Disband NATO Now!

Speech given by Anthony Taylor-Gougé, a member of the Anti-War Committee, on March 2nd at the Women Against Military Madness protest which was a part of a national week of actions to say No to US War with Russia.  

I would like to make one thing abundantly clear. The Anti-War Committee opposes all U.S./NATO interventions. We reject sanctions on any country, and recognize them as an act of war by other means.

As we stand here today, less than 24 hours since President Biden’s State of the Union address. We are confronted with a reality that we in the U.S. know all too well, that is the reality of our governments provocation and manufacturing of consent for war. While the President of the United States proudly proclaimed that the so-called “free world” would not stand for Russia’s actions, the war hawks in the senate and congress gave a raucous standing ovation for Biden’s war mongering antics. We have been led to believe that this is a conflict that started when Russian forces entered Ukraine a week ago. When in fact, Ukraine has been at war with the people of The Donbas region since the democratically elected government of Ukraine, which chose to remain neutral to both Russia and the West was overthrown in a U.S. backed coup in 2014, with the help of far right-wing Ukrainian forces.

President Biden said in his State of the Union that the world is choosing the side of “peace and security.”

I’d like to talk about the type of “peace” and “security” that the United States brings to other countries.

335,000. This is the number of bombs that the U.S. and allying forces have dropped on the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine and Somalia in the past 20 years alone.

While the United States war machine postures about the illegality of invading sovereign nations, we must recognize that the U.S. government continues to send billions of dollars in Military aid to an Apartheid Israeli government in occupied Palestine. The U.S. supported the illegal annexation of Golan Heights by the Israeli government. They continue to support illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The U.S. has no problem supporting the bombing, murdering and continued displacement of millions of Palestinian people.

The United States government has zero moral authority to intervene in any country. The United States military does not bring peace and security, they bring terror. A U.S./NATO intervention would only escalate the violence in Ukraine even more than they already have. With Ukrainian civilians bearing the brunt of the violent consequences.

We not only call for NO NATO intervention, we call for the absolute disbanding of NATO entirely.

In 2011, NATO invaded Libya under the guise of human rights intervention and with the intention “to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack.” The Libyan people have lived through horrific results since that 2011 invasion, with the return of open air slave markets, and absolutely nothing resembling a democratic structure of government. The Libyan people in this case have been harmed the most by NATO’s so-called “human rights” intervention.

FOURTEEN THOUSAND. This is the number of bombs that NATO countries dropped on Yugoslavia in a 78 day campaign in 1999.

Throughout those 78 days of bombing, an estimated TWO THOUSAND civilians were killed by NATO airstrikes. THREE HUNDRED schools and libraries were destroyed and FORTY THOUSAND homes were either damaged or destroyed.

It should be noted that despite the claims, NATO is NOT a defensive organization. It is a tool of U.S. domination to force their enemies into submission, no matter the costs.

The task for those of us living inside the belly of the beast is clear. We must stand up against what our own government and military is doing. We must say NO to War with Russia. We must say NO to sanctions. And finally, we must call for the disbanding of NATO entirely.