NATO Resistance At 75: Time For Reform, Or Revolution?

UNAC and Global Network buddies waiting to march from McPherson Park

Traveled to Washington DC this weekend to join two different summits focused on resistance to NATO, in town for its 75th birthday. As the enforcement arm of U.S./Western imperial hegemony the alleged "North Atlantic" military alliance has been responsible for countless deaths and the destruction of entire nations since it was created after WWII to "keep Russians out, Americans in [Europe], Germany down."

War Industry Resisters banner carried by Melody Shank who with Ken Jones met us in DC

It is perhaps not surprising that after seven decades of Russophobia, and a decade of using Ukraine to wage proxy war on the West's longtime foe, there is a split among those who turned out to say no to NATO.

Our first event of the weekend was the summit hosted by World Beyond War which had about 150 mostly old, mostly white people in attendance. Speakers from Germany and France used words like "immoral" and "illegal invasion" to describe Russia's response to years of Ukraine shelling civilians in the Donbas. NATO's role in arming Nazis has not resulted in a weakened Russia as had been intended. Two audience members objected on the grounds that Russia bashing really has no place in an effort to rein in NATO. This point of view received no support from the podium.

After lunch we traveled across town to the Resist NATO Coalition summit, sponsored by ILPS (International League of Peoples' Struggle) and UNAC (United International Antiwar Coalition). Hundreds of much younger people were energized to connect their struggle to the context of NATO exploitation in Palestine, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, South Korea, and beyond. 

Dynamic speakers had the crowd roaring, especially a panel moderated by a movement heroine of mine, Sara Flounders of Workers World. 

We also heard from the Nicaraguan ambassador to the U.S. connecting the axis of resistance to NATO in Latin America: his country, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Guess which meeting had the menacing police presence outside? As we departed an organizer let us know the cops were photographing people in case we didn't want to be identified. This was good preparation for the next day when we assembled in McPherson Square to march to the White House. 

Cops with bikes, cops hassling unhoused people and those trying to feed them, cops with dogs, and just a whole lot of cops were on hand and I encountered two of them personally when my husband and I tried to tie our banner to the White House fence.

The two groups came together at a final rally organized by World Beyond War. The energy again plummeted as the speakers were somewhat lackluster, plus most of us by then were wilting in the heat.

More than once this weekend I pondered the age old tension in movements between the wing that thinks things can be reformed and the wing that thinks the whole damn system needs to be burned to the ground in order for a new order to emerge. In this case the reformers were also hampered by their unspoken fealty to the Democratic Party which demonized Russia falsely as being responsible for Trump's first term. These are the kind of people who still think elections are terribly important.

The revolutionary wing understands some basic truths: we're not going to vote our way out of this mess, both corporate parties are complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and it profoundly doesn't matter who's in the White House. As long as NATO has not been disbanded, the crumbling imperium of Western financial control will lash out with militarized violence. A lot of people will get hurt and it is not unlikely that nuclear Armageddon could ensue.

I'll be standing with the freedom fighters whose analysis is based in the reality expressed by one of their many good chants this week: U.S. imperialists, number one terrorists!

Connecting The Dots With A Global Environmental Antiwar Perspective

I'm excited to welcome Koohan Paik-Mander to Brunswick, Maine this weekend. She and I are both on the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (GN) board together, but we've not met in person. This is typical of the GN as its directors, advisors, and members are found around the world e.g. South Korea, India, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and U.S. 

Where there is military degradation of the environment, including space and the planet's oceans, GN's  members are paying attention and reporting back, as well as often organizing resistance locally to military bases, rocket launch sites, and colonizer warmongering.

From Hawai'i, Koohan focuses on the oceans we all share. I got to know her better when we collaborated on a webinar during the 2021 People's Summit for Climate Justice at COP26  organized by Veterans for Peace. 

She's also been reporting from the U.S. war on China beat for a while now.

