Bloc leader José Manuel Pureza defended this Sunday that the “honest line” on Ukraine is the defense of self-determination, in response to internal critics on the issue, which heated the debate at the XIII National Convention.
“Now they ask us what we went to Kiev to do and I tell you: we went to show our solidarity to a people who are being killed by bombs. The bomb is the bomb and solidarity is solidarity, one kills the protects the other,” Pureza declared, in one of the most acclaimed interventions at the Pavilhão do Casal Vistoso.
Harsh words were heard all Saturday and already this morning about BE’s decision to join the delegation of deputies visiting the Ukrainian parliament, with Mário Tomé, from motion E, questioning the departure of deputy Isabel Pires to the Ukrainian parliament “at the invitation of the Nazi who led the massacre of dozens of workers gathered in the trade union house in Odessa”.
Today, the researcher and member of the board of the União Mulheres Alternativa e Responde, also a signatory of the motion against that of Mariana Mortágua, said she was “suffused with shame” about BE’s participation in that visit and stated that “for some years the block hasn’t done it.”
“A few years ago, the Bloco wouldn’t have done this. In days gone by I remember comrade [Luís] Fazenda has taken the issue of NATO as a starting point to define our policy, but now we cannot say NATO outside Europe, just as we say Putin outside Ukraine, nor can we speak of a peace policy, because that would defend Russia . What kind of black and white policy is this, taking into account the interests of European governments?” the professor complained.
The researcher was in favor of people’s self-determination and condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but stressed that NATO’s goal “is not to save the Ukrainian people, but to gain more and more influence in the East” and believed that this line lacks delineation in the current direction.
José Manuel Pureza then intervened and tried to refute these arguments by stating that, as in the past with regard to other peoples, “the right line is the defense of self-determination”.
“Can this left now take a position different from that on Ukraine? No, it cannot, otherwise it will cease to be this left and become another. The internationalist left takes the only side that is required of them and rejects all imperialist strategies, whatever their interpreters are,” he stated.
Immediately after Manuela Tavares, MEP José Gusmão already spoke about the criticism of the opposing motion on the positioning of the Left Bloc towards Ukraine and NATO, as “they are fabricated differences of opinion”.
The bloc’s position “has not changed an inch” and is “reaffirmed almost every week: opposing NATO expansion and defending the extinction of NATO and all military blocs”.
The MEP went on the offensive, declaring that the criticism in this matter is a “disagreement invented to hide a real disagreement, which is about the fundamental issue, about the condemnation of Russian aggression and solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their resistance for self-defense. determination”.
“The comrades of the E-motion say they are in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, but they oppose all concrete measures that the BE supported in support of the Ukrainian resistance. They publicly defended the transfer of the Russian-occupied territories to Russia .” he charged.
About BE’s participation in the visit to Ukraine, José Gusmão ironized that “it’s not tea with the president, it’s [uma visita] to the Ukrainian parliament” and pointed out that internal critics wanted the party to “take an official position of non-recognition of Ukraine and its institutions”.
The XIII BE Convention, which ends today in Lisbon, will vote on Motion A by Mariana Mortágua, who elected about 80% of the deputies, and Motion E by Pedro Soares, who represents a minority.
Source: DN
