'No New Wars, No to NATO': Demonstrators Challenge Role of Western Military Alliance

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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/04/no-new-wars-no-nato-demonstrators-challenge-role-western-military-alliance



From Afghanistan to Syria to Ukraine, U.S. and European nations criticized for being destabilizing force

'No New Wars, No to NATO': Demonstrators Challenge Role of Western Military Alliance
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
Thursday, September 04, 2014

Calling for peace and an end to ever-expanding military intervention, up to one thousand protesters joined a march in Newport, Wales on Thursday, protesting the NATO summit taking place there September 4-5.

As world leaders met inside the Celtic Manor Resort — discussing the crisis in Ukraine, the rise of the Islamic State, and the ending of NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan — demonstrators marched three miles from a monument at the center of the city to a roundabout near the hotel. There, they were met by police in riot gear behind a large metal barrier. A small group of international peace activists was allowed through the metal fence to hand-deliver messages of opposition and a bouquet of flowers. Some of the activists had been participating in a counter-summit "peace camp" since August 30.

"Far from promoting security, NATO is a destabilizing global force," said Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson, a member of the delegation that was permitted to go beyond the cordon. "Its war of aggression in Afghanistan has killed tens of thousands and left that country fragmented: the ripples of which are being felt across the region. Through its insatiable expansion into eastern Europe, capitalizing on the vacuum left following the collapse of the USSR, NATO has contributed to heightening tensions around Russia and Ukraine, and risks provoking a new Cold War. It's time to say No to NATO."

Protesters carried a banner that read, "No New Wars, No to NATO," and chanted, "They say warfare, we say welfare." Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament press officer Luke Massey told Common Dreams that "it was a peaceful protest."