JEREMY Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project opens a new chapter for left activism this afternoon with a 90-minute online rally at 3pm.
Billed as a “network to generate ideas, share experience, build solidarity and drive change” the stated aim of the new project is to provide a rallying cry for socialism and internationalism.
Appearing will be none-other than renowned ant-imperialism thinker Noam Chomsky to discuss ongoing struggles for justice and dignity globally.
Zarah Sultana MP, Unite leader Len McCluskey, anti-apartheid veteran Ronnie Kasrils and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis count among the other expected speakers.
Follow Redaction Politics‘ live updates of the Peace and Justice Project’s launch event here from 3pm.
– This concludes our live coverage –
16.31 – The final word of the evening goes to Jeremy Corbyn who says the whole point of the project is “empowering the people.”
“Our project is designed to help create a society that is fit, and a world that is fit, for the next generation.”
16.24 – Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister under SYRIZA, now joins the launch event.
“It is not an iron law of history that progressive projects will succeed,” says Varoufakis.
The DiEM25 leader calls on the left to organise across borders saying: “We need to internationalise the struggle.
“Socialism for the oligarchy – that is what has been practiced since 2008.”
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16.21 – Addressing coronavirus and the UK’s response, MP Zarah Sultana says: “This pandemic has shown us we need an alternative like never before.”
She continues “It has exposed the poverty of Tory ideology. The public is not to blame for this crisis it is this rotten government.”
“We need a socialist government,” argues the Socialist campaign group MP.
“We’ve seen privatisation enriching the few and robbing the rest of us. So let’s end it.”
16.17 – In a tribute to her former party leader, Zarah Sultana MP praises of Corbyn as one of the very few Labour MP who fought every single day for the “many not the few” and credits him with inspiring her involvement in politics.
16.15 – “It is most fitting that the project dedicated to creating a world of peace and justice should honour Jeremy Corbyn,” adds Chomsky.
16.10 – Noam Chomsky joins the meeting to discuss the threat of nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.
“If human are capable of stemming their drive to species suicide other critical problems can be overcome. Answers are in our grasp”
“Every region of the world faces severe problems. In the richer countries these assaults on elementary human rights and unconscionable.”
“The local problems are also international and call for solidarity.”
16.09 – Answering the question on media bias and ownership Corbyn calls for the creations of a strong social media programme globally.
He argues the left need a strategy to take on the social media giants Facebook and Google, highlighting Labour’s 2019 manifesto pledge for universal free broadband.
16.04 – On problems highlighted by the pandemic, Zarah Sultana MP says the Government have “listened to big business rather than the science” leading to the virus “running riot.”
“Public health has to be the focus not profit,” she adds.
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1600 – The panel now turns to Q&As with Len McCluskey taking the first question on how the left can tackle media bias.
McCluskey says the union movement is looking to support new left media outlets calling progressive social media sites the “shining lights” holding the powerful to account.
15.54 – Corbyn ends his opening remarks saying: “We might look around us now and think things look bleak with the climate crisis, the pandemic, the continued rule of billionaires and their political playthings, but history is a funny thing. It doesn’t flow in straight lines.
“The rule of the few over the many rests on very shaky ground. Those with power fight harder to make it seem inevitable that they will be in charge forever than they do trying to make the system work.”
15.51 – The media needs to be democratised adds Corbyn as he calls for new media outlets to help “expose truth and challenge the powerful.”
He announces the Project for Peace and Justice will take on the Murdoch media and campaign for media democracy.
14.49 – “Public health must come before profit,” argues Corbyn as he warns against the rise of “vaccine nationalism.”
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15.47 – Moving to economic security, Corbyn calls for “cheap bills for utilities, protections from fire and rehire and rights at work from day one for all workers.”
He calls for supporters to take “concrete action” to support others through the coronavirus crisis.
Corbyn calls out the “merchants of death in the arms trade” and says the UK government is complicit in the war in Yemen through the arming of Saudi Arabia.
15.38 – Now the project’s founder Jeremy Corbyn says “the struggle for peace and justice is needed now more than ever.”
“We have both the power and the ideas to overcome these crises when we come together.”
On the aims of the project the former Labour leader says the movement will “turn the dial away from conflict and injustice.”
Corbyn is currently issuing a call to action on the environment, inviting parities and movements from around the world to join with the project to build a movement for a green new deal and international climate justice.
15.33 – The Covid crisis has shown a light on the “dreadful condition workers face” and the “cronyism” of the Conservative Government adds the union leader.
McCluskey says trade unions are “needed now more than ever” and calls for “radical alternative policies to austerity and political orthodoxy,” likes those he argues were championed by Labour under Corbyn and John McDonnell.
“They gave us hope, hope tells us it’s the flame that burns in our souls and tells us there is a world to win. Let’s continue to fight for peace and justice.”
15.30 – Unite leader Len McCluskey is up next calling peace and justice the “most important words in our language.”
He states that “peace links so easily with justice,” listing old struggles such as the Orgreave miners to Grenfell fire victims.
He brands the removal of the whip from Jeremy Corbyn as a “disgrace” and pledges UNITE’s support for reversing the decision.
15.25 – “Wave of protests are signalling a new dawn,” Krasrils adds as he discusses the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing farmers strike in India.
“Together we must destroy the second coming of fascism,” says the veteran South African activist.
“We will win for our people and our planet.”
15.23 – On the middle east, Krasrils calls on incoming US President Joe Biden to abide by the “vision of FD Roosevelt and Martin Luther King” and to uphold international law.
15.20 – Anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Krasrils joins the virtual event next condemning the rise of white supremacy and branding the Capital hill riots an “assault on democracy” by Donald Trump.
15.17 – Climate striker Scarlett Westbrook argues that”Together we will take a stand against disaster capitalise and the climate crisis.
Change is not a possibility says the 16-year-old but “inevitability that we can create together.”
15.15 – “There is no bigger crisis than the climate crisis” says Westbrook as the climate activists calls for an internationalist approach to climate change.
She adds: “The climate change is your struggle. We must call for an international green new deal.”
15.12 – Baroness Blower gets us under way and introduces the first speaker climate activist Scarlett Westbrook.
15.00 – Welcome to our live blog coverage of the launch of Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project – This is an updating news story. Please refresh regularly to see the latest updates.
More to follow…
Featured Image: Rwendland @WikimediaCommons
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