Revolutionary Unification took part in the World Anti-Imperialist Platform demonstrations in The Hague against the NATO summit on 21, 24 and 25 June.
Below is the speech delivered by Spiros Patelis, member of the Central Council of Revolutionary Unification at the 21 June demonstration:
We have gathered here today, in the midst of WWIII, right after a new front has erupted with the zionist attack on Iran and the swift retaliation of the latter. We are here to oppose the predatory band of NATO, the imperialist alliance led by the USA, in its gambit to eliminate any resistance to its waning dominance, to dismantle every any antiimperialist and socialist country in the world. Summits like the this one, is where the imperialists devise their plans before another cowardly attack, before another nation is thrown into a fight for survival, before we’re one step closer to the total nuclear annihilation of humanity.
52 years ago, in Greece, the students revolted against the US backed dictatorship and barricaded themselves in the building of the polytechnic university under the slogans ‘USA out, NATO out’. The kept chanting slogans and singing defiantly up to the moment when the tank rammed the iron gate ending the blockade with bloodshed. Just as this brutal act of repression signified the beginning of the end for the junta of the colonels, the current acts of imperialist aggression and proxy warfare can only delay and not postpone the inevitable demise of the rotten imperialist system.
We, the antiimperialist youth and the global antiimperialist forces must dismantle the parasitic machine of imperialism led by the USA. To turn this WWIII into a war that will crush imperialism and the axis of aggression. It is our duty to work towards the goals of the world antiimperialist platform that can unify the antiimperialist forces into a militant front, capable of taking the strategic initiative and eradicating the global imperialist system of exploitation that has been siphoning super profits from the dependent and semi independent countries of the world so that the people can pave the road unhindered towards socialism and communism.
Below is part of the speech delivered by Dimitris Patelis, coordinator of the Central Council of Revolutionary Unification at the 25 June demonstration:
Today, due to their loss of power in the global balance of forces, imperialist forces are taking aggressive action to strengthen their hegemony and prevent the rise of the anti-imperialist and socialist states. They continue to extract superprofits worldwide and, led by NATO – a militarised transnational power apparatus – they are attempting to establish a new form of global dictatorship.
Opposing NATO is not just about opposing a military alliance; it is about fighting against imperialist domination itself. It is a struggle for liberation, justice, dignity, independence and equal development opportunities for all of humanity. In the battles that took place in and around Iran over the last few days, it was the courageous Iranian people who secured victory. We stand with Iran and with the people of Donbas and Russia against NATO and its proxy state, Ukraine. We also stand with the people of the DPRK against the proxy state known as the ‘Republic of Korea’, and with the people of China against the proxy state known as Taiwan.
Below is the speech delivered by Spiros Patelis at the 25 June demonstration:
How does NATO benefit the people of its member countries?
- Some people think that their country’s NATO membership helps to preserve democracy. However, this can be disputed by the 1967 coup d’état in Greece, in which military officers led by CIA-trained Georgios Papadopoulos seized control of the government. This led to a bloody seven-year dictatorship characterised by bloodshed, repression, imprisonment, torture and the disappearance of dissidents, and, of course, the murderous attack on the student blockade of Athens’ Polytechnic University, in which a tank rammed the campus gate while snipers murdered civilians from rooftops. The Baltic countries are another example, where more than a third of the population – the Russian-speaking minority – has non-citizen status and cannot vote. Within the supposedly ‘inclusive embrace of the EU family’, their language and identity are being penalised and erased. In the heart of the ‘democratic’ EU, people are being arrested not only for taking part in protests and demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, but also for social media posts in support of Palestine or criticising Israel’s genocidal campaign.
- Some people from countries on the periphery of NATO harbour illusions that NATO could help them settle territorial disputes with overly aggressive neighbours. This is disputed with a little historical knowledge. Following the Greek coup d’état in Cyprus in 1974, Turkish forces invaded the island and have occupied the northern half ever since. The two large British military bases at Akrotiri and Dekhelia, of course, remained neutral.
- People in core NATO states think that being part of a strong alliance will help to preserve their better quality of life. However, the 2008 economic crisis that was exacerbated by the subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, and the situation became even worse due to sanctions on Russian energy and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. Not to mention the consequences of further escalation in the Middle East, which we have seen recently. Deindustrialisation, rising costs of living, unemployment and now a call from NATO for 5% of GDP on military spending is demolishing any prospect of a better future for Europe. ReArm Europe is an initiative that plans to use people from EU countries as cannon fodder against Russia.
- People in core NATO states also believe that NATO is making their countries safer and more secure against external threats. However, the truth is that NATO has lost the technological dominance that made it invincible in the past. The Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran and Yemen are now able to deploy hypersonic missiles. ICBMs carrying hypersonic glide vehicles mean that, if NATO were to push the world into a nuclear war, Western nations would be unable to counter retaliation and mutually assured destruction. The peoples of Europe and the US may now experience the powerlessness of being targeted, as is the daily experience for the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Yemeni people and the people of Lebanon. Even Article 5 – the commitment of NATO allies to collective defence – appears to be in question in recent statements from US leadership.
In conclusion, NATO is an alliance built to counter the rise of early socialism in Europe after the triumphant liberation of eastern Europe from nazism by the USSR and the partisan movements. This reason for its existence does not stand anymore, after the restoration of capitalism in the countries of eastern Europe. The clear purpose of the lingering existence of this alliance during WWIII is the preservation of waning imperialist dominance over most of the world through proxy conflicts and regime change operations. The antiimperialist and socialist countries need to achieve victory against the imperialist axis as the outcome of imperialist aggression fomenting war and unrest means getting closer to the total nuclear annihilation of humanity.