 I'm Peter from Belgium, from the Workers' Party of Belgium. And on behalf of the Workers' Party, I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers of the Dilemmas of Humanity. Because coming from Belgium, coming from Europe, it is a big ball of air. Literally a little bit today, but mostly politically, ideologically. And the fact that the International People's Assembly is organizing these kind of meetings is all our respect. Because there are a lot of organizations that are talking about bringing together experiences. And there is the IPA who is doing that. So all the respect to the organizers and all the volunteers that makes this event possible. Thank you very much for these comrades. I will start about Europe and I'll say a little bit about nostalgia. And that is because maybe after World War II we had these forces in Europe with strong trade unions. With a strong tradition of class struggle and with a strong tradition of class-based parties. And then there was thatcherism and then there was neoliberalism. And it was an attack on the trade unions. It was an attack on the working class movement. It was an attack on the class-based parties. And we lost some. Yes, we lost some. We were in a defensive stage in Europe for a while. So what? So what? That's the situation. I want to say this because there are some persons that say back in the days we were strong. Back in the days all was good. But nostalgia in my opinion can be also an enemy of the future. Nostalgia only looking back to the big strong face can also be an enemy for taking the needs of working class today seriously. For organizing, mobilizing, educating the working class today. As it is, not in an idealistic form the working class. But the working class as it is. And then working class today also in Europe needs parties, needs trade unions, needs mass movements that tackle the needs of the working class as it is today. And not mourning in some kind of nostalgia. I want to say that so what? That we have had some defeats. Everyone in capitalist society went some and lost some. There is no victory that is total in capitalism. Socialism is the stage where the victory is total. In capitalism it will always be some win, some lose. That is life. We don't have to mourn about this, we have to tackle it as it is. So the fact is we live in a class society everywhere in this world. Capitalism creates divisions based on your role in production. Whether you have to sell your labor or you can live off the fruits of the labor of others. That is a class division. And it matters. What is your chance to pay a higher education for your children if you are coming from a working class family? You cannot afford higher education. What is your chance to get a good healthcare when you come from a working class family? Or when you are working 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours shifts, night and day? Even in Belgium working class people live 8 years less in good health than people with a higher education. 8 years of difference in good health. Life expectancy in Belgium. It does matters. Also your access to the justice system. If you are a son of a banker, if you are a daughter of a banker, of a lawyer, of a judge. Of course you can get away in the justice system. If you are a son or a daughter of a working class family you cannot get away with it. You will be in jail when something happens. Class does matter in every aspect of society. You all know that. You all know that. I know it. I repeat it because there are some people, some intellectuals, when they say we live in a post-industrial society. We live in some kind of post-industrial society where there would be no classes. It's very difficult to come and post industrial and there is no... But who is building the ships? Who is building the houses? Who is building the chairs you are sitting in? Who is building the microphones? Who is creating everything in society? You know the answer. It is not the ruling class. It is not the capitalistic class. It is the working class comrades. The working class is the creative class. The working class is the class that builds things. The working class is the class of the future comrades. And in truth, the world of today has never been as industrialized as today. We had the commemoration of the Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels. That was written in Brussels. One good thing that happened in Brussels was the Communist Manifesto in 1948. At that time, Marx and Engels wrote about the working class. But when they wrote these words about the working class, not even 1% of all workers worldwide was industrial working class. Neither in Europe. Not even 1% at that moment. But Marx and Engels already saw that the working class, the industrial working class, was going to be the class of the future. And 100 years later, in 1950, it was 15% of all workers worldwide who works in the industrial production. 15% in 1950. And today it is 33%. One on three workers worldwide is working in the industrial production or in the services around the industrial. One on three workers worldwide, never in the history of capitalism. This society was as industrialized as today. That's the reality of the situation. The production also became internationally organized. I don't know whether you remember the Ever Given. The Ever Given was this big vessel with containers that was stuck down in the Suez Canal. I think two years ago, it had 17,800 containers. And it was stuck in 45 degrees, so no ship, no vessel could pass it. And in three days, there was the biggest maritime traffic jam of history. There were 400 ships that were blocked. 