The New Era of Global War

Lindsay German introducing the session - Photo: WW

Lindsay German (Chair), introduced the session. Summaries of some of the speakers' contributions follow.

Fran Heathcote, General Secretary of the PCS union, expressed solidarity with all the oppressed, saying that the union stands in solidarity with all those under attack.

John Trickett, Labour MP for Normanton and Hemsworth denounced the funding on arms and the amount spent on "defence". He contrasted arms spending with a situation where people are dying around the world because of extreme poverty and hunger. Working people are paying for arms manufacturing, he declared. Instead, we should be fighting against poverty and world hunger. We need to build an international movement, he said, expressing support for Cuba and its people in this context.

Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East, and Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, drew attention to what the Cuban government does to support the Cuban people. He stressed that the struggle for sovereignty in Cuba is a struggle for human rights common to the whole Caribbean region.

Mothin Ali, Co-Deputy Leader of the Green Party for England and Wales, condemned the unnecessary war against Iran. He also underlined that the Green Party has consistently stood for the rights of the Palestinian people, and that it will not be silent in condemning the US-led war in the Middle East. During Mothin Ali's speech, the audience themselves participated by chanting "Free, free Palestine!"

Lorena Delgado Varas, Swedish MP, member of the Riksdag, pointed out that the Swedish government is moving to imposition of a war agenda on the Swedish people, and is using the creation of new jobs for the youth as a pretext for its militarism. In Sweden, she said, many children are being deported from immigrant families. She herself has her roots in Latin America, and as such knows that our fight has to unite the peoples from across the world. She denounced the Swedish government for its change to the law to give the executive the right to instigate wars, as well as changing the law to allow the Swedish government to hand over decision-making to foreign forces, effectively overriding Swedish sovereignty.

Jeremy Corbyn, independent MP speaking at the session - Photo:WW

Ian Hodson, President of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union (BFAWU), spoke of the rights of refugees, and said that no one is secure who cannot afford food and rent. On Palestine, he said that it is important to recognise that condemning Israel's genocide is not anti-Semitism. It is an illusion, he said, to think that bombing is compatible with democracy.

Jo Brady of the University and College Union pointed out that there are unprecedented attacks taking place on our universities, with any department in danger of being wiped out. But when the government makes the issue one of "defence", it can suddenly find £80 million available and the cash flows. To truly defend our country, we must refuse to collaborate with this outlook, and instead invest in our NHS and public services.

Peter Leary, Deputy Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, recounted that it is nearly three years since Israel started bombing Gaza. The Palestinian struggle matters to us all, he said. Israel is only able to carry out its genocide because of support from foreign governments around the world, including our own. They want to use Palestine to justify the might makes right policy. In the face of this, the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions is growing. This week PSC launched a new campaign to boycott the technology systems we sell to Israel. It's the reason Keir Starmer's Prime Ministership is now coming to such an ignoble end, he said. Everyone stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In order to ensure all people's freedom we must continue to fight for the right and freedom of the Palestinians.

Medea Benjamin, American political activist and a co-founder of Code Pink, referred to the prospective pro-Palestine Mayor of Washington DC, standing against the AI companies who are funding and supporting weapons manufacturers and opposing the obscene Pentagon military budget, as well as conducting warfare by economic means. This is what they are doing to Cuba, she said. We say "Hands off Cuba!" She noted that Trump had been forced to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran. She declared that the majority of American people are saying, Free Palestine, Hands off Iran, Stop interfering in Cuba!

Tariq Ali, political activist speaking at the session - Photo:WW

Jeremy Corbyn, independent MP, said that there is a global voice for a real alternative. The cause of our time, he said, is the genocide in Palestine, and the complicity of our government in that genocide. The Palestinians must be allowed to decide their own future in peace. Furthermore, there are 70 million people who are now refugees with nowhere to call home. The arms industries with the power to lobby government tell us that the poverty has to continue to pay for the latest weapons. It is time to change the agenda: stop the arms trade, stop the walk into war and build unity for peace and justice

Irene Montero, Spanish MEP, pointed out that we are seeing the first televised genocide. The US, Israel and all their allies are attacking Iran, they have entered Venezuela, they are threatening Cuba. They are committing war crimes, and the billionaires are supporting the terrorist state of Israel. We are not ready to lose our children to war, she said. We should start questioning why we are a part of these military alliances! Peace is the new political armament! Hands off Lebanon, Hands off Venezuela!

Diane Abbott, independent MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, expressed the determination to build unity in the movement for peace in Britain and internationally. What stood out in her address was the call to oppose NATO's proxy war against Russia.

Diana Danelys De Los Santos (known professionally as Amara La Negra), the Black Lives Matter movement, explained that we want to build a future based on a new paradigm, that people cannot be divided, oppressed and exploited based on apparent differences. What is required now is that we have an anti-war agenda, she said, commenting that you cannot have an anti-war agenda without also having an anti-imperialist agenda. She stressed the importance of self-determination, and in bringing about a world where peace can be enduring. We reject genocide in all its forms everywhere, she said. We must fight for that vision of the future that guarantees the rights of all.

Dr Mustafa Barghouti, a physician who is General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), pointed out that no people have been subjected to oppression in the way the Palestinian people have been subjected to over the last 120 years. Now, they are not only facing the genocide of the state but facing the settler gangs. He said that Palestine has become a main issue in every movement for peace around the world. We want you to continue the struggle and your support, he exclaimed. We want you to support by boycott, divestment and sanctions. Dr Barghouti explained that when the war started in Gaza, the physicians were worried about the 70,000 pregnant women. Israel did carry out mass killings. But we saved the lives of 82,000 people. This is the resistance! Nothing should prevent us from standing with the resistance!

