Statement by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Jan. 8, 2005

All members and friends of the Communist Party of Canada have been shocked by the impact of the Dec. 26 tsunami on the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean. A natural calamity of such a magnitude, resulting in a staggering death toll and wholesale destruction, fills us with deep sorrow and with determination to help overcome this tragedy. To all those who have suffered losses, we convey our heartfelt condolences.

The international response by working people to this tragedy is encouraging, but pledges from major western powers have been inadequate, to say the least. Much more emergency and long-term assistance will be required to help the peoples of these countries to rebuild their lives and communities. The Communist Party will pressure the Canadian government to increase its humanitarian aid commitments, and to support calls to cancel the $350 billion in external debts owed by the affected countries in the region. At this point, the international community has pledged some $4 billion in emergency relief, compared to the $44 billion spent on debt repayments last year by Thailand, India and Indonesia. Debt cancellation would help to ensure that the reconstruction process is guided by the sovereign decisions of the peoples of these countries, not dictated by outside forces.

We also feel it is necessary to raise other important issues posed by this disaster.

First, we join with others in asking why the U.S. administration, which knew of the potential for a tsunami from its bases in the Pacific, warned its military base at Diego Garcia but did not take immediate action to sound a wider alarm in the region. Clearly, the U.S. was guilty of criminal neglect, at the cost of thousands of lives.

Second is the larger issue of the priorities for our planet today. For just a few million dollars - a tiny fraction of the nearly one trillion dollar annual global military budget - supplementary tsunami warning devices could have been placed in the Indian Ocean. Not far from the scene of this disaster, U.S. and British imperialism are spending $50 billion per year to occupy Iraq, where an estimated 100,000 civilians have been killed since their illegal invasion. These two countries have so far pledged just $500 million for tsunami relief aid - less than they spend every four days in Iraq.

Finally, we remember that the terrible loss of life in this event is exceeded by other ongoing human tragedies, such as the AIDS/HIV crisis which claims 8,000 lives every day in the world's poorest countries, the millions killed in civil wars in Africa (fuelled by arms sales from the major powers), and the 1.4 million children who die each year for lack of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation. The need for solidarity with the tsunami victims must not push these urgent crises out of our awareness.

We also note the growing concensus among scientists that the world faces a rising threat of ecological calamities, such as climate changes and higher ocean levels linked to global warming. The time has come for humanity to make a conscious choice that our survival depends on curbing militarism and blocking further aggressions by the imperialist powers, so that the necessary material and human resources can be devoted to finding ways to avert global catastrophe. Otherwise, we may be doomed to live in a world where dominant imperialist powers completely discard international law in their scramble to seize resources and secure profits, at the expense of any hope for a better life for billions of working people.

In this sense, the Dec. 26 tsunami is a warning signal to the entire world. Our choice must be peace and life, not militarism and death!