Statement of Susan George (Transnational Institute) for the Demonstration against the NATO-Security-Conference

Today we are at the centre of several converging crises. All of them threaten peace and human security. The climate crisis will displace innumerable people with rising temperatures and increasing numbers of droughts, floods and storms. The financial crisis has created 200 million jobless people worldwide and is impoverishing countless others. Our societies are ridden with huge inequalities. Social justice for ourselves, our families and our countries seems a vanishing hope. At any time, in any place, people can decide that they will no longer suffer quietly. Governments will respond to their protests with escalating force. We who are engaged in fighting for social and environmental justice absolutely need the help of the peace movement. Our goals may seem different but they are all part of the same vision of a better world. If we can learn to work together, if we are united, we can win. If not, I fear we are all sure to lose.