New Year’s Greetings of the Chairperson
International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
January 1, 2019
Dear Colleagues.
On behalf of the International Coordinating Committee, I convey at the start of the new year of 2019 warmest greetings of solidarity to all the commissions on the 18 concerns and all the member organizations, national chapters, and global region committees of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS).
The ILPS as a whole and all its components have reaped in the previous year victories in the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles in many countries and in all continents. On the basis of such victories and the accumulated ILPS strength, we optimistically look forward to and diligently prepare for the Sixth International Assembly on June 23 to 26 in Hongkong.
The theme of the assembly is: “Win a bright socialist future for humanity! Unite the people to fight and end imperialist war, racism and fascism!” Through the assembly, the ILPS must be further strengthened to confront the crisis of the world capitalist system and to generate the urgently needed mass movement on a global scale.
The crisis of the world capitalist system continues to worsen. The economic depression and stagnation that followed the 2008 financial meltdown remain and yet a new plunge of the crisis is expected to result from the bursting of the public debt bubble.
The crisis keeps on worsening and inflicting intolerable oppression and exploitation on the peoples of the world. At the same time, it challenges and drives the the peoples of the world to rise up in resistance. They can take advantage of the intensifying inter-imperialist contradictions.
The US and China, the two main partners in carrying out the neoliberal policy, are increasingly at odds with each other. The strategic decline of the US has accelerated with its previous accommodations to China and with the costs of economic and financial crisis and continuous aggressive wars it has unleashed.
Now the US is going protectionist and wants to take back the economic and concessions it previously gave to China. The trade war and political rivalry of these two capitalist powers are sharpening. The US is also making provocations against Russia on its borders and elsewhere and trying to rally its traditional allies against the alliance of Russia and China.
The peoples in both imperialist and non-imperialist countries are rising even as the imperialists and the reactionaries are using fascist movements to seize the political initiative from the anti-imperialist and democratic movement forces of the people. There is now a see-saw struggle between progressive and reactionary forces and movements.
We are in a period of transition to a great resurgence of the anti-imperialist and democratic movement of the peoples as well as of the world proletarian-socialist revolution The entirety and components of the ILPS must strive to arouse, organize and mobilize the people of the world and bring about the advance of the forces of national liberation, democracy and socialism.
(Sgd.) Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
Utrecht, the Netherlands
January 1, 2019