The G7 Counterforum starts in Bari: “We are eight billion and we say no more wars”

Appointments at the Institute of Comboni missionaries, to define proposals and launch mobilizations in view of the summit of heads of government

ROME – Palestine and Ukraine without respite, artificial intelligence, right to work and migration: themes at the center of two days of debates, tomorrow and the day after, at the G7 Counterforum. The meeting is at the institute of the Comboni missionaries, in via Petroni 101, in Bari. The two-day event looks at the summit of the heads of state and government of the seven industrialized powers scheduled for Borgo Egnazia, also in Puglia, from 13 to 15 June.

DEBATES AND MOBILIZATION

In a note released by Peacelink, one of the organizations promoting the Counterforum, “guiding themes identified to be explored further and from which objectives and campaigns on which to mobilize must arise”. They range from the abolition of the Dublin regulation to boycott campaigns against companies that pollute or that do not guarantee workplace safety, from the equitable distribution of resources and opportunities throughout the world to the strengthening of public health. However, the theme of war is also and above all in the foreground. “Our Puglia, an ‘ark of peace, not an arc of war’ between peoples, will host the G7 this June, which promises to be a summit to accelerate the transition of Western economies towards the ‘war economy’, with very expensive programs of rearmament” reads the statement. “The dangerous ongoing conflict with Russia could lead to a nuclear war, with catastrophic results for all of humanity” reports Peacelink. “The G7 leaders, after two atrocious years from the beginning of the war in Ukraine, still pretend not to understand what the pacifist movements, Pope Francis and almost everyone else at world had immediately understood well: the need for a peace negotiating table just a few hours after the courageous and dignified reaction of the Ukrainian people to the criminal Russian invasion”.

PALESTINE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

The organizers of the Counterforum continue by denouncing that “a sea of other innocent blood flows in Palestine and in too many theaters of war underway every day, every second, in the world”. According to the promoting organisations, “there are times when you feel that it is no longer possible or ethical to delegate, to sit on the sidelines without taking positions and that it is necessary to commit with determination to support the right ones”. The text continues: “Even more now it is necessary to give a representative, organised, authoritative voice to the people of the Earth, now eight billion people, with everyone, individuals, associations, movements, committees, participating in the debates public of our Counterforum, enriching the elaboration of the seven theses identified for the just and peaceful governance of the planet, as an alternative to the theses of war on peoples and the environment, which will be discussed at the G7 summit”. The organizers denounce: “It is enough to contrast the logic of war with war practices, providing the Ukrainians with increasingly sophisticated and destructive weapons, contributing to the unstoppable military escalation, desired by the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and NATO strong>, and to many other thousands of victims”. Then a rhetorical question: “Otherwise, why not also provide them to the Palestinians, or to the Kurds who we had armed when they had to fight and stop ISIS, gradually up to the Chinese Uyghur minority, daily victim of every worst humiliation and violation of the minimum human rights , like women and dissidents in Iran and Afghanistan?”.

“PROPOSALS FROM BELOW”

Finally, there is an appeal. “Let’s start from the ‘bottom'”, the request, “to bring the voice of the peoples of the Earth ever higher, perhaps with an autonomous UN, no longer limited by anachronistic constraints linked to veto rights” . The debates will begin tomorrow at 4pm on the topic of education. At 6pm we will then continue with Palestine. On Saturday we will start at 9am with artificial intelligence. Space to follow the debates on war (11), work (15), environment and health (17) and migration (19). The committee promoting the initiative is made up of: Anpi, Arci, CGIL, the Io Accolgo Puglia Committee, Libera, Third Sector Forum, Greenaccord, Legambiente, Link, Comboni missionaries, Nonviolent Movement, Network of Peace Committees Puglia, Pax Christi, Peacelink, Future Roots, Middle Students Network, Knowledge Network, Students Union, University Union, Un Ponte Per. For membership and information you can write to the email address: contraforumG7@libero.it