PV staff
In his New Year’s statement Pambis Kyritsis, General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), called on the labour movement throughout the world to deepen its solidarity with the Palestinian people and redouble its efforts to end “the bloody and shameless genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The global labour leader noted that 2024 begins as Israel’s aggression against Gaza approaches its fourth month. Calling Israel’s actions “a dark stain in the history of humanity,” Kyritsis pointed to the full support which Western imperialist states have provided to the genocide.
“The root cause of this blood cycle is the ongoing occupation and illegal settlement of the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel and the continuous, daily crimes have been committed against the Palestinian people for decades now. Crimes which are committed with the provocative tolerance and support that Israel receives from the big imperialist powers – the US, the European Union and the rest of their allies – and which in recent years have become even more brutal and unacceptable.
“The governments of Israel, the US and the EU ignore the international laws and treaties and use them whenever it suits them. Although the United Nations’ General Assembly and its Security Council adopted resolutions regarding the humanitarian crisis that the Palestinian people are facing, the continuation and escalation of attacks shows that Israel and its allies have no intention of de-escalating the situation, proving once again their hypocrisy and carelessness about humanity.”
Since Israel launched its siege of Gaza, the WFTU has mobilized its 105 million members in 133 countries, to provide and strengthen solidarity with Palestine against the assault. The organization has long held that the only path to peace is by guaranteeing the full rights of the Palestinian people.
“The only way to secure and consolidate peace and security for the people in Palestine and Israel, but also in the wider Middle East, is to immediately end the Israeli occupation and settlement in the occupied Arab territories, as provided for in the UN resolutions, and to establish an independent Palestinian state.”
The WFTU notes that the genocide in Gaza is occurring against the backdrop of a general intensification on the part of the US and its NATO allies, “to impose their political and economic control over the planet.” The high price of this increased aggressiveness of the Western imperialist powers includes soaring numbers of dead and displaced people, as well as deepening impoverishment of people throughout the world.
It also includes attacks on wages, working conditions, and democratic and labour rights, which the WFTU says have intensified in the wake of the global pandemic. “The COVID period had been exploited by capital and its political representatives, to promote even tougher measures that shrink the right to organize, to demand, to protest collectively and the sacred right to strike.”
In response, the WFTU is committed to increased action against imperialist war and intervention, for the dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, and for nuclear disarmament, peace and social justice.
[Photo: WFTU affiliated workers in Bangladesh mobilize for Palestinian people]
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