?o to ????’s new doctrine – no to war

(20.11.2010)

The European Left denounces the new strategic concept of NATO and supports the „Anti-NATO Summit“ in Lisbon 19–21 November and other anti-NATO and anti war activities all over Europe this weekend.

Instead of disbanding itself, following the end of the cold war and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO is being expanded and globalised. It is involved in the so-called „war on terror“ and has conducted barbaric wars in Yugoslavia in 1999 and in Afghanistan since 2001.

We are totally opposed to NATO’s new interventionist role and its transformation into a „global policeman“ to further undermine and marginalize the UN. Its new strategic concept is an anachronistic and militarist model that will escalate tensions and provoke new wars. It will further increase global military spending, which already accounts for more than 4.2 billion dollars per day, while millions of people die from hunger and social protection systems are radically cut in the name of the current capitalist crisis.

We strongly deplore NATO’s dangerous nuclear strategy of „first strike“ and its US-backed plan to build an „anti-missile shield“. A peaceful Europe requires the abolition of all nuclear weapons throughout the world.

Euro-Atlanticism and NATO’s eastward expansion creates new divisions and new enmities in Europe. We demand the termination of NATO-EU cooperation, not its enhancement as envisaged under NATO’s new strategic concept. We call upon all European states to withdraw from Afghanistan and contribute to the end of the 9-year war via political dialogue within the UN framework.

The European Left believes that military means and an expanding NATO cannot address the many security challenges confronting Europe and the whole world in the 21st century. NATO must be abolished and a comprehensive pan-European security system based on the OSCE and its principles to safeguard peace through disarmament, equitable cooperation and co-development for the peoples of Europe and the world should be set up.

EL Secretariat Brussels, 18 November 2010