Peace Talks in Vienna Continue As Scheduled Despite Pro-War Opposition
By Marcy Winograd and Melissa Garriga
CODEPINK Co-founder Medea Benjamin is slated to speak this weekend at the International Summit for Peace in Ukraine, when representatives from over 30 countries meet in Vienna, Austria, June 10-11, to support the Global South’s call for a ceasefire and urgent negotiations to end the carnage in Ukraine.
“I am proud to be in Vienna,” said Benjamin, “with peace activists from all over the world who support a diplomatic settlement to the war which has no military solution. This is an opportunity to build a global anti-war movement to support peace negotiations without preconditions and to further the cause of non-violent conflict resolution,” said Benjamin, co-author of “War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.”
The International Summit for Peace in Ukraine was scheduled as an in-person and online event but almost had to cancel the in-person portion at the last minute due to opposition from pro-war activists and Ukrainian-affiliated agencies. Organizers had originally scheduled the conference to take place at the labor union headquarters ÖGB-Catamaran, but were forced to find another venue at the last minute.
One of the main individuals responsible for the cancellation of the initial event location was Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Chymynets, who charged that some of the participants should be considered “Russia’s fifth column,” working against the interests of Ukrainians. The Ukrainian ambassador objected to a few of the speakers, including world renown economist Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Clare Daly, Ireland’s representative at the European Union and CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin, who has visited dozens of US cities on a book tour to promote a diplomatic resolution to the war.
Trade unionist Wilfried Leisch was outraged at the venue cancellation and wrote to the union. “Anyone who is not looking for peace or does not even allow peace-seeking at a conference in neutral Austria and 2 days before the event cancels a hall that has been promised for a long time is trampling on all democratic rules and their own statutes,“ said Leisch.
While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected calls for a ceasefire, support for a mutual ceasefire grows throughout the world.
To date, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Ireland, Republic of Congo, Zambia, Senegal, Egypt, and other countries, as well as UN Secretary General Guterres, Pope Francis and the Church of Scotland urgently call for a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution to the war in Ukraine.
Slated to speak at the conference are Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament, Ireland; Vice President David Choquehuanca, Bolivia; Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, USA; Former UN Diplomat Michael von der Schulenburg, Germany; Former Colonel and Diplomat Ann Wright, USA; Prof. Anuradha Chenoy, India; Father Alejandro Solalinde, Advisor to the President of Mexico; USA activist/author Medea Benjamin, as well as peace activists from Ukraine and Russia representing such groups as the Ukrainian Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Partnership for Advancing Innovative Sustainability, Ukrainian Pacifist Movement and the peace-building institute PATRIR.
From the United States, several members of the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, launched by CODEPINK, will be on the ground in Vienna to urge an end to weapons shipments that only escalate the war. Bert Knorr, who co-chairs the Coalition with CODEPINK’s Marcy Winograd, will be in attendance to amplify the power of the global peace movement.
After the summit a march in Vienna to the various NATO-country embassies, as well as the embassies of Russia and Ukraine and international organizations located in Vienna will take place to meet with embassy representatives and deliver the Vienna Declaration for Peace from people around the world; The summit will also be supported by a send-off for delegations to visit the capitals of various European countries with the purpose of meeting with government officials and international organizations. Also, further events for late 2023 will be developed.
Learn more about the International Summit for Peace in Ukraine at www.peacevienna.org