by Joe Lombardo, UNAC Coordinator, November 3, 2023
This is a brief report on the international peace conference that took place in Rome on Oct. 27 – 28. There were 6 of us at the conference from the US. The conference was attended by about 200 people. People came from 25 countries representing 40 different organizations. Delegates from Iran, Afghanistan and the Philippines were denied visas and were not able to attend. A number of Palestinians who were scheduled to attend were unable due to the present situation in Palestine. A number of people also addressed the conference remotely. Speakers included:
- the former Italian Ambassador Elena Basile
- the former Slovak Prime Minister Ján Čarnogurský
- the Lebanese Member of Parliament for Hezbollah Ali Fayyad
- the Secretary of the United Communist Party of Russia Daria Dasha Mitina
- representative of the Communist Parties of Georga and Ukraine
- former Parliamentarian from Odessa Alexey Albu
- The father of Julian Assange John Shipton
- Former Deputy Minister of the Lugansk People’s Republic Andrej Kochetov
Many others, including representatives of a number of groups represented at the conference also spoke. I gave greetings and spoke for UNAC.
The conference was originally planned around the war in Ukraine and was primarily attended by groups from around the world who saw it as a US/NATO proxy war which was targeting Russia. This is a difficult position for many in the West where propaganda, censorship and repression of groups that don’t agree with the US/NATO line that the war is simply an unprovoked attack by Russia are put under a lot of pressure. However, even in Europe this line is being challenged by more and more people.
Since the announcement of the conference, the horrific genocidal attacks on the people of Gaza had started and the conference made that an important dual focus. At the end of the conference, we marched in the massive demonstration for Palestine in Rome and a representative of the conference spoke at the action.
The conference was covered by a lot of the alternative media in Europe and some of the corporate media.
We adopted a final declaration that called for the formation on an international network of peace and anti-imperialist groups, the organization of activist trips to Donbas and Palestine and for a second international conference to happen in 2024. Additionally, an addendum was added that called for network groups to join us in Washington, DC in July where protests are being organized when NATO will be coming for a meeting and to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The wording of the final resolution from the conference can be found here.
The web site for the conference can be found here. The website includes the endorsing organizations, some video and more. Lee Sui Hin also did a video and sent it to this list.
*Featured Image: More than 20,000 people marched in Rome on October 28, in solidarity with Palestine. Conference attendees marched with them. photo credit: Li Siu Hin