We want NATO to dissolve. It should have been dissolved at the latest when the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1990. But from our point of view, it never had really a right to exist, and we want NATO to dissolve. We don’t think it serves any good in the world. It’s certainly not a force for democracy, what it always claims to be. It’s an imperialist force trying to protect the interests of Western capitalism all over the world. And especially since 1990, we could see a development of NATO becoming increasingly involved in military operations all over the world.
And with this NATO summit, they will start to discuss a new NATO strategy, which will continue this development for NATO to become a global military intervention force. And the war in Afghanistan is central in that it’s the first major military operation of NATO, and the future of NATO depends on it being successful. That’s why they’re trying to put so many resources into this war, and that’s also why we focus on this war. We say troops out of Afghanistan immediately and, in the long term, a dissolving of NATO.
There’s a lot of police here. We had a lot of police repression out of—people were not allowed into—from different parts from Germany into France. Several people got arrested. They got banned by the German authorities of leading Germany—got arrested for breaking this ban or trying to break this ban and will be in prison until Sunday. Also, we know that people in Germany, all over Germany, certain activists, got contacted by the police and have to report to police every day during the summit time, so they cannot leave their cities to come to Strasbourg.
There’s a lot of police in Strasbourg already. We had a small clash two nights ago at the camp. The police was provoking some confrontations. They are checking a lot of papers. Whenever you go into town, there’s a high risk that they will check your papers, and that can take a longer time or less time depending on who you are and what they think of you. So there’s a lot of police repression over here, which is very visible and creates a bit of tension. But at the same time, we have a lot of people here in the camp. Thousands of people are camping here in the south of Strasbourg.
In the United States, in the mainstream media, there’s very little criticism of the expansion of the war. Today, the Pentagon calling for 10,000 more troops, on top of the 17,000 that Obama has promised.
Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839, and captured Kabul. And the following year, British were thrown out and lost 15,000 British troops, were killed in the retreat. They went in again in 1879, and they were thrown out again.
The Russians went in, and Tony Benn led a delegation to the Soviet ambassador in 1958 to complain about the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, and they said, “Comrade, we have to do it, because there are terrorists there.” And who was he referring to? Osama bin Laden. And who was funding Osama bin Laden? George Bush, the first George Bush. And, the thing is ludicrous.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is being turned into the French Foreign Legion for the White House. And so, there’s great opposition. Troops are dying. And it is an unwinnable war, but it’s also an immoral war. So opposition is very strong here against the Afghan war.
President Obama has made a mistake, but sometimes a mistake has to be learned by the person who makes it. And just as in the Vietnam War we were told there would be the great Tet Offensive and it would set it all right, but this is going to go wrong, too.
Probably the most immediate danger, is the Israel threat to bomb Iran. And when Tony Benn went to Iran in 1976 as the Energy Secretary, American policy then was to persuade the Shah to adopt nuclear power. And he had three hours with the Shah in Tehran, and was told the American government were very keen that Iran should adopt nuclear power. So, the whole thing is hypocritical, and the arguments used are cynical.
And people are seeing through it. There’s a greater awareness of what’s happening in the world among people than has ever been possible before the internet and television and satellite stations like Al Jazeera and so on. So it will come right, but more lives will be lost as people learn they have got it wrong.
Andreas Speck, a member of War Resisters International. He is one of the lead organizers of the protests against the NATO summit.
– from DemocracyNow