The International Conference Against War, which took place in London on Saturday 20 June 2026, was a remarkable event and a breakthrough in anti-war coordination across Europe. Thousands of people packed into Westminster Central Hall for the second major gathering to oppose rising militarism across the continent.
The first such conference took place in Paris last October. Hundreds of French delegates made the journey to London for the follow-up conference, which was principally organised by Stop the War Coalition, but there were delegates and speakers from a wide range of other countries too (a third coordinating conference will be happening in Madrid). The British left can be rather parochial, so it was bracing to have such a wide range of voices and perspectives.
The background to the conference was threefold. First, the genocide in Gaza, together with the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians and (more hopefully) the global mass movement for Palestine. London’s record of massive solidarity demonstrations since October 2023 was one of the sources flowing into the conference. It makes London a natural home for such a conference.
Palestine was a key theme of the day. Leading Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti gave one of the day’s most powerful speeches, while the speeches by Italian and Greek dockers’ leaders were a reminder of important peaks in the movement, when organised workers provided direct practical support to disrupting the Israeli war machine.
Second, the role of Trump and the US in making the world more dangerous and unstable. We are in a new era of gangster imperialism from Washington, destabilising the alliances and institutions that have largely prevailed since the late 1940s. Aggressive protectionism and trade wars are accompanied by naked imperialism, from Venezuela to Iran.
This theme was a major part of the conference, but what made the day innovative and indispensable was the third theme – the new European militarism. The massive rises in military spending threatened by numerous European governments will be a defining feature of European and British politics for years to come.
A range of speakers highlighted the scale of what we face. It was useful (and alarming) to hear from speakers, for example from Germany, who are active in countries where increases in arms spending have already kicked in. Speakers conveyed the triple threat this brings – a more dangerous and violent world, an assault on public services, pay and welfare to pay for it and a sharp rise in state authoritarianism.
A major effort was made to build trade union support for the conference. This was reflected in the many international union delegates, but crucially also in official support from numerous national unions in this country, speeches from several union general secretaries and the support of over 100 union branches and trades councils, many of whom sent delegations.
Recent comments by Unite and GMB leaders have illustrated how contested the issue of military spending is within the trade union movement. Last year’s TUC conference passed an excellent ‘wages not weapons’ motion, though against considerable opposition. The conference ought to embolden every anti-war trade union activist to build the anti-war current in our unions, linking the promised rises in arms expenditure to savage cuts in wages and services.
Finally, there was a shared determination to turn words into actions. A pre-conference assembly of 200 representatives from unions and movements across Europe, held at the National Education Union’s headquarters, agreed a series of coordinated international days of action for the autumn and winter. Look out for further details soon, but for now, every socialist and anti-war activist should start preparing to make Saturday 10 October 2026 a massive day for Palestine, including a national demonstration in London.
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