The withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan marked the end of an era: the Global War on Terror. Already in 2018, the Trump administration announced that the entire US effort would be directed at preventing Russia and China from consolidating as world powers. That idea of Multipolarity – of a world with several poles developing and cooperating in peace – was to be destroyed to ensure US global dominance. Nor can we forget that the announcement of the new US strategy came hand in hand with its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a key Gorbachev-Reagan agreement that helped reduce the risk of nuclear war. Unfortunately, nuclear destruction is back on the table, military budgets in Europe are soaring to levels once thought impossible, and NATO is already ultra-armed with military spending 54 times the global total by 2021.
To resolve the situation we live in, it must be understood that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – this terrible war and its global repercussions – is part of this New Cold War led by the US with the support of the EU and NATO. A ceasefire and a return to negotiations is urgent, but so is stopping this process that wants to split the world in two again.
“Military budgets in Europe are soaring to levels previously thought impossible and NATO is already ultra-armed with military spending 54 times the world total by 2021.”
Next week, at the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid, NATO countries will adopt a new strategic concept following US aspirations to continue to confront China and Russia. This will lead to an irresponsible escalation of international tensions. Instead, we need a strengthened multilateral framework based on common global and human security, disarmament and a rapid ban on nuclear weapons.
Why should the peace movement demand the dissolution of NATO?
Since its creation in 1949, NATO was constituted as a US-led offensive alliance in which authoritarian, fascist and colonial regimes were integrated into this military project to fight against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After the fall of the USSR, instead of disappearing, it expanded in five consecutive waves into Eastern Europe and created bilateral alliances with more than 30 countries around the world. Now we have a so-called “Global NATO”, an international network that uses military agreements, bases, manoeuvres, arms deliveries, intelligence to interfere in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and troop deployments to ensure US geopolitical dominance. We cannot forget that NATO-led military interventions have destabilised and destroyed Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. The trail of destruction and militarisation of the world is undeniable and in the midst of this global crisis, we must demand a path of lasting peace for the world, not a path of confrontation and division.
The New Cold War prevents us from addressing the challenges we face as humanity.
All wars are terrible. In all wars, people suffer. Their consequences and aftermath last for generations. The future of countries is destroyed as we see in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Palestine, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Iraq or the Sahel. But there is an alternative agenda, the UN’s 2030 agenda, which defines humanity’s priorities as the fight against inequality and poverty, tackling the climate crisis and access to health and vaccines. These global challenges that threaten people’s daily security cannot be addressed in the midst of a war that divides the world in two and plunges us into a new economic and global crisis that drives up inflation, puts our food and energy security at risk and focuses the efforts of states on military investment and destruction. Military alliances do not solve our problems, but dialogue, demilitarisation and international cooperation do.
Peace Summit: The peoples’ alternative to NATO and war
This weekend a Peace Summit is being organised in Madrid. On Friday and Saturday there will be panels, debates, workshops, music, poetry and art for peace. Organisations from Madrid, Spain and a host of international movements will gather in the Marcelino Camacho Auditorium to work together and organise the path towards real security for the people and the planet. For those who cannot come to Madrid, many panels will be streamed on the Transform Europe! YouTube channel in Spanish and English. The international peace movement and political and grassroots organisations, from the feminist struggle, ecology, health, Western Sahara, Palestine, South Africa, Cuba, Germany, Finland or El Salvador, will share their analysis and visions for a world that respects the sovereignty of peoples and builds human rights for all. And on Sunday at 12 noon we will march from Plaza de Atocha for Peace, against NATO and against Wars.
The Peace Summit in Madrid is key in this moment of NATO’s new strategic concept that will establish a war on a global scale. This weekend we unite because peace is not only an idea, but also a political practice that is not limited to stop all ongoing wars, but also to build social justice and cooperation between countries for a prosperous coexistence. War is not inevitable! Let us all mobilise against the NATO summit this weekend in Madrid.
While they organise the war summit, we organise the peace summit.
Nora García is part of the collective No Cold War and Franziska Kleiner of the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA). Both are part of Cumbre Por La Paz Madrid 2022.
