STATEMENT | People’s Rejoinder to the Group of Seven (G-7) Hiroshima Summit

Statement delivered by ILPS Chairperson Len Cooper during the webinar ‘People’s Rejoinder to the Group of Seven (G-7) Hiroshima Summit’ last June 24, 2023

Thank you to the People over Profit (PoP) organisation, and the other organisations who have contributed, for the invitation to speak with you on the important topic of the real nature of the G7, and exposing its imperialist programme. It is a pleasure to share some considerations with you all.

I have titled my contribution “THE G7 SUMMIT 2023-SCRAP THE G7”.

The farce and hypocrisy of the G7 Summit “outcomes” is best demonstrated by looking at the so-called “outcome document” regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament.

U.S. imperialism has consistently opposed the nuclear test ban treaty and any moves towards nuclear disarmament for itself, or others it considers its allies.

However, it demands nuclear weapons reduction or destruction by China, Russia, and North Korea, and no nuclear weapons development by Iran, all countries it sees as its enemy or its competitors.

The G7 2023 summit, dominated by the U.S., declares that the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament is the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

This treaty is aimed at stopping other countries arming themselves with nuclear weapons, but at the same time does nothing about the nuclear monopoly and the policy of  nuclear blackmail by the U.S. and its closest allies.

The G7, despite this utter hypocrisy, declares “its commitment” to achieving a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all, through a realistic, pragmatic, and responsible approach.” This is typical nonsensical rhetoric from the G7 so-called outcomes.

Surely the quickest, and only effective way to nuclear disarmament, is for all current nuclear states to agree to decommission and destroy their weapons, and then an agreement of no further proliferation to apply after this.

The so-called outcome of the G7 in 2023, on this topic, is a perfect example of the hypocrisy and duplicity of the G7 nations on all the issues of concern at the G7 summit.

As well as the nuclear issue, the other issues of concern coming out of the summit   were dealt with in so called outcome papers covering topics such as “climate, “energy and environment”, “health”, “finance”, “infrastructure”, “food security, nutrition, migration and refugees”, “the climate crisis”, “economic resilience and security”, and so on. There were about 19 “outcome” papers all together.

It is significant that of those 19 “outcome” papers, at least 12 of them contained significant sections attacking what they constantly refer to as “Russian aggression”. This alone is a testimony to the real purpose of the summit.

For example the outcome papers on issues like “Climate, Energy and Environment”,”Agriculture”,“Education”, “Food Security and Nutrition”, etc, in effect try to place the blame for the situation on so called “Russian aggression”.

The G7 Summit in Hiroshima was overwhelmingly aimed at trying to shore up the G7, and its bigger group of the G20 nations, and cover up their differences and disunity.

Differences on Ukraine, on China, on Russia, on economic security, on building the clean energy economies of the future, on nuclear disarmament, on poverty and on the climate crisis across the world for example.

On all these issues and others, the capitalist countries that make up the G7 are divided by their own self- interest.

They continue to talk about countering the negative impacts of Russia’s war on the rest of the world, particularly on the most vulnerable people.

In doing so they ignore and cover up the impact of their own sanctions on the world’s most vulnerable people, and they totally ignore, and cover up, the actual cause of the military conflict over Ukraine, which is, and has been, rooted in the U.S. Imperialist/NATO continuing encroachment and aggression towards Russian territory over a number of years, and the use of Ukraine as a proxy or puppet in making war against Russia.

The responsibility for provoking the Russian military action in Ukraine, by U.S. Imperialism and NATO cannot be ignored, and must be faced in any peace agreement to end the fighting.

The G7, in its “outcomes”, announced new steps to economically isolate Russia and weaken its ability to wage war.

What are the G7 nations doing about the U.S. ability to wage war and the billions being made by the U.S. military/industrial complex out of this, and other U.S. initiated military actions and militarisation, across the globe?

What about the U.S. wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc and other aggressions against Nth Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua etc. Where are the G7 sanctions against these illegal U.S actions and threats against these sovereign nations?

The participants in the G7, claim or allude to, being on track to meet their Paris commitments on the global climate crisis. The outcomes from the G7 give no indications about actions they are taking to meet that commitment, just plenty of rhetoric and plenty of declared ambitions. Nothing specific about what they will do to stop the big polluters, the big destroyers of the environment, the fossil fuel vandals, and the real warmongers.

The people in many parts of the world are fighting against unprecedented global hunger and poverty, massive displacement from their homes and countries, homelessness, attacks on their democratic and human rights, and environmental and climate destruction, war and aggression.

They are suffering from all this and more, in part, because a tiny minority of the world, the capitalists of the globe, control the food systems of the globe for profit, thus ensuring an unjust, inequitable, un-healthy, and unsustainable world food system.

This tiny minority, the very wealthy, also keep the globe in a state of war or threat of war.

The capitalist system, long ago, developed to its highest and final stage, the stage of imperialism, in which its drive for ever super profits takes it to all the corners of the globe not only oppressing and exploiting the working class and other toilers in the advanced capitalist countries, but especially to the third world, which it has turned into its colonies and neo-colonies, exploiting and oppressing the peasants, rural workers and farmers.

