The NATO No Madrid Assembly, of which the IAF (Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista) is a member, has just launched a call for the organization and participation of all people in all actions that can be prepared to show the popular rejection of the NATO Summit in June. (29.01.2022)

Call to action #OTANNOMadrid

In June 2022, the NATO Summit will take place in Madrid (Spain). NATO is an offensive military alliance that was promoted by the United States of America more than 70 years ago.

It currently has 30 nation-states holding full membership, and keeps direct links with some other 40 countries. NATO is a criminal organization, the main objective of which is to militarily guarantee the economic and political interests of both the US and the European Union’s ruling classes in order to impose them to the rest of the world. Membership of this organization involves surrendering the sovereignty of each member state, something which transcends the alleged military scope.

Membership of NATO implies for each member state to give up the possibility of establishing peaceful, reciprocal and mutually respectful international relations, since the treaty binds them to join in the threatening and aggressive campaigns determined by the US. In its more than seven decades of history, NATO has fostered dozens of military offensives; the cruelest and bloodiest ones being those in Afghanistan, Libya and the former Yugoslavia, which have claimed thousands of victims, mostly civilians.

At the coming summit, NATO’s main plans will be drawn up, and the various governments will elect the heads of this structure. The 2022 summit will not be just another summit. It is intended to advance in the quantitative and qualitative adaptation of this warlike alliance to the new international scene, and to prepare itself for a hypothetical confrontation with China and Russia.

The presence of NATO in our country dates back to more than sixty years, when foreign military bases were established in our territory. Since then, Franco and the subsequent governments of the Spanish regime have maintained close ties with this criminal structure. And they have done so ignoring the popular outcry against the US bases, the NATO membership and the massive mobilizations against the war.

In a situation of social, economic and health crisis, the current government has decided to host the NATO Summit. It has likewise decided to continue increasing the military budget and the billions of euros invested in the purchasing and selling of weaponry, instead of reinforcing essential public services. By participating in armament programs, the Spanish state becomes responsible for weapons that are then sold to bloodthirsty dictatorships, or used against unarmed civilians in Africa or the Middle East.

That is why dozens of social organizations and hundreds of Madrid activists have decided to show our opposition to imperialist policies of aggression and interference. Moreover, we demand that the NATO Summit, where the violation of human rights and the killing of innocent people are planned on a large scale, should not be held in our country. At a time when the US and its accomplices are beating war drums, we do not want Spain to partake in any interference nor in the escalation of sanctions and threats that only affect the lives of the people.

We express our firm and decisive commitment to peace, to end the imperialist aggression and respect the sovereignty of the peoples. And for this reason, in addition to organizing all kinds of actions and demands against the Madrid Summit, we call for the immediate withdrawal from NATO, the definitive closure of the military bases and the commitment to non-interference in the affairs of other states.