Thousands demonstrate against the war at the NATO 'counter-summit' in Madrid

Madrid hosted this Friday and Saturday the NATO 'counter-summit', convened by several anti-war organizations, environmental associations, parties and social movements on the eve of the NATO summit, which will be held on June 29 and 30 in the capital from Spain. This Sunday, the event, which has been baptized as 'Summit for peace, NATO no', culminates with a demonstration in the center of the city, which takes place under the slogan "No to NATO. No to wars. For the peace".

Expression of antimilitarist sentiment persists in Spain, the 'counter-summit' highlights the importance of resolving conflicts by peaceful and diplomatic means and underlines the need for a military de-escalation.

The participants denounce the increase in military spending and charge against the Atlantic Alliance, which they consider to be "an obstacle to peace" that should be dissolved. "The new NATO has certified that, from north to south and from east to west, it is willing to intervene outside the imperative mandates of the United Nations Charter, as it did in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya," they maintain in the final statement.

Before the next NATO summit, which is expected to mark the roadmap for the next decade, the antimilitarist mobilization declared that the military bloc does not allow "progress towards a shared and demilitarized security", while "encouraging the proliferation of the weapon of mass destruction par excellence", since it does not renounce the use of nuclear weapons.

"More weapons in the world mean more wars," conclude the activists, who recalled the many pending issues that still remain to be resolved, such as hunger, disease, social inequality, the lack of public services or the climate crisis.

"With bullets you don't eat, with bombs you don't heal"

The Minister of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda of Spain, Ione Belarra, who also holds the position of General Secretary of Podemos, made similar statements last Wednesday during the inauguration of a new forum of the European peace movement, made up of leftist political forces. region of.

"We have to be clear and forceful: with bullets you don't eat, with bombs you don't heal and with tanks you don't put out fires," Belarra declared, insisting that "this is not the time to increase military spending, but to increase protection Social".