On November 17, the Greek community in Montreal gathered to honour the 51st anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic Uprising. Comrade Igor Sadikov, member of the Central Executive Committee of the YCL-LJC, gave greetings on behalf of the League.
Hello comrades,
I am here to extend fraternal greetings on behalf of the Young Communist League of Canada, on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the popular student uprising against the US-NATO led dictatorship of the colonels.
The Central Committee of the Young Communist League honours the legacy of the heroic uprising of the Polytechnic on this anniversary. The legacy of this struggle is not only important for the Greek people, but also for the working class and the popular masses here in Canada and around the world, because the struggle was not only against the fascist junta, but for bread, education, freedom — a slogan that remains relevant today, as the crisis of globalized capitalism deepens.
Today, we see the legacy of the uprising in the year after year election of Panspoudastiki, the list supported by the Greek Communist Youth in student elections, and in the massive mobilization of Greek youth to block arms shipments to Israel and Ukraine and end Greece’s participation in NATO imperialist missions.
Let us recall that the military dictatorship in Greece was supported by Canada as a member of NATO, and that the RCMP monitored and repressed Greek pro-democracy activists in Canada. Today, Canada is at the forefront of NATO missions in Eastern Europe and Latin America, not to mention sponsoring a recently opened center in Montreal dedicated to adapting NATO activities to climate change.
Canada has committed to a target of 2% of GDP for military spending, which would mean nearly doubling Canada’s current defense spending, which has already increased by 40% in less than ten years — not to mention the $70 billion needed to purchase and maintain 88 fighter jets, the $300 billion needed to purchase and maintain 15 warships, or the unknown billions that will be spent on the planned purchase of new submarines.
So let’s step up the fight to drastically reduce Canadian military spending, end Canada’s participation in imperialist interventions, and get Canada out of NATO!
Long live the legacy of the Polytechnic uprising!
Long live proletarian internationalism!