Above photo: For ten years, protests against the US military base have been organized under the slogan “Stop Ramstein Air Base” Kaiserslautern, July 10, 2021.
Kaiserslautern: Protests against US wars and the Ramstein base as a hub for arms deliveries.
A conversation with Ann Wright.
With the slogan “Stop Ramstein Air Base,” the anti-war movement will protest against the US’s war-making this Saturday. What is the reason for this rally against the military base near Kaiserslautern?
As the largest US air base in Europe, Ramstein is a symbol of the use of European military bases for attacks around the world. The military base is allegedly being used to transfer weapons to Israel and also to fuel the Iran war with US bombs. Ramstein serves as a logistical hub for many of the bloody US wars. The air base is relevant to the US war machine. It is important that the German public stands up against this – and does not accept that the US continues to act as it has done so far.
You’re at the peace camp in Kaiserslautern. What’s the atmosphere like there?
Things are lively here. Activists are traveling from all over Germany to discuss the increasing militarization of society. There is dismay that at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, almost all European leaders supported spending five percent of their gross domestic product on military purposes. Whether in the US or here in Germany: We cannot accept that governments misappropriate citizens’ money for their killing machines instead of spending it for the common good.
What consequences do you fear?
It is terrible that all European governments – except the Spanish one – have submitted to the absurd demands of the American president and lacked the decency and backbone to stand up to him. The five percent of economic output has to come from somewhere: it will affect the future of people and their children, for whose education there will no longer be any money. Young and old people will suffer because health and welfare systems are impoverished. Europe’s rulers agreed to support their arms companies and those of the USA with taxpayers’ money because they believe the propaganda they themselves spread that Russia is a threat to all of Europe. Yes, Russia invaded Ukraine: but that can be no reason to more than double military budgets in all European countries.
Apart from the alleged Russian threat, it is also about securing the profits of the monopolies, especially in view of the poor situation in the civilian industry.
It’s in keeping with the logic of capitalism to exploit a potential threat to enrich the profiteers of arms companies, thereby endangering the social life of society. I hope that the European population will now become more involved when their security is at stake. But even in the US, it was not possible to persuade more than 50 percent to say no.
Is the US peace movement participating in the current mass protests against the Trump administration?
If the Trump administration bombs Iran, it will endanger national security. It’s a bitter irony that it’s doing so at a time when millions of people in more than 2,000 cities are protesting against the deployment of military forces to the US border and the detention of migrants. However, it will only spur even more people to resist.
What are the connections between the movements in the US and Europe?
Both peace movements are growing and will fight hard. The goal is to stop spending money on arms deliveries, neither for Israel’s war policy nor for bombing Iran. Since the US bombing of Iran, activists from the climate and migrant movements have also been committed to peace. The goal here will be to ensure that European governments do not implement Trump’s calls for general militarization. In the US, we will also appeal to Congress to stop the use of the military against its own population.
