[E-rundbrief] Info 862 - US-Raketenschild storniert
Matthias Reichl
info at begegnungszentrum.at
Do Sep 24 19:22:03 CEST 2009
E-Rundbrief - Info 862 - Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison (Campaign for
Peace and Democracy, USA): Missile shield cancellation 'a victory to be
celebrated around the world' (including statements of Czech anti-radar
activists).
Bad Ischl, 24.9.2009
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
www.begegnungszentrum.at
================================================
Missile shield cancellation 'a victory to be celebrated around the world'.
Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison
September 24, 2009 14:48
But much remains to be done, say US peace activists
The cancellation of the 'missile shield' - shorthand for the deployment
by NATO of a military radar installation in the Czech Republic and
Interceptor missiles in Poland - is a great victory for the peace
movement around the world, and deserves to be celebrated, even if much
remains to be done to combat US military power. Joanne Landy and Thomas
Harrison of the US Campaign for Peace and Democracy sent us this report.
The majority of Czech and Polish people never supported these proposed
U.S. military bases -- though you would never know it from reading the
American media with its recent headlines about the cancellation of the
bases such as "Eastern Europe Grumbles About Downgrade in US Ties,"
"Poles, Czechs: US Missile Defense Shift a Betrayal," or, perhaps most
preposterous of all, "Eastern Europe Not Feeling the Love From Obama."
These headlines make the classic error of presuming that the views of
governments are necessarily the same as those of the people.
In the Czech Republic, relentless mass protest prevented the Czech
Chamber of Deputies from ratifying the radar agreement: opponents
engaged in a whole range of creative actions against the proposed base,
from petition drives and marches to hunger strikes and street theatre.
Czech anti-radar activists succeeded in gaining the support of many
politicians in their own country, and in generating solidarity around
the world .
We can only speculate about the Obama administration's actual motives in
cancelling these missile "defence" plans. It was conceivably a simple
military modernization to deploy more effective anti-missile weapons, as
Defence Secretary Robert Gates has claimed. It may have been an attempt
to moderate wasteful military spending, as administration spokespersons
have said, since replacement weapons will cost less than those
originally planned. It may have been an attempt to conciliate the
Russians, who have seen the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic as
the seeds of a threat to their own strategic military capability; the
administration hopes to enlist the Russians in imposing heightened
sanctions on Iran if it refuses to cooperate on nuclear issues. But,
though they are never likely to admit it, the administration and the
Pentagon also had to take into consideration the dangerous consequences
of trying to install these new bases in the face of negative popular
opinion in the Czech Republic and Poland and the prospect of militant
and very public resistance in the Czech Republic.
In an article in the New York Times on September 19, Gates made a point
of stating that, "The future of missile defence in Europe is secure." He
says the Pentagon plans to soon "deploy proven, sea-based SM-3
interceptor missiles -- weapons that are growing in capability -- in the
areas where we see the greatest threat to Europe, and in about 2015, to
place "upgraded SM-3s on the ground in Southern and Central Europe.
We are not reassured by these plans for military escalation, and we do
not believe that such escalation is the way to respond to the threat of
future Iranian nuclear capability. Instead, as we said in our original
2007 sign-on statement against the Czech radar, "The United States and
other nuclear powers can best reduce the danger of nuclear warfare by
taking major steps toward both nuclear and conventional disarmament and
refraining from waging or threatening 'preventive' war -- not by
expanding the nuclear threat. Such steps by the existing nuclear powers
would create a political context that would powerfully discourage new
countries from developing their own nuclear weapons."
Czech groups opposed to the radar have been celebrating their victory:
"We have been active more than three years in the struggle to prevent
this plan from materializing. We are very happy that finally the
position of the US administration is in line with the will of majority
of Czechs," said Jan Tamas, spokesman of the Nonviolence movement, one
of the Czech groups active in opposing the radar.
Another Czech anti-radar group, the No Bases Initiative, released a
statement that said, in part,
"The struggle against the radar has always been the struggle for
democracy, for the right to decide on the principal orientation of the
country in a referendum. Despite all difficulties and the arrogant and
ignorant behaviour of many politicians, it is clear that an important
victory in our common struggle has been achieved. We should remember
this, no matter how the situation develops in the future. It has been
meaningful to sign the anti-radar petition and demonstrate against the
radar, it has been meaningful to pose questions to the members of the
Parliament and put pressure on them. Civic protest is meaningful. For
the civic No Bases Initiative (Ne zakladnam), this is not the end of our
activities. We will go on, enriched by this experience. Nor does it mean
the end of the U.S. anti-missile defence projects; discussion has
already started about alternatives to the radar in the Czech Republic
and to the missiles in Poland. But a the really good news remains - that
we have been able to prove, within the broad anti-radar movement, and
hand in hand with all those who took part in the most diverse anti-radar
activities during these three years, that we have the power to change
things to for the better."
We join with our Czech colleagues in belief that "civic protest is
meaningful." We are committed to continuing the fight against nuclear
escalation, missile "defence," and U.S. militarism, including the
growing wars against Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison are Co-Directors of the Campaign for
Peace and Democracy (USA). This statement has been edited slightly for
the benefit of non-US readers.
http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Landy.htm
--
Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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