John Rees reports on an international call to mobilise against European rearmament

It’s a simple choice: either a militarised Europe or a Europe committed to peace.

Activists are preparing an international peace conference in Paris just as the Financial Times reports that European arms manufactures are expanding at triple the normal pace.

The Financial Times found seven-million square meters of new industrial development after tracking changes at 150 facilities across 37 companies who make ammunition and missiles.

Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defence contractor, has seen its stock rise by 1,000%. The firm produces armoured vehicles, ammunition, and other military equipment.

In response to the Trump-mandated European rearmament programme, politicians and activists across Europe are organising a peace conference in Paris on 5 October.

The conference comes after hundreds of activists across the continent signed a call to halt the militarisation of Europe and to use the resources to rebuild crumbling infrastructure and reverse the welfare cuts that every citizen faces.

The Paris conference already has nearly 2,000 registered to attend in the huge Paris venue. The event will be a huge gathering of Palestine solidarity. The aim is to restart the Europe-wide social movement, the European Social Forum, that galvanised opposition to neoliberalism and the Iraq war in the early years of the century.

A follow-up conference is already being planned for London in 2026.

Every peace activist and trade unionist should get to Paris for this important initiative.

You can sign up here: https://www.billetweb.fr/meeting-international-contre-la-guerre