CPGB-ML meeting honours Comrade George Habash
On 9 February 2008, the Communist Party of Great
Britain (Marxist Leninist) (CPGB-ML) organised a memorial meeting to honour the
life and work of Al-Hakim, Comrade Dr George Habash, the founder and first
Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),
and one of the greatest revolutionary leaders of the Palestinian people, who
passed away on 24 January 2008.
The place of the meeting was adorned with various
portraits of Comrade Habash, the Palestinian flag and the flag and banner of
CPGB-ML.
The meeting was chaired by Comrade Ella Rule, who
also spoke on behalf of the Party, along with Comrade Ranjeet Brar,
representing the Indian Workers’ Association (IWA GB) and Comrade Keith Bennett.
Invitations to speak were also extended to the New Communist Party and the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), however they chose
not to support the meeting.
In view of the political
importance of the material contained in the speeches, and as our own tribute to
Comrade Habash, we are reproducing them in this issue (see pp. 12-18). A
further tribute was paid with a revolutionary poem and song in Urdu in support
of the anti-colonial struggles of the people of the world.
A lively discussion took place after the speeches
in which the essential difference between the reactionary violence of the
oppressor and the revolutionary violence of the oppressed was highlighted and
clarified, as was the need to support the right of the Palestinian people to
found a democratic secular state of Palestine in the whole of their historic
homeland.
The meeting adopted a series of resolutions,
including supporting a democratic secular state of Palestine; upholding the
right of return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants; demanding
the restoration of the democratically-elected government of the Palestinian
Authority, and a return to the Mecca Agreement, which advocates unity between
the different wings of the liberation movement; and the release of all
political prisoners, including the Palestinian parliamentarians, held by
Israel.
Read the speeches:
Speech by Comrade Ella Rule, International Secretary of the CPGB-ML
Tribute delivered by Comrade Keith Bennett
Speech by Comrade Ranjeet Brar on behalf of Indian Workers Association
(GB)