Statement of the participants of the conference “The growing threat of proliferation and use of biological weapons and the need to create an international movement in support of its prohibition and elimination of laboratories”
On November 3, 2021, on the initiative of the Coalition of Four parties formed at the end of last year, represented by the United Communist Party of Georgia, the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan, the Socialist Party of Latvia, the Communist Party of Pakistan, a conference was held with the theme: “The growing threat of the proliferation and use of biological weapons and the need to create an international movement in support of its prohibition and the elimination of laboratories.” In addition to the Coalition parties, the Communist Party of Greece, the Communist Party of Armenia, the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, the Socialist Party of Georgia, the Workers’ Party of Hungary, the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, the Communist Party of Turkey, the Communist Party of Turkey, the Communist Party of the Communist Party of the CPSU, the Communist Front of Italy, the Communist Party of the Philippines (1930), the Union of Communists of Ukraine, the Communist Party of Norway also took part in it.
The Communist and workers’ parties that took part in this conference believe that biological weapons, as a type of weapons of mass destruction, along with nuclear and chemical weapons, can cause enormous damage to peoples and lead to catastrophic consequences within the framework of inter-imperialist antagonisms and imperialist wars.
Today, all powerful capitalist countries, openly or not publicly, have their own arsenal of such weapons, conduct research in the field of their improvement and application.
The global Covid-19 pandemic has exposed not only the profound shortcomings of the healthcare system in all capitalist countries and led to the violation of workers’ rights, but also exacerbated inter-imperialist contradictions. At the same time, the parties accuse each other of man-made creation of a coronavirus in laboratory conditions, showing the full extent of the threat posed by the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.
At the same time, international structures are not just ineffective and do not exercise control over the implementation of the UN conventions by the leading capitalist countries, but also become toys and tools of transnational corporations and imperialist forces to implement their plans to strengthen domination and redistribute spheres of influence.
We are particularly concerned about the fact that the development of biological weapons continues in many countries. According to the programs of the US Pentagon alone, 1,495 laboratories have been created around the world, which are not accountable to the governments of the countries where they work, and their activities are not transparent.
Currently, such military biological laboratories are open in Iraq, Pakistan, Jordan, Tanzania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Guinea, Burma, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and other countries. There is information about conducting research in Moldova, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
The United States has not signed the protocol to the international “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction”, thereby blocking efforts to control the Convention, continuing to develop new types of deadly diseases.
Some participants of the conference noted that the United States alone has spent more than $100 billion on the offensive biological weapons industry over the past twenty years. At the same time, new types of weapons to conceal their artificial origin are camouflaged under natural diseases of specific regions and there are facts of their modernization in laboratory conditions.
According to the participants, in countries where there are American military laboratories, outbreaks of atypical diseases have become more frequent since their appearance, both among people and among farm animals in the post-Soviet space and in Asia, which may indicate targeted sabotage aimed, among other things, at undermining the agricultural sector of entire countries. The use of certain types of biological weapons can cause food shortages and exacerbate the problem of hunger faced by different countries.
Supporting all the demands put forward in the joint statement of the Communist and Workers’ parties to combat the epidemic of March 30, 2020, such as immediate state funding of public health systems, we believe that it is necessary to immediately stop all programs for the development, production, distribution and use of biological weapons, and send material resources to fight the pandemic and against possible new waves of other dangerous diseases.
The conference participants came to the conclusion about the need for the active participation of communist and workers’ parties in the fight against imperialist wars, including against the threat of the use of biological weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction. The role of communist and workers’ parties is irreplaceable in revealing the causes of modern imperialist wars, for the redistribution of minerals, ways of transporting goods, markets, capitalist profits of large companies. At the same time, active actions of communists in support of the international anti—imperialist – anti-war movement are required to coordinate actions, including against weapons of mass destruction, in particular biological weapons.
In this regard, the conference participants, speaking out against the plans of NATO, the United States and other imperialist forces, demand at the same time:
– Immediate closure of military biological laboratories and developments in this area.
– They call for international campaigns, using various forms against foreign military bases of NATO and the United States, in order to attract public attention to the problem of the development, storage and use of weapons of mass destruction, including biological weapons.
The conference participants call on mass people’s organizations, trade unions, unions and societies of scientists, doctors, environmentalists, peace movements, journalists and public figures to join this initiative in order to jointly participate in the organization and strengthening of the international anti-imperialist anti-war mass movement, the purpose of which should, among other things, be to prohibit the development and proliferation of biological weapons.
We will continue holding new conferences and other events on this topic. And most importantly, we will continue the struggle against parasitic and decaying capitalism, which in its imperialist stage generates misanthropic doctrines and theories similar to fascism, creates more and more sophisticated means and ways to the death of all mankind.
The future belongs to socialism!