Presented by the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to the 4th International Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and approved unanimously on 09 July 2011.
The 11 ICC members and 1 alternate member (see Annex for names) whose term of office was supposed to end upon the election of the new ICC (if not for their most recent acts of sabotage) and who previously constituted an ultra-Left and sectarian group within the ILPS have engaged in propaganda and related acts extremely hostile not only to the ICC and the Chairperson but to the entire ILPS. This resolution is meant to defend the integrity and unity of ILPS against the attacks of these sectarian elements.
By their articles dated 26-06-11, 27-06-11 and 02-07-11, they have publicly and maliciously attacked the decisions of the ICC and the ILPS Chairperson far beyond the confines of the ILPS and have declared their boycott of the ICC meeting on July 6, 2011 and from the sovereign Fourth International Assembly of the ILPS and called on ILPS member-organizations to withdraw from the activities of the ILPS. They have engaged in a patent act of sabotage while hypocritically paying lip service to the ILPS.
The hostile actions of this minority group that has recently attacked and withdrawn from the ICC and ILPS are merely the culmination of a series of acts inimical to the efforts of building the ILPS as a broad anti-imperialist and democratic alliance.
This group consistently carried an ultra-Left political line and a sectarian organizational line which have greatly hampered the expansion of the ILPS as a broad anti-imperialist and democratic alliance, and have thereby obstructed the worldwide struggle against imperialism and reaction. The key members of this ultra-Left and sectarian group assumed and even monopolized responsibilities only to sabotage the work of expanding the ILPS in the Middle-East, Latin America and Europe.
Within ILPS, this group tried to impose its dogmatic ideas in discussions regarding current political trends in the world, thus failing to identify positive forces that can be won over and mobilized in a broad front against imperialism or take advantage of contradictions in the enemy camp.
In the past ten years, this minority group has not only failed to help in expanding ILPS, their sectarian behavior has caused some founding member organizations to distance themselves from the League.
In the 2nd ILPS International Assembly in 2004, this group caused disruption for more than a day of the three-day assembly and the unnecessary long delay of the discussion and approval of the General Declaration due to their insistence on imposing their ultra-Left line on the analysis of the international situation and tasks.
In the 3rd ILPS International Assembly in 2008, the sectarians again caused unnecessarily long drawn-out debates far beyond the allocated time in the Workshop of Commission 1, even maligning one of the main mass organizations of the ILPS. One of the sectarians used abusive language to castigate a fellow delegate from the US on an issue involving united front policy in front of the whole assembly.
During the meeting of the ICC in February 2009, this minority group joined in a chorus in attacking the ILPS Chairperson for sending a representative to a broad anti-imperialist conference in Beirut on the sectarian argument that Islamists and forces “not genuinely anti-imperialists” were in the said conference, thus displaying their narrow-minded and erroneous way of thinking contrary to the united front policy of the ILPS.
In the 2nd International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR2) in Athens, independently organized by the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), and endorsed and supported by the ILPS, the sectarians tried to exclude from the Convenors Committee a Greek organization that was most helpful in arranging the venue and making this event a big success. This Greek organization was a founding member of ILPS but through the years had been deliberately sidelined by the sectarians in ILPS-sponsored events in Greece. The sectarians tried through so many means to impose their sectarian line on this event with broad participation. But they failed to deliver even on the few tasks that they promised to accomplish such as providing invitations to foreign delegates for visa purposes.
In the end, they tried to disrupt the IAMR2 by staging a walkout and publicly declaring that the ILPS Chairperson was not speaking for the whole of the ILPS in his keynote speech in that international gathering attended even by non-ILPS members. The Chairperson reported the incident to the ICC in its November 21, 2009 meeting and presented the video evidence, in which then Vice Chairperson Manolis Arkolakis publicly usurped ICC authority and violated the Charter by disauthorizing the Chairperson from the performance of his duty as chief representative and spokesperson of the ILPS. Further, he recommended that a vote of confidence be taken in order to reconstitute the ICG and form a new team whose members trust each other. The ICC approved the recommendation and proceeded to reconstitute the ICG.
