The government must not even contemplate sending Greek soldiers to Gaza! No soldier should agree to take part in the occupation force being prepared by the US, Israel, and their allies. No worker, no breadwinner, no young man or woman should permit this!
They are trying to muddy the waters in order to advance their dirty plans because they know that the people are reacting and will not allow their hands to be stained with blood. They know the people stand with the Palestinian people and express their solidarity. They know the people condemn the criminal policy of the murderous state of Israel and its Euro-Atlantic allies, and support the just demand and struggle of the Palestinians for a homeland of their own. This is what the US, NATO, and the EU seek to conceal as they move to turn Gaza into an US-Israeli protectorate.
The government boasts about its participation in the so-called “day after”. It portrays its participation in the US-led “Board of Peace” for Gaza as a “geopolitical upgrade”. At the same time, it is paving the way for participation in the so-called “International Stabilization Force”, which will assume the role of guardian of US-Israeli interests. In reality, this is an occupying force, forming part of the next phase of the “peace plan” imposed by the US with a gun to the head of the Palestinian people!
The murderers return to the scene of the crime under the banner of “stabilization”, which, in effect, means even greater instability for the Palestinian and for other peoples. This is particularly dangerous today, as the clouds of a new imperialist war gather ominously over Iran, rekindling the flames across the Middle East.
At the same time, discussions are underway on forming a naval force in the Eastern Mediterranean, together with Cyprus and Israel, ostensibly to protect energy and trade routes and to thwart rival plans. The Greek bourgeoisie is also asserting its considerable military interest in the region’s dangerous developments. It should not be forgotten that the IMEC —the trade corridor intended to link India with Europe via Israel and Greece— lies only a short distance from the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the energy “consortium” taking shape in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, with agreements signed by US monopolies such as Chevron, is reigniting the Greek monopolies’ expectations for a swifter rise in their standing within Euro-Atlantic energy projects. The presence of the Greek Armed Forces is being strengthened more broadly across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, demonstrating in practice what it means to assume expanded roles and responsibilities on NATO’s southeastern flank. Laying claim to a larger share of the imperialist “spoils” entails deeper military involvement in the plans of the US, NATO, and the EU, together with all the contradictions these involve.
That is why the government, with the consent of the other systemic parties, is increasing military expenditure and upgrading its equipment —including new frigates— tailored to the new dirty roles it is seeking in the region, in competition with its ally Turkey. Indeed, they do not hesitate to present this competition as a convenient alibi: “We cannot fail to be present wherever Turkey is”, they claim shamelessly.
They present the poison of deeper involvement in imperialist plans as if it were a remedy for the protection of sovereign rights! Yet this groundwork is preparing the conditions for painful compromises through NATO bargaining, which cannot rule out the risk of conflict with Turkey.
Now is the time to express mass, popular opposition to the potential deployment of Greek troops to Gaza. Now is the time to strengthen solidarity with the Palestinian, Iranian, and other peoples caught in the crossfire of imperialist rivalries and wars. This is the vital internationalist task of our moment, as the world is engulfed in flames and the danger of a generalized conflict becomes ever more apparent.
The struggle against Greece’s involvement in the war is a struggle against the bourgeoisie and its interests, against imperialist alliances and their murderous plans.
We are called upon to pursue this path to the very end, with an even stronger KKE, more capable of organizing the workers’ and people’s struggle, guided by the Resolutions of our Congress, until the overthrow of bourgeois power and barbaric capitalism, which drags the peoples into a quagmire of exploitation and war.
The article was published in “Rizospastis”