• War and Peace

Understanding and Resisting European Militarism and Imperialism

The term “Third World War” is no longer an abstract idea. As wars continue to emerge and rage around the world, states and sectors profiting from war prepare for further fronts of military confrontation. The wars to come will lead to irreversible losses of life on earth. While asserting themselves materially with force and power (political, financial, etc.), imperialist and militarist states and institutions also mobilize for war in the cultural and intellectual realms - from schools to the entertainment industry.

The main institutions of capitalist modernity in Europe (NATO, the EU, etc.) are among the main perpetrators of crises within as well as beyond the continent. Understanding and resisting contemporary militarism and imperialism in the context of Europe today is therefore an urgent task of internationalists and freedom-loving peoples around the world. This working group aims to be a space to discuss and organize around this task.

Beyond developing strong, politically relevant common analysis, the aim of this working group is to build towards the organization of meaningful resistance against the systems that kill life.

In developing our analysis of contemporary imperialism and militarism, we must holistically understand their links to capitalist economy and issues affecting society and nature more widely: ecocide, femicide, forced migration, societal divisions, etc. This involves exposing the dominant systems’ ideological interventions and breaking their claims for a monopoly on truth. After all, a world full of war cannot be normalized to such an extent without the manipulation of public opinion and knowledge. In this sense, the critical examination of the role of institutions of knowledge (e.g. dominant media organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, human rights organizations, etc.) in upholding militarism and imperialism is a crucial consideration.

Some of the questions we want to discuss together are:

• What is the nature of imperialism and militarism today? What is the role of the European Union in this picture? What is the situation in different regions in the world? What different perspectives must we consider in our internationalist analysis? What does the emergence of new formations (e.g. BRICS) imply for the world order?
• What kinds of concepts and technologies will shape warfare in the 21st century (e.g. population-centric war, counter-insurgency methods, artificial intelligence, etc.)?
• In what ways will wars be shaped by competition over oil and gas reserves and fossil infrastructure?
• In what ways is society’s knowledge about the world shaped by imperialist frameworks and narratives? How can we strengthen and make accessible anti-imperialist and anti-militarist analysis for society?
• How can peoples build their self-defence against the forces of war and occupation?
• Beyond fragmented efforts, what can a unity of struggles against imperialism and militarism look like in Europe and beyond?