All political action starts with an analysis of the reality around us. So, we first need to understand the roots of this war, which I identify as a profound crisis of the dominant capitalist system, expressed on multiple levels:

First, an economic crisis affecting the whole world. The subprime crisis in 2008, the debt crisis from 2011 onwards and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 have intensified the centralisation of capital in the hands of a few holding companies and oligarchs (I am not just referring to the Russian oligarchs, but also and above all to those in the United States, where 80% of the country’s total wealth belongs to a few families). The neoliberal globalisation model is in deep crisis.

Secondly, a geopolitical crisis causing major instabilities. Although US imperialism in all its forms (financial, military and cultural) remains hegemonic, it is beginning, because of the crisis in its model of neoliberal globalisation, to show cracks from which new forces with global ambitions are emerging, notably China and, to a lesser extent, Russia. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must therefore be seen as an attempt, on one hand, to insert itself into a breach caused by the crisis of the globalised economic model, but on the other hand, also as Putin’s ambition for imperial expansion (cf. his speeches on the return to the Czarist model of Russia).

Thirdly, a civilisational and cultural crisis. The rise of ultra-conservative and (neo-)fascist forces throughout the world (from Trump to Bolsonaro, from Orban to Erdogan, from Modi to Meloni etc.) is the expression of a crisis of neoliberal subjectivity and of the incapacity to assert a progressive alternative. This is reflected precisely in the victory of the right and the ultra-right in nearly all countries in Europe, in the discriminatory and classist policies (cf. for example the „double standard“ applied in migration policies), etc.

In this general context, Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government represents an exemplary model of the new dominant politics of our time, in particular the war economy. From her first day in office as the country’s new Prime Minister, G. Meloni has confirmed the continuity of her policy of commitment to the transatlantic and European pacts and to the United States‘ service (economic and financial sanctions, militarisation of the conflict in Ukraine, availability of Italian and NATO military bases in Italy for war operations, increase of public spending for the army, etc.), and – at the same time – her policy against the lower classes: blocking the implementation of a legal minimum wage, counter-reform of the social assistance system, lack of industrial planning, repressive measures against migrants, refugees and other „minorities“. Her warmongering policy abroad, in the conflict in Ukraine, is matched by a warmongering policy at social level, against the working class and the Italian people.

We are convinced that there is no other option today than to join the political and social field for peace. But we are also aware of the inevitable link between the war abroad and the social war against workers in every country.  That’s why we can’t be satisfied with demanding abstract peace, we have to fill this term with socialist content. Being in favour of peace means today supporting any attempt to negotiate, whether it be the proposal of Xi Jinping’s China, of the Pope or of the Brazilian President Lula. Being in favour of peace means fighting for social justice by supporting workers‘ struggles against redundancies, for the defence of their pension systems, for the improvement of their living and working conditions. It means supporting the youth movement that is filling the streets around the world against the destruction of the planet and for climate justice. And above all it means connecting and converging these struggles in a broad social movement capable of building an alternative model to the war economy.

United we are everything, divided we are nothing!