Report on the Recent NATO Summit and the Resistance to it

7/16/24

UNAC joined with others to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Washington, DC over the weekend of July 6 and 7 and into the following week. NATO met to plan more war in Ukraine, to support the Israeli genocide and to push for more war in Asia aimed at China. The Resist NATO coalition, of which UNAC is a part, held rallies and an anti-NATO People’s Summit.

This Coalition, Resist NATO, was initiated by ILPS US (the International League of Peoples' Struggle-US) and formed to organize opposition to the NATO Summit.  It is made up primarily of young activists, many of whom have become active during the upsurge against the US/Israel genocide in Gaza, as well as organizations that address both international and local issues. The coalition members support the right to resist against attacks from Imperialism and Zionism wherever they happen, in Palestine, the Philippines, Puerto Rico or the US.

Nearly 400 people met on Saturday evening in the Resist NATO’s People’s Summit to put forward an agenda for peace instead of the NATO agenda for war. The meeting was addressed by Ambassador Lautaro Sandino of Nicaragua, a country that recently took Germany to court over its supplying of arms to Israel to carry out its genocide in Gaza. Other speakers included Palestinians who recently helped lead the massive protests against that Gaza genocide. Additionally, there were 2 panels, one with people representing populations who are resisting US and NATO aggression and one on organizing to end it. The panels included UNAC leaders Sara Flounders and Joe Lombardo and members of UNAC groups including Black Alliance for Peace, BAYAN USA and others.

Resist NATO Summit Resist NATO march

Other coalitions also organized actions against the NATO Summit including the No to NATO network and the Anti-Imperialist Platform. UNAC members participated in all the events and helped coordinate to bring the actions together.

This NATO summit was perhaps the most dangerous of their summits. It pushed for NATO expansion throughout the entire world far beyond the North Atlantic. Ukraine’s puppet president Zelensky attended and was promised an “irreversible” path into NATO. Russia was named as the main threat and more weapons and money were pledged to continue NATO’s war in Ukraine. Ukraine being in NATO was one of the redlines declared by Russia who refused to see another hostile force on its border with the possibility of nuclear weapons only minutes from Moscow. But the US and its NATO allies showed no concern for the Russia’s security needs or redlines.

Support for the genocide in Israel was another theme of the NATO Summit. During the Summit, President Biden announced that there will be a resumption of sending 500-pound bombs to Israel. These bombs are not meant for precision strikes but for mass destruction. They aid Israel in its attempts to wipe out the Palestinian people. Additionally, NATO will open a new office in Jordan, a country that aided Israel in its attacks on the Palestinians and tried to stop its own people from protesting against these attacks. NATO also invited a representative of the Israeli government to its Summit.

But perhaps the biggest threat is the US and NATO moves in Asia aimed primarily at China but also North Korea. The summit labeled China as a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia in the war in Ukraine. After which, China warned NATO not to bring the same ‘chaos’ to Asia that it brought to Ukraine. NATO invited leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea to the summit – all countries that the US has made recent military alliances with - in order to surround and further threaten China. These alliances represent an attempt at a Pacific NATO. The US has sent nuclear submarines to both Australia and South Korea recently.

Although NATO continues to make aggressive moves and is attempting to expand, it is in big trouble. Members of its alliance are starting to disagree about the war in Ukraine where it is losing. Many of the European NATO countries are in political crisis as is the US. Some NATO countries have started to challenge the genocide in Gaza or are facing massive discontent in their own countries over their support for Israel. Additionally, if Russia can defeat NATO, China, with its massive population, industrial base and military, will prove an even bigger challenge. But US and NATO’s recent actions have heightened the threat of a new world war with nuclear powers that could end life on the planet. Yet they still push forward, building more bases, expanding their alliances and threatening any country that seeks independence from their ‘rules based order.’

This is why we were in Washington, DC to challenge their war summit. Western imperialism and Zionism threaten the entire world. People are seeing them in a new light as they no longer seem invincible and the horror of their policies are being exposed, especially in Palestine. The Resist NATO Coalition, which came together in Washington, DC, points a way forward for our movement. Join us!