On a bright Saturday morning, the Peace & Justice Project convened its second annual International Conference. This year, hosted in the stunning Blizard Building at Queen Mary University of London's campus in Whitechapel, we welcomed over 400 delegates to join our panels, discuss the issues we face as a planet and debate how we build a real alternative to the failed neoliberal politics that have allowed capitalism to cast billions into destitution and burn our planet alive.
The first panel of the day was 'Arms, War & Peace', which also served as the UK launch of Monstrous Anger of the Guns: How the Global Arms Trade Is Ruining the World and What We Can Do About It, a new book by Jeremy Corbyn, Andrew Feinstein, Dr Paul Rogers and Rhona Michie. Appearing on the panel alongside Corbyn and Feinstein was author and historian Vijay Prashad, Stop The War Coalition convener Lindsey German and founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, Binalakshmi Nepram.
Speaking on the panel, Bina Nepram raised the ongoing and often not reported imposition of martial law on indigenous people in North East India, which has led to the killings of over 70,000 people and numerous incidents of rape, arrests, torture and extra-judicial executions. Crucially, she also highlighted that 88% of the world's weapons, including those used in the egregious breaches of human rights in India, are manufactured in permanent member states on the UN Security Council. The panel agreed that the hold of the military industrial complex and global arms trade over international politics and diplomacy stands as the greatest obstacle to achieving peace and disarmament around the world.
Ultimately, we must shut down the war machine and cut off those profiteering from the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and others in order to bring about peace and an end to the death, destruction and displacement that is destroying innocent lives and causing untold devastation to our planet.
Following a break for lunch, the conference's second panel was 'Labour & Capital' chaired by the economist Patricia Pino, who was joined by Association of Flight Attendants-CWA international president Sara Nelson, PCS Union general secretary Fran Heathcote, International Transport Federation's Young Workers Officer Baker Khundakji and Danièle Obono, who has served as La France Insoumise deputy for Paris's 17 constituency France's National Assembly since her election in 2017.
The panel explored the relationship between those in power and those who have generated obscene profits despite global crises and their devastating impact on working class communities. Sara Nelson called for a mass mobilisation of all workers that recognises and utilises its power of its labour in democracy: "We are never going to get billionaires or industrial military complex to vote for fair taxes or peace. We have to organise and use the power held by all working people."
The day's final panel was 'Climate Injustice & Land Rights' chaired by Progressive International's Co-General Coordinator Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla. She was joined on the panel by Centre for Climate Crime & Climate Justice director Professor David Whyte and climate activist Tori Tsui, as well as Vijay Prashad and Binalakshmi Nepram who returned for their second panel of the day.
The panel discussed the destructive nature of capitalism and its exploitation of resources and land. David Whyte gave a powerful speech on the plight of the people of West Papua at the hands of the Indonesian government and the undeniable link between profiteering by corporations and the decimation of the Earth's natural resources, a topic he has written about extensively in his book Ecocide: Kill The Corporation Before It Kills Us.
Each of the speakers focused on the need for a new, non-exploitative economics that is both equitable and sustainable for people and planet. There was broad agreement that a Green New Deal is key to tackling the climate crisis by stopping destructive gas and oil drilling, creating millions of sustainable jobs and taxing the super rich and wealthiest corporations in order to fund and invest in the long-term security of planet Earth.
Peace & Justice Project's second annual International Conference was officially closed with speeches from our directors Jeremy Corbyn and Pamela Fitzpatrick, who were introduced by Leader of the Workers' Party of Turkey Erkan Baş. In their closing remarks, Jeremy and Pamela thanked the staff team at Peace & Justice Project for their work in putting together and coordinating the conference, as well as all speakers and attendees.
Bringing the conference to an end, Jeremy called for international solidarity and unity within the left and labour movement in order to build the peaceful alternative to a world of war and the failed neoliberal economics driving millions into poverty in the UK and billions more across the world.
Watch International Conference 2024 in full below: