“We will not pay for their wars, and resistance to war and militarism is building.”
By Jennie Walsh
There’s a daily barrage of pro-war propaganda coming from ministers, military and media. The talk of the Russian threat grows ever louder, while Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledges still more missile support to Ukraine, the bloodiest conflict on the planet, rather than seek a ceasefire.
There are wars raging across many parts of the world, but our governments in Europe are trying to bring much bigger wars into Europe itself. We have record rearmament programmes. Germany is doubling its arms spending. The tripling of arms expenditure announced by Keir Starmer before his departure, endorsed by Burnham, represents the biggest shift in militarism and military spending since the disastrous war on Iraq in 2003-4. Donald Trump is openly demanding NATO countries spend much more on war, in the full knowledge that this could trigger a new arms race and drive to war in Europe, and across Europe, public finances are being diverted from public services into defence.
Every penny that goes to arms makes war more likely and is taken from our pensions, our health service and our schools. But we will not pay for their wars, and resistance to war and militarism is building. From school students in France bravely protesting in the face of brutal police attacks, to dockworkers in several countries and rail workers in Scotland, the opposition to war economies is growing. In the UK, half of adults say they won’t fight for their country, a figure unchanged in 12 months despite the best efforts of the brass hats to whip up a war frenzy.
It’s the perfect storm for the International Movement Against War speaker tour, which starts on Thursday in Birmingham, and to build the anti-war movement. There’s a growing list of speakers, from Germany, Greece, France, Ireland and Belgium, as well as trade union leaders and anti-war activists from across the UK.
We are so honoured that, just a week before the Europe-wide dock strike for Palestine and against militarisation that will impact at least 50 ports in the Mediterranean, Giorgos Gogos, leader of the Greek dockworkers’ union of Piraeus, will be joining us in Birmingham and London for the first two legs of the tour.
He has been the driving force behind the blockade of shipments of Israeli military equipment and spoke about the action at the international conference, to huge applause.
MPs from La France Insoumise will be speaking about the French school uprising, and actions against war and militarism. Ulrike Eifler, a leading German trade unionist, will be talking about militarisation and the anti-conscription strikes there, and Peter Mertens from the Belgium Workers Party will speak about the growing opposition to cuts and the anti-war movement in Belgium.
The tour follows the International Anti-War Conference in London in June, and the successful TUC Congress “wages not weapons” motion, which saw the trade unions strengthen their opposition to increased defence spending. The charge against the traditional support by the biggest manufacturing unions for militarism in the name of creating and protecting “good jobs” was led by the UCU, whose general secretary Jo Grady will be joining the London rally.
Other speakers during the seven-day tour include Zarah Sultana MP, author and activist Andrew Feinstein, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote and Irish TD Richard Boyd-Barrett. There is also strong support for the rallies from local and regional trade unions and trade councils.
It’s a very impressive cross-section of some of the forces at the June conference, aimed at building for the days of action agreed there – for Palestine, in support of the 30 October dockers’ strike and a weekend of actions against militarism and war.
We saw, on 10 October, the first of these, with the internationally coordinated days of demonstrations to mark three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. More than 250 marches in 60 countries around the world saw millions on the streets, including 250,000 in central London.
The actions conclude with the international weekend against militarisation, which starts with the international youth strike against war and conscription on Friday 20 November and will see young people on the streets in many countries saying they refuse to die in imperialist and capitalist wars.
The tour and the days of action will not, of course, be the end of how we build the international anti-war movement, but more the opening shots in our determination to stop the warmongers.
- Jennie Walsh is the Press Officer for the Stop the War Coalition. You can follow Stop the War on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Twitter/X.
- You can sign up for Stop the War’s international speaking tour events here.
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