At the invitation of the Comitati di Appoggio alla Resistenza per il Comunismo (CARC), Michela Martinazzi of the Central Committee of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization delivered the following speech to a national meeting against NATO, held in Italy, December 8.

Good morning from New York comrades,

On behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, I extend warm greetings and solidarity to the participants and organizers of this important gathering. The violent involvement of NATO is felt throughout the world. As communists, we have a special task to oppose U.S. monopoly capitalism, the wars that it brings, and its tools like NATO. We’re honored that you invited us to take part in this meeting to fight NATO on a global scale. And we’re ready to continue the fight alongside you!

The downward spiral of imperialism

Imperialism is steadily spiraling towards its end. The decline picks up speed with each new world event that stresses the antagonisms between the war-mongering class and those who foot the bill.

Post World War II, the U.S. built a web of economic institutions where Wall Street and Washington DC were at the center. That original web is long gone, and in its place is a world economy that is breaking and fragmenting. With each new break, the decline of U.S. imperialism is picking up speed, and the Trump presidency will accelerate its downfall.

A symptom of declining imperialism is the sharpening of inter-imperialist contradictions. These can take on both political and military scopes. For example, Trump campaigned that Ukraine is primarily a concern for Europe and that the U.S. should no longer concern itself with the issue. If Trump is true to his word, the policy shift will force European imperialist powers, mainly Germany, to bolster Ukraine while putting stress on NATO.

As the power of the U.S. economy shrinks, Trump relies on threats of tariffs to recover a semblance of power. He ran on the promise of tariffs on all Chinese-imported products. While the U.S. working class will be the ones who shoulder the burden of this trade war, Trump continues to barrel forward in de-linking the U.S. economy from the People’s Republic of China.

With each misstep on behalf of the imperial powers, we’re seeing a clearer definition in the developing spheres of influence and domination. The U.S. has a smaller role to play, while the other two centers of monopoly capitalism – Japan and the European Union – are also taking up smaller shares of the world GDP.

Anti-imperialism in the 21st century

As we see the steady decline of U.S. imperialism, and, broadly, the decline of imperialism around the world, we see the inverse, as the people rise up against it. As the U.S. monopoly capitalist class stumbles, the people continue their march to victory.

People around the world are facing economic hardships as the warmongers steadily beat the drums of war. United States military spending went from $366 billion under Bush to $1,109 billion, or more than $1 trillion, under Biden. In the last two decades, this budget destabilized Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya; funded attempted coups in Bolivia and Venezuela; supplies weapons to reactionary governments in the Philippines and Ukraine. and spearheads the genocide of Palestine.

The people are tired of their tax dollars funding war

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, we’ve seen the anti-war movement have its highs and lows, but the overall trend has been to fight against imperialist wars.

The pandemic in 2020 sharpened many contradictions and it culminated in the George Floyd rebellion. This laid the groundwork for a new generation of organizers to not only question the ruling class but gain confidence in the power of protest. The landscape of the movement completely changed after that summer.

The same people who took to the streets for the George Floyd rebellion, were some of the same ones who joined the protests in 2023 for Palestine – some of the largest protests for Palestine we’ve seen in the West.

As inflation rose, jobs were lost, and debts were left unpaid, everyday people continued to question why the government continued to spend money on war rather than people’s needs. Worsening conditions only deepened the antagonism between the interests of the working class and the ruling class.

When the heroic Palestinian resistance carried out the Al-Aqsa Flood, the same generation that the George Floyd rebellion revolutionized, took to the streets in the millions. Politicians who cried for Israel could not gather the same support they were used to just a few years back.

FRSO released a statement on October 9th where we said:

“Those of us who stand in solidarity with Palestine have our work cut out for us. The Zionist regime is carrying out horrific crimes – including indiscriminate bombings in Gaza that have destroyed homes, schools and health care facilities. Their logic is genocidal. We need to act fast.

Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine should be organized everywhere. The role of the U.S. needs to be highlighted. U.S. weapons are killing people. Biden wants to send Israel more weapons. Not one U.S. dollar should be funding the occupation of Palestine.

In the days ahead, lots of politicians are going to be saying “stand with Israel.” They will lie and cry. Do the opposite. This is time to stand with Palestine. Time is on the side of the oppressed. And a new stage of the freedom struggle has arrived.”

The people of the world understand that the imperialist rulers are selling out their livelihoods for profits and domination. They see it embodied in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The U.S. alone has sent $17.9 billion since October 2023.

And that’s why the people cannot stand by as Israel carries out a genocide. That’s why millions have been marching, boycotting, and organizing since October 7.

We’re entering a new era of the anti-war movement, and as communists we must seize it!

Organizing against the war

The forces organizing for Palestine are the same forces that will be ready to organize against NATO. Our role is to cultivate a campaign against NATO forces that harnesses the raw revolutionary passion of this new generation of activists.

When the protest against the NATO summit took place in Washington DC this past summer, I was happy to see that the majority of attendees were people my age and younger. Broad calls against war are gaining popularity amongst all progressive people. The question of “Why are we sending money overseas?” is on everyone’s mind.

However, to sustain a strong anti-war movement, we must have strong organizations to support it. It requires an understanding of meeting the masses where they’re at and bringing their demands forward through the lens of Marxism.

The great Chairman Mao Tse Tung said in his speech A Talk to the Editorial Staff of the Shansi-Suiyuan Daily, “If we tried to go on the offensive when the masses are not yet awakened, that would be adventurism. If we insisted on leading the masses to do anything against their will, we would certainly fail. If we did not advance when the masses demand to advance, that would be Right opportunism.”

Our organization is growing quickly. We’re taking up the demands of the people in the belly of the beast, and channeling them into campaigns. Relying on sloganeering to build our movements will only result in burning out the revolutionary fire of the people. As Marxist-Leninists, we must deliver tangible victories to the people as we face the many-headed monster that is imperialism.

To grow the fight against NATO, let us find the demands of the people and show them who the true enemy is: NATO and the monopoly capitalist class!

The road ahead

We have a challenge ahead of us. We’ve seen the election of right-wing populists throughout the world. We also face politicians that parade around progressive slogans, but actively work against the needs of the people. These figureheads are enemies of progress, justice and freedom.

But while we have many enemies, we have even more allies. As we’ve seen in the last year, millions are ready for change. Millions are marching against a rotten system that has only delivered death and misery. Millions are ready to fight towards a better future!

Our role as communists is to unite all that we can against tyranny. Our task is revolution, and we’re armed with the tools of Marxism-Leninism. The road ahead may be filled with challenges, but we’re well equipped to face them!

Down with NATO!

Down with imperialism!

Long live international solidarity!

#International #Italy #CARC #NATO #AntiWarMovement #FRSO #Statement #RevolutionaryTheory

San Jose, CA – On Saturday, July 6, around 20 people gathered in San Jose for a protest in solidarity with the national mobilizations against NATO and RIMPAC that are occurring in Hawaii, San Diego and Washington D.C.

RIMPAC, which stands for the Rim of the Pacific, is a series of maritime military exercises held by the U.S. and its allies in Hawaii. This year it is being held from June 27 to August 2, while the NATO summit being held in Washington DC from July 9-11. Both RIMPAC and NATO are examples of the U.S.’s military encroachment on the rest of the world, ranging from its use of the Philippines as a military outpost to its warmongering acts against China and Russia.

Organizers from San Jose Against War set up a table at the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Santana Row, in the middle of one of Northern California’s busiest shopping districts. Attendees passed out flyers to people demanding that funding for NATO be redirected to meet people’s needs here at home.

The protest began with chants of “From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!” and “No more U.S. war, no more NATO war!” Andy Schafer from San Jose Against War gave a speech explaining NATO’s history as a vehicle for the U.S. to consolidate its power and weaken the Soviet Union after World War II. Members of the new San Jose State University chapter of the League of Filipino Students then spoke about how the U.S. exploits and oppresses the Philippines in order to use the nation as a de facto military outpost in its aggression against China. 

Joshua Cardoza from California United described NATO and the U.S.’s role in ushering in imperialist exploitation in oppressed nations, saying, “Whether it’s United Fruit Company installing right-wing dictatorships in South America, or the Shock Doctrine used throughout Eastern Europe and Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, [resulting in the sale of] their manufacturing and natural resources to oligarchs. It has evolved into endless wars in the Middle East”

Philip Nguyen from San Jose Against War then spoke about the role that the U.S. military has played in the exploitation and national oppression of Hawaii, saying, “The military operations held in U.S.-occupied Hawaii have poisoned their water, destroyed their land, and is the cause of a huge uptick in sexual violence on the island.” 

Nguyen continued, “U.S. imperialism and the monopoly capitalists demand that our tax dollars fund their wars that steal land and resources and exploit people for cheap labor to generate massive profits, rather than using it here to fund housing, healthcare and education.”

The protest was called by San Jose Against War and California United in solidarity with the organizers of the national mobilizations, Cancel RIMPAC and the Resist NATO Coalition.

#SanJoseCA #CaliforniaUnited #SanJoseAgainstWar #SJAW #CancelRIMPAC #ResistNATOCoalition #NATO #ResistNATO

Washington, DC – On July 7, hundreds of activists from over 60 organizations mobilized to protest the 75th anniversary NATO Summit occurring July 9 -11 in the city. The protest, organized the Resist NATO coalition started at McPherson Square and marched to the White House, demanding an end to U.S.- NATO aggression and to defend peoples’ struggles.  

The Resist NATO coalition is made up of various groups including the International League of Peoples’ Struggle – US (ILPS-US), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Bayan USA, Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), International Action Center, and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR). 

A member of NAARPR spoke at the rally stating, “From the war-torn streets of Afghanistan to the devastated cities of Libya, we raise our voices in support of those who have been killed by U.S. military aggression. Instead of money going towards our military, why is money not going towards our community? Why is money not going towards education? Or mental health?” The U.S. is by far the largest contributor to NATO’s budget. In 2023, the U.S. represented 68% of the total expenditure of NATO, spending $860 billion.

