“It’s vital we set out the basis of an alternative foreign policy based not on defending the interests of the big corporations and fossil fuel polluters… but on people and planet.”
By Sam Browse, Arise Festival
The Tories’ offensive on working people comes in the context of an international crisis as soaring fossil fuel and food costs – caused by the profiteering and speculation of the wealthy – crush living standards for the vast majority.
In the UK, we have seen bosses squeeze wages to prop up already rocketing profits while the government has announced £28bn of cuts to long-broken public services. Rather than address the real causes of the crisis, the Tories, in lockstep with the Bank of England, are engineering a recession to further attack wages and conditions at work.
Theirs is not an isolated approach. Similar patterns are repeated across the globe. The ruling class are organising internationally to put their profits first. To resist, we must, too.
That’s why at the Arise Festival Conference, Solidarity – Struggle – Socialism, this Saturday 10th December, activists will meet to discuss and debate ‘Opposing the Tories’ International Agenda – What does a real ethical foreign policy look like?’
Just as the Tories come to the aid of the bosses at home, so, too, do they represent them on the international stage.
Through the global financial system, even as they claim to create mechanisms for tackling the climate emergency, they force further debt upon countries in the Global South with loans – rather than grants and reparations – to fight the effects of global heating.
Through the arms trade and diplomatic relations, they send support to ‘friendly’ human rights abusers, such as the Saudi and Israeli governments, all to maintain regional political influence – and attack those, domestically, who would prefer to invest in ethical companies and products. At the same time, the international hard right-wing and much of the corporate media work both to back those committed to neoliberalism, and discredit those in movements seeking to overturn it and US domination, such as those in Latin America
And they have increased the UK’s stock of nuclear weapons, while agreeing to host US nuclear weapons in British airbases. As international tensions increase, they have engaged in bellicose rhetoric, raising the prospect of prolonged, and even nuclear, war.
It’s vital we set out the basis of an alternative foreign policy based not on defending the interests of the big corporations and fossil fuel polluters, the arms giants, or subordinating ourselves to their international political leadership, the United States – but on people and planet.
Saturday’s conference is the opportunity to do just that. Join us to debate the way forward for a green, independent foreign policy, based on peace and global justice.
- The Arise Festival Conference: “Solidarity – Struggle – Socialism” takes place this Saturday, December 10th at Conway Hall, London, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Register here.
- Speakers and campaigns include: John McDonnell MP; Sarah Woolley, BFAWU General Secretary; Richard Burgon MP; Mick Whelan, ASLEF General Secretary; Nadia Whittome MP; Zita Holbourne, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC); Lord John Hendy QC; Emma Dent Coad, Former MP & now Group Leader on Kensington & Chelsea Labour Group; Hilary Schan, Momentum; Sabby Dhalu, Stand up to Racism; Johnbosco Nwogbo, We Own It; and many more. See the line up and find out more here.
- You can follow Arise Festival on Facebook and twitter, and see what events they have coming up here; as well as listen to the Arise Festival podcast on Spotify.
- This article was originally published by Labour Hub on December 8th, 2022.
