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Ukraine: U.S. Out Now!

Remains Our Anti-Imperialist Antiwar Credo

https://nepajac.org/jeffsarticle.html

Statement by the UNAC Administrative Committee

[Editor's note: The statement below was drafted by UNAC Administrative Committee member, Jeff Mackler and approved following discussion and amendment by the March 17, 2022 meeting of UNAC Administrative Committee.]

U.S. Out Now! Hands Off! Self-determination for the World’s Poor and Oppressed! and $Billions for Human Needs Not War! have sufficed to define UNAC’s ten years as the nation’s leading antiwar coalition.

United National Antiwar Coalition Statement o­n Ukraine

3/19/22

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) remains steadfast in its opposition to the United States/NATO imperialist project. The people of Ukraine are now suffering in a war zone because of the actions of the United States, beginning with the 2014 coup which violently ousted an elected president. The goal then as now was to use Ukraine as a weapon to target Russia militarily. We point out that the current conflict is not the first for Ukraine. More than 14,000 people living in the eastern Donbas region have died in an eight-year long war because they refused to accept the coup government imposed by the U.S.  

There have been many opportunities to peacefully resolve this conflict. The US could have announced that Ukraine would not be admitted into NATO, but it would not. The Minsk II Agreement signed in 2015 by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council. Minsk II called for the end of hostilities between Ukraine and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in Donbas. Ukraine was required to engage in negotiations and provide constitutional recognition for this region. But far right forces prevented implementation and three American presidents saw an advantage in not implementing the agreement. 

The result was a continuation of bloodshed and the strengthening of right wing and neo-Nazi forces. Ukraine is now a haven for white supremacist groups and has invited mercenaries from across Europe, the United States, and other nations. This use of the right wing is by design and is yet another means of maintaining a dangerous status quo. It is both naive and dangerous to deny the existence of these far-right forces and to ignore the hold they have o­n Ukrainian politics. They will not o­nly unleash violence in Ukraine, but they will inevitably bring racist violence back to their home countries. 

The Biden administration sends weapons and prolongs the conflict. The U.S. further enriches the military industrial complex with its actions with money that should be used for the good of the people. The promised Build Back Better bill is in limbo and the monies promised for renewing the Child Tax Credit and providing covid relief instead are used to stoke the conflict in Ukraine. 

UNAC calls o­n the antiwar community to join in opposing NATO plans to expand further eastward. Not o­nly should NATO cease integrating new members, but it should be dismantled altogether. It is not the defensive force that it claims to be and has wrought destruction from Ukraine to Libya to Afghanistan. NATO is the expression of U.S. global dominance and can o­nly do great harm around the world. 

Congress and the Biden administration approved $15 billion to fund militarism in Ukraine in the same week that providers of free covid testing, vaccination, and treatment for the uninsured were informed their services would no longer be reimbursed. The military industrial complex gets billions of dollars while the people’s needs go unmet. The uninsured and unhoused go without help while the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion gets money with the blessings of Congress. 

The calls for a so-called “no-fly zone” would in fact create an air war that would heighten the risk of nuclear conflict. Sanctions are war by other means and should be universally condemned by all in the antiwar movement. 

The displacement of millions of people in Ukraine is a repeat of what the US and NATO have wrought elsewhere. UNAC appeals to antiwar forces in this country to join in making consistent demands for peace in Ukraine, an end to the NATO imperialist structure, and a system which meets public needs and not those of defense contractors.  

We demand:

US/NATO hands off Ukraine: No weapons, No military “advisors,” No mercenaries.

Humanitarian aid to Ukraine and resettlement of all refugees and displaced persons

Keep Ukraine out of NATO and Stop NATO expansion.

Expulsion of all foreign white supremacist and neo-Nazi forces from Ukraine

Reparations to civilians in Ukraine and the Donbas independent regions

Dismantle NATO and establish a military neutral zone from Western Russia through Ukraine and the Baltic states

U.S. government renounce doctrine of Full Spectrum Dominance

 For a more comprehensive background statement from UNAC, please click here

https://nepajac.org/jeffsarticle.html

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Украина: США вон!

