Sheila Triggs, WILPF UK’s Membership Secretary, gave a profound speech at Bromley’s Peace One Day’s event on the 21st September 2024. This event aims to raise global awareness of and engagement in The UN International Day of Peace, as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence.
“Hello everyone.
Today marks the beginning of the Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice and this is my subject
I am part of the 109 year old women’s peace organisation, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Here is a quotation from a resolution from WILPF’s first Congress in 1915
“The people in each of the countries labouring under the burden of war believe themselves to be fighting, not as aggressors but in self-defence……… The government of all nations must refer international disputes to arbitration or conciliation, and we can bring social, moral and economic pressure to bear upon any country which resorts to arms”
This still rings true today. The governments of Ukraine, Russia and Israel all say they are fighting in self-defence. Arbitration or conciliation are badly needed.
So what is creating the terrible conflicts in societies and across the world today?
I am going to pursue a few ideas for you to think about
First. The ethos that we have enemies, that we have to be strong and confront them.
Our personal differences may seem profound – but do we have to confront another person, raise our fists, draw a knife, shoot, bomb another group, a different religion, another country? Is there not a more civilized way?
After the 2nd world war, states decided to set up mechanisms to avoid confrontation. “We the people” established the United Nations. Now 193 countries – practically all the nations in the world, belong to the United Nations. The United Nations is not only about avoiding confrontation. Within the structure of the United Nations there are vast co-operative agencies like The WHO, the World Health Organisation, UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the CSW -Commission on the Status of Women, and many others doing masses of good practical work world-wide every day, not least UNWRA in Gaza, (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) These agencies are initiated by co-operation, they are funded collectively, and they are internationally accepted.
Over the years there have been a number of UN conventions, to keep the world running smoothly. For example the “Rights of the Child”, or CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women) Many countries have signed them.
But when it comes to co-operating on disarmament; creating and upholding established international treaties it is another story.
This is partly the way the UN was set up with the General Assembly a discussion forum for all nations, and the Security Council dominated by the powerful 5 permanent members; the P5 nuclear powers; UK, US, France, China and Russia, holding decision powers for war and peace.
The Security Council takes the lead in deciding when there is a threat to international peace. It is supposed to call upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.
But the Security Council has become a forum of confrontation rather than of reconciliation even though it is our established forum for international decision making. Should we be thinking about reforming the UN structure, especially the Security Council?
But we need to work to improve processes of the UN rather than subvert it with regional pacts like NATO.
Secondly, I am going to draw your attention to how the capitalist system underpins militarism and war.
The Trade Union Movement, the Co-operative Movement, the Labour Party developed from the idea of the “brotherhood of man”. But this has now been undermined by the expansion of capitalism into massive trans-national corporations. These are now more powerful than many nation states. The total value of the top 20 companies is now equivalent to the GDP (gross domestic product) of France, Germany, India, Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom combined.
Among those corporations are the big arms manufacturers which make enormous profits on the premise that military confrontation, and aggression is inevitable.
The UK is one of the 10 largest arms exporters, involved in the manufacture and sale of weapons, military technology and military training to countries including those in conflict: Ukraine, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) report that since 2015, the UK has licensed over £472m worth of arms to Israeli forces. including Britain’s contribution to the US F-35 stealth combat aircraft which Israel is currently using to bombard Gaza.
Since the start of the Russian Ukraine war, the UK has been a major supplier of arms and military equipment to Ukraine. This war has created a massive surge in global arms sales.
So it is clear that the capitalist system is a major factor in global aggression. War is very profitable.
The UK seems to be addicted to military intervention in preference to wise and measured diplomacy. Can we challenge the commonly held view that war is either necessary or inevitable by exploring the idea of the prohibition or abolition of war. What is the direct effect of war on global heating, climate justice and exploitation of scarce resources?
What are the realities and consequences of the current expansion of military budgets and the spectacular profit bonanza currently being accrued by arms companies whilst resources needed to achieve the promises made at COP 28 are grossly diminished?.
Now I am going to introduce the idea of working for peace and the abolition of war
We may be individuals but we are not powerless .
Tal Mitnick, was the 1st Israeli conscientious objector to refuse to fight in the Gaza war. One young man. But he was able to raise major issues of war and peace and so get media attention.
This is true of any individual making a stand in a vigil or demonstration if they get a chance to be interviewed by the media, or if they get in conversation with a member of the public.
This year has shown the strength of individuals when they come together in Trade Unions and by collective action able to win improved wages and conditions. This strength is also needed to work for peace.
We have a wide range of Civil Society organisations working for peace in different ways, showing that there are alternatives to confrontation and war. Look at the size of the continuing demonstrations calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the different organisations taking part, like Jews for Justice for Palestinians or Women in Black against War.
From 2016 to last September the Labour Party had a shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament
Fabian Hamilton carried out the role with distinction. Not only did he build links between the Labour Party and civil society working on issues around militarism, peace and disarmament, but he also engaged with the United Nations on issues including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Labour must be a party firmly rooted in international law.
Without a dedicated voice for peace and disarmament in the Foreign Office team there is a real danger of losing focus on non-proliferation and arms controls that are necessary to address Britain’s real security needs: human security focuses on enabling people to live without poverty, in decent housing, with adequate food, with health and education services.
What is the thinking behind deciding to axe such a position? What is the message that it sends to the public? WILPF has recently written to Keir Starmer about this .
Finally: Coming together to solve the climate crisis
With so much confrontation and war in the current world it is easy to forget that the greatest threat to our life on this planet is the climate crisis. This is where all women and men and all states in the world need to work together urgently. The UN has a process: the annual Conference of Parties (COP) provides a forum for joint agreement on tackling this threat.
However, the capitalist system enabled 2,400+ paid lobbyists from the oil, gas and coal industries to attend the last COP 28 This affects the strength of weakness of the outcome agreement document, and so the way forward to confront the climate crisis.
WILPF delegation to COP 28 focussed on drawing attention to the fact that under the current rules, states do not have to share information about the emissions of their military. Extracting minerals, manufacturing weapons, testing and exporting them all produce greenhouse gas emissions.
The best estimate we have is that militaries are responsible for 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If the global military were a country, this would place it fourth in terms of its emissions internationally.
We cannot accept the ethos of retaliation. Individuals and nations cannot live in an economy that profits from war. We must expect our governments to resolve conflicts by diplomatic and cooperative means, rather than promoting an industry that fuels wars through this continued trade in death.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”