Rubio is unwelcome in Greece: Dimitris Koutsoumbas

Image via the KKE

Within every country there are two homelands, both in times of peace and in times of war

In his speech at the 52nd festival of KNE - “Odigitis”, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, noted, amongst other things:

History did not end with the counter-revolutionary overthrows of the early 1990s, even though the temporary victors of the time proclaimed that it did. Just as the Earth did not stop turning because the Holy Inquisition once decided so.

Wars are not a thing of the past and they will not be until their root cause is eliminated. This is the system of profit, competition and uneven development —capitalism— which has been in its imperialist stage for over a century.

The balance of power is not fixed or unchangeable… “Empires” decline and other powers vie for supremacy. This has always happened throughout the history of exploitative systems, through the struggles, sacrifices and bloodshed of the vanguard, of the peoples.

The alleged “solid alliances”, supposedly based on “shared principles and values”, have been turned upside down. In reality, their only “shared value” is the pursuit of profit for their monopolies.

This sometimes creates convergences, but at other times it creates enormous contradictions. Once-invincible and seemingly all-powerful armies now find themselves in dire straits. They are unable to achieve their objectives and they are witnessing the vulnerabilities of their bases and “domes” while a new balance of power emerges.

The capitalist market, which supposedly “has the mechanisms to regulate everything”, lurches from one crisis to another… without ever overcoming the root cause of these crises: the contradiction between the increasingly social character of production and the appropriation of its results by an ever-smaller number of people.

They are already preparing the peoples for the fact that they will be the ones to pay the price for the “perfect storm” that is coming. However, the preconditions for this storm have long been shaped by their enormous profitability, the state policy to boost investment, and the share prices that soar on the stock markets with every bomb that levels an apartment building in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and elsewhere.

However, their shattered myths do not end here…Who today would dare to claim that NATO, the USA or the EU would stand by Greece in the event of a “hot incident” or military conflict with Turkey, which is also a NATO member? Probably no one…

Because it is now clear that the Erdogan government is presenting these unacceptable challenges and claims with the “support” of these “powerful allies”, who view Turkey as an important economic and military partner. .

And now that the so-called “calm waters” have also proven to be a NATO myth, and Mr. Mitsotakis has realized that “the seas are a bit rough”, the new narrative is that the country’s territorial integrity and sovereign rights are safeguarded by the strategic alliance with the terrorist state of Israel. So much for our security…

However, if there is any purpose in remembering the fairy tales they told in the past, it is that we should be wary of their fairy tales today, too — such as this one.

Of course, it's not merely a fairy tale, but an insult to the sentiments of the people and the youth to hear New Democracy, PASOK, Tsipras's social-democratic party, the nationalist Velopoulos, and others tell them in unison that it is supposedly in their “interest” to side with the criminals and butchers of the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria, and even compete over who was the first to lay the foundations for an alliance with them.

Throughout history, no people has ever benefited from the tragedy of another. This is all the more evident given that the course of events shows that an alliance with Israel fails to protect Greece and entangles our people ever more deeply in the web of contradictions and rivalries between Israel and Turkey over regional hegemony.

Such alliances only benefit those who exploit the labour of the Greek people —the ruling class, which seeks to upgrade its position by transforming Greece into an energy and trade hub. This plan comes into direct conflict with the corresponding plans of the Turkish ruling class. This is why we now even hear ministers saying that it is necessary to shape a “Great Idea”[1] for the Greece of 2030.

By doing so, they are directly evoking the greatest tragedies experienced by the Greek people during the previous century as a result of the Greek bourgeoisie's aggressive policy within the framework of the plans of their“powerful allies”.

None of this is put forward by chance…They are well aware of the situations they are preparing the people and the youth for, yet it is precisely the people and the youth who have the power to thwart their plans. For, in reality, the peoples of the region, including the Greek and the Turkish peoples, have no reason to be divided.

Ιt is the communists in Greece and Turkey who, as they have always done, are paving the way for the peoples’ joint struggle against the dangerous plans of their exploiters and the imperialists. This is also reflected in the recent joint statement by the KKE and its fraternal party, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), on the latest developments.

The KKE tells the people frankly that there is no room for complacency. The only responsible stance today is to intensify the struggle against our country’s involvement in imperialist plans. The people need to challenge the government more strongly. No one should place their trust in the government or any of the parties supporting this strategy. The independent, organized intervention of the people and the youth in developments must be strengthened. For, just as there are two homelands in every country in times of peace, there are also two homelands in times of war. One is the homeland of capital, which sees war as an opportunity to make greater profits, access new markets, and, overall, grab the largest possible share of the spoils.

The other is the homeland of the people, who fight for their land, their homes, and their loved ones, as well as for a better life for their children.

That is why defending our borders, our territorial integrity and the security of the Greek people takes on real meaning only when it goes hand in hand with the struggle to free our country from the plans of the USA, the EU and Israel, to close down the military bases and disengage from NATO, with the people in power.

That is why the people and the youth consider the slaughterer American Secretary of State Rubio to be unwelcome in Greece!

[1] The “Megali Idea” (Great Idea) expressed the drive of the Greek bourgeoisie to expand their domestic market and reinforce national homogenization by incorporating new territories and populations. This was a characteristic pursuit of all emerging Balkan bourgeoisies from the mid-19th to the early 20th century.

For more images from the rally see: Within every country there are two homelands, both in times of peace and in times of war