No to NATO:
An interview with Tamara Lorincz
Bruce Gagnon / Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
CANADA (July 2, 2022) — Tamara Lorincz is a member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, WILPF Canada, Science for Peace, and is a board member of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
Tamara tells the story of her ‘interrupting’ Ukraine President Zelensky’s live talk to university students in Canada last week when he urged them to push their government to send more weapons to the war front.
More weapons from the US-NATO are only prolonging the war and hurting all the people of Ukraine — no matter which side they might be on.
Tamara is a PhD student at the Balsillie School for International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University) where she did her action. It had a big impact across Canada and beyond and was a real inspiration to many of us.
In the interview we talked about NATO’s plans to build a ‘global NATO’. They want to move into Latin America, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. They are the armed muscle for corporate capitalism.
Tamara comments on NATO’s attempt to ‘greenwash’ its massive carbon bootprint. She also talks about the more than a dozen protests held from coast-to-coast in Canada last week against NATO.
Tamara has been working to stop NATO expansion for many years — long before the war in Ukraine began. People like her only come around now and then.
Please help by sharing this interview, which you can watch here
Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator for the GNAWNPS.
Stop the Weapons, Stop War, Stop NATO
Days of Action June 24-30, 2022
Canada-wide Peace and Justice Network
(June 24-30, 2022) — We urge people across Canada to join us to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and demand an end to the war in Ukraine between June 24 to June 30. We will be holding “Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO” rallies across Canada to coincide with NATO’s Summit in Madrid, Spain.
We will be standing in solidarity with the European activists who are organizing a major demonstration against NATO outside the summit and dock workers who are blocking weapons shipments to Ukraine.
We are opposed to NATO because it is an aggressive, US-led, military alliance of 30 Euro-Atlantic countries that has launched deadly and destructive interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. These NATO wars have caused profound misery and a massive refugee crisis.
For years, NATO has been provoking conflict with Russia and China. NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border and its training and arming of Ukrainian security forces have instigated the devastating war in Ukraine. We call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations with all parties for a democratic peace and neutrality in Ukraine.
We are opposed to NATO’s demand that allies increase military spending to meet the 2% GDP target. At $1.1 trillion, NATO accounts for 60% of global military spending. Since 2014, Canadian military spending has increased by 70%. Last year, Canada spent $33 billion on the military, which is 15 times more than on environment and climate change. Defence Minister Anand announced it will increase by another 70% over the next 5 years.
NATO’s demand that allies buy new interoperable weapons is leading to a costly arms race. Carbon-intensive weapons systems like fighter jets, tanks and warships are exacerbating the climate crisis.
This military spending prevents Canada from investing adequately in public health care, education, housing and climate action.
NATO’s reliance on a dangerous nuclear deterrence and first strike policy puts us all at risk and is the reason that Canada is refusing to join the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
NATO’s provocative war exercises and extension into the Asia Pacific are raising tensions with China and destabilizing the region.
The NATO military alliance is undermining global peace and human security. It is time to for Canada to withdraw from NATO and develop an independent foreign policy. Canada must end arms exports and economic sanctions. Canada needs to show leadership for diplomacy and disarmament.
We need international cooperation, nonviolence and common security for all countries. It begins with ending the sanctions, peace in Ukraine and peace with Russia and China.
Stop the Weapons. Stop the War. Stop NATO.