I've learned a lot from Koohan, a journalist who is also a strong researcher (remember when the two went hand in hand?). She wrote to me last fall when warplane jet fuel leaking into drinking water in Hawai'i was getting a lot of attention from environmental activists:

Even though the military is Hawaii's biggest economic driver after tourism, the preparation for war with China is tangibly scary, even for the rah-rah corporate media. When the local community saw that the Pentagon has been more than willing to forego safe drinking water from Oahu's only aquifer in order to push for war, articles started to appear that were more realistically critical. 

I'm glad the Global Network is here to connect these articles with you and others.

A big benefit of GN membership is the curated news feed. Koohan shared the photo above with us in November, 2022 and commented:

Aloha Friends,

We were overjoyed this morning by this sight. 

This photo was taken the first night of the first eruption since 1984 from the world's largest live volcano. Apparently, Madame Pele, the Fire Goddess, has decided that it's EVICTION TIME for the U.S. military. 

The 125,000-square-mile Pohakuloa Training Area is the largest live-fire training ground in the Pacific"

 

Despite the fact that its lease (for the whopping sum of $1.00) expires in 2029, some believe Pohakuloa might become the site of a U.S. Space Force base. Stay tuned for more on that.

If you're lucky enough to be in Maine, join us Sunday August 13 in Brunswick at the Curtis Memorial Library from 4-6pm. Light refreshments and an opportunity to hear from Koohan Paik-Mander, a unique and dedicated defender of the oceans!

Dissent, Protests Continue To Grow In Maine

UU Church members in Topsham, April 15, 2023

You meet the nicest people when you engage in peace building work. In fact, that's how I met my husband twenty years ago, and we're still at it.

Luke is a new friend while Regis and I have known each other for years. I appreciated this opportunity to talk about how the U.S. public perceives the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine based on where they seek information, and how we're bringing our messages of dissent to the general public on Saturdays in Maine.

Interested in learning more about anti-nuclear war ambassador Samantha Smith and her diplomacy with the U.S.S.R.? Check out her page and the educational project associated with her memory on the website Americans Who Tell The Truth.

Belfast, May 20, 2023

No To Nuclear War With China And Russia Say Mainers

 

Westbrook, Maine March 18, 2023 Photo credit: Mary Beth Sullivan

Report back from yesterday's March 18 peace action in Westbrook, Maine:

We had 50 folks come from all over Maine today to our protest in conjunction with the national event at the White House in Washington.

We met at a very busy intersection in Westbrook (near Portland). It was attended by people from six political parties in the state. (Maine Green Independent Party, Communist Party of Maine, Libertarian Party, Portland Republican Party, People's Party of Maine, and Party for Socialism & Liberation of Maine.)

Cynthia Howard with the banner she created with the help of the Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) of the Maine Union of Visual Artists. Photo credit: Mark Roman

 

We had a steady and huge amount of honks, waves and peace signs from the cars passing by. Everyone was really pumped by the experience. We all agreed that the 'worm is turning' and that the public (all across the political landscape) is not happy about the Biden administration and Congress funneling $113 billion to the proxy war in Ukraine that is aimed at Russia (and soon China as well).

We had a good mix of all ages at the event - something that has been a long time coming in Maine as the peace movement here has been aging.

We had a final closing circle and invited people to share why they had come. It was very moving to hear those present applaud for the speakers from various political parties. I made sure to make the point that there are good people in all the parties and political organizations and we must resist the 'divide and conquer' efforts by the corporate oligarchs that run our country.

Today was a great example of what is indeed possible if we try with good faith and a cooperative spirit to work together. We can come together in solidarity. We don't have to agree with each other on every single issue. But today was a resounding call that we must oppose this suicidal US-NATO permanent war path.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Keep paddling.

Bruce Gagnon

PS Try as we might we did not get every single person into a photo. We are sorry for that.

 

As far as press coverage, I had an op-ed published in the Maine Beacon a day prior to the protest while Bruce gave an interview to a camera crew from a local news station on site in Westbrook. Sadly, it would appear that an editor at the station must have killed the story -- at least there's nothing on the WMTW website. We'll keep looking.

