World Anti-imperialist Platform | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | WAP |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Political orientation | Anti-imperialism |
| Website | |
| https://wap21.org/ https://wapnews.org/ | |
 YouTube channel | https://www.youtube.com/@worldanti-imperialistplatf1312 |
The World Anti-imperialist Platform (WAP) is an international anti-imperialist organization launched in 2022 to coordinate the efforts of all those who desire to work for the defeat of imperialism. It believes that the single most important theoretical task facing anti-imperialists today is that of correctly characterizing both the ongoing war in eastern Europe and the imminent wars in east Asia (south Korea and Taiwan).[1]
It believes that Russia and China are not imperialist powers, for they are not engaged in wars of dominance, colonization and rivalry over the control of superprofits. It describes the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict as a proxy war waged by imperialism against Russia and a war of national liberation.[1]
This sets it apart from organizations such as the Communist Party of Greece and most parties in the IMCWP, which have characterized the war as interimperialist and which have characterized the Platform as traitorous, disorienting and anti-communist.[2][3][4]
History
2022 Paris Declaration
On October 14, 2022, the platform launched its program: the Paris Declaration.[5] A full version of the text can be found here.[6] On this date, the declaration was signed by 14 parties, although this number is expected to grow as the imperialist war drive intensifies.[7]
List of signatories in chronological order
Ruling parties listed in bold.[5]
- Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), UK
- People's Democracy Party, South Korea
- Korea is One, Belgium
- Baltic Platform
- Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
- Hungarian Workers' Party, Hungary
- Communist Party, Italy
- Italian Communist Party, Italy
- Communist Party, Switzerland
- Spanish Avantgarde, Spain
- Eastern Initiative
- New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Serbia
- National Association of Communists, France
- Pole of Communist Revival in France, France
- Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action), Chile
- Socialist Workers Party of Croatia, Croatia
- Platform for Independence – Greece, Greece
- Communist Party of Peru (Patria Roja), Peru
- Collective of Struggle for the Revolutionary Unification of Humanity, Greece
- People's Party of Panama, Panama
- Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain, Spain
- New Communist Party of Montenegro, Montenegro
- United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Venezuela
- Union Proletariat, Spain
- Rassemblement Communiste, France
- Lebanese Communist Party, Lebanon
- Party of Communists USA, USA
- Mexican Communist Movement, Mexico
- Dynamique Unitaire Panafricaine, Africa
- Party of the Communists of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
- Belarusian Communist Workers’ Party, Belarus
- Belarusian Republican Organization of the CPSU, Belarus
- Center for Political Innovation, USA
- Communist Party of Quebec, Canada
- All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Russia
- Mazdoor Kissan Party, Pakistan
- Communist Party of Kenya, Kenya
- Iniciativa Comunista, Spain
- Socialist Platform, Georgia
- Communist Party of Belgium, Belgium
- Peruvian Communist Party, Peru
- Anti-Imperialist Camp, Europe
- Workers’ Party of Ireland, Ireland
- Borotba, Ukraine
2023 Caracas Declaration
On March 4, 2023, the platform hosted an antiwar conference with the Sao Paulo Forum.[8] A mass demonstration was organized by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and simultaneous demonstrations took place around the world.[9]
2023 Seoul Declaration
On May 15, 2023, the platform held the Seoul International Conference in South Korea.[10] The Seoul Declaration, concerning the rising tide of global war in east Asia, was read by Joti Brar,[11] vice-chair of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (CPGB-ML) and spokesperson for the platform.
The third congress of the People's Democracy Party was held at the same time, receiving greetings from the Russian Communist Workers’ Party,[12] the United Socialist Party of Venezuela,[13] and the CPGB-ML.[14]
Criticism
According to some Marxist-Leninist critics, the WAP does not have a Leninist understanding of imperialism and bears similarities to the Second International and German Social Democracy, which tore up their resolutions on the question of imperialist war in the face of the First World War. For these critics, WAP's struggle against imperialism is selective and comes down to the form of its exercise and not its nature. An illusion is created that the peaceful side of the powers will never resort to force of arms, except for their own defensive purposes or out of humanitarian solidarity.
In addition to that, the WAP claims that the primary contradiction in the world today is that between the US-led NATO imperialist bloc and the humanity, not considering classes contradiction and struggle as the primary contradiction in the capitalist world.[10]
Other problematic issues, according to comrade Ivan Pinheiro, former General Secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), are:
As can be seen from the list of organizations participating in the platform, not only the parties of this revolutionary camp are missing from [the platform], nor do the overwhelming majority of the parties that make up the International Communist Movement (ICM), including those that, despite our differences, deserve respect for their trajectories and the political weight they still enjoy in their respective countries. There are parties that only attended one of the first meetings, probably to find out about it, and never returned. In our country, apart from the PCB, the only other party that has participated in the WAP is the PCdoB.
By the way, the evidence that all the airfare and accommodation costs of the delegates from the organizations attending these meetings are fully covered by their main stakeholders and the frenetic pace of a world event on average every two months, on different continents, should serve as food for thought and study as to what the primary reason is for the creation and financing of this platform, which is oriented against Marxism-Leninism and in uncritical and unrestricted defence of the strategic interests of powers competing for world hegemony in the imperialist chain, of which they are a part.
Another aspect that needs to be considered is the risk that the initiative to create this eclectic platform could consolidate into a kind of anti-imperialist international (selective and, as we have seen, not so much anti-capitalist), which could end up resulting in a split in the International Communist Movement.[15]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://wap21.org/?p=749
- ↑ https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/No-to-the-imperialist-war-in-Ukraine/
- ↑ "22nd IMCWP, RESOLUTION on the imperialist war on the territory of Ukraine" (2022-11-07). SolidNet.
- ↑ International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE. "On the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform and its damaging and disorienting position" Communist Party of Greece.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Paris Declaration: The rising tide of global war and the tasks of anti-imperialists" (2022-10-14). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ "The rising tide of global war and the tasks of anti-imperialists (Full text)" (2022-10-14). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ "Paris Declaration: The rising tide of global war and our tasks" (2022-10-20). Proletarian.
- ↑ "Worldwide Anti-imperialist Simultaneous Struggle Centred Caracas" (2023-02-10). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ World Joint struggles centred in Caracas. World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Seoul International Conference “One War, Two Fronts”, May. 2023" (2023-05-15). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ World Anti-imperialist Platform (2023-05-18). "Joti Brar : The Statement of World Anti-imperialist Joint Struggle". YouTube.
- ↑ "RCWP Greetings to the 3rd congress of PDP" (2023-05-21). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ "PSUV Greetings to the 3rd congress of PDP" (2023-05-21). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ "CPGB-ML Greetings to the 3rd congress of PDP" (2023-05-21). World Anti-imperialist Platform.
- ↑ Ivan Pinheiro (2023-06-03). "Yet more on the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform" Revista Opera.