People’s organizations, leaders, intellectuals and progressive public figures around the world are set to converge in South Africa later this year, to “confront the crises of humanity with concrete alternatives and solutions.” The III International Dilemmas of Humanity Conference, organized by the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), will be held between October 14 and 18, in Johannesburg.
As per a statement released on Wednesday, June 28, announcing the upcoming conference, movements from around the world have initiated the process of dialogues and coordination for the upcoming event, which intends to “to debate and create consensus that will lead to a common platform for reflection and action.”
Some of the prominent figures participating in the conference include Leila Khaled, Palestinian freedom fighter and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), João Pedro Stedile, economist and leader of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) of Brazil, Thomas Isaac, economist and a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))), and Daniel Jadue, the mayor of Recoleta and member of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh).
The conference will also include representatives from several social movements and progressive political groups, including National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), MST, Socialist Movement of Ghana, Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), and Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) in the United States,.
The momentous conference is designed with an intention to have people’s movements “debate and discuss not only the crises generated by capitalism that people across the world face today, but also the solutions that movements, governments, and working people are building together to overcome this system.”
The concept note about the conference states that the event is organized with an aim “to debate and create consensus that will lead to a common platform for reflection and action.” The past two Dilemmas of Humanity conferences have often played a significant role in bringing together social movements and leftist political groups in solidarity and internationalist dialogues.
The five-day event will also be held in the aftermath of regional conferences in Tunis, Kathmandu, Santiago, Atlanta, and Johannesburg, in a bid to “synthesize the experiences and reflections from each continent to bring to the international conference.” The conference will include multiple plenary discussions on broader themes and will be open to the public and broadcast live on different platforms.
Some of the broader themes of discussion for the conference will include, building socialism today, working class organization, people’s democracy, and anti-imperialism and national sovereignty.
The First International Dilemmas of Humanity Conference was organized by MST and held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2004, an unprecedented effort to discuss “the dilemmas of humanity” across sectors and movements.
The Second International Dilemmas of Humanity Conference held in São Paulo, Brazil in 2015, formed an international framework for “defining common strategies raised by popular movements and political organizations around the globe,” which eventually led to the creation of the International Peoples’ Assembly.
The IPA is a unique internationalist coalition of over 200 people’s organizations, including social movements, political parties, trade unions, and media platforms, from around the world.
Irvin Jim, secretary general of NUMSA, a host organization of the conference, stated that they “will be going deeper into discussion to reflect about the fact that capitalism as a system has no solutions for the problems that confront humanity.”
“We have a historical duty to once more go all out in raising levels of consciousness, in learning from the working class, to trigger this consistent belief that another world is possible, and socialism is the future we must continue to build,” Jim added, highlighting the central purpose of the upcoming conference.
