Progressive Mobilisation - PES Congress, Amsterdam

Socialists and Social Democrats from across Europe - and the world - came together in Amsterdam to make its call for a new, global progressive mobilisation to tackle populist and far right movements.

Our LGBTIQ+ community often faces the brutal backlash whenever these movements emerge in our society, or worse when they take power. We are witnessing this moment now in many of our countries in Europe, often prompted by the return of Donald Trump in the USA.

This congress drew a line firmly in the sand. As progressive political parties and groups, it is our duty - rooted in our political philosophy - to reject hate and division , and to build a society where each person is valued and can live freely in security and hope.

We heard from inspirational speakers such as former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, leader of the Belarussian democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and Palestinian film director Basel Adra; and known leaders such as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, and a final address by the leader of GroenLinks-PvdA, Frans Timmermans, weeks before the Dutch Parliamentary elections. And these were only a few of the leaders and guests who made this ‘call to arms’ the more inspiring.

LGBTIQ+ issues and themes were present throughout the congress, with our events drawing large numbers of delegates and activists to them.

In the main plenary hall, our President, Dajana Bakić, addressed the audience on a number of occasions. On a segment introducing a PES Resolution concerning inclusive societies (video above), Dajana spoke of our fight for LGBTIQ+ rights and wider equality protections - and a warning to those countries who stall or want to roll back rights. Later on, Dajana participated in a panel discussion focussing on democracy, and was asked about how our political family can support LGBTIQ+ communities across Europe. Dajana reminded the congress that we already have our roadmap, from 2017, as a tool to wield; and that we need to implement these changes and make a point of doing so.

We continued our partnerships with our political family organisations. PES Women have always been strong allies of ours, and we were active participants in the PES Women congress activities, including their statutory meeting on the first day. We held a joint discussion with PES Women and Young European Socialists on Fighting the Anti-Feminist, Anti-Queer Tide, where Sebastian Pay talked about the challenges our community face and what we as socialists and social democrats - especially our leaders - can do to take the challenge head on.

The Socialists and Democrats group of the European Parliament hosted a morning panel discussion (video below) on How to advance LGBTIQ+ rights in the changing political climate, where Ian Thomas spoke about the need to understand why supporters of populist and right-wing movements target our community; and to ensure social democratic policies tackle the root cause of the disenchantment that people feel in order to counteract the scapegoating that is the symptom of the underlying problems.

And our Dutch member structure, Rozenetwerk, hosted a speaking event in the frame of Declining LGBTIQA+ tolerance in Europe. We heard from Marc Angel MEP and Kati Piri MP who provided an overview of the strides we have made so far, especially thanks to social democrat parties and their policies, to bring the profound change we have currently. Audience members contributed to the discussion, highlighting best practice where we have shown it.

Returning to the theme of the congress - progressive mobilisation - as LGBTIQ+ socialists and social democrats, we know more than many why we need to remain active, why we need to continue to speak up and speak loudly; as our rights have been fought for and not handed to us. They can easily be taken away.

We will be part of this wider, global progressive mobilisation as this is one of the main tools at our disposal to take the fight to the populist and far-right leaders. We can challenge their followers, but more importantly we can promote and deliver key policies that make people’s lives comfortable and prosperous, and to reduce the allure of false promises and use of minorities as scapegoats peddled by the populists and far-right.

We are ready to mobilise - and fight!