An organizer in Palestinian Youth Movement stated, “It is not only important, but necessary, to resist NATO through a broad united front, in order to protect people’s just struggle for freedom in Palestine, in the Philippines, in Puerto Rico, in Washington DC, and everywhere in the world. The peoples’ resistance in Palestine threatens the interests of Western imperialism and for the first time in recent history, the tides are turning. The myth of Israeli invincibility, of U.S. supremacy, of the futility of resistance, and of capitulation being the only solution has shattered. People around the world are joining the fight for total liberation.”

The Resist NATO coalition had a successful weekend of actions to protest the NATO summit, and they plan to continue building out the united front against US-NATO military escalation and aggression.

#WashingtonDC #ResistNATO #ResistNATOCoalition #FreePalestine #Philippines #PuertoRico #Imperialism #ILPS #FRSO #NAARPR #IAC #BAP #NATO #NATOSummit #USOutOfThePhilippines

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who work live, and struggle in 133 countries all over the world, strongly condemns the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations and confrontational rhetoric, the soaring of the military expenditures, as well as the NATO plans amid the escalating intra-imperialist confrontation. The 2024 ΝΑΤΟ summit which will take place in Washington D.C. on 9-10-11 July 2024, constitutes one more step toward the intensification of NATO’s aggressive imperialist plans, interventions, and wars.

NATO has already announced an increase of its military budget for 2024 by 12% to 2.03 billion euros and its civil budget by 18.2% to 438.1 million euros increasing even more the operating capacity of NATO Command Structure headquarters, missions, and operations around the world. This year’s figures confirm the continuation of an at least 10 years-long course of moving towards a “war economy” for the member states of NATO, with NATO’s Secretary General emphasizing that “burden sharing is improving within NATO” while military spending is up 18 percent across European Allies and Canada in 2024, and 23 member states will spend at least 2% of GDP in military spending this year.

The International class-oriented trade union movement unequivocally condemns the war plans of the imperialists and strongly opposes the uninterrupted increase of the NATO budget which sharpens even more the confrontation and deepens the preparations and the risk for a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences for the popular strata and the ordinary people who always pay the cost of the imperialist antagonism.

NATO’s history demonstrates nothing but interventions, wars, juntas, refugees, starvation, destruction, and death. In addition, the continued soaring in military spending constitutes a provocation for the people who constantly see their living standards affected due to generalized price rises, inflation, and long-term austerity policies.

The militant class-oriented trade union movement intensifies the struggle against imperialist wars and the system that creates them. The WFTU fights for the dissolution of NATO which constitutes an aggressive war machine in service of the imperialist interests of its member states, aiming to maintain, and expand if possible, the existing favorable correlation of forces for the NATO countries in order to safeguard the profits of their monopolies.

Simultaneously we reiterate our firm demand for the immediate dissolution of all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, an immediate end to all imperialist armed conflicts, and full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to freely choose their present and future. We denounce the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions imposed by the US, NATO, and the EU against various countries, negatively impacting the standard of living of low-income families, workers, poor small farmers, and popular strata in general.

The WFTU calls upon workers all over the globe, the militant trade unions to join the ranks and the struggles of the international class-oriented trade union movement for lasting peace, for a world free of imperialist interventions and man-by-man exploitation.

#WFTU #NATO #EU #Militarization #Imperialism #Exploitation #Peace #Labor #TradeUnion

Washington, DC – On July 6, the Resist NATO Coalition hosted a Counter-Summit with over 300 attendees from across the country, two panels, and a cultural performance. This year is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Resist NATO coalition states, “In practice, NATO acts as an armed wing of U.S.-led war.” Key slogans from the event included calls for the U.S. out of the Philippines, and an end to the ongoing U.S.-backed genocide of the Palestinian people.

The Resist NATO coalition is comprised of over 60 organizations such as the International League of Peoples’ Struggle – US (ILPS-US), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Bayan USA, Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), the International Action Center, and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR).

The coalition was formed in response to NATO hosting a summit in Washington, DC this year July 9, 10 and 11.

The speaking panels featured activists and organizers from the peoples’ struggles, such as Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Nodutdol, Diaspora Pa’lante Collective, Pan-African Community Action, etc.; discussing how to connect their fights through the collective need to dismantle NATO and resist its military aggression and escalation.

One of the panelists, from the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, discussed the need to join the March on the RNC in Milwaukee on July 15 to fight against the racist and reactionary Trump agenda.

One of the panelists, an organizer in Palestinian Youth Movement, stated, “The NATO military alliance was created to protect Western imperialist interests in the wake of growing communism and people’s liberation movements internationally after World War II. NATO is anti-people in nature, a piece in the imperialist war machine that aims to crush national liberation movements in order to maintain Western hegemonic rule and control over the world’s resources.”

The Counter-Summit was followed by a mass mobilization the next day.

#WashingtonDC #AntiWarMovement #NATO #ResistNATO #ILPS #FRSO #Bayan #BAP #NAARPR #IAC

“Rim of the Pacific is the largest military exercise held anywhere in the world and takes place every two years in U.S.-occupied Hawai'i,” said Katie Comfort, a member of the International Women's Alliance's Global Secretariat and representative for the Cancel RIMPAC campaign. “Organizers in Hawai'i have been mobilizing against RIMPAC for decades, drawing attention to the environmental degradation, violence against women, and overall negative impact on the people living on the islands.”

“Today is an important and significant day to hold this press conference, as RIMPAC's opening banquet is kicking off tonight in San Diego with the heads of U.S. and foreign militaries,” continued Comfort.

Organizers from both Hawai'i and San Diego spoke about the disastrous effects these exercises have on both areas. Rose Elovitz, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Hawai'i, spoke about the effects RIMPAC has on Hawai'i and its people, saying, “The rate of sex trafficking – which disproportionately affects native Hawaiian women and girls – rises 30% during RIMPAC. The use of navy sonar has been proved to confuse and harm whales, leading to mass die-offs and beachings. The wellbeing of people, land and water are not a concern to the U.S. military agenda.”

From the other coast, members of the Resist NATO coalition spoke about their efforts to fight back against the upcoming 2024 NATO Summit.

Speaking for the Resist NATO coalition, BAYAN USA and Anakbayan Montgomery County member Gabby Rivera said, “Since its creation in DC in 1949, NATO has served as the armed wing of U.S.-led imperialism. This upcoming NATO summit on July 9 through 11 marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in DC — and with it the founding of NATO.”

Rivera continued, “Here they will introduce major policies such as new sanctions, military budgets, mass surveillance and cyberwar initiatives. None of these will be in the interests of the international working class and oppressed, but rather the imperialist leaders with the US at their head.”

In addition to the Cancel RIMPAC Campaign and the Resist NATO Coalition, the press conference also featured speakers from the International League of Peoples' Struggle, Malaya San Diego, Jewish Voice for Palestine Hawai'i, the African National Women's Organization, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Pan-African Community Action, and BAYAN USA.

This press conference is one of a variety of actions in San Diego and Hawai'i, all of which lead up to a people's summit and mobilizations against RIMPAC in San Diego on June 29 and June 30, respectively. Next week, the Resist NATO coalition will also hold a people's summit on July 6 and a march on July 7 to protest NATO's 75th anniversary summit in DC.

#WashingtonDC #DC #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NATO #IWA #BAYAN #ILPS #JVP #Malaya #PYM #PACA #ANWO

Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, October 3, more than 20 people gathered outside the office of Minnesota State Senator Amy Klobuchar to demand an end to U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. The event was a response to a national call by the Peace in Ukraine Coalition and the United National Antiwar Coalition for activists all across the country to unite in demanding an end to U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine and U.S. Interference in negotiations.

Protesters held a banner reading “No to NATO! No to war!” and waved signs with slogans of “U.S. hands off Ukraine” and “No war with Russia! No war with China!”

Drake Myers of the Anti-War Committee opened the rally by explaining why Klobuchar's office was chosen as a target. “Klobuchar has been a supporter of war in Ukraine as far back as 2014,” Myers stated, describing her trip to Ukraine in that year, where she stood in support of a violent U.S.-backed coup was in the process of unseating Ukraine's elected government. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, Klobuchar said, 'This is going to be a long war,'” Myers said. “Why does she get to decide that? The U.S. should not decide that!” Klobuchar has continued to be a voice for increased U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, fueling the war and delaying negotiation.

Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness spoke about the role of NATO as a tool of imperialism, detailing how NATO, under leadership of the U.S., waged “so-called 'humanitarian wars'” in Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan that have left these countries “dismembered and impoverished.” She drew attention to the role that NATO played in stoking the current war in Ukraine, saying “Even Jens Stoltenberg, military head of NATO and war hawk if there ever there was one, recently admitted at an EU Parliament meeting that Putin went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders.”

Minnesota Anti-War Committee representative Andrew Josefchak spoke at the close of the rally, focusing on how U.S. interference has prolonged the war in Ukraine and resulted in greater death and destruction. “All wars end in negotiation,” said Josefchak, “But the U.S. and NATO, of which it is the de facto head, have done everything they can to sabotage negotiations. Every time Ukraine and Russia have been ready to go to the negotiating table – which they have been a number of times, the idea that Russia refuses to negotiate is a lie spread by the media – the U.S. has stepped in with yet another mountain of weapons and yet another false promise of total victory for Ukraine. We are here to demand that the U.S. stop blocking peace talks, stop all weapons shipments, and that when negotiations do begin, the U.S. keeps its blood-soaked hands out of it.”

The rally was hosted by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC), joined by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and Veterans for Peace Local 27.

The event ended with chants of “Fuck you NATO and your war, we won’t take it anymore!” and “What’s the biggest threat to world today? NATO and the USA!”

#MinneapolisMN #Ukraine #NATO #AWC #WAMM #VFP #UNAC

Minneapolis, MN – On July 11, about 40 protesters assembled in front of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to speak out against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its role in the war in Ukraine.

The protest took place during the first day of a NATO summit meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania to discuss drastically increasing its military forces deployed near Russia, as well as the potential admission of Sweden – and possibly Ukraine – into the organization.

Speakers from the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and Veterans For Peace, Minnesota Chapter 27 condemned NATO for being directly involved in destabilizing the region and provoking an ever-growing war with Russia, while protesters chanted and displayed signs with anti-war slogans for over an hour. Their message was well received by passing drivers and pedestrians.

