Russian and Ukrainian socialists issue joint appeal for solidarity, social and ecological reconstruction of Ukraine
A peace conference initiated by Ukraine and hosted by Switzerland met June 15-16 with the participation of 57 heads of state and government, including Canada. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped the meeting would rally support for <https://war.ukraine.ua/faq/zelenskyys-10-point-peace-plan/> his 10-point peace plan released in October 2022, six months after the outset of Russias full-scale armed invasion of Ukraine and its subsequent occupation and annexation of about 20 percent of the country. However, the <https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/draft-joint-communique-ukraine-confere nce-switzerland-2024-06-15/> joint communiqué issued at its conclusion expressed a common vision on only three aspects: nuclear safety, global food security, and complete exchange of all prisoners of war and return to Ukraine of all Ukrainian civilians, including children, unlawfully detained or displaced by Russia. The adopted text reiterated support for UN resolutions <file:///C:/Users/Richard/Documents/MyFiles/Ukraine/Ukraine_A%20People's%20P eace,%20not%20an%20Imperial%20Peace.docx#_ftn1> [1] affirming the principles of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine, within their internationally recognized borders, including territorial waters, and the resolution of disputes through peaceful means as principles of international law. However, it failed to commit the participating governments to any substantial program of economic reconstruction assistance to Ukraine, let alone cancellation of its enormous international public debt. Moreover, several countries from the expanded BRICS alliance led by <https://english.nv.ua/nation/final-communique-of-global-peace-summit-endors ed-by-80-nations-50427599.html> Brazil, India, and South Africa abstained. China refused to attend the conference and Russia, of course, was not invited. Russian president Vladimir Putin sought to refocus international attention on Russias absence from the summit through a statement June 14 reaffirming Russias supposed willingness to negotiate -- on terms tantamount to Ukraines capitulation. And Zelensky alleged that China had sought to persuade some countries not to attend. Such is multipolarity in todays global context. Socialists in Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland sought to supplement the ambitions of the official peace conference from an alternative internationalist perspective based on solidarity and oriented toward a radical social and ecological transformation in Europe as a whole. They drafted a joint declaration in support of Ukrainian self-determination and in favour of the democratic overthrow of the Putin regime. The declaration, with its 12 principles for a just peace in Ukraine, is reproduced below. As its authors indicated, its purpose is to stimulate comprehensive discussions on national self-determination, inter-imperialist rivalry, geopolitical bloc thinking, rearmament, anti-imperialist and ecosocialist strategies and in general emancipatory working-class mobilizations, particularly with progressive social movements such as the feminist movement, the environmental movement, migration solidarity and trade unions. They started this discussion with an online conference on June 15, at which speakers from the launching organizations presented the major content and goal of the declaration and suggested ideas for further political discussion and collaboration. A dominant theme of this discussion, which I attended, was the need for the international Left to develop a comprehensive alternative ecosocialist strategy to capitalist multipolarity and imperialist rivalry. More than one participant noted the importance of the agreement just reached by Frances left parties, hastily assembled as a New Popular Front, to contest the snap legislative elections called by Macron around a <https://www.rfi.fr/fr/france/20240614-%C3%A9lections-l%C3%A9gislatives-en-f rance-les-points-cl%C3%A9s-du-programme-du-nouveau-front-populaire> program that included as a common denominator the pledge to defend steadfastly Ukrainian sovereignty through the delivery of needed weapons. Full: https://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2024/06/ukraine-peace-summit-falters-amidst. html -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#30795): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/30795 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/106720440/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