And we'll keep organizing. A protest on tax day, Saturday April 15 in Topsham at 1:30pm is in formation sponsored by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and the Maine Natural Guard. Co-sponsors are welcome! Email us or leave a comment.

Mainers Brave Bitter Cold To Join Thousands Across The U.S. Demanding: No War With Russia!

photo credit: Martha Spiess

Yesterday thousands rallied across the U.S. to protest the threat of war with Russia, expansion of NATO, and arming Ukraine at taxpayer expense. 

photo credit: Bob Klotz

Around 30 people stood in Topsham at the big intersection where thousands of people passed by during the hour long protest. Sponsoring organizations Maine Natural Guard, Peaceworks of Greater Brunswick, Peace Action Maine, Maine Veterans for Peace and WILPF-Maine sent representatives. It was also exciting to see members of many other organizations in our state join us including Maine Poor People's Campaign and 350 Maine. 

WMTW Channel 8 and WABI Channel 5 news both ran segments on our protest that included my statement: "I have grandchildren. They don't want nuclear war. My children don't want nuclear war. And all the people you see standing out here don't want nuclear war.

What happened to diplomacy? Let's sit down and talk. Let's talk about our mutual security needs and work something out."

Many of the messages shared yesterday reflected a concern that nuclear war could be a consequence of U.S.-NATO military attacks on Russia. 

Cynthia Howard in Topsham photo credit: Martha Spiess

Although the corporate press have repeated that unnamed sources believe Russia plans to invade Ukraine, no evidence for this claim has been produced.  Ukraine and NATO nations have moved approximately 150,000 troops and nuclear-capable weapons to several borders with Russia, and in response Russia has increased to around 100,000 the troops stationed on its own border with Ukraine. 

Russia has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading Ukraine.

The president of Ukraine has asked the U.S. and NATO to tone down their bellicose rhetoric as it is alarming the people of that nation.

Note that Russia has a long-standing no first use policy on nuclear weapons. The U.S. does not, nor has it signed the United Nations treaty on the ban of nuclear weapons after more than a year in effect.

photo credit: Russell Wray

Elsewhere in Maine yesterday a group including Veterans for Peace members gathered on a bridge in Ellsworth. Russell Wray reported: "We stood for an hour and got quite a bit of positive response, honks, thumbs up, and even clapping." It was bitterly cold throughout, and Rob Shetterly reported that he thought about jumping into the Union River to warm up. We also heard that a group stood in Bucksport.

An online rally at noon brought together representatives of national and international peace groups including the Black Alliance for Peace, United National Antiwar Coalition, the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, World Beyond War, WILPF-U.S and many more. Recording on YouTube & Facebook. 

Bruce Gagnon and I were on from Maine, and Bruce spoke to his experiences visiting Russia and the Crimea and Donbass regions of Ukraine following the 2014 coup that installed a Nazi-aligned government there. Bruce's same day blog post about U.S. mercenary corporation Blackwater joining the Nazi Azov battalion in Donbass may be read here.

Photo source: Organizing Notes

Militias displaying Nazi insignia are common in Ukraine and operate there with the tacit agreement of the government.

I spoke about how U.S. imperialism is in trouble abroad as Russia and China released a joint statement on security, economic development, and public health policy just prior to the opening of the Winter Olympic games in Beijing. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is in trouble at home with extremely low approval ratings. No national plan for public health in a pandemic as U.S. deaths approach 900,000 without universal healthcare and galloping inflation further impoverishing those struggling to feed and house themselves are contributing to loss of faith in the current government's ability to respond to people's needs. 

Promoting a land war in Europe seems to be a desperate strategy to improve the Biden administration's approval ratings as nonstop war coverage by corporate press outlets tends to improve a war president's standing in opinion polls.

Meanwhile, in calls with investors, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin expressed pleasure that the worsening situation in Ukraine is helping their profits.

See reporting by Sarah Lazare here.

Feb 5 demonstrators in New York City, photo courtesy Codepink