Wyatt Miller of the AWC stated, “For the U.S. and NATO, this is merely a proxy war and Ukrainians are mere test subjects for new weapons, and politically convenient cannon fodder to use for U.S. geopolitical aims.” He went on to describe how easily NATO could trigger the conflict into becoming another world war.

The United States so far has sent $46.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including increasingly advanced weaponry. This has only caused more deaths and prolonged the war, the protesters argued. Meanwhile, U.S. megacorporation’s such as BlackRock and Halliburton have made moves to take possession of Ukraine’s resources and economy.

Mike Madden of Veterans For Peace said, “Bring the troops home. Bring all the military hardware home. Melt it down. Build girders and beams – for schools, for housing, for transportation. End militarism.”

Organizers chose Senator Klobuchar’s office because the U.S. senator from Minnesota has prominently advocated for expanding NATO’s membership and for further antagonizing Russia and escalating the war.

The demonstration was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC). MPAC’s next action will be Saturday, August 5, 1 p.m. outside the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at Hennepin and Vineland, to commemorate the 1945 nuclear bombings of Japan and call for “no nuclear war.”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #NATO

Milwaukee, WI – On July 11, activists gathered at the “Sunburst” statue near Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee to protest further NATO escalation in the Ukraine war. Anti-war activists held signs reading “No to NATO, no to war.”

The rally came as NATO was meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania to further plans of deploying a total of 300,000 troops around Ukraine. The number marks a dramatic increase from the current total of 40,000 NATO troops stationed mostly in eastern Europe. NATO under U.S. leadership is putting aside any efforts toward peace negotiations to end the bloody war. President Biden and the U.S. only want to escalate the war, which pits working-class Ukrainians and Russians against each other.

The NATO summit comes as the United States is handing out blank checks to Ukraine, while working-class Americans continue to battle inflation and struggle to secure their basic needs. Biden also recently waived a longstanding ban on cluster bomb exports, weapons which are banned in over 100 countries for their tendency to fail to detonate. Experts say up to 14% do not detonate immediately, later causing civilian deaths for decades to come and violating human rights.

The Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) organized the protest and handed out flyers with the history of the NATO provocation in the Ukraine war dating back to the 2014 U.S.-backed coup that overthrew an elected Ukrainian government.

“As the media refuses to frame the war as anything other than an irrational, bloodthirsty offensive by Putin, the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee is fighting to educate and provide context to the war, in which we're forced to pay for the death and destruction,” said Ryan Hamann, a member of MAC.

MAC also handed out flyers for their upcoming protest at the Milwaukee Air & Water Show on July 22. The show’s aim is to glorify war, violence and U.S. imperialism. Military airshows also add to pollution in the city which recently experienced some of its worst air quality in recorded history.

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #NATO

Milwaukee, WI – Over 20 people gathered at Zao MKE Church to attend the “No to NATO!” teach-in hosted by the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee on May 6. In response to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) held this event to challenge the pro-NATO narrative pushed in the U.S. Presented by MAC member Stephanie Spalatin and her mother Mira Spalatin, attendees learned about some of the crimes NATO has committed both in the present in Ukraine and in the past in places like the former Yugoslavia, as well as a general framing of NATO as an offensive and not defensive apparatus of U.S. and European Union. imperialism.

Stephanie Spalatin kicked the event off with a presentation covering the history of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, from its inception to its role in the present day. She detailed how despite its initial formation as a U.S. response to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union, NATO remained and in fact expanded after the Soviet Union fell, bent on maintaining U.S. unipolarity.

NATO went on to invade countries such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and many others. Spalatin explained how the U.S. admitted to staging a coup in Ukraine in 2014, intensifying conflict in the area and emboldening nazi groups. Unfortunately, the threat of NATO and the U.S., and the insistence on integrating Ukraine into NATO, all but assured the inter imperialist war with Russia.

“Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was illegal by international law – as were the bombings of Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and all the other countries over the last 30-plus years by NATO,” Stephanie said. “But an invasion was inevitable, as Russia was not going to sit back and allow NATO to assist in the genocide of the people of the Donbas.”

After hearing a summary of the history of NATO and the current events in Ukraine from Stephanie, her mother Mira Spalatin followed up by elaborating on the NATO campaign that destroyed Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which she was involved in resisting in Milwaukee as an American Serb. She described the effect that the campaign had on residents of Yugoslavia, where old ethnic and religious tensions were reignited, and Yugoslavia was split between the west, portrayed as modern and democratic and supported by NATO, and the east, portrayed as Byzantine, primitive and communist, supported by the Soviet Union.

She asserted that Yugoslavia did not need the U.S. and NATO coming in, and said of NATO’s meddling, “It’s like a formula” that never has the best interest of the people in mind. She strikingly remarked, “Democracy is not brought to you by someone else. You have to struggle for it, you have to die for it yourself. It is built through generations, and it is going to be your style, not American style or British style.”

Though the U.S. media propagates pro-NATO rhetoric daily, those residing in the U.S. do not have to go along with this story. It is imperative to study history, cut through the lies, and to resist propaganda that portrays NATO as harmless or a beneficial force in the world. As Stephanie Spalatin said in her concluding remarks, “These are not interventions. They are invasions.”

