This dynamic represents a system founded on profound social and inter-national inequality, driven by an insatiable pursuit of profit that is not satisfied solely by plundering wars in Ukraine or Africa, nor by the continued exploitation of the resources of the countries under their control, but rather uses war as a means to establish and expand the spheres of influence of their respective transnational corporations.
Working poverty
The employment and economic situation of millions of people around the world is alarming. Many are forced to work in miserable conditions, without medical care or social benefits. Homelessness and the inability to pay for their children’s education are a reality for millions of workers, not to mention the more than 500 million unemployed and the immigrant working class, which faces persecution and expulsion in countries where their labor is a pillar of the economy and the enrichment of business owners, as is currently the case in the United States. The International Labor Organization (ILO) notes that approximately 240 million workers worldwide live in conditions of extreme working poverty.
And that statistic refers to those who have jobs. A United Nations report from March 10, 2025, reveals that “the global employment gap—the estimated number of people who want to work but are unemployed—reached 402 million in 2024. This includes 186 million unemployed, 137 million who are primarily discouraged workers, and 79 million who, despite wanting to work, face obligations such as caring for others that prevent them from accessing employment.”
And, as if that were not enough, there is the alarming situation of the 260 million young people worldwide who neither study nor work, as well as that of children who, instead of attending school, must work to contribute to supporting their families. According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Nearly 138 million children were working in 2024, of whom 54 million were engaged in hazardous work that could jeopardize their health, safety, or development.”
On the other hand, worker deaths are constant due to appalling working conditions and poor industrial safety, especially for immigrants. And this doesn’t only occur in the most economically and militarily powerful country in the world; as journalists Brandon Drenon and Bernd Debusmann Jr. show in their BBC News article, «The cost of the ‘American dream’: migrants dying due to extreme working conditions in the US.»
«According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agricultural industry has the highest rate of workplace deaths, followed by transportation and construction. Earlier this year, several consecutive deaths highlighted some of these dangers. Six Latin American workers died in Baltimore when a bridge they were repairing overnight collapsed in late March. Weeks later, eight workers died when a bus transporting Mexican farmworkers to the fields crashed in Florida.»
In contrast to these realities, global military spending has reached unprecedented levels. Investment in weapons and military technology has surpassed historic records, focusing on the acquisition of advanced nuclear weapons and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. During the recent NATO Summit in The Hague, it was agreed that member countries would allocate 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), «at least 3.5% annually, to increasing their military capabilities and an additional 1.5% to protecting critical infrastructure.»
Military weapons and advanced technology, being in the hands of businessmen, are used not to safeguard nature and humanity, nor to promote the development of society’s productive forces, but to increase destructive capacity. This military spending, like the capital accumulated by capitalists, is the result of the plundering of the countries under their control, the exploitation of the working class, and the irrational exploitation of natural resources.
The mobilization of the working class: the only alternative to barbarism
Therefore, it is essential that the peoples of the world rise to confront the advance of barbarism and the catastrophe that threatens us. Under the leadership of working-class organizations, it is imperative to advance a struggle that demands and compels the governments of every nation to halt the arms race and allocate these economic resources to meet the urgent needs of workers, as well as all the marginalized and dispossessed.
Fortunately, the «field is being plowed» by the massive demonstrations of immigrants and workers in the United States and Europe. By the thousands protesting against the war against Iran and the genocide in Gaza, standing shoulder to shoulder with all those unwilling to be trampled upon and subjugated.
Those who refuse to give in to the siren calls of leaders urging them to wait passively and limit their participation solely to voting, offer an active response by standing up to the abuses of autocratic governments that consider themselves masters of the world. These governments and regimes, which relentlessly oppress and exploit workers, hide the fact that it is the latter, through their labor force, who are the true builders of society.
It is possible to advance in the fight against militarism and arms. Resistance and organization are essential to challenge this established order and fight for a future of well-being, on the path to fundamentally transforming this system dominated by magnates who are leading humanity toward barbarism.
[1] Web Page. UN.
[2] UN: the world has missed its goal of eliminating child labor: 138 million children are still working. June 11, 2025.
[3] Andreas Noll. DW.These are Europe’s greatest military powers. May 16, 2025
