World Anti-Imperialist Platform
World Anti-Imperialist Platform | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | WAP |
| Leader | Collective leadership |
| Spokesperson | Joti Brar |
| Founded | 14 October 2022 |
| Ideology | Anti-imperialism (disputed) Anti-Zionism Anti-NATO |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| https://wap21.org/ | |
The World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP) is an anti-imperialist international organization created in 2022. WAP's objective is to coordinate efforts against imperialism, particularly in the Russo-Ukrainian War and potential conflict between China and Taiwan or North Korea and South Korea.
WAP believes that Russia and China are not imperialist powers. They view these countries as not engaged in wars of dominance or colonization, and see the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict as a proxy war against Russia by imperialist powers. WAP's stance sets it apart from some parties in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP), which have characterized the war as "interimperialist", whereas the WAP supports the Russian invasion.
History
On October 14, 2022, WAP launched its program in Paris, France with a "Paris Declaration", signed initially by 8 parties, including the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (CPGB-ML) and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). This declaration represents the platform's foundational beliefs and goals. The document was ultimately signed by 25 parties, establishing membership in the WAP.
On March 4, 2023, WAP hosted an antiwar conference with the São Paulo Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, where it released a "Caracas Declaration". A mass demonstration was organized by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and simultaneous demonstrations took place around the world.
On May 15, 2023, WAP hosted a Seoul International Conference in South Korea, where it released a "Seoul Declaration", concerning the rising tide of global war in east Asia. The declaration was read by Joti Brar, WAP spokesperson and CPGB-ML vice-chair. The third congress of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was held at the same time, receiving greetings from the Russian Communist Workers’ Party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and the CPGB-ML.
On November 17, 2023, members of the platform participated in protests and demonstrations marking the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Regime of the Colonels, the right-wing dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On November 26, members of the platform released a "Palestine Declaration", in which the group declared Zionism a "racist ideology".
Reception and criticism
Marxist-Leninist critics, including the Communist Party of Greece, argue that WAP lacks a Leninist understanding of imperialism. They accuse WAP of being selective in its anti-imperialist stance, focusing more on the form rather than the nature of imperialism. Ivan Pinheiro, former General Secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), criticized WAP as a well-funded effort to legitimize powers competing for world hegemony:
[T]he evidence that all the airfare and accommodation costs of the delegates from the organizations attending these meetings are fully covered by their main stakeholders[,] and the frenetic pace of a world event on average every two months, on different continents, should serve as food for thought and study as to what the primary reason is for the creation and financing of this platform, which is oriented against Marxism-Leninism and in uncritical and unrestricted defense of the strategic interests of powers competing for world hegemony in the imperialist chain, of which they are a part.
The Communist Party of Mexico also criticized WAP for allowing non-communist parties into its membership, such as the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Trotskyist critics, including Socialist Appeal, have criticized WAP for ignoring the class struggle and contradictions within capitalist systems, as a result of WAP's over-focus on the "primary contradiction" as between the US-led NATO and humanity.
The Communist Party of Germany accused the WAP of defaming the KKE and that some members are "bourgeois, partly nationalist and racist parties" and criticized the separation of imperialism from capitalism in their program.
Members
The organizations below have signed WAP's Paris Declaration: