Resolute justice
Speech to the opening session of the World Social Forum, Mumbai, 16 January 2004, by Jeremy Corbyn
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One of thousands of demonstrations that brought sound, colour and a message to the Mumbai World Social Forum
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From all over the world we have come to declare that there is a different and better way for our world to be run. We come from all parts of the globe and all, in different ways, are affected by the great events of our time -- we are united by principles and beliefs of equality and justice yet our planet is divided by war and poverty.
The most exciting event of the past two years has been the growth of the global anti-war movement. Less than a year ago, on 15 February there were 600 simultaneous demonstrations on every continent. In London we attracted a million people into Hyde Park: the biggest demonstration ever in British history.
I was inspired by the sight of these people, united in opposing war for US global corporate interests. The solidarity of ordinary people, most of whom had never been on any demonstration before, was fantastic.
The following day I was in San Francisco where 400,000 Americans showed that Bush did not speak for them. We are not anti-American, just opposed to US military and trade policies. We are in unity with the poor of the United States. The anti-war movement is genuinely international. We need it to be as effective as the transnational corporations.
We were told it was a war because of Weapons of Mass Destruction. None have been found. We were told it was a war for justice in the region. Thousands have died from cluster bombs and depleted uranium, and the corporations associated with Bush have benefited by millions of dollars in contracts. The wholesale privatisation of Iraq by his friends shows who benefits from this war.
In Britain, despite all our opposition, the troops went in when the loyalty to the Bush administration seemed more important to the government than the views of millions of ordinary people.
Since then two things have happened. Tony Blair paid, and continues to pay, a political price.
The War on Terror, declared after the tragedy of 11 September has had devastating effects for the people of Afghanistan, where thousands of innocent civilians were killed by American and British bombs, and for civilians in Iraq who die from cluster bombs and depleted uranium fall-out.
Additionally, the imposition of anti-terror laws has seriously damaged civil liberties in many countries -- those people held in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base and Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay in the US-occupied part of Cuba are victims of injustice. Anti-terror laws the world over have removed basic rights to independent fair trials. These are dangerous times for hard-won liberties
In the same way the islanders of Diego Garcia and the Chagos are victims; removed over 20 years ago to make way for a US base from which innocent people are bombed by B52s. We support the right of the Chagossians to return home in peace.
But something else has also happened.
Millions of people now see the world differently -- they were not just demonstrating against a war, they were also demonstrating for something different and better.
A world based on justice and humanity.
Thus a few months later the World Trade talks broke down because of the unity of the poorer nations against the dumping of goods, and because of the greed of the richest corporations. We have had enough of the world's financial institutions telling the poor in all countries to pay more for privatised water and electricity, seeing the profits sucked out to foreign tax havens.
The reality is that the mass of the people of this planet do not want wars or the arms trade, and recognise that injustice is cause of our ills.
Colonialism de-industrialised and under-developed two thirds of the globe. The political independence movements have been undermined by economic controls and dependence. The new world order of globalism and military power is systematically making the poorest even poorer to the advantage of the richest corporations. The poorest thus lose their industries and skills, are driven from the land and live in shantytowns surrounding major cities.
Whilst there has never been such access to technological and medical skills, for many life expectancy is falling and infant mortality rising. At the same time, the drug companies control prices to keep the poorest away from the medicines they need. The cruelties of the structural adjustment programmes cut social spending, pay unsupportable debts and often charge children for their education.
Environmental destruction from aggressive mining and logging, and dam construction, force the poor from the land they have sustained and hand it to global corporations to destroy. The results of this are terrible the world over.
In the West the universal welfare benefits campaigned for and won by popular movements are under threat as workers are told they are too expensive to maintain. Workers who have spent a lifetime paying into pension schemes find them worthless when they need them. Each group of workers in the West or the southern countries are told that they must compete.
Our philosophy is totally different -- we are for the sharing of wealth and resources, for the protection of the environment, for the liberation, not enslavement of peoples.
Thus the unity of social movements across national boundaries can change things. Workers in India, Malaysia, France and the US may be of different nationalities, but are threatened by the same global forces. Competition between them is dangerous to living standards. Unity between them is dangerous to the greed of global capitalism.
But this World Social Forum, this global movement, is about something else: a belief that babies should not die at birth for lack of food and care, a belief that all children should receive education and not be forced to work, and that all people deserve the right to organise in their own interests.
It is also about respecting cultural values. The power of global corporations to control markets destroys so much and impoverishes so many.
The World Social Forum provides an alternative, and better way; ordinary people and social movements coming together to oppose war and support peace, to show that the way of Bush is wrong and dangerous.
The brutality of colonialism and imperialism killed millions and destroyed civilisations. The new brutality of crude market interests and high-tech weapons is killing for injustice.
Let the world know that change is possible and coming from popular mass movements; here today in Mumbai, we are part of that movement.
Let 15 February 2003 be more than just a point in history, but the first worldwide demonstration for justice.
Jeremy Corbyn is a member of the British Parliament and a prominent anti-war activist.