With many invasions in the past, the urgency of the present, and the likelihood of more invasions in the future as NATO and the U.S. try to maintain their hold, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee is firmly stating, “No to NATO!”

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #Yugoslavia #NATO #Ukraine

New York, NY – Around 300 people braved the first snow of the season on Saturday, January 14 to gather in Times Square outside of the U.S. Army recruiting office and say no to NATO and U.S. militarism. The rally was called by the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition and United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) as part of a weekend of action in honor of the legacy of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.

The event featured a series of powerful speakers who demanded money for healthcare, education, housing and the environment instead of U.S. imperialism.

John Parker of the Socialist Unity Party spoke to an approving crowd about the purpose of the event, “NATO is the most violent, belligerent, aggressive military alliance history has ever seen. Russia is not our enemy. China is not our enemy. Our enemy is U.S. imperialism and its attack dog NATO.”

Later, the crowd marched through the streets of Midtown Manhattan, blocking traffic and chanting “They say more war! We say no war!” and “No to NATO! Yes to peace!” As the march continued, onlookers showed their support – from construction workers waving to the crowd, to retail staff gathering in a window with raised fists.

The march concluded at the People’s Forum, where the program continued with a teach-in.

#NewYorkNY #AntiwarMovement #NATO

We, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, hold the United States and NATO squarely responsible for the conflict in Ukraine. Since the disintegration of the socialist bloc in Europe, NATO has pursued a policy of expansion and military aggression that has brought instability to the region and beyond. In Ukraine, NATO and its de facto leader, the United States, created the conditions for the war that is now unfolding between the Russian Federation and the Ukrainian state.

The U.S. has encouraged a reactionary, ultranationalist tendency in Ukraine since during the Cold War when it sought to cultivate an anticommunist fifth column within the Soviet Union. In 2014, organized ultranationalists embedded in the Euromaidan movement executed a coup with U.S. support and afterwards were quickly integrated into the Ukrainian national guard and police. When ethnic Russians in the Donbas region demanded autonomy, these newly empowered forces initiated a brutal eight-year war against them. We stand in solidarity with the peoples of Donbas, along with communists and other progressive forces in Ukraine who have faced state repression and violence under the regime installed by the Euromaidan coup.

U.S. meddling in Ukraine has been military, political, and economic in nature, and bears a strong resemblance to U.S. meddling in Latin America. The 2014 Euromaidan coup was sparked by then-president Viktor Yanukovich’s refusal of International Monetary Fund loan terms in 2013. Only a few months after Yanukovich rejected the IMF’s terms and pursued friendly trade relations with the Russian Federation, he was overthrown by U.S.-backed ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis and forced to flee the country. The new post-coup government immediately re-initiated IMF negotiations and acceded to the loan deal. The resulting neoliberal reforms further opened Ukraine to penetration by Western capital and resulted in the mass privatization of Ukrainian industry, the elimination of state subsidies of consumer utilities, and the imposition of widespread austerity measures. It also led to the repeal of land protection laws that had prevented Ukrainian farmland from being gobbled up by the big bourgeoisie. This U.S.-installed government wrote a new constitution that enshrines the pursuit of NATO membership in the foundational document of the Ukrainian state, making it difficult for Ukraine to back away from direct confrontation with Russia.

We believe it’s vital that the U.S./NATO designs for Ukraine are defeated. This is a matter of importance not only for Ukrainians themselves but for all nations around the world who seek to uphold their independence. The U.S. has stated openly that its goal in the Ukraine conflict is to “weaken Russia” – Ukrainians are mere proxies to this end – and has used the conflict as an excuse to escalate sanctions and attacks against the progressive nations of Latin America and non-aligned countries like Pakistan and India. It’s also using the conflict to ram through massive new military expenditures, and implement an unprecedented domestic regime of censorship and propaganda. These actions ultimately lay groundwork for a confrontation with Russia’s southern neighbor, socialist China, which the U.S. sees as the main threat to the imperialist status quo.

We denounce the hypocrisy of the U.S. and its allies’ repeated accusations that Russia has weakened “international norms” and/or the “European security architecture.” It was NATO itself that first opened the Pandora’s box of unending inter-ethnic violence and lawless intervention when it waged a war of aggression on Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

We stand in solidarity with the masses in the former socialist republics who have faced political instability and a devastating decline in living conditions since the fall of socialism. We support the masses of the Russian Federation who have borne witness to the barbarity and ruthlessness of the imperialist destruction of their country, reject the neoliberal plunder of their economy, and wish to see the defeat of NATO’s plots and the destruction of its reactionary proxies such as the Azov Battalion.

We find it notable that many of those who show support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine do so by flying not the Russian flag but the Victory Flag of the Soviet Union. Since the disintegration of the USSR and the privatization of the Soviet economy, the Russian Federation has vied to dominate the regional economies of the former Soviet republics. Lacking the proletarian internationalist basis of the USSR, and with a monopoly capitalist economy rather than a socialist one, the Russian Federation is emerging as an imperialist power; the conflict in Ukraine is an inter-imperialist conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

However, the U.S.-led imperialist order is the main enemy of working-class and oppressed people everywhere, and its power is declining and has been for decades. This is a good thing. We uphold the right of nations to self-determination and welcome the advent of a so-called “multipolar” world order. However, we also recognize that these shifts in the global balance of power will change the nature of existing contradictions and introduce new ones. As socialist revolutionaries, we know that multipolarity is not the end goal of the struggle, but a necessary stop on the road toward a bright future of a world united by socialism.

