Author: carlosmartinez

On 30 January at 11am (Caracas) / 10am (US Eastern) / 7am (US Pacific) / 3pm (Britain) / 11pm (China), we will be holding our first bilingual Spanish-English event, organised in coordination with the Simón Bolívar Institute, ALBA Social Movements, and the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research.

The speeches will be in Spanish and will be interpreted live in English.

Speakers include:

• Alicia Castro (Argentina)
• João Pedro Stedile (Brazil)
• Ricardo Menéndez (Venezuela)
• Monica Bruckman (Peru/Brazil)
• Ambassador Li Baorong (China)

Streaming details will be available shortly.

It’s hard to believe the No Cold War campaign has only been in existence for six months. In that time we’ve run some great online events, launched our campaign statement, and worked hard to raise awareness about the dangers of the US-led New Cold War against China. In total, No Cold War video events have received over 3.1 million hits, and we’ve been able to start building a systematic dialogue between anti-New Cold War forces from around the world. Our campaign statement has picked up support from organisations and individuals around the world, and has been translated into 18 languages.

With only a couple of weeks left in 2020, we wanted to take the opportunity to take stock of our progress so far, and to thank you for your involvement.

Our inaugural conference took place on Saturday 25 July, featuring some fantastic speakers from China, the US, Venezuela, India, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Britain. Over 350 people joined the Zoom call, and the livestream has had over 30,000 views. The event also received significant media coverage in China, with the report in Global Times receiving over 200 million hits. You can see all the videos in this YouTube playlist.

Our second webinar took place on 26 September: an international peace forum, bringing together peace movements from around the world (including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop the War Coalition, CODEPINK, Black Alliance for Peace, Pivot to Peace and Vrede vzw) to analyse the dangerous deterioration in US-China relations and discuss what measures we can take to reverse the tide of war. You can watch the videos from this powerful event on YouTube, and you can also read a useful write-up on Invent the Future.

On 24 October, we were honoured to host a unique dialogue between Zhang Weiwei (professor of international relations at Fudan University, former interpreter to Deng Xiaoping, and author of several books including the best-selling The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State) and Jeffrey Sachs (a leading expert in sustainable development, former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and author of several books including the influential The End of Poverty). The online event was attended by over 400 people, with registrations from 62 countries. The wide-ranging and fascinating conversation ended with a clear consensus between the two professors: the world needs multilateralism and cooperation. Building constructive relations between the US and China is urgent and essential.

The livestream video on YouTube has had 23,000 streams so far, and its counterpart on Chinese video streaming site Bilibili is getting towards a million views. There is also a detailed write-up on Invent the Future.

On 7 November, just a few days after the US presidential election, we worked with the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China to organise a webinar with experts from the US, China, Britain, Bolivia, Canada and India analysing the consequences of the election for international relations in general and the US-China relationship specifically.

This was our first event with simultaneous translation and streaming in Mandarin. You can see the full event on YouTube.

Our last event of the year, held on 14 November, brought together an impressive range of analysts to discuss the connection between the New Cold War and the rise in racism. Speakers from around the world talked about the need to build unity between the anti-war and anti-racist movements, and join hands against all forms of national oppression. The full playlist for the event can be watched on YouTube, and once again there is a written summary on Invent the Future.

Wednesday 11 November 2020

For immediate release

The launching of a New Cold War against China by the US has inevitably been accompanied by a rise in racism.

Racism has been built in to the fabric of US society since its foundation – in particular against Native Americans and African Americans. In recent years right-wing forces, empowered by Trump, have extended this to islamophobic attacks on Muslims and xenophobic attacks on Latin Americans. Now the launching of a New Cold War and the attempt to push the blame for the coronavirus pandemic onto China has fanned the flames of anti-Asian and anti-Chinese racism.

