20–22 Nov: EL Backs EU Mobilisations
ARTICLE by David Pestieau, EL Vice-President
“Welfare Not Warfare” Will Resonate Across the EU
On 20–22 November, trade unions, civil society organisations and peace movements will take coordinated action across more than 20 countries under the banner “Welfare, not Warfare,” with the European Left Party backing the mobilisation.
From Rome to Madrid, from Brussels to Dublin, from Paris to London, people are rising up. A new wave of social resistance is sweeping across the continent. In each country the starting point may differ, but once underway, the demands converge regardless of borders: opposition to the rising cost of living for heating and food, exorbitant rents, education adrift… It is the future of society that young and working people are calling into question.
The scale of these movements, the breadth of the resistance and the number of people involved show that, in different countries, we are in fact fighting the same struggle.
Across Europe, people are fighting against an enormous transfer of wealth — away from social security, public services and the needs of the population, and towards the arms industry, military institutions and big capital. This is not simply a budgetary question. It is a question of what kind of society we want to build.
Likewise, the calls for a European mobilisation against austerity and militarisation on 20, 21 and 22 November, which promises to be very broad in scale, carry major political significance
On 20 November, young people across Europe will strike against war, militarisation and military service. On 20–22 November, trade unions, civil society organisations and peace movements will take coordinated action. Actions are planned in more than 20 countries. The spirit of resistance has been unleashed.
Against the EU’s rearmament plans, these days of action are organised and supported by the Youth International Strike and Stop ReArm Europe platforms, uniting youth organisations, pupils, students and trade unions, climate activists, peace movements and civil society.
They put forward three demands:
- Welfare, not Warfare.
- Give Young People a Future. No to Military Service.
- No to Militarisation. Yes to Diplomacy and Democratic Rights.
Three demands that speak to different generations, different social movements and different countries, and that can bring them together in a common struggle.
The European Left Party brings its support to these European Days of Action and their demands. Together with its member parties, it commits itself – as a party and through its member organisations – to take an active part in the mobilisations on 20, 21 and 22 November, to make their European dimension visible and powerful, and to bring together the struggle against the rising cost of living and austerity with the movement against militarisation and war.
The EU’s own Defence Commissioner estimates that EU governments and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) intend to commit nearly €7 trillion by 2035 to military spending, while housing, healthcare, education, decent jobs and a just transition are pushed aside. We demand that national governments and the European Union redirect these resources towards education, climate transition, industry and social programmes: a budget that starts from the needs of young people, the working class, the climate transition and the planet.
Public money for public goods, not for war: Welfare, Not Warfare!
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