We call on anti-war activists to organize protests demanding an end to U.S. and NATO material support to Ukraine, the lifting of sanctions and unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Russian population, and the immediate dissolution of NATO.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #NATO #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Ukraine

Minneapolis, MN – On June 28, over 60 people gathered alongside Washington Avenue outside of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Minneapolis office in solidarity with international protests against the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, where world leaders discussed the expansion of NATO, among other things. Rush-hour traffic honked in support as protesters chanted, “No war with Russia! Disband NATO now!”

“Yesterday the Spanish government prohibited protest against NATO in Madrid,” announced Michael Livingston of Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC). “Being the free people that they are, the anti-NATO activists immediately gathered at the Atocha Madrid train station, marched past the Prado Museum, down La Gran Via, the principal commercial road and gathered in the Plaza de España.”

Livingston, who had just returned from a trip to Spain himself, said, “Everyone I spoke with in my three weeks there said the same thing: the United States is throwing gasoline on a fire. NATO is playing a dangerous game.”

Meredith Aby-Keirstead of the Anti-War Committee spoke about NATO’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, which left some 180,000 Afghans killed, and half of the children under age five years old experiencing malnutrition.

Aby-Keirstead stated, “Nobody is safer in Afghanistan because of U.S. troops, because of NATO occupation. Nobody. We are told repeatedly that NATO is the solution, and there’s this mythology that NATO is a defensive organization. It is not a defensive organization. It is a tool of domination. It is used to force the enemies of the 1% into submission no matter what the consequences are. And from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan to Libya to now Ukraine, we have seen that all NATO leaves is death and destruction in its wake.”

Dr. Christine Harb from the Party for Socialism and Liberation summarized the disastrous history of the U.S./NATO intervention in Libya in 2011, where an estimated 25,000 civilians were killed by some 10,000 bombings of non-military infrastructure as part of a no-fly zone campaign. Before this, Libyans had universal healthcare, the lowest poverty rates in all of Africa, and generally high living standards.

Harb stated that after NATO intervention, “Chattel slavery was reintroduced to the country, anti-Black lynching sprees became a common occurrence. Migrants, particularly Black Libyans, tried to escape the country and faced a perilous journey to reach Italy where they were refused entry and forced to die at sea. None of this mattered to the U.S. and NATO as long as they maintained access to Libya’s oil wells. The United States and NATO allies have either waged, profited or funded from almost every single war across the world over the past century.”

Others spoke to the renewed threat of a nuclear winter, long thought to have been avoided after the end of the Cold War. Alan Dale from MPAC warned the crowd the U.S. and NATO, “are trying to fight a war to the last Ukrainian, but they are playing a game that could easily get out of control, and could lead to a war for the last living human being or the last vestiges of society – a nuclear war.”

The final speaker, Coleen Rowley from Women Against Military Madness, echoed this dire warning. She pointed the finger directly at Senator Klobuchar and current U.S. National Security Advisor to the President, Jake Sullivan, a former Klobuchar staffer, as potential architects of WWIII, stating, “If Klobuchar thinks that she is gonna hide in a bunker and she is gonna be saved, she’s wrong. If nothing changes, ten, fifteen minutes is all we’re gonna get.”

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by Antiwar Advocates of Minnesota Congressional District 2, Anti-War Committee, Climate Justice Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Movement 4 People's Democracy, Party for Socialism and Liberation – Minneapolis, St. Joan of Arc WAMM/Peacemakers, Socialist Action, Socialist Party-USA Twin Cities Local, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Veterans for Peace and others.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarCommittee #NATO

Dallas, Texas – On March 6, over 30 anti-war protesters showed up at the Grassy Knoll in downtown Dallas to condemn NATO's involvement in Ukraine, its hostility to Russia, and to call for the disbanding of NATO. The protest was called by the Dallas Anti-War Committee, CODEPINK Dallas, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialist of America, and Party for Socialism and Liberation. Signs present at the protest included “Peace in Ukraine! No to NATO!” “No to NATO expansion” and “Abolish NATO!”

“Over the past couple of weeks, a war has broken out between Russia and Ukraine. The American media and government tend to ascribe Russian aggression as to the reason for this war. This war, however tragic it may be, however is not the result of Russia simply deciding to invade and annex Ukraine. The causes for this war can be traced several decades ago with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and its subsequent expansion decades later,” stated Cassandra Swart of the Dallas Anti-War Committee.

#DallasTexas #DallasTX #International #AntiwarMovement #Europe #PeoplesStruggles #NATO #NoToNatoNoToWar #Ukraine #NoWarWithRussia

Hollywood, FL- Anti-war activists gathered along Young Circle in downtown Hollywood Saturday evening to demand “Peace not escalation” in Ukraine.

