In step with the WSWS’s repeated warnings that overseas wars are inevitably accompanied by repression at dwelling, the manifesto notes that “militarised contexts typically come hand in hand with setbacks in rights, freedoms, and social insurance policies; they generate worry and social alarm, creating the proper circumstances to normalise mechanisms of repression and authoritarianism, which we’re already starting to witness.”
Considerably, it additionally challenges the often-repeated imperialist propaganda that rearmament is required to defend towards potential Russian aggression, arguing that “if that have been really the case, the stance in the direction of Netanyahu could be the identical as in the direction of Putin.” The manifesto accuses Europe of “remaining silent or, worse nonetheless, supporting Israel in its genocide in Gaza and the West Financial institution, and even persecuting those that denounce it.”
It reminds readers that “the individuals of our nation have repeatedly demonstrated their dedication to peace and anti-war insurance policies,” recalling the mass protests towards the Iraq Conflict and the resistance to Spain’s NATO accession within the mid-Nineteen Eighties.
Criticising the truth that militaristic insurance policies can be paid for by employees by means of cuts to employees rights and social spending, the manifesto warns that “the cash from our public hospitals, our faculties and public universities, our heath care system, our social safety and security nets for instances of hardship … goes to be redirected to purchase tanks, rifles, fighter jets and missiles for battle, just because the war-mongering elites at the moment governing Europe and the US have determined so.”
In its remaining part, it declares that “wars are deliberate in comfy places of work, however it’s the individuals who pay the worth,” concluding with a robust assertion: “We refuse to just accept battle, as a result of we don’t want the peace of the graveyards, as a result of historical past reveals us that the one practical path to peace shouldn’t be army, however political. Get to work and pursue peace—we demand it.”
The manifesto has acquired the backing of a number of the most distinguished and internationally recognised figures in Spanish cinema, together with Javier Bardem, Aitana Sánchez Gijón (The Machinist, A Stroll within the Clouds, The Chambermaid on the Titanic), Luis Tosar (Take My Eyes, Maixabel), and Juan Diego Botto (1492: Conquest of Paradise). It has additionally been endorsed by administrators resembling Montxo Armendáriz, writers together with Manuel Rivas and Isaac Rosa, and musicians like Rozalén and the Spanish-Palestinian composer Marwan.
Assist for this manifesto by actors resembling Oscar-winning Javier Bardem marks a major step ahead. In 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bardem and different artists have been initially trapped and echoed NATO’s propaganda, decreasing the battle to Putin’s expansionist ambitions. Bardem joined a protest exterior the Russian embassy in Madrid, describing Putin as “a determine who reveals each signal of being an imperialist and ultranationalist.”
Whereas the invasion of Ukraine was fully reactionary, and Putin represents nothing greater than the pursuits of Russian capitalism and the oligarchy—looking for to keep up a level of autonomy in its dealings with the imperialist powers—the fact stays that these NATO powers are undeniably the principle aggressors. They’ve systematically labored to encircle and threaten Russia ever because the Stalinist paperwork dissolved the Soviet Union over 30 years in the past.
Now Bardem and plenty of different artists are taking a step ahead by supporting a manifesto that hyperlinks battle, austerity and repression, whereas warning of European and US battle plans and drawing a connection between the battle towards Russia and the brutal Zionist genocide in Gaza.
The presentation of the manifesto was backed by MPs from Podemos and Sumar—the 2 pseudo-left organisations which have served as coalition companions of the Socialist Occasion (PSOE) since 2019. Their presence was not solely a wretched act of hypocrisy, however one which fully contradicts the highly effective message of the manifesto.
Since 2020, they’ve collaborated with the PSOE in launching the biggest improve in army spending in Spanish historical past, supported NATO’s battle towards Russia in Ukraine, and maintained arms commerce with Israel. Their attendance at such occasions is nothing greater than an try and obscure the truth that they’re totally embedded within the Spanish and NATO-aligned capitalist, militarist, and imperialist equipment.
Regardless of the presence of Podemos and Sumar, this manifesto represents an important step ahead, revealing the deep opposition inside Spain’s cultural sphere to militarism and rising army expenditure. It displays the emotions of the working class, which doesn’t need to see its social rights destroyed in alternate for the acquisition of weapons.
Nevertheless, it should be confused that interesting to the European Union will lead nowhere. Over the previous a long time, European governments have backed US wars throughout the Balkans, the Center East, Japanese Europe and Africa. Right now they assist the battle in Ukraine and again Netanyahu’s far-right regime and its genocide towards the Palestinian individuals. Domestically, they’re imposing brutal austerity measures and more and more integrating neo-fascist events into energy and implementing their insurance policies.
These governments can’t be anticipated to vary course. The social pressure that should be mobilized in wrestle based mostly on the broader opposition to battle expressed by these artists is the working class.
The World Socialist Internet Web site is the voice of the working class and the management of the worldwide socialist motion. We rely fully on the assist of our readers. Please donate in the present day!
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67eaadd81a6c49608b5ad4c9ef90ebc3&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2025%2F03%2F31%2Fbrod-m31.html&c=6901236439105087953&mkt=de-de
Creator :
Publish date : 2025-03-30 20:59:00
Copyright for syndicated content material belongs to the linked Source.