North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO

During the NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015 the alliance will practice military interventions in North Africa

Marines from the US train in la Sierra del Retin, Barbate

The NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015 will take place during October 2015 and until early November in Italy, Portugal, and the State of Spain. According to a variety of sources, this will be the “largest exercise of NATO since the end of the Cold War”1, “largest exercise conducted by the Alliance since 2002” (…) and “the Alliance’s most important exercise in 2015”2, or “the largest deployment of the Alliance in the last decade”3. The exercise consists of two clearly distinguished phases, a command post exercise (CPX, 3-16 October) and a phase of real action (Live Exercise, LIVEX, 21 October-6 November).

Daniel R. Mekonnen1

 

1. Introduction

The European Union (EU) has one of the most dangerous borders in its southern tip, across the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In recent years, this maritime border, particularly the Italian Peninsula, has become a mass grave of migrants by reason of tragic boat accidents that took place time and again, often times in distances so close to coastal towns that they could have provided timely interventions of rescue. This issue has caused a great deal of embarrassment on the part of some European institutions, as it is happening partly due to lack of an effective intervention strategy on the part of the EU. This points out that legal security and the provisions that safeguard human rights are in stark contrast to the militarised security of the borders.

Position paper originating at the women’s workshop at the Counter Summit “No new Wars - No to NATO”

Newport, 1 September, 2014

As women of the No to War, No to NATO international action network we join in wholehearted condemnation of NATO as an aggressive, expansionist, nuclear armed military alliance. Its creation fostered decades of Cold War, its continued existence has perpetuated armed conflicts and wars, and its intention is clearly to assure long-term worldwide control by the USA and its allies in the interests of global corporate capital.

October 15, 2012 - Press release

As of 7:30 AM peace activists are using non-violent means to try and stop the departure of F16 airplanes from the base in Kleine Brogel. Starting today, Belgian pilots are training for the deployment of nuclear weapons together with their NATO-partners. Small groups of activists are going onto the runway to stop the taking off of the F-16s. Meanwhile, the main gate of the base is being blocked. In this way, Vredesactie and Action pour la Paix hope to prevent the preparation for war crimes.

Andrea Pettersson & Anna Sanne Göransson

We were sent to represent the European NVDA network at the Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice in Chicago, which ran in parallel with NATO’s 2012 summit. We went to the Counter-Summit to network, build relations and strengthen the movement on both sides of the ocean by making contacts and sharing experiences. We gave a workshop on our NVDA-actions against NATO in Europe and talked about the European Antimilitaristic Network (EAN). We were honored and happy to do so and hope that hearing about our experiences is useful for you all.

Dear WRI Allies and Friends:

Greetings from New York City!

Want to meet up with other International activists taking on the world's alleged Super Powers?

Ready to teach, train, march, and resist more war and militarism?

Want to see communities organize for action in the United States?

YES!

Then please join the War Resisters League (WRL) in Chicago from May 12 through May 20, 2012 to let NATO know that the people of the world will not be silent.

1 April 2012. Around 2am 800 peace activists from more than ten European countries gathered near NATO headquarters in Evere, Brussels. 500 people tried nonviolently to enter the NATO compound.About 20 activists succeeded to enter the military site, 483 people were arrested. At the main entrance of the NATO headquarters 300 supporters cheered the intervention teams.

NATO, the world's biggest war machine, has evolved from a defensive to an aggresive alliance.

NATO adds fuel to the fire. Under the pretext of 'Responsibility to Protect', NATO attacks Libya to force a profitable regime change. This intervention escalates the conflict and causes thousands of casualties. The arms industry applauds. NATO's intervention in Afghanistan leaves the country in tatters and on the brink of a civil war. Thousands have been killed. After a long-drawn-out war, the alliance reduces troop levels but plans for continued military presence, although military leaders admit that they have reached no tangible results so far.

Majken Sørensen

2 August

One week ago I participated in a civil disobedience action together with three friends from the anti-militarist network Ofog. As part of a campaign to mark the places where war starts, we went into the NEAT military test area near the town Luleå in the north of Sweden. Well inside NEAT, we marked a radar station at Palja with a pink banner saying “War Starts Here”. Immediately afterwards we were arrested by a security guard, on suspicion of entering what is called a “protected area”.

Javier Gárate

During the month of July 2011 almost 200 antimilitarists, from different parts of the world, took part in the activities of “War Starts Here” – The war starts here in a peace camp in Lulea in the north of Sweden. The ten days of activities included the WRI council meeting, a seminar under the same title, trainings in direct non violent action, and a series of actions against NEAT, the North European Aerospace Training base.

Peace activists from Ofog paint peace signs on the runway at Vidsel air base, which is a part of North European Aerospace Testrange -- an area almost as big as Belgium, that Sweden, Nato and others, are using for war preparations (military exercises).

Police plans to keep non-Swedish activists detained for three days / call for solidarity

170 international peace activists from 17 countries today entered the North European Aerospace Test range in a massive act of nonviolent civil disobedience in the north of Sweden. Some 28 activists have been confirmed as arrested or detained, among them activist from Venezuela, Spain, Germany, UK and Finland. At the end of the day, police kept ten non-Swedish activists detained, and interrogated them at the police station of Lulea.