A WORLD TO WIN    #17   (1992)

 

People's War Will Defeat the Madrid Conspiracy

- Statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement

28th October 1991

On 30th October the enemies of the Palestinian people, large and small, will be gathered in Madrid in hopes of burying the cause of Palestine once and for all. But even before the conference has been convened, the Palestinian people have responded by a new wave of struggle against the Zionist occupiers and capitulation and surrender.

The conference is orchestrated by the U.S. whose main preparation for the conference has been the massacre and starvation of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people in the vicious Gulf War. The Soviet Union has been given a supporting role in this deadly spectacle. Arab lackey regimes have been ordered to attend. A gloating Shamir will be present to rub salt in the wounds. A handful of Palestinian capitulators have been hired to bow and scrape at the imperialist table, while Yassir Arafat applauds this ultimate humiliation.

The U.S. imperialists have made the starting point for the talks acceptance of the legitimacy of Zionist Israel, which means accepting as legitimate the whole history of crimes and conspiracies against the Palestinian people including the bloody uprooting of the Palestinian people, the forceful deprivation of their right of statehood, the creation of a vicious prison-state known as Israel, and a series of wars and aggressions carried out by this Zionist-imperialist fortress against the neighbouring Arab states. The only role for the Palestinian "leaders" in this process is to accept their subjugation to the U.S. imperialists and their watchdog Israeli state, and to serve as policemen over the Palestinian masses who are sure to reject this capitulation.

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The capitulation of Arafat to the Madrid Conspiracy is a logical continuation, under today's international conditions, of a long-standing line upheld by the principal components of the PLO. For years the Palestinian people have been told that "realism" dictated that their liberation could only come about by relying on imperialist regimes (and especially the Soviet social-imperialists), reactionary Arab states (not only the likes of Iraq, Syria or Libya but also Saudi Arabia or the Emir of Kuwait) and "world public opinion", by which they meant the opinions of the reactionary ruling classes. Long ago, the principle of an imperialist-sponsored "settlement" of the Palestinian question, which would leave Israel intact (the so-called mini-state solution), was accepted by the PLO. But each compromise, each retreat, only whetted the appetites of the imperialists for even greater disgraces. What was sold to the people as the "first step" in the complete liberation of Palestine is now revealed as the first step on the road to Madrid.

In the past, the Soviet Union pursued its imperialist interests by masquerading as supporters of the Palestinian people. They sought to use the struggle of the Arab masses as a weapon in their contention with the U.S. imperialists. But the Soviet social-imperialists always supported Israel's so-called right to exist and always opposed unleashing the masses in Palestine and the Arab world in real revolutionary struggle against Zionism and imperialism.

Today the USSR is pursuing its imperialist interests not mainly through open conflict with the U.S., but through collaboration with them. After all, the whole idea of an International Conference on the Middle East has always been a Soviet proposal, only now they are forced to accept a secondary role.

The Soviet Union's new posture also has meant that some of the reactionary Arab regimes previously tied to it, and in the first place the Assad regime in Syria, must now dance to the music of Baker and Shamir. Those who have preached reliance on the Soviet Union and its clients also share responsibility for the Madrid Conspiracy.

New World Order

The Palestinian people are being told to put aside their "dreams" of the reconquest of their homeland. The U.S. has declared its intention to create a "New World Order" which will last one hundred years. The capitulators claim there is no realistic alternative other than begging for a job as gendarme in this reactionary set-up.

But what is most "unrealistic" is to assume that the masses of the Palestinian people will remain silent as the Madrid conspirators tighten the screws of oppression and exploitation. Already rebellions have broken out. And just as all previous efforts to sell out the national rights of the Palestinian people have been rebuffed by the people, so too will the Madrid conspirators find themselves isolated and under attack from the masses.

It is true that extremely powerful reactionary forces are united against the Palestinian people. But history has shown again and again that as the Palestinian masses have struggled against their enemies they have found a reservoir of strength and support - not from the imperialists, emirs, generals or so-called left-wing Zionists, but from their true allies - the proletariat and the masses of oppressed peoples worldwide. The struggle against the Madrid Conspiracy can transform Palestine from a victim of the "New World Order" into a vital spearhead of armed struggle against this reactionary order and a clarion call to the workers and peasants and revolutionary intellectuals the world over. The struggle to liberate all of Palestine cannot help but be bitter, protracted and full of sacrifice. But there is no alternative. Hoping that the imperialists, Zionists and reactionaries will ever consent to any genuine liberation is worse than an unrealistic dream, it is pure deception aimed at fooling people into abandoning their struggle.

Protracted Peoples War is the only real method of liberating Palestine. This is the path that is being victoriously followed today by the Communist Party of Peru which has waged ten years of revolutionary warfare against the U.S.-backed Peruvian state, and has done so by relying on its own efforts without a drop of aid from the enemies of the revolution.

The heroic Palestinian people have shown time and again that they yearn to wage this kind of warfare. But history has shown that for such a war to be successfully waged the proletariat must lead it through its genuine Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party. The lack of such a party in Palestine is sorely felt.

The Revolutionary Internationalist Movement links together the genuine Maoist parties and organisations the world over. It stands for resolute and uncompromising struggle against imperialism and reaction, for carrying the struggle all the way forward to build a communist world without class distinctions, and for proletarian internationalism which links the struggles of the workers and oppressed all over the world.

The time is long overdue for Palestinian revolutionaries to cast aside the illusions and the false paths that have led to Madrid. The long and glorious tradition of struggle of the Palestinian people, right down to today's struggle against the Madrid Conspiracy, create excellent conditions for the emergence of genuine revolutionary leadership based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.

For the Complete Liberation of Palestine!

People's War Will Defeat the Madrid Conspiracy!