Friends,
Tomorrow I will travel to Chicago, along with Leila Zand, FOR's Middle East program director, to stand up against NATO during its global summit this weekend.
Join me in telling NATO it's not welcome.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was set up 63 years ago to "contain communism" in Europe. It's a Cold War relic whose time has long past.
NATO continues to fight a disastrous war in Afghanistan, in recent years alongside its aggressive wars in Libya and Iraq. NATO does not bomb all countries abusing human rights, nor does its bombing alleviate human suffering. "Pro-Western" dictators in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are not targets of NATO, nor were the dictators in Tunisia and Egypt before them.
Enough is enough. Tell NATO to end the wars by ending itself.
NATO was always an undemocratic institution, but it once claimed a defensive purpose. Today, NATO has militarized the nations of Europe against the will of their people -- maintaining hundreds of nuclear weapons in non-nuclear European nations, in blatant violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. NATO threatens Russia -- no longer our "enemy" -- with missile base construction on its borders.
Quite simply, NATO has lost its reason to exist, and now simply promotes militarism and war around the globe.
If you are in or near Chicago, I hope to see you at the counter-summit beginning tomorrow.
Can't make it to Chicago? Follow the latest events on the FORpeace and NATOFreeFuture Twitter feeds, and the #NATOFree hashtag.
Please join me in saying "no" to NATO, and forward this email to like-minded friends.
In peace,
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation |
