 with us today. Now, next up against very female dominated platforms today, appropriately so, we are honoured and delighted also to have with us, Medea Benjamin. Now, Medea is the co-founder of the Women-led Peace Group called Pink. She's also co-founder of the Human Rights Group Global Exchange, the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, UNFREVA, Gamestan, etc. etc. She's been an advocate for social justice for over 50 years, and she's only 52, so that's amazing. Then, described as one of America's most committed and most effective fighters for human rights by the New York Newstay and one of the high profile leaders of the Peace movement by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of a thousand exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do Peace work internationally, so we're delighted to have Anne's partner in crime, Medea here with us today. Well, thank you so much. It's such an honour to be here when I hear Claire or Mick say come to Ireland, to me it's saying jump and I say how high. I will follow them anywhere. Being here at this forum is really heartwarming for me just the fact that we're having this forum. My partner in crime, Anne Wright and I, just got back from Ukraine. We were in the western part, in the safer part of Lviv, and the night we got in there at four o'clock in the morning, there was a siren, people running down to the bomb shelters and indeed a Russian drone hid a communication centre. The days we spent there as we walked through the streets, one minute it would look like life is normal, people out in the cafes going about their business, and the next minute you'd come upon a ceremony for a fallen soldier. We went out into the cemetery and saw hundreds and hundreds of freshly minted graves. We saw the widows who were desperate. We saw the children who were leaving flowers for the fathers that they would never see again. It is horrific what is happening in Ukraine and it is natural that people in Ireland like people everywhere say how can we help? And I am coming from a country that thinks helping is pouring more and more and more weapons into that fire and not only that, as Sevan said, it's also a country that has stymied or blown up negotiations several times and that pains me tremendously to see my country wanting to drag out this war so that it can weaken Russia. And who knows what is happening in Russia right now as we see tanks of a mercenary group, the Wagner group, trying to reach Moscow in a coup. And I'm sure there are many people who say well that would be wonderful to get rid of Putin. But who knows what would come after that? What would happen? We have no idea. What we know is that there's a horrible war waging and this war can easily spread throughout Europe. This war could easily become a third world war. This war could easily become a nuclear war. And so to say that the way to help is to pour more weapons in to me is absolutely insane. The way to help, of course, is to provide humanitarian aid. The way to help is, of course, to open up our countries to refugees, which many countries talk a lot about but don't do enough. The way to help is to offer our governments forward as mediators. And the way to help is to open the public space for dialogue. And that's what we're doing here today. One thing that has scared me very much is how that space for dialogue has been closing. I see it in my own country where in the media we're not able to get op-eds or articles in the mainstream or we're not able to get ourselves on mainstream television, we actually have to pay for ads in places like the New York Times to get our opinion across. And I wrote a book on Ukraine called War on Ukraine, Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict. And I've been traveling around the country to 70 different cities. And as I've been going, there are more and more protests against me. And that is coming from Ukrainian Americans. It's coming from people who call themselves leftists. It's coming from very strange quarters and people who are extremely aggressive and say they are fighting for democracy in Ukraine, but they don't believe in the right to free speech. And in fact, my talks have been canceled at universities, at bookstores, at churches. And the last talk I gave before coming to Europe, there was a such an aggressive protest that we ended up with one of our hosts and veteran for peace in the emergency room in the hospital after getting beaten up. When we walked here today, I was really surprised that there were protesters outside. And I realize that is because there is space in Ireland. There is space because Ireland is a neutral country. There is space because the Irish people care about hearing the various voices. That is not what we've seen recently as Ann and I traveled around Eastern Europe and saw that in Poland, people were scared to death to talk about negotiations. People were scared and Slovakians said they lost their jobs having written something about calling for negotiations. And in Austria, one of the few neutral countries left on this continent, we were holding an international summit for peace in Ukraine where we were so delighted that Claire joined us. But that summit was supposed to be hosted by the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions. And two days before it was supposed to begin, the trade union got cold feet because of protests, including protests from the Ukrainian ambassador to Austria. And they pulled the plug and said we could not have our gathering there, which was a gathering with people, hundreds of people from over 32 countries, including people from Ukraine and Russia who wanted to talk about the need for peace. We also had to find a new venue because the press club canceled our venue for a press conference. And the press in general in Austria trashed us for being Putin apologists. None of us are Putin apologists. We are all delighted to talk about how we do not believe that Putin is a president of a country that should continue in waging this kind of war, this illegal, brutal war. We are happy to call him what he is, which is a murderous dictator. And yet, we are considered Putin apologists. And that's why, again, it is so important to be here. And I want to single out how important it is for the world community to hear the voices of Clara Daly and Mick Wallace, which we hang onto in your one-minute speeches. Those speeches before the European Parliament, I hope you understand, are listened to by hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions of people around the world who are so inspired to hear those words and who are reassured to know that we are not crazy, that there are people like Clara and Mick who are the voices that we need to hear. And when we talk about the voices that Ireland needs to have represented, we do not need more voices representing militarism. We need those voices representing peace. And the voices of Ireland right now are so important because of the reputation that Ireland has around the world. When I travel around the world, I am so jealous of the Irish because you are so loved around the world. And you are not loved because you have this strong military or you have this big weapons industry. You are loved because of your neutrality. You are loved because of your anti-colonial roots. You are loved because of the support that you have given to struggles from Palestine to Yemen to Cuba. That's what you are loved for. And you are loved for also echoing the voices of people throughout the global south who are saying we need to end this war. The people like the six heads of state of Africa who said this war is affecting everyone throughout the world and it's bringing more hunger and famine to our country. The voice of the Pope who says let us not legitimize and get used to war. We must do something to end it. The voice of China. And I know when the Chinese came out with their peace proposal, some of us went to our Congress where our Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, was talking about U.S. diplomacy and got up and interrupted him and said what U.S. diplomacy? Where is the U.S. diplomacy? And if you don't like the Chinese peace proposal, where is your peace proposal at which point we got arrested and thrown out? I just want to say an ending that the voices of rationality out there are coming not only from Ireland but from the global south. And the voice I want to end with is the voice of President Lula from Brazil who is invited to meet with President Biden and was cajoled saying you must send weapons to Ukraine. And he got out of that meeting and he said publicly we Ukraine does not need more weapons. What they need is interlocutors who will talk to the Russians and say what a horrible mistake they made invading Ukraine. What we need is interlocutors who will talk to the Ukrainians and say it is time to start the dialogue. He said we do not want to join this war. We want to end this war. And I think that is the sentiment of the majority of people here in Ireland. Thank you.