Saïd Bakkali | Party of Progress and Socialism (Morocco)
Dear comrades,
On behalf of the Party of Progress and Socialism of Morocco, I extend our fraternal greetings to all participating parties, movements, trade unions, youth and women’s organizations, and anti-imperialist activists gathered in Istanbul.
We would like to thank the World Anti-Imperialist Platform for this invitation and for its continued efforts to build a broad front against war, domination, occupation, and exploitation.
We meet at a historic turning point. The international order dominated for decades by a single imperialist center is entering into a profound crisis. Across the world, people are increasingly rejecting domination, foreign intervention, economic coercion, military aggression, and the systematic denial of their sovereign right to choose their own path of development.
Today, the principal threat to world peace stems from the attempts of imperialist powers and their military alliances to preserve a declining system of global hegemony at any cost. NATO expansion, military encirclement, economic sanctions, hybrid warfare, information warfare, and direct military interventions have become the preferred instruments of this strategy.
Comrades,
The conflict in Ukraine cannot be understood outside the broader context of NATO’s relentless eastward expansion over the last three decades. Repeated warnings regarding the consequences of military encirclement and the transformation of Ukraine into a frontline state against the Russian Federation were ignored.
The Russian Federation today occupies a central position in the resistance to the project of unipolar domination. The attempts to isolate, weaken, and strategically defeat Russia are part of a broader effort to preserve a world order based on imperialist supremacy.
The persistence of the Russian people in the face of unprecedented sanctions, military pressure, and political hostility demonstrates that sovereign nations are capable of resisting external coercion and defending their strategic independence.
The lesson is clear: no nation should be forced to sacrifice its security, sovereignty, or national interests to satisfy the ambitions of external powers.
Comrades,
Our conference is also taking place in the shadow of the continuing aggression against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian cause remains the foremost anti-colonial and national liberation struggle of our time. For decades, the Palestinian people have endured occupation, dispossession, siege, settlement expansion, and repeated military assaults. Yet they continue to resist and defend their legitimate national rights.
We reaffirm our total solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just struggle for self-determination, independence, and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. In fact, the Palestinian resistance is not merely a regional question; it symbolizes the universal struggle of oppressed peoples against colonial domination and national oppression.
Comrades,
We also express our solidarity with the people of Iran, who have repeatedly demonstrated their determination to defend their sovereignty, independence, and national dignity. The efforts of the Iranian people to defend their independence deserve the support of all anti-imperialist forces throughout the world.
Comrades,
For more than six decades, the Cuban people have resisted blockade, sanctions, economic warfare, political pressure, and repeated attempts at destabilization. Indeed, despite enormous difficulties, Cuba continues to provide an inspiring example of resilience, social solidarity, international cooperation, and commitment to social justice. The continued blockade against Cuba remains a flagrant violation of international law and an unacceptable form of collective punishment against an entire people.
We call once again for its immediate and unconditional lifting.
Comrades,
The rise of China represents one of the most important developments of our era. China’s extraordinary economic and technological progress has demonstrated that alternative paths of development are possible outside the prescriptions traditionally imposed by imperialist institutions. The attempts to contain, encircle, and confront China constitute another dimension of the broader struggle over the future international order.
Comrades,
The emergence of a multipolar world is one of the most significant realities of our time.
The strengthening of cooperation among countries such as China, Russia and many nations of the Global South reflect the aspiration of peoples for a more balanced and democratic international order.
Comrades,
No discussion on imperialism can be complete without addressing the historic injustice inflicted upon the peoples of Africa. For centuries, the African continent was subjected to slavery, colonial conquest, the plunder of its natural resources, the artificial division of its territories, and the systematic exploitation of its peoples. Millions of Africans were uprooted through the transatlantic slave trade, while colonial powers accumulated immense wealth at the expense of African labor, land, and resources. Yet Africa never ceased to resist. From anti-colonial liberation movements to contemporary struggles for economic sovereignty, social justice, and genuine independence, African peoples have demonstrated extraordinary courage and determination.
Today, the demand for reparations is not merely a moral question; it is a matter of historical justice. Reparations must encompass recognition of historical crimes, the restitution of stolen cultural heritage, the cancellation of unjust debts, fair economic relations, technology transfer, and support for Africa’s sovereign development. The struggle for reparative justice is inseparable from the broader struggle against neo-colonialism, for respecting territorial integrity and for a new international order based on equality, dignity, sovereignty, and solidarity among peoples.
Africa does not seek charity; Africa demands justice.
Comrades,
The anti-imperialist struggle must be rooted in the struggles of workers, peasants, youth, women, and all oppressed social groups. Because national liberation and social liberation are inseparable, the struggle against imperialism must go hand in hand with the struggle against exploitation, inequality, poverty, and social exclusion. This requires stronger trade unions, stronger popular organizations, stronger youth and women’s movements, and broader united fronts capable of mobilizing the masses around common objectives.
Comrades,
The monopolization of information and communication by powerful interests seeks to legitimize wars, sanctions, occupations, and interventions while delegitimizing resistance and national liberation struggles. For this reason, strengthening political education, alternative media, ideological work, and international coordination remain essential. The strengthening of communist, socialist, progressive, and national liberation movements is a strategic necessity in the current international context.
Comrades,
The construction of the World Anti-Imperialist Front is one of the most urgent tasks before us. Such a front must unite all forces opposed to imperialism, colonialism, Zionism, racism, fascism, occupation, sanctions, and foreign intervention.
Dear comrades,
The future belongs not to those who seek domination, but to those who struggle for freedom.
The future belongs not to war, but to peace.
The future belongs not to imperialism, but to the sovereign peoples of the world.
Long live Palestine.
Long live international solidarity.
Long live the struggle of peoples for national and social liberation.
Thank you.
