08.11.2025 – The Cyprus Declaration is adopted at the Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Europe, convened in Nicosia, Cyprus, on November 8, 2025.
THE CYPRUS DECLARATION
We, delegates of people’s movements, mass organizations, and progressive forces from across Europe, and together with the people of Cyprus, gathered in the first-ever Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Europe here in Nicosia, Cyprus, stand together in defiance of the growing tide of militarization, fascism, and imperialist wars unleashed by US imperialism and its NATO allies.
The crisis of imperialism and US-NATO warmongering
The world today is in the throes of a deep and prolonged crisis of imperialism. The contradictions between monopoly capital and the proletariat in capitalist countries, between rivaling imperialist powers, between the imperialist powers and oppressed peoples and nations, and between imperialist powers and countries assertive of national sovereignty. Faced with stagnation, falling profits, and sharpening competition for control over energy, markets, technology, and labor, monopoly capital turns once again to war, militarization, and fascism to preserve its rule.
Europe is not a bystander in this crisis. Decades of neoliberal restructuring have gutted national economies in the region and hollowed out what remains of democratic institutions. Privatization, austerity, and inflation have driven millions of the working class into poverty while the arms industry and fossil fuel corporations reap windfall profits. Migrants and refugees who have been displaced by the very wars waged by the US and EU, are exploited for cheap labor and turned into scapegoats through racist propaganda and fascist manipulation.
Under the false banners of “defending democracy” and “security,” the US and NATO forces are waging aggressive wars and occupations that bring destruction and suffering to the peoples of the world. Europe today serves as a launching pad for US-instigated imperialist wars in West Asia, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. From the genocide against the Palestinian people, to the destabilization of the Sahel and Horn of Africa, to the militarization of the South China Sea and the Pacific, US imperialism bares its teeth.
Cyprus, where we gather today, stands as a living symbol of this contradiction. The continued presence of British and Turkish occupation forces and NATO-aligned installations turns Cyprus into a forward post for wars of aggression in the region – wars against the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and beyond. The Cypriot people’s struggle for genuine independence stands as part of the broader struggle of all oppressed and colonized peoples, including the Palestinian people, against imperialism, settler colonialism, and for national liberation.
The rise of fascism and repression in Europe
Across Europe, militarization goes hand in hand with the rise of fascism. Reactionary governments and far-right parties exploit fear, racism, and economic insecurity to divide the working class and justify repression of people’s resistance. These same governments closed their borders to refugees while at the same time opening their ports to warships and weapons. But it is not only the far right that fuels this militarist agenda. Liberals and centrist forces increasingly embrace rearmament and expanded security powers, using the threat of the far right to manufacture consent for their own pro-war policies. In doing so, they normalize militarization across the political spectrum and narrow the space for genuine anti-imperialist and anti-fascist alternatives.
The entire EU bureaucracy, in complete alignment with US imperialism, now openly declares a “war economy.” Across the continent, military bases are multiplying. Billions in public funds are being poured into weapons and war preparations while budgets for social services, healthcare, education, and climate action are gutted.
State repression is intensifying. Militant trade unions, anti-imperialist organizations, migrant associations, and activists are being surveilled, banned, or criminalized under so-called “anti-terror” and “terror financing” laws. The police and military apparatus are being strengthened to crush dissent while fascist movements are emboldened to attack progressives, migrants, and the poor with impunity.
The people resist
But the peoples of Europe resist. They are resisting in every country, striking against austerity, mobilizing against US-NATO warmongering, against military occupation, and building solidarity with liberation movements worldwide. Workers, peasants, women, youth, migrants, and progressive intellectuals are forming alliances that reject the imperialist narrative and expose the real roots of the crisis: the capitalist system and its endless wars.
The growing solidarity with the Palestinian people, as seen in the mass demonstrations and occupations of the streets and public spaces that have erupted across Europe, reflects the rising consciousness of the masses that the fight against Zionism and imperialism are inseparable from their own struggle for liberation. Movements are also emerging in solidarity with other national liberation struggles in the Global South. From the Philippines to Western Sahara, from Kurdistan to the Congo, the people are fighting back against imperialist domination.
Our declaration
We, the participants of the first ILPS Europe Assembly, hereby declare:
- We oppose the war economy and militarization of Europe’s budgets, and call for resources to be redirected to social services, housing, healthcare, education, and environmental justice.
- We condemn the rise of fascist regimes and the repression of progressive, anti-imperialist, and migrant organizations across Europe.
- We affirm the right of peoples to resist oppression, to organize, and to fight for national and social liberation.
- We stand with the peoples of Cyprus in their demand to end all foreign military bases, occupation, and settler colonialism on Cypriot soil. The Cypriot people have a right to chart its own path of development as a sovereign and unitary state.
- We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and all peoples of the Global South resisting occupation, neocolonialism, and imperialist plunder. This includes the heroic struggles of the peoples of Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iran, who continue to resist repression, foreign domination, and reactionary forces within and outside their borders. We likewise extend our solidarity to the people of Venezuela, who persist in defending their sovereignty against relentless US attempts at military intervention and destabilization.
- We call for an intensified movement for people’s sovereignty and peace based on justice, uniting the struggles of the working class, migrants, and oppressed nations against imperialism and reaction.
We call on all freedom-loving peoples and organizations in Europe to join the growing front of struggle against imperialist war and fascism; to build solidarity, strengthen people’s movements, and wage resistance until the system of exploitation and domination is overthrown.
Down with US imperialism and its NATO war machine!
Down with fascism and reaction!
Long live international solidarity!
Long live the people’s struggle for sovereignty, just peace, and liberation!
