I hope you will permit the lengthy letter. I would not be writing to you unless I felt that its topic were of existential importance to all of us here at the Progressive International. So please: bear with me.
I want to start by pointing to two concurrent trends, which I believe define the senseless, unceasing yet structural violence of the present moment.
The first is the soaring arms trade that enrich the Global North: the United States set a record last year with arms exports that grew by 55.9% since 2022.
The second is the soaring rate of poverty in the Global South: 165 million people were pushed into poverty in the past three years, as debt service payments eclipsed public budgets of health, housing, and education.
From the perspective of the Progressive International, we need to ask ourselves: What is to be done? What is our shared program to bring peace and prosperity to all peoples? And how can we implement it in practice?
Last year, I traveled to Cuba for the very first time to take part in the Progressive International’s inaugural Congress on the New International Economic Order. I had resisted coming to Cuba for decades, because I did not want to come as a tourist. But last year, I had the joy of coming to Cuba to work with comrades on what truly matters to Cuba, to the Americas, to Asia, to Africa, to Europe and — yes — to my long-suffering country, Greece.
"It is an axiom that without peace there will be no development,” Fidel Castro once said. “But it is also an axiom that without development for eight-tenths of the world's population there can be no peace. To fight for our development is therefore to fight for peace and for the well-being of all peoples.”
In Havana, I joined brilliant delegates from over 25 countries as we took up this fight — debating, deliberating, and refining a shared vision to win a lasting peace through sovereign development across the Global South. “Our vision can only be realized through the formation of new and alternative institutions to share critical technology, tackle sovereign debt, drive development finance, and face future pandemics together,” read our Havana Declaration.
One year later, however, the nature of these “new and alternative institutions” remains to be defined — and the urgency of their definition has only intensified. As bombs rain down on Gaza — presenting a harrowing premonition to all nations of the Global South — our task is to move from a shared strategy for Southern power to clear tactics to secure it.
That is why the Progressive International is now returning to Havana for the 50th Anniversary Congress on the New International Economic Order— and why we need your support to get there.
Last year, we were able to count on the donations of over 250 people like you, who helped us bring scholars, diplomats, and parliamentarians from across the world to participate in this critical dialogue. Every dollar of those donations went to the preparations for that successful inaugural Congress.
But this year, we need to double that number of donors. Our aim — and our commitment — is ensure truly global participation in the preparation of the ‘Programme of Action’ we will present at the conclusion of the Congress.
It has been a long time since the Progressive International has called out directly for your funding support. Today, I must ask: Can you chip in to make this historic Congress possible?
In solidarity,
Yanis Varoufakis
Progressive International Council