on occasion of the ↗NATO strategy summit

19th-21st November 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal

→ Leaflet

At the NATO summit in Portugal, NATO will decide on a new strategy. The new NATO strategy will include the continuation of the war in Afghanistan, interventions against other countries, expansion into the East and the North, and the continuing implementation of nuclear weapons. The threat at hand is that the use and modernization of nuclear weapons will continue to be a central part of the new strategy.

The international peace movement and other movements will protest against these war-mongering policies and call for the abolition of NATO.

Week of Action

Wednesday and Thursday:

Local and regional actions and events

Friday and Sunday:

International Congress: Counter Summit against War and NATO

Strategy organized by the network No to War – No to NATO together with PAGAN and many other Portuguese organizations.

Saturday:

International Demonstration — No to War – No to NATO

In Detail:

In Portugal, a national coalition has formed, the members of which are of the national anti-NATO alliance PAGAN, as well as other anti-war and peace organizations, environmental, human rights and social initiatives.  This alliance has support of NGOs, and of “Bloco” an alliance of left parties and movements.  The anti-NATO alliance has come into the public more with the first successful events in the recent weeks (see http://antinatoportugal.wordpress.com) and seeks to further support the participation of more organizations and initiatives.

The International Coordinating Committee of the network has worked along with the Portuguese organizations on a proposal for a roadmap for the NATO Summit.
This includes:

1. regional and local actions from November 15th to November 21st 2010.  For this,  a permanent public peace centre for multiple activities will be set up on a central square in Lisbon;
2. a counter summit on Friday November 19th and on Sunday November 21st, which will end with an “International Anti-War Assembly”.  The refusal of NATO and its warlike strategy are at the focus of this congress, along with an international analysis of the same.  We want to intensely discuss peace alternatives.  Actions of the peace movement are to be presented and further agreements for more and more intensive international cooperation should be obtained.  There is also lots of place for discussion of our different positions; we want to learn from one another, so as to act more effectively together;
3. support for a large international peaceful demonstration on Saturday November 20th in Lisbon;
4. an international actions conference in Lisbon on October 2nd and 3rd for preparation and international coordination purposes.

Details for the entire program are being worked out now and will be discussed further, including at the European social forum in Istanbul.  More information and an exact timetable will be placed on the website www.no-to-nato.org.  Here you can find also the first announcements for the protesting actions.
The preparation in Portugal is complicated because of the sectarian, equal alliances and cooperation objecting Portuguese Communist Party and the – with it closely associated – Portuguese peace committee.

What is most important now, is to intensively think about the preparation in each of the nations, how to increase the pressure on national governments and to get the topic of NATO more visible in the public sphere.  The de-legitimization of NATO is a long-term project, in which the critique of the new NATO strategy and the actions during the next NATO summit are only one further step to illustrate in even broader sections of the population: NATO and peace stand as complete opposites; whomever wants a peaceful and just world must reject NATO.