The Drive to War in Europe

Photo:WW

Felix Kreklow Rojas, a 19-year-old political activist from Aachen, Germany, serves as a deputy national chairperson for the Jugendbündnis im BSW (JSW), and is an anti-conscription activist. He pointed out that Europe is gearing up for war; yet the structure of life built by the European politicians is already crumbling.

Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, pointed out that for the government there is always money for war and never for the poor. She said that millions around the world experience food insecurity. This is the result of capitalism. In Gaza entire communities have been and are being destroyed, journalists killed, all in full vision of the world. Shame on the UK government, she declared! The MP highlighted the stand of the dock workers in Italy and Portugal; ordinary people are fighting back, she said. Another world is not only possible, but she is on her way!

Sophie Bolt, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), referred to President Macron's plans to deploy nuclear weapons across Europe and here in Britain, too, where there are plans to buy F-35 nuclear-armed and capable planes. She declared: Stop this war drive! Fight for a better world! We have the solutions to all these crises, not the warmongers. We don't want these nuclear weapons in our country, which are being used to carry out genocide in Palestine and beyond. Shut down our military bases, she stressed. Together we can create the global majority for peace.

Andrew Feinstein, former Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the ANC (African National Congress), pointed out that 40% of all corruption globally takes place in the global arms trade. Our most senior politicians benefit. Tony Blair has profited personally from the unlawful attack on Iraq. These are the most awful and egregious human beings ever. We learned in South Africa, he said, that from the darkness emerges the light. And as we fought for the liberation of all South Africans, we know that Palestine too will be free.

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, NEU, stressed that we are standing on the edge of an abyss. We cannot rely on our politicians to sustain the peace for us. They are cutting welfare, accompanied by a global increase in military funding. A single fighter jet, he explained, could fund education for 200,000 children for a year. He underlined that educators and unions continue to work to keep education alive. Daniel Kebede referred to the more than 8,500 attacks on education in Gaza, and to the bombing of school girls in Iran. As arms manufacturers enrich themselves the people are forced to pay the price, he said. This conference has shown that together we are more than the sum of our parts, he declared. Solidarity!

Photo:WW

Ulrike Eifler, of the IG Metall (Industrial Union of Metalworkers), Germany, said that it is becoming increasingly clear that Gaza was not the exception but the norm. Our governments, she said, want to abolish the retirement age. And as regards hospitals, they must be more than places where people are just patched up. They do not belong to our governments; they belong to the people who use and run them. She concluded that our task is to build a strong anti-war movement with deep roots in the labour movement

John Rees, co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition, spoke to much acclaim, ending with the call, "Proletarians of the world unite!"

Jérôme Legavre, a prominent anti-war politician from the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), referred to the French phrase "Sang sans de nee", which, he said, is a phonetic or colloquial reference to the French department Seine-Saint-Denis, a highly diverse and working-class area just north of Paris. Seine-Saint-Denis is a major stronghold for French left-wing and anti-war politicians. For working people in France, the issue is to confront our own government. It is by confronting our own governments that we can stop the march to war, he said. We need to unite everyone against war.

Tariq Ali, political activist well-known for his participation in the Grosvenor Square protest in 1968 against the Vietnam War waged by US imperialism, condemned the politics of assassination, pointing out that the imperialists think they can act with impunity. But when resistance comes, he said, it has an impact. In the course of his address, he paid tribute to the Italian dock workers of Genoa.

Maryam Eslamdoust, General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), began by mourning the death of a train driver who the union believes was the victim of lack of investment. She continued: I am a leader of a British union but I am also a proud Iranian woman. The brave people and women of Iran have held their heads high against the greatest military might on the planet. Dare we hope, amidst the awful murder of young girls in Mina, amidst all the terror, that the Iranian enormous strength of spirit will prevail. Long live Iran! Long live Cuba! Long live Palestine!

Jordi Salvador Duch: MP from Spain (ERC), declared, "¡No pasarán!"

Eddie Dempsey, General Secretary of the RMT, spoke about the sacrifices members have made opposing war. We remember joining the anti-war demonstration against the war in Iraq in 2003, he said. We have always stood with the people of Cuba also. Our security is counted in terms of a good health service, good homes, education and social provision. Stop the war machine before it's too late! Solidarity!

Markos Bekris spoke on behalf of the dockworkers in Piraeus, Greece, specifically those represented by the ENEDEP union (Union of Container Handling Workers). These workers made headlines for staging militant actions and strikes to protest against the militarisation of ports and to halt the transport of military cargo.

José Nivoi, a leader of the Genoa dockers, was joined by Italian trade unionist Graziamaria Pistorino from the CGIL union. It was pointed out that within 10 days of the strikes against Gaza there were two days of general strike in Italy. The movement, it was explained, was led by the most advanced section of the working class. The response had emerged from the development of consciousness. Such general strikes don't just happen, they must be organised.

Peter Mertens, who was leader of the Workers' Party of Belgium, made the point that it is normal to stand up against war; it is normal to stand against fascism. In the turmoil of today, he said, that situation can change very rapidly. No to warfare!

The film "Gaza" was shown at the lunch break and after the whole conference.

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