The sectarians were baggage that slowed the expansion of ILPS and hampered our efforts in building a strong broad anti-imperialist and democratic front which is the primordial objective of the League. Their ultra-Left and sectarian line goes against the letter and spirit of the ILPS Charter and the basic united front character of ILPS.
These sectarians would now want to make themselves appear as victims of lack of democracy in order to deceive and win the sympathy of the uninformed. In fact they abused and misused the democratic processes within ILPS and the goodwill of other member organizations in trying to force on others their ultra-Left and sectarian positions on various issues. They have been guilty of violating democracy within ILPS by trying to browbeat other member organizations into accepting their ultra-Left line and disrupting events and meetings through boycotts and walkouts when they did not get their way.
For too long, the majority of member organizations of the ILPS, including and especially the majority in the ICC, has patiently persevered in listening to and engaging these minority sectarians and Ultra-Leftists in principled struggle, at times even accommodating to a fault some of their unreasonable demands for the sake of unity and cohesion. But this has only emboldened this sectarian minority and made them even more arrogant, abusive and high-handed as they erroneously took the majority’s patience and flexibility as a sign of weakness.
By their erroneous ideas and sectarian behavior that violate the ILPS Charter and the basic united front character of the League and by their blatant efforts to sabotage the 4th International Assembly in staging a boycott and asking others to do the same, these sectarians have effectively separated themselves from the League. At the same time, the League condemns their acts of sabotage as clear due cause for their expulsion as stated in Chapter 2 Section 5 of the ILPS Charter: A member organization may cease to be such by resignation, self-dissolution or by expulsion for serious violation of this Charter, the resolutions or decisions of the International Assembly.
It is resolved, as it is hereby resolved, that the Fourth International Assembly of the League expel the named sectarians for flagrant acts of sabotage, especially for their most recent attacks on the ILPS and calls for boycotting this assembly, as evidenced by their documented pronouncements. By formally expelling these sectarians from the ILPS, the League is getting rid of systematic sabotage and unnecessary baggage and paves the way for the vigorous expansion and consolidation of ILPS as a broad alliance fighting imperialism and reaction.
As representatives of ILPS member-organizations, the sectarians occupied positions in the ICC. Absent any evidence to the contrary, their actions and statements hostile to the ILPS can be understood as carrying the consent of their organizations. Therefore, the expulsion of the sectarians means the expulsion of their respective organizations, unless an organization disauthorizes its representative or exempts itself from the hostile acts of the representative. Any case of falsified, misappropriated or misused signature to any of the hostile public statements may be denied with show of proof..
As one of the biggest and most effective anti-imperialist alliances of mass organizations in the world today, we must expect such organizational challenges, attempts to undermine our effectiveness and efforts to divert our attention from our important work of realizing the ILPS goals and objectives.
We should neither be alarmed by the malicious acts of these sectarians nor should we allow them to divert us from our mission. We should continue to apply the democratic method in dealing with any genuine differences as we continue to build the people’s anti-imperialist and democratic movement for fundamental social change. ###
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ANNEX
The 11 ICC members and 1 alternate member who previously constituted an ultra-Left and sectarian group within the outgoing ICC of the ILPS:
Former ICC members:
1. Manolis Arkolakis – People’s Militant Movement
2. Arman Riazi – Democratic Anti-Imperialist Organizations of Iranians in Great Britain
3. Doug Norberg – Video Collision Course
4. Hassan Gulum – Trade Union of Municipality Workers
5. Yilmaz Gunes – Federation of Workers from Turkey in the Netherlands
6. Azad Genc – New Democratic Youth
7. Raquel Scarlatelli – Cebraspo
8. Kali Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
9. G. N. Saibaba – Revolutionary Democratic Front
10. Aliyah Brunner – Umut Publications
11. K.R. Choudry – Visthapana Virodhi Jana Vikas Andolan
Former Alternate Member
12. Chrissi Perperidou – Class March