The New Cold War is also to a significant degree the product of the decreasing weight of the US within the world economy. With China set to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy within the next few years, international relations are clearly moving away from US-led unipolarity and towards a multipolar world order. Rather than developing a coherent strategy to represent US interests within such a system, the US administration seems intent on trying to prevent it from emerging. Hence the New Cold War, the ‘Pivot to Asia’, the trade war, the attacks on Chinese technology companies, and the strategy of increased military tension.

The vibrant Black Lives Matter protests this summer are an indication that racist scapegoating has met serious resistance and that young people in particular are increasingly unwilling to be manipulated by divisive propaganda. Taking inspiration from this, the No Cold War campaign is holding a Zoom webinar around these themes, entitled Uniting Against Racism and the New Cold War. The event aims to forge maximum unity between the anti-war and anti-racist movements. Speakers include Diane Abbott MP, the rapper Lowkey, Lebanese-American journalist Rania Khalek, Chinese journalist Jingjing Li, indigenous US academic Nick Estes, and Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford.

The event will take place on Saturday 14 November at 14:00 British Summer Time online over Zoom. Registration is free and open to all via Eventbrite. The event will also be broadcast live on No Cold War’sYoutube channel and on its Facebook page.

About the campaign

The No Cold War campaign held its inaugural meeting on 25 July 2020, with an online conference attended by participants from 49 countries, and has since attracted significant support.

The campaign’s founding statement, ‘A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity’, has been translated into seventeen languages and has been signed by a growing list of prominent politicians, intellectuals, social movement leaders, campaigners and journalists from across the world.

No Cold War founding statement

A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity

We note the increasingly aggressive statements and actions being taken by the US government in regard to China. These constitute a threat to world peace and are an obstacle to humanity successfully dealing with extremely serious common issues which confront it such as climate change, control of pandemics, racist discrimination and economic development.

We therefore believe that any New Cold War would run entirely counter to the interests of humanity. Instead we stand in favour of maximum global cooperation in order to tackle the enormous challenges we face as a species.

We therefore call upon the US to step back from this threat of a Cold War and also from other dangerous threats to world peace it is engaged in including: withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement; withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accords; and its increasing disengagement from UN bodies. The US should also stop pressuring other countries to adopt such dangerous positions.

We support China and the US basing their relations on mutual dialogue and centring on the common issues which unite humanity.

The statement is available in seventeen languages – for more information click here.

The initial signatories include – in a personal capacity:

• Diane Abbott MP, former Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary (UK)
• Celso Amorim, former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister of Brazil (Brazil)
• Ajamu Baraka, Green Party candidate for US Vice-President in 2016, BlackAgendaReport.com (US)
• Medea Benjamin, Peace activist and cofounder CODEPINK (US)
• Barbara Finamore, author of Will China Save the Planet?’ (US)
• Gerald Horne, Chair of History and African American Studies, University of Houston (US)
• Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies Cambridge University (UK)
• Irvin Jim, General Secretary, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (South Africa)
• Maite Mola, Vice-President European Left Party (Spain)
• Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner (Argentina)
• John Pilger, Prize Winning Journalist, Director of ‘The Coming War on China’ (Australia)
• N Ram, former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu (India)
• Carlos Ron, President, Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples (Venezuela)
• João Pedro Stedile, MST (Brazil)
• Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President of the US in 2012 and 2016 (US)
• Yanis Varoufakis, Economist, Member of Parliament, and former Finance Minister (Greece)
• Wang Wen, Executive Dean, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
• Colonel Ann Wright, US Army (retired), Veterans for Peace (US)
• Zhang Weiwei, Professor, Fudan University, author ‘The China Wave’ (China)

US, Chinese and other experts opposing a New Cold War will analyse the consequences of the outcome of the US presidential election.

The event is organised jointly by No Cold War, the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China. It will take place on Saturday 7 November 2020, at 7am (US Eastern), 8pm (China), 12pm (UK), 4am (US Pacific). You can register free on Eventbrite here.

