‘Until the day that war is not profitable, the killing will continue,’ said Iranian Nobel peace laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi at the opening of WILPF's a global women’s peace conference in The Hague, Netherlands, yesterday (April 27 2015).
‘I want to ask the governments of the United Nations to reduce their military budgets by 10% and use the funds for the education and welfare of their peoples,’ she said. ’I want to ask the US and the West to throw books at people, not bombs, and you will see how to have a better world. If the US had built 4,000 schools in Afghanistan in memory of the people killed on 9/11, we would not now have ISIS.’
Ebadi was speaking at the centenary conference of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) attended by 1,000 women from over 80 countries, including Yemen where the humanitarian situation is now catastrophic after five weeks of bombing by Saudi Arabia. Ebadi was echoed by Madeleine Rees, WILPF’s Secretary General. ‘Last year, $1.776 trillion was spent on arms globally,’ said Rees. ‘We now live in a world where 1% of the world’s population controls 48% of the world’s wealth. Before long, democracy will be over because the 1% will need the military to defend their wealth. We need to galvanise a new movement. ’
