It is a great honor to be invited by the Workers Party (PT) to this impressive Congress and be part of the large group of international delegates observing the incredible transformations here in Mexico.

I believe we have all traveled here for three main reasons — the three great crises that menace our world and beset the progressive forces who hope to shape it.

 

Jeremy Corbyn: "Venceremos compañeros, y viva México."
Speech to the International Seminar of the PT Mexico on the occasion of the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum.

 

The first is war: the escalating threat of international conflict, and what it means for millions of vulnerable populations from Palestine to Sudan.

The second is inequality: the explosion of wealth inequality between those who jet set across the world and those who can barely afford to pay for the heating.

And the third is dis-empowerment: how our economies and our politics are designed to make certain people feel invincible, and others worthless in our democratic system.

Each of these crises requires us to work together — from this seminar to the weeks and months ahead — on a global front: a new kind of International that brings together parties and unions and movements across the world.

And this effort — to strengthen a Progressive International — starts here, in Mexico, where we have so much to learn from how Morena and the PT have responded to each one of these global crises.

I send my most sincere congratulations to Claudia Sheinbaum on her election as President of Mexico, a huge victory for an agenda to continue reducing poverty and increasing opportunities for all working-class communities.

And I express my gratitude to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for his presidency, for taking 5 million out of poverty and for dedicating his every waking hour to redress the crisis of economic, social, and political inequality in this country. His daily ‘Mañanera’ is a global legend, and succeeded in setting a political agenda every day rather than allowing hostile media sources to do so.

I was here in 2006 to join the protests against the historic fraud committed in that presidential election against Andrés Manuel, again to join those protests 2012, and finally to share the joy of the great victory in 2018. That victory — and even stronger result delivered to Morena in this year’s election — mark a major triumph for not only for Mexico’s Left, but also for the international Left at large.

In a world of desperate need — for the redistribution of power and wealth and environmental sustainability — we are instead beset by war.

There are at least 43,000 already dead in Gaza, as Israel rains bombs down in contravention of both international law and humanity. And now Israel extends the war to Lebanon with massive destruction of Beirut and huge loss of life.

Do not forget the occupation of the West Bank and the continued settlements taking land and water away from Palestinian farmers. Generations on the West Bank have never known anything but occupation; the refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria were born in forced exile.

In defiance of widespread demands, a ceasefire has been refused. Israel, now intent on occupying much of Lebanon, can only increase the spread of war and involve other countries. Netanyahu used his UN speech, a place for peace, to announce only more war and destruction.

The huge demonstrations around the world in support of Palestine are demanding a ceasefire and an end to arms supplies to Israel by the US and European countries, including Britain. Without the supply of planes and bombs, Israel could not continue the carnage.

In the UK, we are about to hold our fifteenth national demonstration and make renewed demands on the UK Government to halt the supply of weapons and the use of British military bases in Cyprus to further the war aims of Israel.

We need even more demonstrations around the world to try to end the war — and also recognise there are brave people in Israel that also oppose the war.

Those demonstrations must call for peace not only in Gaza, but across all the countries today beset by international and civil conflict.

In Ukraine, the war is costing thousands of lives of conscripted Ukrainian and Russian soldiers. We must recognize that the invasion of Ukraine was both wrong and illegal, and also the war can only end by negotiation led by either the United Nations or a group of political leaders from Africa and Latin America, mounting a renewed attempt at peace.

Meanwhile, wars in Sudan and Congo are taking thousands of lives, fuelled by a fatal combination of mineral extraction and sales of arms by US American and European manufacturers.

We must all work together in this new Progressive International. The Left is and must be a movement for peace and social and economic justice, and it must bring together the diverse forces that stand for these principles.

Austerity and neoliberal economics have brought damage to public services, lower taxation for the wealthiest and increased levels of poverty. The richest and most powerful corporations in the world are becoming stronger and pursuing an agenda against organised labour.

That is why we need unity of left forces on a global level, and why we need — as the Progressive International has endorsed — a New International Economic Order. That New International Economic Order insists on empowerment for the Global South in the face of global demands from biggest businesses and the very obvious environmental issues faced, especially by the poorest people.

When racism is rising — as it is in Europe and North America, with far right parties blaming the victims of violence for the crimes of neoliberalism — the Left must speak out.

Any compromises with the racist right only help them grow. Left parties and working-class organisations need to be united and determined in making the case for a world of social justice and peace.

We can only achieve this by working and campaigning together, and above all, supporting each other in wage demands and the protection of rights.

Our conference here in Mexico City is an example of the confidence that comes from unity and determination of the vision of the kind of world we can live in, and the hope that comes from people all over the world standing in solidarity.

Thank you for the honour of my invitation; to challenge the crisis, the poorest and most vulnerable face, we need confidence, unity and inspiration.

Venceremos compañeros y viva México.

https://progressive.international/wire/2024-10-02-jeremy-corbyn-venceremos-compaeros-y-viva-mxico/en

 

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