whose youth swelled the crowds at the opening ceremonies. Their leader, Secretary General Khalequzzaman, gave a rousing speech, which brought the masses to their feet at the outside rally in Mahanagar Natyamancha. Though imperialism may be at its most bloody, he said, the people of the world were in the final struggle for the victory of the working and peasant classes over the system of capitalist exploitation.
IAPSCC participants shared their experiences of struggle, and deliberated on the ways and means to build a strong global anti-imperialist movement while developing solidarity among the anti-imperialist fighters in different countries. The international delegation responded to the warmth, solidarity and cultural expressions of the comrades from the Socialist Party of Bangladesh with a strong “Red Salute.”
Occupy Wall Street is far from a US only phenomenon. Some of its leaders have ties to some of the most militant and violent revolutionary forces on the planet.
The only question is – when will these forces attempt to create mayhem in the “Belly of the Beast?”
My re-tweet of this post made the #occutards ‘ daily http://paper.li/CensorshipToday/1317611934
Keep up the GREAT work, Mr. Loudon. You are a source of my inspiration. I hope to travel to NZ soon.