Activity

Global arms spending amounts to 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars a year and has once again gone through the roof since the Ukraine war; Germany, for example, has allocated a special fund of 100 billion that is also to be enshrined in the constitution. More and more countries want to meet and exceed NATO's and the EU's target of spending 2% of GDP on the military. Military expenditures in quite all countries of the world are growing, the profit of the arms industry creates a new golden age above all for the 1%.

300 billion Dollar per year for the next 10 years would cover the annual financial requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN climate fund needs in minimum 300 billion Dollar. Likewise, the food and energy crises caused by the war and the continued heating of the atmosphere will require billions more, not to mention the health care systems battered by the Covid 19 pandemic.

This discussion will be the follow-up of a process which has taken place during the virtual World Social Forum at the end of January, 2021. The purpose of this panel consisting of representatives of different worldwide social movements consists in elaborating concrete proposals for common actions in 2022 and 2023.

Speakers will be Medea Benjamin, USA, CODEPINK (feminist organization for peace) | Tord Björk, Sweden, Climate-justice-movement and Stockholm+20 | Ernesto Gibson Kpordotsi, Global Peace Association Ghana | Kristine Karch, Germany, No to NATO network, IPB, | NN Hungary, UNITED, an environmental youth organization |and others.

Moderation: Reiner Braun, Germany, International Peace Bureau (IPB) and Corazon Fabroz, network for peace and nuclear weapons free Philippines.