Globalisation
30 million say no to war
War on Want’s new chief executive Louise Richards sees a peoples’ movement go global as January’s World Social Forum is followed by peace marches in 600 towns and cities the world over.
A common swipe from the corridors of power is that the global movement is no more than a bunch of middle-class protestors unconnected with the lives of ordinary people. A dismissive shrug such as this usually originates from people that never attend the World Social Forum or its counterpart in Europe.
I wonder what the same types were thinking on the evening of the 15 February 2003, when over 30 million people from all over the world took to the streets in protest against a possible war in Iraq. The idea that these marchers - from every conceivable walk of life - were members of a global middle-class hand-wringing club is simply nonsense.
Last month’s peace marches and the World Social Forum are an unprecedented joint vote of no confidence in the way the powerful pull the strings of the poor. Whether it’s a planned invasion of Iraq or the primitive excesses of corporate-led globalisation, it is the poor of the world who suffer.
The moral highground
Despite what our Prime Minister describes as a moral case for war, there is only one war worth fighting – the war on poverty. It might seem a simplistic statement, but it cuts to the core of why people took to the streets in February or made the journey to Porto Alegre, Brazil a month earlier. This is evidence of a deep and growing resentment to the lip service governments pay to the pressing problems of the world’s poor. The so-called War on Terror is not a sustainable or winnable way to keep our gated Western communities safe from the seething anger and resentment of those left by the wayside. Blocking the cheap supply of Aids treatment to Africa only adds to the perpetual woes of a continent that is now seeing millions of its workers picked off in their prime by a virus we in the developed North learnt to curtail years ago. And offering token debt relief to the same people as world commodity prices collapse is not a meaningful response to third world debt. The war on poverty is the only common thread. But it is not mere misunderstanding that prevents this truth from being realised. Trade Unionists and NGOs in Porto Alegre knew it and so do the millions that pounded the streets of their towns and cities on 15 February. This is because poverty is political – sustained by self-interest, power and wealth. Taking a stand
Overcoming poverty is, therefore, not simply about education and awareness. It is about identifying the political obstacles to fairness and justice, and creating a society free of such obstacles. The WSF created the possibility of such a world and the millions who marched in February hold themselves up as an audience prepared to take a stand against the perceived intransigence of governments the world over. War on Want believes the WSF movement was a springboard to February’s global show of strength against war. Beyond the 100,000 participants in Brazil during January, the WSF process has created the foundations of genuine global solidarity for the first time in history. The waves created by this wave of solidarity have enabled what Noam Chomsky referred to as “an unprecedented movement in history”. Globalising struggle
But let us not forget that the creation of a movement of this scale does not simply rely on the heartfelt concerns of people living in the developed North. They depend on the struggle of Brazilian peasants risking their lives to recover unused land from the mega-rich elite that watch the majority starve in shanty towns; the Colombian unionist of the municipal services union who places his or herself between the gun of the death squad and its target; the South African activists who face jail to ensure that water flows to millions of people exploited by years of vicious apartheid rule that now face the economic onslaught of forced privatisation of services. War on Want was founded whilst Victor Gollancz hung his head in despair as millions of dollars were poured into the Korean War - a conflict threatening massive loss of life, mutilation and poverty. In desperation, Gollancz wrote a letter to the Guardian asking that people respond if they believed peace and security could only be achieved by using society’s resources to lift billions out of destitution rather than wreaking further havoc. He received 9000 replies and a movement was born. As I take over as chief executive of War on Want, I believe, as never before, that we have a real chance to change things for the better. What started in Seattle moved to Genoa and on to Porto Alegre – finally went global on 15 February. It is time for change; it is time for governments to start listening.
Despite what our Prime Minister describes as a moral case for war, there is only one war worth fighting – the war on poverty. It might seem a simplistic statement, but it cuts to the core of why people took to the streets in February or made the journey to Porto Alegre, Brazil a month earlier. This is evidence of a deep and growing resentment to the lip service governments pay to the pressing problems of the world’s poor. The so-called War on Terror is not a sustainable or winnable way to keep our gated Western communities safe from the seething anger and resentment of those left by the wayside. Blocking the cheap supply of Aids treatment to Africa only adds to the perpetual woes of a continent that is now seeing millions of its workers picked off in their prime by a virus we in the developed North learnt to curtail years ago. And offering token debt relief to the same people as world commodity prices collapse is not a meaningful response to third world debt. The war on poverty is the only common thread. But it is not mere misunderstanding that prevents this truth from being realised. Trade Unionists and NGOs in Porto Alegre knew it and so do the millions that pounded the streets of their towns and cities on 15 February. This is because poverty is political – sustained by self-interest, power and wealth. Taking a stand
Overcoming poverty is, therefore, not simply about education and awareness. It is about identifying the political obstacles to fairness and justice, and creating a society free of such obstacles. The WSF created the possibility of such a world and the millions who marched in February hold themselves up as an audience prepared to take a stand against the perceived intransigence of governments the world over. War on Want believes the WSF movement was a springboard to February’s global show of strength against war. Beyond the 100,000 participants in Brazil during January, the WSF process has created the foundations of genuine global solidarity for the first time in history. The waves created by this wave of solidarity have enabled what Noam Chomsky referred to as “an unprecedented movement in history”. Globalising struggle
But let us not forget that the creation of a movement of this scale does not simply rely on the heartfelt concerns of people living in the developed North. They depend on the struggle of Brazilian peasants risking their lives to recover unused land from the mega-rich elite that watch the majority starve in shanty towns; the Colombian unionist of the municipal services union who places his or herself between the gun of the death squad and its target; the South African activists who face jail to ensure that water flows to millions of people exploited by years of vicious apartheid rule that now face the economic onslaught of forced privatisation of services. War on Want was founded whilst Victor Gollancz hung his head in despair as millions of dollars were poured into the Korean War - a conflict threatening massive loss of life, mutilation and poverty. In desperation, Gollancz wrote a letter to the Guardian asking that people respond if they believed peace and security could only be achieved by using society’s resources to lift billions out of destitution rather than wreaking further havoc. He received 9000 replies and a movement was born. As I take over as chief executive of War on Want, I believe, as never before, that we have a real chance to change things for the better. What started in Seattle moved to Genoa and on to Porto Alegre – finally went global on 15 February. It is time for change; it is time for governments to start listening.
Also in Globalisation:
