September 30, 2022

By Madrid Platform

Madrid, Sept. 20. Madrid Platform Against NATO and Bases. Translation: John Catalinotto

The centers of power of Euro-U.S. imperialism have decided to resolve this deep capitalist crisis by applying the updated version of the same procedures they used in other times: massive destruction of capital and war.

NATO and the military bases, the armed wing of imperialism, has set itself up as the governing body of the great reconfiguration of capitalism, necessary for its oligarchies to continue to hold power.

NATO’s war against Russia, under the pretext of the Ukraine war, is the outbreak of a process of military encirclement of the Eurasian country [Russia], a process that has driven the development of the Atlantic organization since its creation in 1949 (six years before the Warsaw Pact) and which has only accelerated since the disappearance of the USSR. The extension of NATO, moreover, has been linked to the growth of fascism, directly financed, organized and armed by NATO, as we are seeing in Ukraine but not only there.

The enormous crisis, together with the gigantic concentration of capital in the big Investment Funds (majority shareholders of all the big media, pharmaceutical, agricultural, armament and banking companies) has been used by the U.S. to get closer to its great historical objective: to break all kinds of economic, commercial, cultural, etc. ties between the European Union and Russia.

The imposition of sanctions on Russia has been the perfect instrument to wreck the European economy as a result of skyrocketing energy prices, the lack of other raw materials and interest rates that are unaffordable for many companies and for the general population. All this while the U.S. takes over the European markets with the collaboration of governments of all political persuasions, headed by the PSOE-Unidas Podemos [coalition regime in the Spanish state], the first in the ranking of Washington’s top lackeys.

In short, we are facing a huge transfer of revenues in two directions: from the working class to the bourgeoisie and from Europe to the U.S.

All this undermining of the living conditions of millions of people, a direct consequence of the high cost of living and mass unemployment, is a social powder keg more and more difficult to contain with the demonization of Russia, constantly repeated in the media.

The militarization of society, the increase of repression and of the mechanisms of social control (see the new National Security Law) and the establishment of an increasingly iron censorship of everything that is not war propaganda (last May a “ministry of truth” headed by General Ballesteros was created) has its keystone in NATO and the military bases.

Journalist Pablo Gonzalez

One of the most brutal examples of this repression is that of the journalist Pablo Gonzalez, imprisoned and held incommunicado in Poland, an EU country, for more than six months without trial or accusation, surrounded by a great media silence and without any known action on the part of the Madrid Government. The denunciation of the case and the fight for his freedom will be one of our most important tasks.

If we look at history, with some very recent examples, we will see clearly what the armies and the so-called “forces of order” are used for in times of deep social crisis.

On an international scale, there is also little doubt that no humanitarian consideration can stop an organization that is directly responsible for the death of millions of people and for ravaging countries to steal their resources, an organization dominated by the USA, the only country in the world that has used atomic bombs, dropping them on two defenseless cities [Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, August 1945].

In view of the seriousness of the situation and in order to try to assemble all the forces necessary to confront it, the Madrid Platform Against NATO and the Bases has been formed. The same is being done in other areas of the Spanish State with the intention of converging in a State Coordinating Committee and with the objective of rekindling the anti-imperialist flame that some decades ago permeated the majority of the working-class population and that can ignite struggle within a youth that has more reasons than ever to fight for its future.

And we encourage all persons and organizations that, based in this Community, are aware of the seriousness of the situation to participate in our efforts and to contribute to the extent of the possibilities of each one, by contacting us through the e-mail madrid_cob@riseup.net.