Say NO to NATO – NO to WAR:
Join thousands of protesters from over 250 organisations in their historic efforts to protest against NATO’s aggressive military and nuclear policies.
Come together in Strasbourg to demonstrate against NATO and their 60th anniversary celebration.
Assert WILPF’s vision of a just world, free of war.

NATO has no reason to celebrate:

• NATO countries account for 75% of global military expenditures (total of US$ 480,663 m. in 2006);
• NATO is a vehicle for US-led use of force with military bases on all continents, bypassing the United Nations and the system of international law;
• NATO is designed to advance European and American military powers’ strategic interests and escalates arms expenditures;
• NATO is worsening tensions in Europe by installing the “missile defence” systems;
• NATO maintains a nuclear first strike position, threatening the world with nuclear weapons;
• NATO’s ongoing expansion into Eastern Europe and the Caucasus causes increased tensions, a greater possibility of war and the usage of nuclear weapons.
• NATO military operations negatively impact women (i.e. sex trafficking, prostitution).
• NATO is exploiting “equality” and “women’s liberation” to justify military operations.
• In 1968 already, WILPF passed a resolution for dissolving the NATO, because “they support a dangerous military terror balance”.

NATO’s nuclear doctrine is illegal

• Through NATO US nuclear weapons are stored in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Turkey;
• Soldiers in countries where US nuclear weapons are stored are trained to assume command and control of these weapons, which directly violates the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, Article II, which states:

“Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistant in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”

• WILPF calls on NATO to remove nuclear first strike capability from it’s nuclear doctrine;
• WILPF calls for the abolition of all nuclear weapons;
• WILPF calls on the Parliaments of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Turkey to demand the immediate removal of US tactical nuclear weapons;

In Strasbourg:

• 1 – 5 April: International resistance camp
• 2 – 5 April: Direct action & civil resistance
• 3 – 5 April: International Congress “No to NATO – no to war”. Location: University in Strasbourg. Initialization plenum on Friday 3th of April at 10.00 am.
• 4 April 2009: Anti-NATO demonstration

Strasbourg is France’s north-eastern metropolis on the border with Germany. It continues to serve as an important European crossroads. The city is easy reachable with Strasbourg’s airport (www.strasbourg.aeroport.fr) just 12 km southwest of the city centre and its railway station (connecting the city centre to Paris, Basel and Frankfurt by high speed trains. In addition, Eurolines has bus services from multiple European cities to Strasbourg (www.eurolines.com).

Info on NATO:

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Currently it has 26 member countries and an open door policy towards 7 possible new member states. Its troops are momentarily active in seven countries and one sea.
 

Additional Contact:

Please feel free to contact Ilse Wermink at WILPF’s international secretariat in Geneva when you want additional information or want to exchange thoughts on the matter:

Ilse Wermink
Annual programme intern
ilse@wilpf.ch
(0041) 22 919 7080
 

Annexes:

For additional information please click on the following links:

• WILPF’s ‘No to War – No to NATO’ statement of 24 November 2008;
• WILPF has a long history of opposing NATO.  WILPF Congress resolutions in the following years issued resolutions about NATO:

• 1968,
• 1971,
• 1980,
• 1983,
• 2007;

Below you will find NATO Summits from this years NATO meeting in Strasbourg April 2009.
.

There is a clear discrepancy of States’ statements made in the European Parliament and statements made in NATO;

• WILPF’s section guide to European Security Policy.

No to war—No to NATO

WILPF Statement issued by the International Board
24 November 2008
In view of the sixtieth anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military organisation in April 2009, we appeal to all people to protest against NATO’s aggressive military and nuclear policies and assert our vision of a just world free of war.
NATO is an increasing obstacle to achieving world peace. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has reinvented itself as a tool for military action by the “international community”, including the promotion of the so-called “war on terror”. In reality it is a vehicle for US-led use of force with military bases on all continents, bypassing the United Nations and the system of international law. It accelerates militarisation and escalates arms expenditure—NATO countries account for 75% of global military expenditure. Pursuing that expansionist agenda since 1991, NATO is designed to advance European and American military powers’ strategic interests and to control natural resources. NATO has waged war in the Balkans, under the guise of so-called “humanitarian war”, and has waged seven years of brutal war in Afghanistan, where the tragic situation is escalating.
In Europe, NATO is worsening tensions, feeding the arms race by installing so-called “missile defence” and bringing and maintaining a massive nuclear arsenal and a nuclear first strike policy. European Union policy is increasingly tied to NATO. NATO’s ongoing expansion into Eastern Europe and beyond, and its “out of area” operations, are making the world a more dangerous place. The conflict in the Caucasus is a clear indication of the dangers. Each advance of the NATO border increases the possibility of war, including the use of nuclear weapons.
We reject military responses to global and regional crises—these are part of the problem not part of the solution. We refuse to live under the terror of nuclear weapons and reject a new arms race. We must decrease military expenditure, directing resources instead to meeting human needs. We must close down all foreign military bases. We oppose all military structures used for military intervention. We must democratise and demilitarise the relations between peoples and establish new forms of peaceful cooperation to build a more secure and just world.
We call on you to spread this message in your communities and movements, to mobilise Anti-NATO protests and to make this vision a reality. We believe that a world of peace is possible.
No to war—No to NATO
There will be anti-NATO protests in Strasbourg and Kehl. The activities during the anti-NATO protest will include a demonstration on Saturday, 4 April 2009, an international conference from Thursday, 2 April to Sunday, 5 April, direct action and civil disobedience, and an international resistance camp from Wednesday, 1 April to Sunday, 5 April.
(Source: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/statements/24nov08-no_war_no_nato.html)
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1968 Resolution:
European Security Policy and Developing Countries
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, meeting at Congress, August 1968,
Convinced that the European military blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Pact ought to be dissolved, because they support a dangerous military terror balance which is not in conformity with the development of the world,
Agrees that the political aim ought instead to be an European security policy guaranteeing frontiers and sovereignty, leading to a dissolution of all Political blocs
Urges that the UN Guarantees of the neutrality of small countries would enable these more freely to work for a gradual disarmament.
Further it is felt that such a policy would increase the changes of a positive dialogue between the ideologies and stimulate a joint and positive collaboration with the developing countries so that this rapidly increasing global problem could be led into more constructive channels based on mutual confidence.
(Source: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/1968.htm)
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1971 Resolution:

Colonialism and military pacts
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, meeting at Congress at New Delhi, India, 28 December 1970 to 2 January 1971
 Considering that
 -colonialism is an absolute violation of the Charter of the United Nations and in direct contradiction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
-Portugal as a consequence of its NATO membership is offering the establishment of military bases for this alliance in its overseas dominions;
-the membership of countries in such military blocs is weakening and impending the fulfillment of the United Nations;
Deeply concerned about
-the risks of war, resulting from these facts:
-the disregard shown for United Nations resolutions;
-the human degradation taking place in so many places in the developing world;
-the complicity in these facts, brought upon the citizens in all countries of NATO;
Urges in accordance with former Congress resolutions directed against forming military blocs, that WILPF Sections in the NATO countries press their governments to convene an international conference to discuss the dissolution of NATO and other military pacts and the establish systems of security based upon international guarantees under the authority of the United Nations.
(Source: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/1971.htm)
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1980 Resolution:

The Nuclear Arms Race in Europe
To all sections, to the NATO Ministerial Council, to NATO countries and to countries of the Warsaw Pact:
The 21st Triennial Congress of the Women's International league for Peace and Freedom,
Considering that the biggest concentration of weapons of all types, especially of nuclear weapons, is found in Europe and that a danger exists of a further buildup of more destructive weapons just in this area,
Affirming as stated by several research institutes that a close balance between the NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries already exists concerning land-based nuclear weapons and other types of nuclear weapons centered on the European theater,
Convinced that a freezing of this balance must be an essential start for negotiations for reduction of the potential danger existing in Europe,
Urges strongly that the governments involved take initial steps for an annulment of the decision of deployment of 572 medium-range missiles as decided by NATO in December last year and a halt to further deployment of the SS-20 missiles on the Soviet side.
(Source http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/1980.htm)
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1983 Resolution:

NATO's & Cruise and Pershing Nuclear Weapons
The deadline for the first deployment of NATO's new ground launched Cruise and Pershing II missiles is upon us. By the end of this year, the announced time of deployment, tensions will be running high. Violence and bloodshed may be inevitable if there is no agreement in Geneva talks on the limitation and the reduction of nuclear weapons in Europe.
There is no sign of an agreement or a breakthrough in the talks. There is growing resentment in Europe because the NATO agreement of 1979 allowed allowed four years time in which negotiations would be carried out. But the United States delayed the start of the talks for many months. A postponement of the deployment would allow negotiators to make up for this lost time.
The secrecy of the talks encourages rumours and distortions of positions.
There is an undeniable logic to the idea of including in the balance the French and the British nuclear missiles targeted on the Soviet Union. The principle that the negotiating parties should suspend deployment of the weapons under discussion is a reasonable one.
A further problem is the separation of negotiations for the limitation and reduction of medium-range missiles from those of long-range missiles.
In light of the above, WILPF appeals to the two major nuclear powers and to the entire arms control and disarmament community to the following proposals:
WILPF, meeting at its twenty-second Triennial Congress, is agonizingly aware that a nuclear catastrophe is both possible and increasingly likely. Such a disaster is preventable – and we must see to it that it is prevented.
The introduction of first-strike nuclear systems anywhere in the world is a dangerous escalation of the arms race and a mockery of good faith negotiations on disarmament. As a first step to genuine and complete disarmament there must be cancellation of the NATO decision to deploy the dangerous new generation of ground-launched Pershing II and Cruise missiles and the carrying out of negotiations in good faith for the reduction in nuclear medium-range missiles of the NATO and Warsaw Treaty Organizations. We advance the following plan:
1. The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic shall immediately suspend the production and deployment of the medium-range nuclear systems under negotiation in Geneva. The US will suspend the production and deployment of the Pershing II and Cruise missile systems and the Soviet Union will suspend further deployment of the SS-20 missiles. The Soviet Union will reduce its medium-range land based systems to the number of French and British warheads targeted on the Soviet Union.
2. Since the Pershing II missiles would assure a strategic potential once deployed in the FRG, the rationale for holding separate talks on medium range nuclear forces and strategic arms disappears. Therefore, the two sets of talks should be merged. There integration should be facilitated by the good offices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The United States and the Soviet Union shall periodically submit full reports to the Secretary General on the progress of the talks so developments may be monitored and publicized.
(Source: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/1983.htm)
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2007 Resolution:

US-Missile Defense System in Central Europe
Noting that the US is planning to install radar and interceptor sites for a new missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland;
Aware that the pretext of placing this new system is the repelling of missiles from Iran and North Korea;
Aware that the US plans provoke a new arms race between the US and Russia;
Aware that the US plans will disrupt good relations between Europe and Russia;
Therefore the 29th Triennial Congress of the Women’s International League for Peace and freedom, meeting July 21-27, 2007 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Strongly opposes all plans to construct missile defence systems whether this be in Europe or elsewhere;
Calls upon governments to combat these US plans and any attempts to hide them under the mantle of NATO;
Calls upon WILPF US and all European sections, including the Russian and Belarus sections, to work together and in cooperation with the Polish and Czech peace movements against this new and dangerous development.
(Source: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/2007.html)
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Discrepancy European Parliament vs. NATO

On Tuesday July 1st 2008 12:00 noon at the EP in Brussels a cross-party group representing 69 Members of the European Parliament from 19 EU member states launched a "Parliamentary declaration in support of the Nuclear Weapons Convention". Their support marked the 40th anniversary of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the unfulfilled promise of the official Nuclear Weapon States to move towards total elimination of their nuclear arsenals.
The appeal calls for multilateral negotiations to prevent proliferation and achieve non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament through a Nuclear
Weapons Convention. The parliamentary statement was drafted and agreed by the cross-party group of Deputy Chairs of the European Parliament
section of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND): Ms. Ana Gomes (PSE - Portugal) and Mr. Girts Kristovskis (UEN - Latvia), both vice-chairs of the EP Security and Defense subcommittee; Ms. Annemie Neyts (ALDE - Belgium); Ms. Angelika
Beer (Greens - ALE - Germany) and Mr. Andre Brie (GUE/NGL - Germany).
(Source: http://www.abolition2000europe.org/index.php?op=Default&postCategoryId=9&blogId=1)
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Promoting Peace and Human Security in the European Union

WILPF section guide to European Security Policy
(Source: http://www.ikff.se/images/stories/ESP_Booklet_homepage.pdf )
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NATO Summits

WILPF UK section

WILPF German section

This is a contribution to the Workshop “No to NATO =SECURUTY ? GENDER QUESTIONS” rapport written by ANnelise Ebbe, WILPF Denmark president
AFGHANISTAN, NATO AND WOMEN’S SECURITY
-Background on NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan-

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