Statement by the National Executive of the Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG) regarding the NATO summit to be held in Madrid on 29-30 june

In view of the NATO summit to be held in Madrid on 29-30 June, the National Executive of the Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG), meeting in Santiago de Compostela on 27 June, hereby issues the following statement:

1. We consider it a mistake that the Spanish government volunteered to host the NATO summit in Madrid. Once again, the Spanish State has shown itself to the world as a supporter of US international doctrine, bowing to the interests of the largest military organisation on the planet meeting to rearm itself both metaphorically and literally, with an increase in military spending by member states to finance its new ‘strategic concept’ as one of the key pins of this summit.

We also firmly believe that it is fundamentally wrong to squander over 37 million euros of public money on organising a two-day-long event such as this in the current grave climate of need.

2. NATO is in favour of a military escalation that does not preclude the use of nuclear weapons, thus rendering it a serious threat to world security and peace. History has shown that NATO is an aggressive rather than a defensive organisation. While NATO harps back to the days of the of the Cold War, once it was over, not only did NATO not disband, but actually continued to expand to the point where its membership doubled over the last two decades, whilst at the same time signing military accords with over forty countries, including Colombia, Israel and Saudi Arabia, etc. Over this period, NATO has been directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of dead, wounded and refugees with particularly ruthless interventions in countries such as Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

3. The BNG is radically opposed the commitment by Pedro Sánchez to raise military spending to 2% of Spanish GDP, amounting to 24 billion euros. The PSOE and Unidas Podemos government has just approved the purchase of twenty combat tanks for a value of 2,034 million euros while it has only spent 800 million euros on the 200 euro support deal for the people the hardest hit by the crisis caused by rising prices.

The BNG does not share this scale of priorities and defends the exact opposite: not only opposing an increase military spending but also in favour of gradually reducing it.

4. We believe that it is a mistake that the priority for the Spanish government regarding Ceuta and Melilla is its ‘protection’ by NATO, when its main concern should be to guarantee human rights on the border. That is why we reiterate our strongest condemnation of the words of President Pedro Sánchez in support of the appalling action carried out the Moroccan security forces against the civilian population, which effectively seals the unilateral change of position of this government regarding Western Sahara.

5. The BNG is a pacifist organisation opposed to war and to an increase in military escalation around the world. We therefore defend an active neutrality on the part of the Spanish State in any miliary conflict and uphold a firm commitment to engagement, diplomacy and a peaceful resolution to conflicts. Consequently, the BNG supports the withdrawal of the Spanish State from NATO.

6. We also denounce the presence and actions of NATO in Galiza, especially the port of Ferrol, catalogued as ‘NATO Port’, together with other Galizan facilities used sporadically or continually during NATO-linked operations and training, including the Graña naval station in Ferrol, the air surveillance unit on Mount Iroite adjoining the boroughs of Boiro, Porto do Son and Lousame, the Airborne Light Infantry Brigade (BRILAT) base in Figueirido and the naval base in Marin, as well as the air and sea training carried out to the north of the Sisargas and the east of the Ons Islands and the use of the Lavacolla military airfield in Santiago de Compostela as a logistics base and refuelling and entry point for US and Canadian planes in Europe, not to mention the Rozas aerodrome in Castro de Rei used for research, trials and training involving military drones.

No to war! No to imperialism! No to NATO!

Yes to peace! Yes to social justice! Yes to the freedom of the people!