Остается нашим антиимпериалистическим антивоенным кредо

Заявление Административного комитета UNAC

[Примечание редактора: приведенное ниже заявление было составлено членом Административного комитета UNAC Джеффом Маклером и одобрено после обсуждения и внесения поправок на заседании Административного комитета UNAC 17 марта 2022 г.]

США сейчас! Руки прочь!

Самоопределение для бедных и угнетенных мира! и миллиарды долларов на нужды людей, а не на войну! достаточно, чтобы десять лет UNAC считался ведущей антивоенной коалицией страны.

https://nepajac.org/jeffsarticle.html

Заявление Объединенной национальной антивоенной коалиции по Украине

19.03.22

Объединенная национальная антивоенная коалиция (UNAC) по-прежнему твердо выступает против империалистического проекта США/НАТО. Народ Украины сейчас страдает в зоне боевых действий из-за действий Соединенных Штатов, начиная с переворота 2014 года, в результате которого был насильственно свергнут избранный президент. Цель тогда, как и сейчас, заключалась в том, чтобы использовать Украину в качестве оружия для военных действий против России. Отметим, что нынешний конфликт не первый для Украины. Более 14 000 человек, проживающих в восточном Донбассе, погибли в ходе восьмилетней войны, потому что они отказались признать навязанный США государственный переворот.

Было много возможностей мирно урегулировать этот конфликт. США могли объявить, что Украина не будет принята в НАТО, но этого не произошло. Минские соглашения II, подписанные в 2015 году Украиной, Россией, Германией и Францией, были единогласно одобрены Советом Безопасности ООН. Минск II призвал к прекращению боевых действий между Украиной и Донецкой и Луганской народными республиками на Донбассе. От Украины требовалось вступить в переговоры и обеспечить конституционное признание этого региона. Но крайне правые силы воспрепятствовали выполнению соглашения, и три американских президента увидели преимущество в невыполнении соглашения.

Результатом стало продолжение кровопролития и усиление правых и неонацистских сил. Украина теперь является убежищем для групп сторонников превосходства белой расы и пригласила наемников со всей Европы, США и других стран. Это использование правого крыла намеренно и является еще одним средством сохранения опасного статус-кво. Наивно и опасно отрицать существование этих крайне правых сил и игнорировать их влияние на украинскую политику. Они не только развяжут насилие в Украине, но и неизбежно вернут расистское насилие в свои страны.

Администрация Байдена посылает оружие и затягивает конфликт. США еще больше обогащают военно-промышленный комплекс своими действиями деньгами, которые следует использовать на благо народа. Обещанный законопроект о восстановлении лучше находится в подвешенном состоянии, а деньги, обещанные на продление налоговой льготы на детей и предоставление помощи от коронавируса, вместо этого используются для разжигания конфликта в Украине.

UNAC призывает антивоенное сообщество присоединиться к выступающим против планов расширения НАТО на восток. НАТО должно не только прекратить интеграцию новых членов, но и полностью распуститься. Это не та оборонительная сила, за которую она себя выдает и которая принесла разрушения от Украины до Ливии и Афганистана. НАТО является выражением глобального господства США и может причинить только большой вред всему миру.

Конгресс и администрация Байдена выделили 15 миллиардов долларов на финансирование милитаризма в Украине на той же неделе, когда поставщики бесплатных тестов на коронавирус, вакцинации и лечения для незастрахованных были проинформированы о том, что их услуги больше не будут возмещаться. Военно-промышленный комплекс получает миллиарды долларов, а потребности людей остаются неудовлетворенными. Незастрахованные и бездомные остаются без помощи, в то время как неонацистский батальон «Азов» получает деньги с благословения Конгресса.

Призывы к созданию так называемой «запретной для полетов зоны» фактически спровоцируют воздушную войну, которая повысит риск ядерного конфликта. Санкции — это война другими средствами, и они должны быть повсеместно осуждены всеми участниками антивоенного движения.

Перемещение миллионов людей в Украине — это повторение того, что США и НАТО сделали в других местах. UNAC призывает антивоенные силы в этой стране присоединиться к последовательным требованиям мира в Украине, положить конец империалистической структуре НАТО и создать систему, отвечающую общественным потребностям, а не нуждам оборонных подрядчиков.

Мы требуем:

США/НАТО отказываются от Украины: ни оружия, ни военных «советников», ни наемников.

Гуманитарная помощь Украине и расселение всех беженцев и вынужденных переселенцев

Держите Украину подальше от НАТО и остановите расширение НАТО.

Изгнание всех иностранных сторонников превосходства белой расы и неонацистов из Украины

Репарации гражданскому населению Украины и независимых регионов Донбасса

Демонтировать НАТО и установить военную нейтральную зону от Западной России через Украину и страны Балтии.

Правительство США отказывается от доктрины полного спектра господства

Чтобы ознакомиться с более подробным справочным заявлением UNAC, нажмите здесь.

https://nepajac.org/jeffsarticle.html

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Now, more than ever, actions against US involvement in any wars in Ukraine/against Russia are needed

At an o­n-line meeting last Sunday that 1350 people signed up for, leaders of the US antiwar movement supported calling for international actions during the week of March 1 – 7 against any moves towards war with Russia.  The developing situation in the past day makes that call more urgent.  Please join us and plan an action in your area.

Click here to view the meeting/webinar last Sunday

Click here to let us know of your actions and we will publish actions taking place in the US and around the world.

25-02-22

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UNAC Statement o­n Ukraine and Russia

4/21/21

https://nepajac.org/ukrainestatement.htm

The United States, NATO and the Ukrainian government are escalating their provocation of Russia, risking war with a nuclear power. It is urgent that the anti-war movement oppose this.

In recent days, Russia has recalled its ambassador to the US after Biden broke with diplomatic protocol and called Putin a “killer.”This from the leader of the US that has forces in 172 countries around the world and has killed millions in recent years through its military adventures.

In 2020, the US provocatively moved Navy ships into the Black Sea 7 times.The Black Sea is an inland sea with shores o­n both Ukraine and Russia.Britain, the US’s junior imperial partner has now announced that it will send Navy ships into the Black Sea in May.

The US has pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia (which required parties to eliminate nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles) and is using this dangerous situation to further its anti-Russian campaign.It has been sending weapons to Ukraine, and hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the Ukrainian military.In March, a group of senators from both parties called for an increase of $300 million to the Ukrainian military and other top military officials have called for providing Ukraine with jet fighters, smart munitions, and cruise missiles.

Fighting has been escalating in the Donbass region of Ukraine as the Kiev government has moved forces into the area and started shelling.Donbass is an area the includes the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, which are autonomous governments that rejected the 2014 US engineered coup that overthrew the elected government of Ukraine and installed a pro-western government that includes extreme right-wing, neo-Nazi parties and organizations.

Recently, Ukraine and NATO announced joint military exercises and the Ukrainian president Zelensky has called upon NATO to admit Ukraine into the alliance.NATO forces and bases have been surrounding Russia in past years and NATO has conducted military exercises o­n Russian borders.

Ukraine has a longer border with Russia than any other European country and is seen by the US and NATO as an import factor in their military encirclement of the country.Last month the Ukrainian government proclaimed a military strategy aimed at Russia and to reclaim the autonomous regions in Donbass and to “recover Crimea.”Crimea has historically been part of Russia.It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union.The people of Crimea also rejected the US supported right-wing coup in 2014 and voted overwhelmingly to return to Russia.

In response to the aggressive moves o­n the part of the Ukrainian government along with the US and NATO, Russia has been amassing forces along its border with Ukraine.Russian troops are o­n Russian soil, yet US and NATO claim this is Russian “aggression”.

These dangerous provocations must be opposed by the antiwar movement.

UNAC demand:

Hands off Donbass!

Hands off Crimea!

Hands off Russia!

No military aid to Ukraine!

Keep Ukraine out of NATO!

Below are 2 reports from UNAC members who went to Ukraine in 2019 to express solidarity with a memorial of people killed by right-wing forces in Odessa for opposing the coup.

Report 1 – Kiev

Report 2 - Odessa

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Defend Our Rights! Into the Streets! Shut it Down!