About this Event

President Trump launched a New Cold War against China which has led to a dangerous rise in global tensions. It is a decisive part of an aggressive ‘America First’ foreign policy which has also involved an attack on the people of many other countries – including US support for coups in Latin American countries such as Bolivia.

At this webinar experts from the US, China, Britain, Bolivia, India and other countries will discuss whether the outcome of the US presidential election will end, continue or change the tactics of the US in the New Cold War.

The event will be broadcast in English and Chinese with simultaneous translation. It is jointly sponsored by No Cold War, the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China.

Speakers include:

• Martin Jacques – Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, author of ‘When China Rules the World’
• Vijay Prashad – Executive Director, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research
• Margaret Kimberley – Editor, Black Agenda Report
• Wang Wen – Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China
• Ollie Vargas – Journalist on Bolivia’s Kawsachun News
• Claudia De La Cruz – Executive Director of The People’s Forum in New York
• He Weiwen – Former Counsellor at Chinese Consulates General in New York and San Francisco
• Radhika Desai – Professor, Department of Political Studies, University of Manitoba
• Qiao Collective – A diaspora Chinese media collective
• John Ross – Senior Fellow Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China

A webinar on forging unity between the anti-racist and anti-war movements, building together towards a future of peaceful cooperation.

The event will take place on Saturday 14 November 2020, at 9am (US Eastern), 10pm (China), 2pm (UK), 6am (US Pacific). You can register free on Eventbrite here.

About this Event

Neoliberal capitalism in crisis is simultaneously leading to a rise in racism and driving towards a potentially disastrous New Cold War on China. No Cold War is pleased to host a webinar on forging unity between the anti-racist and anti-war movements, building together towards a future of peaceful cooperation, free from racial or national oppression.

SPEAKERS

• Diane Abbott – Labour MP, former Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary (UK)
• David West – Retired basketball player, 2x NBA All-Star, activist
• Rania Khalek – Lebanese-American journalist and commentator
• Lowkey – Rapper and activist (UK)
• Jingjing Li – Journalist with CGTN (China)
• Glen Ford – Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report (US)
• Nick Estes – Author, academic and co-founder of The Red Nation (US)
• Chris Matlhako – Second Deputy General Secretary, South African Communist Party
• Qiao Collective – Diaspora Chinese media collective (US)
• Siu Hin Lee – National Coordinator, China-US Solidarity Network (China)
• Cale Holmes – US journalist based in Beijing
• Sabby Dhalu – Co-Convenor, Stand Up to Racism (UK)
• Danny Haiphong – Author, and No Cold War organising committee member

Tuesday 20 October 2020

For immediate release

This year has seen US-China relations deteriorate to their worst point since the early 1970s. The trade war continues unabated; the US administration has attempted to ban Tiktok and WeChat from US app stores; and secretary of state Mike Pompeo has been attempting to persuade US allies to remove Huawei from their 5G infrastructure.

The New Cold War is becoming entrenched, and there is even the possibility of a hot war. Meanwhile, humanity faces the twin threats of pandemics and climate change – threats which urgently require a coordinated global response, rather than a confrontation between the US and China. With the US presidential elections just around the corner, what path should the new administration chose?

The No Cold War campaign is hosting a dialogue between leading US and Chinese analysts Jeffrey Sachs and Zhang Weiwei, in which they will discuss such questions as:

• What should the US and Chinese governments do in order to shift from confrontation to cooperation and prevent a further deterioration in relations between the two countries?
• How are humanity’s attempts to avoid climate catastrophe affected by the New Cold War?
• What is the significance of the US presidential election for US-China relations?
• How is the rest of the world affected by deteriorating US-China relations?

Jeffrey Sachs is a leading US analyst opposing a new cold war with China. He is an economist, academic, expert in sustainable development, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. He has written numerous books, including the influential The End of Poverty.

Zhang Weiwei is professor of international relations at Fudan University, former interpreter to Deng Xiaoping, and author of several key books including the best-selling The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State.

