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Win the Future – Fight Austerity – Stop Militarisation
The 8th Congress of the Party of the European Left will culminate in a public event “Win the Future – Fight Austerity – Stop Militarisation” on Saturday, 18 April from 16:30 CET.
In a context of growing global uncertainty, the Congress will bring together leading progressive voices from Europe and beyond to share analysis, develop strategies, and reaffirm commitments to social justice, workers’ rights, and demilitarisation. It serves as a key platform for international solidarity and political exchange.
Livestream: Available via https://www.youtube.com/live/QubQO9LqsNQ
Media accreditation is required in advance via this link.
Moderation by Anastasia Iampolskaia and Daniel Sierra Suarez
(Coordination of the EL Youth Network – ELYN)
16:30 – 17:00
Disarm to Win the Future: Stop Militarisation, Building Collective Security
· Peter Mertens (General Secretary, PVDA-PTB, Belgium)
· Megan Romer (National Co-Chair, Democratic Socialists of America, USA)
· Jeremy Corbyn (Member of Parliament, United Kingdom)
· Amal Jadou Shakaa (Ambassador and Head of the Mission of Palestine to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg)
17:00 – 17:30
Make the Many, Not the Money: Working Class Rising to Fight Austerity
· Claes-Mikael Ståhl (Deputy General Secretary, ETUC, Sweden)
· Janina Böttger (MP, Chairperson of Die Linke Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
· Fabien Roussel (National Secretary, French Communist Party)
· Rena Dourou (Member of Parliament and former Governor of Athens, Greece)
· Simón Maljevac (Minister of a Solidarity-Based Future, Slovenia)
17:30 – 17:45
Conclusions by the President
18:30
Les Voix Errantes – #Gaza Edition
Gaza Edition is a participatory performance created in solidarity with Gaza, adapted from the original format Les Voix Errantes developed by Medeber Teatro and Radio NFO. While the classic version invites participants to record words encountered in their own urban environment, this special edition shifts the focus toward the urban memory of the Gaza Strip, through the voices of four Gazans. Their testimonies evoke the streets, places, landscapes, and spaces of life and remembrance that shape their relationship to their land.
The performance is built around a collective listening experience, during which the audience is invited to engage actively with these narratives. Participants may come on stage to sit around tables and contribute to a shared drawing on a large canvas, or remain seated while observing the artwork take form. A live video feed projects the drawing process in real time onto a screen, allowing the whole audience to witness the solidarity mural emerging as a collective space of memory, attention, and storytelling.
The project aims to resist erasure through imagination and counter-narrative, keeping Gaza’s memory alive when rebuilding remains impossible. Rooted in respectful solidarity, the artists seek not to appropriate the struggle but to amplify Palestinian voices. Created for Antifascist April 2024 and first presented on the 204th day of the genocide, the performance remains painfully urgent.19:30
Catering and Music
Official hashtags: #ELcongress2026 #WinTheFuture