Sunday, November 06, 2016

“Free Trade Agreements” Weapons of Economic Aggression and Imperialist Domination

Currently in most of the European countries as well as in the USA and Canada, hundred thousands of workers and progressive people protest and fight against “free trade treaties” like TTIP, TISA and CETA. A large resistance movement has developed. Already, there have been some successes in the struggle. The negotiations have been suspended. Nevertheless the resistance movement especially against CETA continues.
Why?
The workers and peoples have gathered some experience with “free trade agreements” and have seen that they did not result in more and better jobs, but instead in increased poverty. For example, the NAFTA agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico has not lead to an economic growth, but instead to low wages, unemployment and to the elimination of the weaker enterprises, that where defeated in the increasing competition.
It is therefore obvious that such agreements are in favor of the biggest imperialist monopolies. Likewise, the Ukraine was forced to sign an “association agreement” with the EU, a “free trade agreement” which had all the negative consequences for the workers, the people and the economy. Furthermore, this agreement included the subordination of Ukraine under the military structures of EU and NATO, transforming the Ukraine into a front state of aggression against Russia.
These agreements are very undemocratic. The negotiations are generally conducted in secret. They are put into practice “provisionally” even before they are ratified by the bourgeois parliaments or after they have been rejected by a parliament or in a referendum. In the Netherlands, the “free trade treaty” with the Ukraine was rejected by the people in a referendum. But the EU just ignored the people’s will.
Whenever such treaties are put into practice, the bourgeois institutions are submitted to new private arbitrating tribunals.
The mobilization against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a similar “free trade treaty”, is developing on both sides of Pacific.
At this time, the EU forces many African states to sign the so called “Economic Partnership Agreement” which will increase their dependency on the EU imperialists. It will deepen the neocolonial plundering by opening the markets for the EU industry even more, destroying their own economic structures, and it will also ease the exploitation of their natural resources. The peoples of Africa struggle against this new imperialist offensive. We have to support them.
The workers and the people have good reasons to combat these treaties. Of course, TTIP, TISA and CETA are treaties between imperialist powers, where each party hopes to outwit the other and gain hegemony. They will lead to lower wages, increased unemployment, lower social and environmental standards, the dismantling of democratic rights and to an increased competition among the workers. Thus the workers and the people’s determined resistance is justified. We, as Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations are an active part in these movements and work to develop it.
Stop TTIP, CETA and TISA!
Stop the so called “Economic Partnership Agreement” between EU and Africa!

22nd Plenary of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations

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