Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 16 January 2023 - Strasbourg

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, many years ago the great American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie said, ‘if we fix it so you can’t make money on a war, we’ll all forget what we’re killing folks for’. War is a money racket. Lobbyists for the military industrial complex are wearing out the carpets in Brussels promoting war, promoting debt. The war in Ukraine is not a war for democracy. It’s just one more imperialist war with the less privileged dying in their thousands and thousands.

Why are our politicians promoting war? War is ugly. War is stupid. Whatever happened to our desire for peace? Where do we think this is going? There was a time when we had a different approach. There was a time when we weren’t so subservient to the military industrial complex or to US imperialism. What’s gone damn wrong with us? You keep talking about being worried about the European Union. Well, listen, if you are so worried about start working for peace and stop promoting war.