Speech by Pambis Kyritsis
General Secretary of WFTU
Presidential Council
Hanoi, March 2025
Comrades,
Before I begin my speech, I would first like to warmly thank the [Vietnam General Confederation of Labor] VGCL for hosting this very important meeting of the WFTU Presidential Council here in Hanoi today. It is a great honor for all of us that today’s meeting is hosted by the trade union organization of a country whose people have become a global symbol of dedication to the struggle for national independence and social liberation. With incredible courage and self-sacrifice, they managed to crush foreign imperialist intervention and achieve a victory that was not only strategic but also ideological, political, and, above all, moral.
The contribution of VGCL to the preservation and development of the WFTU during difficult times has been immense, and I would like to once again express our gratitude on behalf of everyone for this.
The excellent conditions created by our Vietnamese comrades guarantee that this meeting will be successful and worthy of all our expectations.
Our era is characterized by the generalization and deepening of the capitalist crisis, accompanied by new attacks on the rights and achievements of workers, a dramatic widening of social inequalities, further environmental degradation, and reckless overexploitation of our planet’s natural resources.
The genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and now in the West Bank, with the support and encouragement of the USA, the EU, and their allies, has once again revealed in all its grandeur the hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhumane nature of imperialism.
The source of instability, violence, and turmoil in Palestine and the broader Middle East is none other than the Israeli occupation, colonization, and usurpation of the rights of the Palestinian people, which has continued for decades.
We are proud because, under the banner of the WFTU, millions of workers in dozens of countries around the world have mobilized in solidarity with the Palestinian people, demanding justice and freedom for Palestine, and condemning not only the barbaric Israeli aggression but also the complicity and encouragement of this aggression by the ruling circles of imperialism.
Global geopolitical and economic rivalries continue to directly threaten world peace and security, even with the risk of nuclear destruction. Imperialist wars, interventions, sanctions, and blockades continue and intensify.
Originally published by the World Federation of Trade Unions. The entire speech can be found on Labor Today here.
