Statement of Potere al Popolo: No to war, no to Russian bombs, no to NATO!
February 24, 2022. In Naples hundreds, above all young people, followed the call of Potere al Popolo and took to the streets against the ongoing war.
We will not be enlisted in your war!
No to war, no to Russian bombs, no to NATO!
We stand in solidarity with the civilian populations suffering from the shellings in Ukraine and the Donbass!
We have never believed in the rhetoric of “humanitarian bombs”, not when it was NATO countries that dropped them, and not now, and we reject the war and any form of participation in the war. Our first appeal is for an immediate ceasefire on all sides. All milit ary action must be halted.
Today’s crisis is the result of thirty years of tensions in Europe’s security system finally reaching boiling point. NATO expansionism towards the East is the trigger. To understand the current situation we need to consider the past eight years of continuous attacks by the Ukrainian military and Nazi battalions against the populations of the Donbass, the thousands of deaths, the failure to comply with the Minsk and Minsk II agreements, especially on the part of Kiev, the “Ukrainization” operation that has attempted to eliminate or marginalise every Russian-speaking element, including the banning of political organisations in Kiev. These are elements that cannot be taken off the table.
But Moscow’s reaction is unacceptable. Putin is neither a liberator nor an oppressor, he is an agent of a bureaucratic and business power bloc that has dismantled the Soviet Union, attacking his own people first and foremost. This war will entail appalling consequences not only for the Ukrainians but also for the Russian working classes, who will be forced to finance the military effort and further undermine the spaces for internal democracy.
There is now a risk that the situation could deteriorate further, with catastrophic consequences, particularly for the peoples of Europe. We express our total rejection of the militaristic and warmongering hysteria that is currently spreading through the media and in the statements of politicians and government leaders. We reject all nationalisms, which in European history has always meant war and bloodshed.
At a time when the prospects for peace seem to be shrinking and coming close to zero, we need the courage of a diplomatic approach. We need an international conference to address short- and long-term challenges: starting from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, we need to rethink the European and international security system. In Ukraine, it is necessary to recognise the existence and autonomy of different peoples.
We cannot just stand by and watch. We have a role to play: the greatest possible pressure from our peoples is needed to stop the government which is dragging us into war. Each and every one of us must work to rebuild broad anti-militarist movements that impose diplomacy as the only possible solution to the conflict.
Let’s take to the streets, let’s organise demonstrations. Against war, whoever makes it, against sanctions, which are also an act of war, against NATO, which must be dismantled, against Italy’s involvement in the war. Not a man nor a penny for war, all our resources for peace and solidarity and cooperation between peoples!
Here you find the statement in Italian language.
February 24, 2022. In Naples hundreds, above all young people, followed the call of Potere al Popolo and took to the streets against the ongoing war.