Hundreds marched the streets of Hiroshima City on 19 May to protest against the Group of 7 (G7) which held its summit in Japan. Protesters gathered in the Peace Memorial Park, carrying slogans “No to War-themed Conference!“ and “G7 is the cause of war!” The demonstrations were part of the International Day of Action Against the G7 held in several countries on 18-20 May 2023.
The International People’s Front (IPF) and the International League of Struggle (ILPS) participated in the actions. More than 24,000 police were deployed to guard the leaders of G7 in attendance.
In the Philippines, activists from ILPS-Philippines, Bayan and other progressive organizations held a picket after a forum which discussed the history of US imperialism, its role in armed conflicts today and people’s resistance against militarism.
G7 is composed of US, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, and the European Union. According to ILPS, the G7’s main agenda is to “intensify the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and strengthening war provocation against China.”
“While the Summit pays lip service to a ‘free and open world’ based on the rule of law, it was the US and its allies who make their own rules. While there are calls for disarmament, the G7 is on a war path,” added ILPS in a statement.
The latest report from the Costs of War Project at Brown University shows that the post-9/11 US-led War
on Terror may have caused at least 4.5 million deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
The Resist US-Led War Movement declared that “G7’s role is crucial in the war strategy pushed by the US, including the expansion of military bases, nuclear arms, agreements on military training, and new bilateral and trilateral military agreements.”
Within the G7, differences are merely papered over. As they cannot completely decouple from China, they just agree on “de-risking” their China relations. In fact, the China led BRICS group of countries has already overtaken the G7 in terms of global GDP.
The EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ and the G7’s own ‘Build Back Better World’ (B3W) competing funding schemes never took off. China’s trade with the EU and the US has dwindled by as much a third in the past months. On the other hand, China’s trade with partners in the Belt and Road Initiative is growing as well as with China’s Overseas Direct Investment (ODI)
ILPS called on the peoples of the world to remain ever vigilant against the US and G7 war provocations. It believes that people can stop the wars by fighting back imperialism.