Many organizations, some affiliated with UNAC, have called for people to be out in the streets in the days following the election.  For example, see the call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression here, the call from Workers Assembly Against Racism here or the call from the Black is Back Coalition here.  Some Labor organizations have called for a general strike if there is an attempt to abridge the people’s democratic rights o­n election day.  Many communities across the country have called for actions following election day. Below is a statement initiated by UNAC

Defend Our Rights! Into the Streets! Shut it Down!

We, the undersigned social justice activists, peace and justice organizations, defenders of fundamental democratic rights, defenders of Black Lives, of Migrant workers, defenders of healthcare for all and in opposition to endless war, recognize that no matter who is elected president o­n November 3, the attack o­n our democratic and human rights will continue. However, we reject President Trump’s threats to ignore the Nov. 3 election results and declare himself president.[read more]

Two new members have recenly been added to the UNAC Administrative Committee
They are Margaret Flowers, representing Popular Resistance and Autumn Lake, representing Youth Against Empire.  Click below to see interviews with them.  To see interviews with other UNAC Administrative Commmittee members, please go to: https://www.unacpeace.org/about.html

28-10-20

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A Manifesto for our times… The Challenge to abolish SYSTEMIC RACISM

October 2, 2020UNAC EditorRacism

Statement from Socialist Action

Massive opposition to SYSTEMIC RACISM… a racism and the inseparable generalized social inequality that permeate every institution in U.S. society, are the o­nly serious explanations for the magnificent, unprecedented, defiant daily multi-racial mass mobilizations in 2000+ U.S. cities and towns. In the face of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and police repression courageous millions have taken to the streets. The resounding declarations of Black Lives Matter! and No Justice, No Peace! have reverberated across the world. An unprecedented 84 percent of the U.S. population, according to CNN polls, agree with the anti-racist demonstrators.

It is this SYSTEMIC RACISM, not just the police murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks, that has infuriated the vast majority. That daily racist police murders of unarmed Blacks has been the norm for decades is no longer denied with impunity. Minneapolis is but o­ne example: Twenty percent of the population of 430,000 is Black. But when the police employ violence — with kicks, chokeholds, punches, shoves, takedowns, Mace and Tasers — nearly 60 percent of their victims are Black – seven times the rate of whites. Sixty-three percent of those recently killed by Minneapolis police – 19 people – were Black; 17 percent – or 5 people – were white.

INGRAINED RACISM: And a century and a half before these murders, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era, 1865 to 1876, 2,000 racist lynchings of Black men, women and children were recorded, that is, after the Emancipation Proclamation. And another 4,400 lynchings between 1877 and 1950. And countless more since. And two more in Los Angeles last week. And four looped lynch ropes ominously tied to trees in an Oakland, CA park just days ago!

SYSTEMIC RACISM: That is, the school-to-prison scenario, where ever-segregated, underfunded schools in the communities of the poor “graduate” near majorities of functionally illiterate students channeled into the ever-privatized-for profit mass incarceration prison-industrial-complex to work at Fortune 500 corporations at slave wages rates averaging 50 cents per hour. Half of the incarcerated are people of color. The nation that ranks first in the number of billionaires ranks first in the number and percentage of its population in jail.

SYSTEMIC RACISM: When COVID-19 deaths of Blacks, Latinx and Native Americans are nearly triple the rate of whites and quality health care, if any health care, is absent for the great majority.

SYSTEMIC RACISM in the poverty wage, part time, “gig” economy, “flexible” workforce largely of the poorest “essential workers” forced back to work in deadly unsafe/unprotected conditions to boost the profits of corporate America. The common racist wage differential applies more than ever today; “The darker the skin color, the lower the wage rates.” And triply so for the lowest rungs of the scale largely occupied by poor, Black women.

SYSTEMIC RACISM AND CLASS EXPLOITATION when $trillions in the recent CARE corporate bailout legislation were gifted to behemoth corporations – with a handful of billionaires getting $457 billion – while a o­ne-time pittance is allocated, if at all, to exploited and oppressed working people.

SYSTEMIC RACISM when 43 percent of the military’s soldiers are Black, Brown and Native American people – victims of the economic draft – and trained to police the world at a cost o­ne $trillion annually while our cities decay, our environment destroyed, our waters polluted, our schools fail, our health care disappears, our jobs deemed obsolete, our wages cut, our children go hungry and our hopes for a better future increasingly dashed.

Today, with undaunted millions in the streets, frightened figures in power have conceded more in days than in multiple decades, indeed centuries. Statues honoring the secessionist slaveocracy have been removed at the hands of the people and even by decree of local and state governments and in the nation’s capital. Their portraits have been ordered disappeared from the halls of Congress. Promises of “police reform” have been instantly announced in cities across the country. Generations of racist brutality and discrimination are pledged to be remedied with the passage of a piece of paper. Buildings honoring racist Klan member U.S. senators and their ilk have been instantly renamed. A handful of police chiefs have resigned. A few racist cops have been charged with murder and may be convicted in contrast to yesterday where such charges, not to mention convictions were the rarest of exceptions.

Spectacle of U.S. troops taking the knee

Even the nation’s leading generals, who oversee U.S. imperial wars of intervention around the world, counseled caution with regard to sending active duty troops, 43 percent of whom are people color, to quell the massive anti-racist protests. “The right of the people peaceably to assemble,” they asserted, rather than be subjected to threats of martial law, at least for now, had to be respected. At least for now! No doubt the rebellious spectacle of U.S. troops taking the knee or otherwise fraternizing with rather than repressing their sisters and brothers was a risk to be avoided. And Juneteenth, June 19, when federal troops arrived in Texas in 1865 to announce the end of slavery, is to be declared a national holiday. That is supposed to fix everything.

Where do we go from here?

We begin with the proposition that the term police reform is an oxymoron. Derek Chauvin’s knee has been o­n our necks for four centuries. His police ancestors were the slave patrols of yesteryear formed to track down escaped slaves. They were the post Civil War police who arrested en masse Black Code designated “vagrants” turned into instant prisoners transferred to plantation chain gangs to work free for former slave owners; they were the racist Bull Connor heads of Birmingham’s Public Safety Commission hired to enforce the state’s “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws; they were and remain the scab-herding cops employed to break union strikes and club civil rights demonstrators. They are all part of the system’s inherent function to maintain the social order of the few against the vast majority.

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass said it well,

“Power cedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will.”

Malcolm X, a century later came to the same conclusion,

“Power never takes a back step – o­nly in the face of more power.”

Malcolm added:

“I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. too:

“Since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”

The instant largely cosmetic concessions won to date in a matter of days and weeks affirm what Frederick Douglas, Malcolm X and Dr. King learned from bitter struggle – with regard to Malcolm X and Dr. King at the cost of their lives taken with the full knowledge, if not complicity, of the government’s spies.

SYSTEMIC RACISM in U.S. society will be fundamentally altered o­nly with profound changes in relations of power between those who hold and abuse it, and their victims – between the o­ne percent who own nearly half the wealth of the nation and the vast majority who live pay check to paycheck, and the Black, Latinx and Native Americans who are compelled to live o­n even less.

Democratic Community Control: The Right of Self-determination

The right of Black, Brown and Native American people to democratically control and govern their own lives and communities will emerge today with the formation of new, united and independent organizations dedicated to the freedom struggle in all its manifestations. The struggle to disarm, defund, and disband the racist institutions of police power can o­nly be envisioned in this context – in a political, social and economic framework where the $billions spent o­n the institutions of racist police repression can be deployed to defend and safeguard our interests not theirs – where the $trillions spent o­n bailing out the corporate elite, and the $trillions more transferred to them in “tax reform” bills will be spent o­n re-building the nation’s poor neighborhoods, inner cities, and tribal lands.

The movement we aspire to bring forth in alliance with all exploited working people will fight for:

* Free quality health care and education for all from the cradle to the grave, including generalized virus testing and PPE now!

* An end to all evictions and foreclosures during this COVID-19 pandemic and depression era! Limitations o­n rent to no more than 20 percent of household income!

* $Billions for human needs not endless wars of imperial intervention and murder. No to sanction wars, drone wars, Secret Operation wars, death squad assassination wars and privatized army wars!

* An end to racist deportations. Tear down the walls! Full amnesty and equal rights for all! No human being is illegal!

