LOCKDOWN for armaments, the military, and war
Call for protests against the NATO Security Conference
Saturday, 20 February 2021, 2 p.m., Marienplatz in Munich
and at a later date to be announced Please sign the Call
Since 2019, a huge economic crisis is looming. The Corona virus and its consequences have intensified this crisis even more. The vast gap between the poverty of many and the gigantic wealth of a handful of people is growing continuously.
For years, we have been experiencing how social and democratic rights are being dismantled and racism and chauvinism are spreading. At the same time, the global climate catastrophe threatens all humanity. The current crisis is intensifying the destructive competition for natural resources, markets, and vaccines inherent to capitalism. The attempt to implement the interests of great powers by force increases the risk of war. Wars cost countless human lives, devastate entire regions of the Earth and the environment, deprive future generations of the basis for life, and make millions of people refugees.
Worldwide expenditures on the military reached the record sum of 1,917 billion dollars in 2019. And 1,035 billion dollars of this were accounted for by the NATO countries alone. That is sixteen times as much as Russia’s expenditures, and four times as much as those of China.
But an arms race is exactly the wrong answer to the huge challenges of our time. We need civilian responses, new peace and détente policies on the basis of common security and disarmament, and an economic system that is not oriented to maximization of profits.
The ‟Security Conference”: a bogus claim
The ‟Munich Security Conference” [SiKo] is not about the ‟peaceful resolution of conflicts”, not about the security of people here and elsewhere in the world – as conference chairman Ischinger claims. It is mainly about justification for NATO, for its billions spent on arms, and its wars, which are promoted to us as ‟humanitarian interventions”. The wars by NATO states serve only to force through their global power and economic interests.
Armaments and war do not create security
Security means to us above all social security, a living wage, an effective welfare state, healthcare and education for all, a viable infrastructure, prevention of hunger and poverty throughout the world, and the preservation of vital natural resources. There can only be security if the climate catastrophe is prevented, and military and economic force are renounced.
Germany on the warpath – not with us!
– The NATO- and US bases in Germany serve as a logistical hub for the illegal wars in the Near and Middle East. With the relay station in Ramstein, Germany shares responsibility for the illegal drone wars of the USA, which have already killed many thousands.
– With its ‟nuclear partnership”, Germany participates in the nuclear-war strategy of the USA. In the case of war, the US atom bombs stationed in Büchel are supposed to be flown to their targets by Bundeswehr pilots. In order to ensure Germany’s continued nuclear war-making capacity, the German government plans to buy 45 Boeing F-18 fighter jets for eight billion euros.
– Due to the denouncement of the INF treaty by the US government, there is now a danger of new medium-range missiles being stationed, and thus of a nuclear war in Europe.
– In arms exports, Germany holds a scandalous fourth place worldwide. German arms corporations are supplying the Saudi war-making coalition for their criminal war in Yemen, among others.
– A favorite customer of German arms supplies is the Erdoğan regime in Turkey, which is waging a bloody war against the Kurdish population, and has illegally marched into northern Syria in order to smash the democratic, emancipatory project in Rojava.
– Germany’s expenditures on the military and armaments increased from 32 billion euros in 2010 to 46.8 billion for 2021, and are supposed to be increased still further drastically in coming years, despite the economic crisis and impending cuts in vital services. The Bundeswehr’s equipment is to be upgraded for umpteen billions. It is to be equipped with multi-purpose combat vessels, submarines, frigates, new Eurofighter Typhoons, and with armed drones.
– Together with France, the German government is pushing the militarization of the EU. The two governments have decided on the most expensive European arms program to date. The development and procurement of armed Eurodrones, of a new main battle tank, and of a air combat system with swarms of drones will siphon off several hundred billions of euros in tax money.
Responsible policies means for us:
> Stopping the very dangerous confrontation with, and troop deployments against, Russia and China. Instead of saber-rattling with economic blackmail and military threats, negotiations and civilian conflict resolution are needed. There can only be peace with, and not against, Russia and China.
> Ending the madness of the arms race. Disarmament is the order of the day. Instead of wasting billions on a military arms race and preparations for war, we need investments in social-welfare systems, in healthcare and education, and in protection of the environment.
> Ending the missions of the Bundeswehr abroad. They do not have anything to do with the defense of our country. And no domestic deployment of the Bundeswehr. In case of a catastrophe, we do not need the Bundeswehr, but instead the Technisches Hilfswerk (= THW), the Technical Relief Agency. Abolish the Bundeswehr!
> Germany must stop aiding and abetting the US drone murders and illegal wars of aggression. The US air base Ramstein, the other US military bases, and all the other US and NATO command centers in Germany must be shut down. Germany out of NATO and of all military structures of the EU!
> End all arms exports from Germany and the EU! Ban licensing and the shifting of arms production abroad. Stop the deadly business of the merchants of death and war profiteers. Instead of accepting agitation against people who flee from wars waged with, among others, German weapons, we stand in solidarity with refugees.
> End the exploitative economic policies that cause wars, poverty, and refugees! Eliminate the causes of their flight, instead of creating them.
> No participation by Germany in the nuclear-war strategy of the USA. The German government must not approve the stationing of medium-range missiles; it must stop the Bundeswehr training flights for the use of US atom bombs, and prohibit the stationing of nuclear weapons. And it must join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
> We advocate the observance of international law and the strengthening of the United Nations as an institution of common security.
Take to the streets with us
against war and the arms race, for global social justice, for solidarity with those fleeing from war, hunger, and the destruction of their homelands, and for a social-ecological transformation to save nature and the climate, instead of destroying the world.
Action Alliance Against the NATO Security Conference
www.sicherheitskonferenz.de or www.antisiko.de
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Bank account for Alliance: K. Schreer, IBAN: DE44 7001 0080 0348 3358 09, Purpose: SIKO 2021
Postal address: Claus Schreer, Johann-von-Werth-Straße 3, 80639 München, GERMANY
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