The dialogue will be chaired by Jenny Clegg, author of China’s Global Strategy – Towards a Multipolar World.

The event will take place on 24 October at 14:00 British Summer Time online over Zoom. Registration is free and open to all via Eventbrite. The event will also be broadcast live on No Cold War’s Youtube channel  and on its Facebook page.

About the campaign

The No Cold War campaign held its inaugural meeting on 25 July 2020, with an online conference attended by participants from 49 countries, and has since attracted significant support.

The campaign’s founding statement, ‘A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity’, has been translated into seventeen languages and has been signed by a growing list of prominent politicians, intellectuals, social movement leaders, campaigners and journalists from across the world.

No Cold War founding statement

A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity

We note the increasingly aggressive statements and actions being taken by the US government in regard to China. These constitute a threat to world peace and are an obstacle to humanity successfully dealing with extremely serious common issues which confront it such as climate change, control of pandemics, racist discrimination and economic development.

We therefore believe that any New Cold War would run entirely counter to the interests of humanity. Instead we stand in favour of maximum global cooperation in order to tackle the enormous challenges we face as a species.

We therefore call upon the US to step back from this threat of a Cold War and also from other dangerous threats to world peace it is engaged in including: withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement; withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accords; and its increasing disengagement from UN bodies. The US should also stop pressuring other countries to adopt such dangerous positions.

We support China and the US basing their relations on mutual dialogue and centring on the common issues which unite humanity.

The statement is available in seventeen languages – for more information click here.

The initial signatories include – in a personal capacity:

• Diane Abbott MP, former Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary (UK)
• Celso Amorim, former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister of Brazil (Brazil)
• Ajamu Baraka, Green Party candidate for US Vice-President in 2016, BlackAgendaReport.com (US)
• Medea Benjamin, Peace activist and cofounder CODEPINK (US)
• Barbara Finamore, author of Will China Save the Planet?’ (US)
• Gerald Horne, Chair of History and African American Studies, University of Houston (US)
• Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies Cambridge University (UK)
• Irvin Jim, General Secretary, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (South Africa)
• Maite Mola, Vice-President European Left Party (Spain)
• Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner (Argentina)
• John Pilger, Prize Winning Journalist, Director of ‘The Coming War on China’ (Australia)
• N Ram, former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu (India)
• Carlos Ron, President, Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples (Venezuela)
• João Pedro Stedile, MST (Brazil)
• Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President of the US in 2012 and 2016 (US)
• Yanis Varoufakis, Economist, Member of Parliament, and former Finance Minister (Greece)
• Wang Wen, Executive Dean, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
• Colonel Ann Wright, US Army (retired), Veterans for Peace (US)
• Zhang Weiwei, Professor, Fudan University, author ‘The China Wave’ (China)

The No Cold War campaign is hosting a dialogue between professors Jeffrey Sachs and Zhang Weiwei, discussing relations between China and the US.

The event will take place on Saturday 24 October 2020, at 9am (US Eastern), 9pm (China), 2pm (UK), 6am (US Pacific). You can register free on Eventbrite here.

About this Event

Zhang Weiwei is professor of international relations at Fudan University, former interpreter to Deng Xiaoping, and author of several key books including the best-selling The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State.

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist, academic, expert in sustainable development, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. He has written numerous books, including the influential The End of Poverty.

The dialogue will be chaired by Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Saturday 19 September 2020, 09:00
For immediate release

As US belligerence against China increases, the leading peace and anti-war organisations from the US and Europe will be joining speakers from India, China, Morocco, Bolivia and South Africa for an International Peace Forum to discuss how to build global opposition against the dangerous Cold War that the US has launched against China.

The Peace Forum, which is being organised by the No Cold War international campaign, will take place online on 26 September 2020 at 14:00 British Summer Time (09:00 US Eastern Standard Time, 06:00 US Pacific Time, 21:00 China Standard Time).