* An end to the violence and discrimination against women and LGBTQI+ people!

* Save the earth! Stop the impending fossil fuel-induced climate catastrophe. Nationalize the entire fossil fuel corporate monopolies for a rapid transition to a safe, ecologically sustainable energy system. Jobs for all at a living wage for all replaced workers during the transition! No to environmental racism and to toxic waste dumping!

UNITY! UNITY! UNITY!

The example of the most poor and oppressed uniting to advance their freedom struggle has already inspired working people of all races and creeds to join in wholeheartedly. The courageous spectacle of unprecedented numbers of inspired white youth standing firm and side by side with their Black, Latinx and Native American sisters and brothers, in defiance of curfews, police clubs and exploding noxious gas grenades, portends wondrous victories to be won now and in the immediate future. The construction of ever-broadening united coalitions and movements to advance humanity’s best aspirations for a new world where SYSTEMIC RACISM and SYSTEMIC INEQUALITY and SYSTEMIC SEXISM and MISOGENY are truly relegated to history’s distant and dark past is within our reach. What was impossible, unimaginable, unexpected, unthinkable yesterday is o­n the order of the day today.

Initial signers:

• Alice Walker, author
• Glen Ford, Editor, Black Agenda Report
• Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action National Secretary
• Joe Lombardo, National Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition
• Pam Africa, Chair, International Concern Family and Friends of Mumia-Abu-Jamal
• Michael Steven Smith, Co-host, WBAI Radio’s Law and Disorder show
• Clifford D. Conner, author of A People’s History of Science and The Tragedy of American Science
• Mumia Abu-Jamal

To add your name, please send an email to: socialjusticemanifesto2020@gmail.com. Include your name, email, organization and if this is an individual or organizational endorsement.

Original:

https://unac.notowar.net/2020/10/02/a-manifesto-for-our-times-the-challenge-to-abolish-systemic-racism/

12-10-20

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U.S. aggression against Iran threatens to begin yet another disastrous, bloody war.
The people of the world must fight back and demand:

No war o­n Iran!

07-01-20

“NATO-Exit” International Front

Greens Say ‘No to NATO’ While War Parties

Give Standing Ovations to NATO

By Kevin Zeese

Global Research, April 10, 2019

Greens are political activists and can be found in every movement for economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. They do not organize as Greens but as people who are part of the popular movement. The article below about the week of protests against NATO highlights Greens who participated, often as organizers with other peace and justice activists. There were many more Greens at these events than are mentioned. I apologize to those who are omitted. 

Last week was o­ne of contrast over the issue of war and militarism as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) came to Washington, DC. “No to NATO” protests began o­n March 30 and continued until the meeting of NATO foreign ministers o­n April 4. While people were opposing NATO’s aggressive militarism, the two Wall Street and war parties were giving the NATO General Secretary standing ovations.

Many Greens, working with other peace and anti-imperialist activists, helped to organize the week of actions and many other Greens participated. The Green Party showed itself to be the alternative to the two-winged War Party of the Democrats and Republicans, a party that stands for an end to militarism and imperialism.

The protests began o­n March 30, 2019, with a mass rally and march across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park. The event was organized by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) whose national co-coordinator is Joe Lombardo, a Green Party member from Albany, NY. Lombardo, an antiwar organizer since the Vietnam War era, immediately announced a response to NATO when their meeting was made public. Lombardo framed the protest as stopping wars abroad and at home emphasizing the wars at home when the April 4 date was chosen by NATO. It was important to highlight militarized police and police abuse in communities of color, especially o­n the anniversary the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being killed by the government in 1968 and his important speech, Beyond Vietnam, which called for an end to war given o­ne year before his murder.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

https://www.unacpeace.org

http://no2nato2019.org

The NATO “results” for 70 years

«Итоги» НАТОза 70 лет

http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=876

NATO aggression and wars are the worst violence against women and children.

Saturday, March 30 has been called as a international mobilization to protest NATO, the U.S. commanded military alliance, as it comes to Washington, DC to "celebrate" its 70th anniversary. 

Because of the U.S. coup attempt and escalating war o­n Venezuela, the organizers also made this a focus of the March 30 No2NATO action.  

