The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has indicated this Friday that Europe does not need “more weapons or more tanks”. One day after the announcement by President Pedro Sánchez about the largest shipment of military material made by Spain to Ukraine to date, the also Minister of Social Rights has reiterated her party’s commitment to diplomacy as a way out of the conflict. During the inauguration of the Conference for Peace in Madrid, a forum of “social and political momentum” that is part of the actions of the European movement for peace -an alliance promoted after the Russian invasion-, Belarra has criticized the “hypocrisy ” of those who “hide” behind “proclamations of support for the Ukrainian people” to defend the economic interests of the arms industry or the United States. Belarra has also called for building a “great citizen movement for peace” that goes out into the streets to “stop the war.”
“Europe needs more doctors, more teachers, more diplomats and more domestic workers with rights, not more weapons or more tanks,” said the top leader of Podemos the day after Sánchez made public the shipment of 200 tons of military material to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky. A decision that hours before the Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda, Enrique Santiago, has also branded “incomprehensible”.
Podemos was opposed to handing over weapons to the Ukrainian resistance from the outset, an issue that opened a gap within the coalition government. The international meeting has had the participation of representatives of different parties of the European left, such as the former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, and of the state level (United Left, Commons, Green Alliance, ERC, EH Bildu and BNG).
The general secretary of Podemos has asked in her speech to “abandon hypocrisies” and that Europe “live up to the idea it has of itself”. “Faced with this war, many people wonder if it has not been hypocrisy to embrace Putin for so many years despite his authoritarianism and his persecution of the LGTBI community, despite his strong links with the entire European extreme right such as [Marine] LePen, [Viktor] Orban or [Santiago] Abascal”, the minister pointed out. “Or if it has not also been hypocrisy to hide behind proclamations of support for the Ukrainian people when in reality they are defending strong unspeakable economic interests, as evidenced by the fact that the 18 largest arms companies in the world have risen in value by almost a 15% since the invasion began two months ago, the commitments to increase military spending or the increase in the sale of North American liquefied gas to all of Europe”, criticized Belarra.
The general secretary of Podemos has also defended a “massive citizen mobilization”. “Sign the manifestos, go to the concentrations, fill the nets and the balconies with symbols”, she has demanded. The minister has demanded “bet everything on diplomacy” and has assured that it is an “obligation” to deploy “all governmental, institutional and social power” to “demand” a “real involvement” of the international community and the United Nations. “All efforts are few to achieve a ceasefire and stop Putin’s feet.”
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Belarra, who last Monday signed a manifesto together with the former Vice President of the Government Pablo Iglesias, political representatives, intellectuals and journalists in which he called for asylum policies for all those who flee or the protection of the populations against the consequences of the conflict, has described this Friday the Russian invasion as an “illegitimate and illegal aggression that seriously violates international law.”
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