Keynote Speech by the G.S. of the LCP "Hanna Gharib"

Remark: This speech was delivered during the interactive lecture organized by the Chinese Communist Party, in partnership with Arab Leftist Parties, through Zoom on November 10, 2020

Dear Comrades of the Chinese Communist Party,
Dear General Secretaries of all Communist Parties taking part in this conference.

Let me first start by acknowledging the efforts of the comrades in the Chinese Communist Party, in organizing such a valuable interactive session titled “Socialism and Capitalism in post-COVID-19 era”. This session adds up to many other initiatives taken previously that aim at strengthening the bonds between our nations, in a way that benefits the global communist movement. Moreover, this initiative aims not only at finding suitable ways to fight COVID- 19 implications, but it also helps in constructing the path toward socialism; with each country curating its own path depending on its local characteristics. Ultimately, the dream of socialism need to be based on a real political programme.

In fact, the socialist ideology had succeeded in the battle against COVID-19, whereas capitalist-oriented countries had failed. To illustrate more, the Chinese state lead by the Chinese Communist Party, prioritized health over profits, while the USA went in a totally opposite direction. Not only it favored profits over the health of beings, but the USA used this pandemic to perpetuate political propaganda against China whereby several key senior US officials described COVID-19 as being a “Chinese Virus”. The US administration labeled China to be the enemy of the entire humanity. Furthermore, the latter had supported separatist movements in Taiwan, and Xinjiang, lifting sanctions on the Turkistan Islamic Party and therefore excluding it from the terrorists’ groups list, preventing Hong Kong - through many different ways - from playing its long-standing role as one of the world’s leading financial and commercial center, and igniting a trade war. At the time I am delivering this speech, the American people are joining their hands to overthrow “Trumpism” – which was the number one reason for disastrous policies not only in the United States, but everywhere in the world. In our region, for example, the US administration under Trump’s rule sponsored the “Deal of the Century”- a plan which will have severe consequences to the Palestinian people and the Arab people as well.

This pandemic had explicitly showed the greedy side of the capitalist system which threatens the fate of humanity by depriving people of their moral human values, and their social belongings. The implications that a capitalist system can produce are multiple ones and we can list the following: causing thousands of deaths on daily basis, increasing the suffering of millions of workers, in addition to some other millions of people being forced to enter unemployment, hunger, and poverty zones. During the early months of COVID-19 widespread, private institutions, including hospitals, have sought to enhance their profitability at the expense of the health of the injured and other social forces, especially workers in the health and social sectors. This had reinforced the political discourse calling for the importance of the role of the public sector and the state in general in managing society and the economy, in contrast to the private sector and monopolies whose main concern is to capture profits.

The factors I listed above justify that the battle against COVID-19 cannot be detached from the class struggle waged by the working class around the globe. This is especially evident in the central capitalist states, such as the USA itself, European countries, and the United Kingdom. In comparison, countries whose health policies were developed upon the existence of the Socialist camp, such as China, Cuba, and Russia, proved to be more efficient and successful in the fight against Corona Virus. These countries provided faster medical treatment to their Corona patients, utilized more efficient tools, and supported other counties by providing them with the needed equipment and logistics. Ironically, this was not the case in the “advanced states “or those whose economic models are built upon capitalistic structures.
We deeply value the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, and we consider your party as a successful model. The long journey of your party should teach us a lot of lessons, especially in your efforts to bring justice and equality- under socialism- to more than one billion and 400 million people. In addition, your party succeeded in several areas and domains in such a way that posed serious threats to the USA’s hegemonic power which used to play. The latter tried to set the stage for a new “Cold War “, by pointing to China and blaming it to be behind many acts. This behavior reflects the US clear intentions to to move forward in targeting China, which it considers a source of danger to its hegemony. In the post-Corona era, the indicators point to a trend towards a new world order with its basic features, less globalization and a greater role for the national state, with the growth of global bilateralism that is expected to be centered on China and the United States, in light of a tremendous change in the pattern of social and human relations and in terms of work and production.

My dear comrades,

In 2013, Comrade Xi Jinping launched the "Belt and Road" initiative. Let me take this opportunity to re-affirm our full support of this initiative, for its mutual benefits it has to the Arab and Chinese people as well. To us, this plan is so strategic in our struggle agenda for twenty-first century, which is embodied for us as Arab communist parties in the struggle for national and social liberation against imperialist domination. This plan puts boundaries to the undergoing and continuous efforts of plundering the resources of our countries; these efforts are done by imperialist countries that manipulate and control our natural resources, in full coordination and support from the Arab regimes. They are both tied to the same globalized capital network. In this context, I can say the following: there are many projects and plans that China expressed its interest to either finance or implement in the Arab World, but unfortunately, they were not executed because those states feared that their relationship with the US will be terminated or challenged just in case they sought any cooperation which China.

So what is to be done?

We are entitled to develop a comprehensive vision and action plan that would put the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as its cornerstone. The "Belt and Road" initiative needs more than one way to expand and strengthen, and that the shortest path is the path of the peoples that have historically established; with the cooperation and mutual benefit being two major elements in it. I do not think there is any other option for us both- the Chinese Communist Party and the Arab Communist Parties- except to strengthen our ties and expand the scope of our cooperation. By doing so, we can both contribute to BRI and its benefits on us would be enormous, especially to the people of the Arab World and their uprising movements. And, likewise, it will heavily impact the strategic vision of the Chinese Communist Party.

Concluding Remark

Our main objective in the present time is to unify efforts, mobilize our resources, and establish cooperation mechanisms to get rid of this world order dominated by US imperialism. This world order constitutes an obstacle to the development, progress, and happiness of humanity. Finally, we re-affirm our stance against the American project in our area, side by side, with all our comrades in the Arab Communist parties. In our literature, facing the American project equates the struggle against the political regimes found in our areas, because they are characterized by oppression and exploitation. On top of that, these regimes are trying to normalize the relationship with the Zionist enemy. This struggle is a confrontation with imperialism at the same time.