Palestinian solidarity performance at ManiFesta 2024 -- image via X
By Global News Service
Over 15,000 people gathered in Ostend, Belgium, for ManiFiesta 2024, a two-day event of activism and solidarity. Inspired by speeches from global activists and union leaders, attendees left with a renewed drive to pursue mobilizations in different parts of Europe.
Speaking at the central event of ManiFiesta, Raoul Hedebouw, president of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB), set the tone. He addressed growing inequalities and attacks on workers’ rights in Belgium, announcing a response from the party. A significant part of the event was also devoted to building solidarity with Palestine, with speakers such as Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, and climate justice activist Anuna De Wever Van Der Heyden emphasizing the importance of international support for Palestinian liberation.
Beyond Palestine, ManiFiesta 2024 also highlighted the responsibility European movements bear toward the Global South and the conditions those countries face as a result of historic and current European policies.
“The West has forgotten how to build things,” said Vijay Prashad, executive director of the Tricontinental Institute, reflecting on the future that the growing Palestine solidarity movement might contribute to. “Israel blows up hospitals. The Global South will build them,” he stated.
Another key topic at ManiFiesta was the role of trade unions in addressing growing inequalities and defending workers’ rights. British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the vital role unions can play in pushing for peace and disarmament, while United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain shared his union’s success in shifting power to its members.
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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