We are renewing our commitment to and wholeheartedly supporting this initiative to promote and support the European Solidarity Convoy for Ukraine, which will set off at the end of November (with the Italian leg departing on 23 November).
This important solidarity project brings together solidarity networks that have emerged within the European left, involving trade unions, political organisations, associations and left-wing groups from across Europe. In Italy, the initiative is being spearheaded by Laboratorio Internazionalista.
The convoy will follow four routes, departing from Spain, Italy, Great Britain and Norway, and will converge in Poland after crossing Europe, before continuing across the Ukrainian border.
Below is the statement issued by the organisers of the initiative in Turin:
“At the end of November, a long convoy of vehicles from various countries will make its way to Ukraine. The Italian convoy will depart from Lecce and travel the length of Italy, from south to north. We will be delivering some of the most urgently needed supplies: medical equipment, generators and heaters to help people withstand the harsh Ukrainian winter, as renewed attacks on infrastructure are once again causing severe disruption through relentless bombing.
To support this solidarity mission, organised by trade unions, movements and individuals from around the world in dialogue with Ukrainian civil society, we will be gathering on 6 November. The speakers will include:
Paolo Siccardi, a photojournalist with ten years of experience reporting from war zones, recently returned from Ukraine. He will share first-hand testimony about the current situation, as well as the earlier war in Donbas, which he visited on several occasions between 2014 and 2020.
Marco Buttino, historian and activist with Memorial Italia, will discuss Russia’s political system, where military mobilisation is also used as an instrument of domestic control. In this context, voices calling for democracy and those opposing the war of aggression are one and the same.
Emma Schiavon, from Sinistra per l’Ucraina, the association organising the Italian convoy, will present the initiative’s material, moral and political objectives.
The event is organised in collaboration with Memorial Italia and the Nicola Grosa section of ANPI in Turin.
Those who are unable to attend can still support the Italian convoy from home by contributing to the crowdfunding campaign.
To find out more, visit the international convoy’s website, which is regularly updated.