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Support the Microsoft employees who are refusing weapons contracts.

[GRAPHIC: Sign here button]

https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13620

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A global coalition of employees of the Microsoft Corporation is demanding that a contract for work with the U.S. Army be dropped.

Sign your name in support.

The employees have sent an open letter to both the CEO and the president/chief legal officer of Microsoft. Here are some highlights:

■ "We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping o­ne country's government 'increase lethality' using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used."

■ "In November, Microsoft was awarded the $479 million Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract with the United States Department of the Army. The contract's stated objective is to 'rapidly develop, test, and manufacture a single platform that Soldiers can use to Fight, Rehearse, and Train that provides increased lethality, mobility, and situational awareness necessary to achieve overmatch against our current and future adversaries.'"

■ "While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does. The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed o­n the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated 'video game,' further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed."

■ "Intent to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology. We demand that Microsoft:

1) Cancel the IVAS contract;

2) Cease developing any and all weapons technologies, and draft a public-facing acceptable use policy clarifying this commitment;

3) Appoint an independent, external ethics review board with the power to enforce and publicly validate compliance with its acceptable use policy."

■ ". . . As employees and shareholders we do not want to become war profiteers. To that end, we believe that Microsoft must stop in its activities to empower the U.S. Army's ability to cause harm and violence."

Click here to add your name in support.

After signing the petition, please use the tools o­n the next webpage to share it with your friends.

This work is o­nly possible with your financial support. Please chip in $3 now.

-- The RootsAction.org Team

P.S. RootsAction is an independent o­nline force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others.

Background:

>> Letter from Microsoft Employees

>> Euronews: Microsoft Employees Demand Military Contract Be Dropped

www.RootsAction.org

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Why Canada Should Withdraw from NATO

https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-canada-should-withdraw-from-nato/5669144utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles

By Science for Peace

Global Research, February 21, 2019

Science for Peace 12 February 2019

Region: Canada

Hon. Lloyd Longfield MP

February 20, 2019

Dear Lloyd,

I am a longstanding member of Science for Peace, Canada’s most renowned scientific community for peace research and advocacy over more than 30 years centered in the Department of Physics of the University of Toronto.  Its co-founding president was George Ignatieff whose son later led the Liberal party of Canada.  So the positions Science for Peace adopts are not marginal and very seriously thought through.

The attached brief position paper advocating withdrawal from NATO is the result of years of research, debate and vigorous membership discussion which represents the overwhelmingly supported position of Science for Peace.  It rightly advises that Canada in NATO is now in repeated violation of United Nations Treaty and Declaration in military aggressions under international law, and  the President’s covering letter emphasizes the need “to oppose global trends towards militarizing the many urgent and devastating humanitarian situations”. I urge you to communicate these issues to your constituency and colleagues in the knowledge that the position paper and letter have also been sent to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.

NATO’s increasingly warlike policies far beyond the North Atlantic regional alliance it was founded o­n, coupled with US-led demands for ever more needed public money to finance its non-defensive policies of nuclear and military domination across continents, are directly opposed to Canada’s common life and public interest, especially with Canada and the world’s environmental defence so threatened and underfunded at the same time.

This is a repressed turning-point issue of our age which the responsible federal government must come to grips with for its integrity as well as for Canada and humanity’s future.

faithfully yours,

John McMurtry, Ph.D (University College London),

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Professor of Philosophy,

University Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph o­ntario, Canada

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister

House of Commons

Ottawa

Dear Prime Minister:

Re: Canada’s Withdrawal from NATO

Science for Peace calls o­n the Government of Canada to withdraw from NATO and to cease from colluding with NATO’s pretence of pursuing defensive goals. In addition, we urge the government to join in condemning NATO’s violations of international peace and security.

Finally, we call o­n the Canadian government to sign the United Nations’ treaty to ban nuclear weapons and to work towards dismantling NATO altogether.  Canada can, and should, do more to oppose global trends towards militarizing the many urgent and devastating humanitarian situations.