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), CODEPINK, Stop the War Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, Pivot to Peace, Vrede vzw and the No to War – No to NATO Network will all address the question of how the peace and anti-war movements can organise to promote peace and cooperation at a time of growing US militarism. The US is increasing its military budget for 2021 to $740billion, is escalating its presence in the Pacific region to threaten China and is engaging in increasingly aggressive rhetoric.

The event will open with a panel analysing the global situation. This first panel will be chaired by Vijay Prashad, Director of Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and features the following speakers: Victor Gao, Professor at Soochow University and former interpreter of Deng Xiaoping (China); Jodie Evans, Co-founder of CODEPINK (US); Abdallah El-Harif, Founder of Democratic Way (Morocco); Ollie Vargas, Journalist for Kawsachun News (Bolivia); and Chris Matlhako, Second Deputy General Secretary of the South African Communist Party.

The second panel will focus on how to fight against the New Cold War. Chaired by CND General Secretary, it features the following speakers: Margaret Kimberly (Black Alliance for Peace); Lindsey German, (Stop the War Coalition); Julie Tang, (Pivot to Peace); and Ludo Brabander (No to War – No to NATO Network).

The No Cold War campaign held its inaugural meeting on 25 July 2020, with an online conference attended by participants from 49 countries, and has since attracted significant support. The campaign’s founding statement, ‘A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity’, has been translated into seventeen languages and has been signed by a growing list of prominent politicians, intellectuals, social movement leaders, campaigners and journalists from across the world.

Further information

Details of the International Peace Forum

• The International Peace Forum will take place on 26 September at 14:00 British Summer Time online over Zoom. Registration is free and open to all via Eventbrite. The event will also be broadcast live on No Cold War’s Youtube channel  and also on its Facebook page.

No Cold War founding statement

The statement is as follows:

A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity

We note the increasingly aggressive statements and actions being taken by the US government in regard to China. These constitute a threat to world peace and are an obstacle to humanity successfully dealing with extremely serious common issues which confront it such as climate change, control of pandemics, racist discrimination and economic development.

We therefore believe that any New Cold War would run entirely counter to the interests of humanity. Instead we stand in favour of maximum global cooperation in order to tackle the enormous challenges we face as a species.

We therefore call upon the US to step back from this threat of a Cold War and also from other dangerous threats to world peace it is engaged in including: withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement; withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accords; and its increasing disengagement from UN bodies. The US should also stop pressuring other countries to adopt such dangerous positions.

We support China and the US basing their relations on mutual dialogue and centring on the common issues which unite humanity.

The statement is available in seventeen languages – for more information click here.

The initial signatories include – in a personal capacity:

• Diane Abbott MP, former Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary (UK)
• Celso Amorim, former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister of Brazil (Brazil)
• Ajamu Baraka, Green Party candidate for US Vice-President in 2016, BlackAgendaReport.com (US)
• Medea Benjamin, Peace activist and cofounder CODEPINK (US)
• Barbara Finamore, author of Will China Save the Planet?’ (US)
• Gerald Horne, Chair of History and African American Studies, University of Houston (US)
• Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies Cambridge University (UK)
• Irvin Jim, General Secretary, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (South Africa)
• Maite Mola, Vice-President European Left Party (Spain)
• Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner (Argentina)
• John Pilger, Prize Winning Journalist, Director of ‘The Coming War on China’ (Australia)
• N Ram, former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu (India)
• Carlos Ron, President, Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples (Venezuela)
• João Pedro Stedile, MST (Brazil)
• Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President of the US in 2012 and 2016 (US)
• Yanis Varoufakis, Economist, Member of Parliament, and former Finance Minister (Greece)
• Wang Wen, Executive Dean, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
• Colonel Ann Wright, US Army (retired), Veterans for Peace (US)
• Zhang Weiwei, Professor, Fudan University, author ‘The China Wave’ (China)