400 ships with cement, with oil, with semiconductors, with all the capital this production needed. All these 400 ships carried all the components of the transnational production change. In our country, Volvo factory had to shut down a few days because there were no semiconductors available. They were in the Suez Canal, blocked by the ship. And why am I telling this? I'm telling this because of the international production of today. It is one production chain worldwide if you get this big screen or the computer you're using. How many people work together on one computer? From how many countries people are working on the same computer? The production scale today is international, more than ever. And that is important to realize because the production is international and the same capitalists who organize these productions on an international planetary scale they want to build walls among the workers. They organize a social production on a world scale and at the same time they want to try to build walls among us and we have to break these walls, comrades. There is more working class than ever. There is an internationally organized production larger than ever and there is also a global class war. In July I saw a little intervention of a CEO of an Australian luxury housing company and investor. Tim Garner is his name. It's only one minute you can see it in YouTube, it's very educative because it's a very honest man, Tim Garner, because what did he say? So a CEO was saying in July, we need to see pain in the economy, he said. And he continues, it's not me speaking, it's Tim Garner speaking. The COVID pandemic has caused the shift where workers were feeling themselves important. Workers were feeling themselves important. And they think the bosses have to listen to them, big problem. And so he says, he continues, this dynamics has to change and we need to see pain in the economy, we need to see the unemployment rise. And that is Tim Garner in July and he's not an exception. Yes, he is an exception because he's honest. He's saying what they are doing. He's saying in the COVID period the workers thought they were important and that says to stop. We will stop it by creating pain in the economy. We will cause pain by raising interest rates and then we will see unemployment raise. And that's the class war and to get pain. Secondly, the second attack is linked to that and that is because they raise interest rates, the debts are becoming more expensive. Everyone knows it. Certainly all the countries in the south of this planet, the debt crisis will continue and these debt circles will continue. And at the same time, they're raising austerity programs to pay for this debt. In the south and in the north in Europe, from January on, there will be austerity 2.0. Again, two years of austerity to pay for this interest rate, to pay for the capitalists. That is before us and that's an attack, that's a class war and the third thing is linked with the war in Ukraine. So coming from Europe, Washington forced Europe to take sanctions against Russia. I will repeat that. Washington forced Europe to take sanctions against Russia. They cut off the gas coming from Russia, from Gazprom. But the whole German economy was built on cheap gas from Russia. And so by following Washington, the European Union shot in its own feet because who is now in recession? Germany is in recession. By following what the United States was saying, the European Union is becoming in a recession because of this war and it continues because now we are before the face of militarization of the economy. They want every country to raise the money spent on weapons. They are forcing every country. But every fighter jet produced that is 1000 schools that are not built. Every fighter jet that's produced, that's 1000 schools that are not built. Every tank that is produced that is 10,000 health workers that are not engaged. Every cent that's going to the war economy is a cent that's not going to healthcare, to education and to the people. And so if we want to react to this class war of the establishment, we have to react also against the war and against the sanctions against Russia. And we have to act also against the United States and Washington forcing up every country. Also Europe to following their politics comrades. So what is the situation of the class struggle, I will finish with that. Also in Europe we have to mobilize, we have to organize and we have to educate and we have to construct a counter force against this aggression. And it is possible, it is difficult, of course it is difficult, but it is possible to construct a counter force. Also in Europe, last year I was in London and I was speaking with Kat and she's a nurse. And she was never on strike on her life. And she said, well it's just not into me. I'm not the striking type of person, Kat said. I'm not striking. And last year she went on strike for the first time on her life. Together with 100,000 nurses and doctors in the NHS, in the medical system in the United Kingdom. And with these nurses there were also the postmen, the bus drivers, the taxi drivers, the RMT, the railway workers that went on strike. And they called it the summer of this content. And it went on in the winter of this content. And it continues today in the next summer of this content. And it is important, why is it important? Because there is this counter force that exists. The working class is not that and the class struggle is not that. And we have not only to support these struggles, but we have also to create a narrative about these struggles. Because nowadays in England there are more industrial and social actions than in the 1970s with the miners. More strikes today. But we have this collective memory of the 70s and the struggling period. We have to recreate also a narrative. And to support all these struggles also on a cultural level. Not only on the immediate struggle level, but also with movies, with poetry, with whatever. And we have to reconstruct all the struggles that are going on. I missed the opening conference yesterday here. And it's a pity because I heard it was very, very inspiring with the Palestinian resistance in center. And there was a big dynamic, so I'm sorry I missed. But I missed it. Because in France they were on strike. The airplane didn't took off, there was a strike. There was a nationwide action day. And in fact, in France this year alone there were 3.4 million people on strike. 3.4 million. Four months with youth, with all sectors. In France, from the pension questions. From the pension questions. And in France this year there were more people on strike than in 1968. I will repeat, more people on strike. And I'm just saying we have to support these strikes. We don't have to repeat all these calls to working classes that Europe is fucked up. No, the working class also in Europe is alive. And we have to support this working class struggles also in Europe. And if we are able to link what is happening here in the IPA, what is happening in Brazil, what is happening in South Africa, what is happening in India, with what is happening in the summer of this content, with what is happening in Europe and in the United States, if we can link together we are very strong comrades. The working class is an international class. We are an international movement. We will win only when we stay internationally comrades. Thank you very much.