NATO’s Secret Transatlantic Bond: Nuclear Weapons In Europe

I attach a brief position paper, prepared by Science for Peace, which explains the reasoning behind our proposals for a major foreign-policy shift by your government.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Sandbrook DPhil, FRSC

Acting President

c.c. The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs; The Hon. Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Opposition

Why Canada Should Withdraw from NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed (1949) under a Treaty renouncing “the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” The Treaty calls for military action o­nly in response to an attack upon a member. By reserving the liberty of deciding when military action is required, it usurps the authority the UN Charter supposedly confers o­n the Security Council to make such decisions. But NATO’s assault o­n world peace goes much farther. Plainly, its many military initiatives (as in former Yugoslavia in 1992 and 1999, and in Libya in 2011) and its military “exercises” threatening Russia o­n its very borders (up to the present) have violated NATO’s self-declared limitations. o­ne might regard this as sufficient reason for a peace-seeking member nation to withdraw.

Almost from its beginning, NATO has committed a still more serious breach of the spirit and letter of international agreements: it systematically strives to impose its will by the threat of nuclear war. o­n the o­ne hand, Science for Peace can not condone Canada’s adherence to an alliance which insists o­n its readiness to be the first to resort to nuclear arms (discussed, e.g., by the Arms Control Association); but o­n the other hand, even were NATO abruptly to accept the principle of No First Use, the use or threat of nuclear war even in retaliation incurs absolutely unacceptable danger to the survival of humanity and must be repudiated. The rationale of nuclear deterrence, far from shielding Canada or anyone under a “nuclear umbrella”, acts to multiply the ways a nuclear war may be triggered, and magnifies the destruction it threatens¹.

Despite the increasingly potent threats to human survival through nuclear war and climate change, the public is largely uninformed by media, the government, and to a great extent within academia. Knowing the historical context is essential. With regard to laws and implementation of regulations that need to truthfully provide human security:

“The malleable, indeterminate, and oft-ignored ‘rules’ of the [U.N.] Charter concerning use of force can plausibly be marshaled to support virtually any U.S. military action deemed in the national interest. Limited or ambiguous U.N. Security Council approval, where available, is easily stretched.”²

In 1996 the International Court of Justice declared that “the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles of humanitarian law”³ and yet there is silence about these threats coming from President Trump or implicitly from NATO’s first-use policy.

Similarly indeterminate and lacking in meaningful constraints have been the agreements around nuclear weapons. The U.N. Non-Proliferation Treaty has not resulted in sanctions or limit-setting in any of the states already possessing nuclear weapons and has not addressed former president Obama’s $1.1 trillion allocation for nuclear weapons proliferation. The public is uninformed about the significant escalation of danger since 1991: George W. Bush’s withdrawal from the Anti Ballistic Defense Treaty with the consequent development of a missile defense system that effectually increases NATO’s belief that after a first strike a missile defense system could stop a nuclear counter-attack and that a nuclear war is winnable.

Challenging the ambiguity and compromises of the U.N. Security Council in order to address the mounting threats of human extinction, non-NATO nations and civil society members joined together to implement a nuclear ban treaty. Canada, bowing to NATO pressure, did not even participate in the meetings leading up to the treaty. Canada is also bowing to NATO pressure to increase military spending.

Science for Peace calls o­n the Government of Canada not o­nly to withdraw from NATO and to cease from colluding with NATO’s pretence of pursuing defensive goals, but to join in condemning its violations of international peace and security. We call o­n the Canadian government to also sign the treaty to ban nuclear weapons and to work towards dismantling NATO altogether and to oppose the global trends towards militarizing the many urgent and devastating humanitarian situations.

Lastly, it is the responsibility of an informed public to engage politically and demand the deep changes required for human survival.

*

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Notes

¹Daniel Ellsberg. The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury. New York. 2017.

²P. 99-101. Michael Glennon. National Security and Double Government. Oxford University Press: Oxford 2015.

³P. 213. Mohammed Elbaradei. “Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe” in Richard Falk and David Krieger, At the Nuclear Precipice: catastrophe or transformation?Palgrave. New York. 2008.

Featured image is from http://nousnatobases.org

The original source of this article is Science for Peace

Copyright © Science for Peace, Science for Peace, 2019

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