|
56th Annual Munich Security Conference NATO War Conference Vigorously Opposed
At least 4,000 people from Germany, along with others from across Europe, converged in Munich on February 15 to vigorously oppose the 56th annual Munich Security Conference (MSC), held from February 14 to 16. The protest made it clear that NATO warmongers are not welcome and that the people of Germany are doing their duty to uphold the historic verdict of World War II, "Never Again!"
This year's MSC was preoccupied with a phenomenon the organizers refer to as "Westlessness." Namely, the political crises in NATO member countries and what they perceive as the loss of influence of so-called Western values. Life has shown that liberal democracy's "universal Western values" of a market economy and representative democracy -- said to be the endpoint of human social and political development -- cannot provide solutions to the problems the people are facing. Consequently, the people are rejecting the anachronistic liberal democratic institutions, based on their own experience that these are the very means by which they are deprived of a say in the direction of the society, including on the key questions of war and peace. Among those attending the MSC was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who delivered remarks to the conference on February 14. Much of the speech was an attempt to wrangle support for Canada to have a seat on the UN Security Council, and suggested that Canada has a vital role as a middle power in the international order. He also espoused the need to prop up neo-liberalism -- called liberal democracy, and maintain the status quo in international relations, and for a rules-based order. His speech presented the scenario that working people are to blame for electing "populist" governments, covering up that part of the crisis of liberal democracy is that the people are blocked from having a say, while establishment political parties do their utmost to sow divisions among the people. Those countries that are affirming their right to be and to set their own course politically and economically, including the rejection of U.S. hegemony in politics and trade, he referred to in saying the "global balance of power is shifting, with new powers rapidly rising and others becoming more assertive in their regions." He specifically singled out Venezuela, presenting Canada's dirty attempt to foment the regime change of a democratically elected government via the Lima Group -- a clear breach of international law -- as defending democracy.
In the call for the mass demonstration at this year's conference, anti-war activists pointed out the definition of security espoused by the Munich war conference is "not -- as conference leader Wolfgang Ischinger says -- the 'peaceful resolution of conflicts;' it is not for the safety of the people here, nor the safety of people elsewhere in the world, but for the supremacy of the West with its capitalist economic system based on the exploitation of human beings and nature." The activists pointed out how this economic system, and the military aggression used to enforce it, is responsible for the putsch-promoting and sanctions policies against Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, for example, and the trade and economic confrontations with China and Russia, which threaten to turn into hot wars. They stated that, "The prevailing policy of regime change and forcible access to resources means destabilization, sanctions, economic boycott, civil war and war." While Prime Minister Trudeau and others claim that Canada and other "Western countries" stand for rules-based governance, the anti-war activists pointed out that under the auspices of these countries, "[International] law is systematically broken; recent examples are the hidden genocide in Yemen by the Saudi war coalition, the ongoing war for the destruction of Syria and Turkey's attack on the Kurds in northeast Syria." In other words, the claim that "Western" countries have the moral high ground to dictate and intervene in the affairs of others is soundly dismissed.
As the example of Yugoslavia shows, the wars waged by NATO countries to enforce power and economic interests cost countless lives, devastate entire regions of the world, rob future generations of their livelihood and drive people en masse to flee, the anti-war activists pointed out. Yet, fully aware of these consequences, "the representatives of the Western 'community of values' continue to escalate." The latest MSC underscores
that
so-called Western values and the countries whose governments
espouse them through threat of force and the use of force by NATO
and other aggressive means, face an irreversible crisis. What is
key is that the working people of the world rise to the challenge
of the times, continue to speak in their own name, actively
oppose NATO warmongering and organize and empower themselves so
that the crises facing humanity are resolved in favour of the
people and the interests of international peace. |
The MSC is a war
conference in the same vein as the Halifax
International Security Forum. It is based on an imperialist
definition of "security" to justify NATO aggression and war against
countries that will not submit to imperialist economic and
political dictate. This year's MSC brought together some 500
warmongers and others said to be from the "fields of politics,
business, academia, and civil society [to] discuss current crises
and future security challenges," all of whom the MSC refers to as
"decision-makers." Thirty-five heads of state or government, as
well as over 100 foreign and defence ministers were expected at
the conference.
This
clash
between authority and conditions was on full
display at the MSC: so-called leaders attending to decide
who will be made the target of warmongering by NATO countries enforcing
imperialist dictate under the mantra "Western values"
versus those demonstrating outside to uphold the interests of the
oppressed peoples of the world and defend the cause of
international peace.
The activists
raised the alarm about Germany's increasing
militarization. They explained that since 1992, the Defence Policy
Guidelines of the German government define the "maintenance of
global free trade and unrestricted access to markets and raw
materials around the world" as "vital German security interests."
The German government has pledged to double its 2018 level of
military spending by 2031. Germany and France have the most
expensive weapons programs in Europe, and the massive rearmament
of the German army can only be for purposes of aggressive
intervention, not defence, and is part of the overall
militarization of the European Union, the activists noted. This,
they pointed out, is a continuation of the rearmament of Germany
when, 20 years ago, a coalition government of the Social
Democratic Party and Green Party authorized Germany's
participation in NATO's illegal invasion of Yugoslavia.
