Above photo: Biden and Zelensky shake hands at the NATO Summit in July 2023 in Vilnius. Dati Bendo/European Commission.
NATO Summit to take place in US capital as the United States provides unconditional support for Israeli genocide.
Hundreds of demonstrators representing a diverse coalition of anti-imperialist and anti-war organizations are set to stage a mobilization ahead of the NATO summit, which will be held in Washington, DC from July 9 to 11. This protest is being organized by the Resist NATO coalition, which includes organizations such as the International League of Peoples’ Struggles, the Resist US-Led War Movement, and BAYAN-USA, which engages diaspora Filipinos in the struggle against imperialism.
“NATO’s 75th summit is occurring during Russia’s counter-aggression strategy against US-NATO military escalation and NATO territorial expansion, which has enabled NATO to call on its members to provide billions in weapons and military aid. The summit is also occurring when NATO is building military partnerships with Indo-Pacific countries to counter the influence of China,” say organizers with the Resist NATO coalition. “Protesters will demand that resources be allocated away from militarism and into economic, housing, health, education, and climate initiatives.”
“The United States should not expect it will be able to assemble its NATO junior partners in Washington without resistance from the people,” said Ben Zinevich, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is also participating in the mobilization on Sunday. “Not when US weaponry is flooding Ukraine and prolonging a war that could have been avoided with Russia. Not when Washington and NATO partners continue to supply the means for the state of Israel to conduct its genocidal war on Israel.”
This protest takes place after multiple actions in San Diego and Hawai’i protesting the biennial RIMPAC war games, including a mobilization of hundreds in San Diego last Sunday. RIMPAC military exercises take place every two years, organized by the US Navy’s Indo-Pacific command, and are “nothing but a show to display the weapons and equipment of the US military so as to facilitate more US arms sales to its so-called partners and allies, to coerce more unequal and aggressive military treaties and to further expand the US’s desperate grasp at control over the region’s trade, resources, labor and investments,” according to Carly Brook from Resist US-Led War.
Across the globe, people are rising up to oppose US militarism. In Colombia, social movements have publicly rejected the US-Colombia military exercises in the Pacific Ocean. On Sunday, the US, Japan, and South Korea concluded their biggest ever three day military exercise, which was denounced by North Korea, which dubbed it “reckless and provocative,” adding that the exercise disturbed the peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the larger region.