In order to try to ensure its ongoing domination and exploitation of the world, U.S. Imperialism long ago set up its world- wide system of agencies such as the world bank, the international monetary fund, the world trade organisation, and other organisations such as the G7, the G20, and so on.

The G7 for example, is made up of the 7 largest capitalist economies, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, U.S.A, which come together regularly to coordinate its implementation of the neoliberal agenda, amongst other things.

The Group of Seven capitalist nations have dominated global trade and finance.

The G7 countries, themselves dominated by the U.S., aim to control the world for profit or destroy it for profit. They plunder the worlds people and if allowed to, they will destroy the globe financially, ecologically, or militarily.

The G20 group of nations simply adds more capitalist nations to the US orbit beyond the G7.

If U.S. Imperialism cannot achieve or maintain its domination of countries via its economic and financial networks, via groupings like the G7, and G20, then it makes use of its military bases, military pacts and weapons of war to achieve its domination.

The people of the world are refusing to accept this vandalism and domination and are fighting back right across the globe.

The U.S. adopted neoliberalism as its formal policy programme from about 1947, and has, through its economic and financial   networks, and its military aggression, spread neoliberalism and neoliberal policies to the world.

Neoliberalism includes the privatisation of public assets, the undermining of effective unionism, deregulation of controls over capital, denationalisation, protection of foreign investment, subsidies for overseas investment, tax cuts for foreign investors, interest rates and exchange rates suitable to capital, cuts in social spending on people’s needs, laws to protect property rights, the control of natural resources by foreign capital and more.

In total, neoliberalism is a comprehensive policy programme to completely serve the capitalist big banks and other corporations, against the interests of the working class, peasants and other toilers.

Neoliberalism is a programme faithfully implemented by capitalist parliaments in much of the world, and particularly the G7 parliaments, under pressure from United States capital.

Of course, neoliberalism, which it was claimed would help overcome the crisis of the imperialist system, has in fact aggravated and intensified it, by worsening its crisis of overproduction, and overaccumulation of capital in the hands of fewer and fewer capitalists.

Despite the ongoing and worsening crisis, which on the one hand sees the fabulously wealthy get richer and on the other the broad masses get ever poorer, the capitalists persist with neoliberalism.

In the 1930’s of last century, the world experienced the great depression and then fascism and the second world war. Today, we witness again the growth of state terrorism against the people, the re-growth of fascist oppression of the people in parts of the world, the continual worsening of the economic crisis, war and the constant threat of war.

The grave crisis of the system today, is leading to the masses of the people in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, Nth. America, and even in the U.S.A. itself, waging various forms of struggle and resistance to uphold their basic democratic rights, their basic economic rights, their rights to national and social liberation and opposition to aggressive war.

Global inequality continues to accelerate under the world imperialist system. I quote from a paper from our dear, recently departed comrade, Joma Sison, former Chairperson Emeritus of the ILPS, not long before his passing.

He says in this article, on the topic of growing inequality, and I quote, “…. Half of the world’s net wealth belongs to the top 1%, the top 10% of adults hold 85%, while the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world’s total wealth. The top 30% of adults hold 97% of the total wealth.” Joma goes on to quote research from the international research and aid organisation Oxfam, on the same subject. I quote again; “The total of 2,153 billionaires in the world have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60% of the planet’s population…” and again, “just 1% of humanity owning over one-half of the world’s wealth, the top 20% owning 94.5% and 80% of the people sharing just 5.5%.”

Joma goes on to conclude in his article, that this enormous disparity in wealth means that capitalism cannot solve its constantly worsening crisis, and that we must step up the struggle for national liberation, democracy and socialism.

As part of that struggle, we must continue to expose and oppose the agencies of imperialism, like the G7 and G20.

The G7 nations organise their summits to try to dress up their anti- people programme, and their obsession with profit, in the hope of continuing to do what they have long been doing. Destroying the planet, making war and threatening war, forcing the people to live in want and deprivation.

The G7 summit is used to criticise Russia over Ukraine, to blame Russia and others for the current parlous state of the world, and to cover up the real cause, which is the for- profit system and Imperialism’s drive and ambition to dominate the world’s markets, resources and minerals.

The G7 summit outcomes contained large amounts of rhetoric and declared ambitions, some identification of possible handouts and charity, based on the “good will” of the G7 and G20, but cover up the real need for the countries of the poor and oppressed to be free and independent to provide land to the peasants, to ensure that the mineral resources and the wealth are in the hands of the people, rather than in the hands of the big capitalist corporations.

Rather than a summit to resolve the enormous problems of the people of the world, the G7 summit in Japan was a summit to try to shore up the allies of U.S. Imperialism in the hope of getting support for its unacceptable war drive against its rivals Russia and China.

Junk the G7!
Long live international solidarity!
Long live the people’s movement against imperialism and all reaction!

Thank you,

Len Cooper, Chairperson, International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS)

23/06/23