The 15 activists held a large, hand-painted banner that read, “No war with Russia. Peace in Ukraine,” as others held “Crisis in Ukraine, made in the USA,” and “Honk for peace,” signs.

The rally was met with enthusiastic honks of approval and peace signs from cars and passersby, both. In fact, one woman who passed the large banner shouted from her car, “I am Ukrainian, thank you for doing this!”

After the sign-waving, the group gathered to hear speeches providing context for the events unfolding in Ukraine and clarity for what the anti-war movement should be doing.

“The people of the United States who truly want peace we have to demand it from our own government. Let me be clear: if Mr. Biden wanted to stop the destruction in Ukraine, he could do so right now,” said Conor Munro of local anti-war group, People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR). “How? Simply by saying there will be no further NATO expansion and removing the sanctions which do nothing but harm people of all nations. That’s why those are the two demands we put on our flyer for this rally – ‘No NATO expansion’ and ‘No sanctions.’ The anti-war movement in the U.S. can’t just rally for peace; we need to explain to people how to get it.”

#HollywoodFL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #NATO #PeoplesOppositionToWarImperialismAndRacism

It is important for Americans to understand that the current crisis in Ukraine did not begin with Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine; rather, it has been a crisis in the making for decades, as the United States has expanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance well beyond original post-Cold War agreements, throughout Eastern Europe and up to Russia’s doorstep.

NATO is a major military alliance that was created in 1949 and was originally composed of the United States and its key Cold War allies in western Europe. The United States helped form this dangerous military alliance in an overtly aggressive move meant to intimidate the Soviet Union and prevent the spread of socialism in post-WWII Europe. In response, the Soviet Union eventually created the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of its own.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the United States has gone back on its word to the Russians to maintain NATO’s Cold War borders. Instead, NATO has expanded to include much of Eastern Europe, surrounding Russia with military bases and weapons, all meant to protect American political and economic dominance.

The United States and NATO have been the biggest purveyors of death and violence in the world since the Cold War began, from Korea to Vietnam, Yemen to Iraq, Yugoslavia to Libya.

And in 2014, with specific reference to the current situation in Ukraine, the United States backed an illegal coup against the democratically elected government of Ukraine. The United States armed and supported fascist, neo-Nazi movements, and militias (like the Azov Battalion) in Ukraine, groups that are responsible for killing thousands of ethnic Russians throughout Ukraine in a war that was never ended.

Since 2014, the end goal of the United States in Ukraine has been to incorporate the country into the ranks of the European Union and NATO. Russia made it clear that absorbing Ukraine into NATO would be unacceptable and would be taken as a military threat. But rather than negotiate in good faith, for seven years the United States resorted to sanctions, more arms to Ukraine, and anti-Russia chest-pounding.

So, when it comes to war, especially in Ukraine, the United States has no room to point fingers, serve as a moral compass, or pass judgement on Russia or any other countries. It is laughable to hear U.S. officials denounce this war, when it did everything it could to instigate it.

And it is even more ridiculous to think that the talking heads in the corporate media care about the people of Ukraine, when they have ignored the NATO-backed starvation and murder of millions of Yemenis for seven years now. Besides, why would anyone believe a word the mainstream media has to say about wars abroad, when these are the same fools who tried to sell the American people Saddam Hussein’s imaginary weapons of mass destruction as justification for the U.S. war in Iraq that would for kill 1 million Iraqis?

As American anti-war activists, it is our responsibility to the global peace movement to first and foremost to demand an end to this country's imperialist expansion and aggression, in Ukraine and around the world. It’s our responsibility to pressure our government to stop using Ukraine as a proxy-war with Russia, and to end NATO expansion. As peace activists in the most powerful imperialist country in the world, we must work ensure that the United States does not continue to escalate through unilateral or NATO military action or any form of warfare, including sanctions.

Those of us who truly want peace must demand:

No War with Russia! No to NATO Expansion! No to Sanctions!

#MiamiFL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #NATO #Ukraine #Russia

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

Baltimore, MD – Dozens of protesters gathered on February 5 in downtown Baltimore to speak out against a possible U.S./NATO war on Russia and Donbass. Speakers called on the U.S. government to fight COVID and poverty instead of Russia.

Protesters chanted demands for money for social investments in healthcare, housing and jobs instead of the military budget and war. Cars honked their horns in solidarity as they drove by the picket. A caravan of protesters drove throughout the city after the initial picket, before meeting up with another group for a joint closing rally at a different intersection.

A coalition of local Baltimore organizations called for the protest, including the People’s Power Assembly and Maryland Peace Action. Organizers from Freedom Road Socialist Organization participated in the picket.

The United States has been aggressively posturing for war with Russia. The Biden administration recently deployed 3000 troops to Eastern Europe in an act of hostility toward the people of Russia, Ukraine and Donbass. Meanwhile, thousands of people continue to die from COVID each day in the United States – a country with no universal healthcare program – as public housing and other infrastructure continue to crumble.

#Baltimore #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Donbass #Biden

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Following the Biden administration’s announcement that 3000 U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe, people will be taking to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to raise the alarm about the dangers of a U.S.-Russia war.”

“Saturday, February 5 will be a global day of protest because the only sane course of actions the U.S. can take is a commitment to diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,