I’m used to hitting the streets to participate in anti-war rallies, but this weekend I joined online.
On the morning of Feb. 26, I tuned into Code Pink’s International Emergency Online Rally: No War in Ukraine – No to NATO, organized with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Stop The War Coalition, and the No to NATO Network.
Over two thousand participants joined the live broadcast, and many more followed on radio and other platforms. The event was hosted by the unstoppable Medea Benjamin of Code Pink and Kate Hudson of the UK’s CND.
The online rally was fast paced and international in nature, including speakers from the UK, US, Belgium, France, Spain, Ukraine, and Russia.
Benjamin began the event with a stark reminder of the devastation of war in Afghanistan, and in Iraq—noting that in the lead up to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Western nations fanned the flames of war by sending weapons, rather than working to avert war.
Vijay Prashad reminded us of the ongoing wars in Yemen, Sudan, and Palestine—noting that we must not lose sight that Ukraine is in proxy war between imperial powers.
Nora Garcia, of the Madrid Anti-NATO Peace Summit, set the tone when she declared “What we are experiencing is another failure of humanity.” She warned that especially now, in this moment, we need to be careful of history, and of the false framework we are being told to believe: that you are with Putin or with democracy and freedom. She noted the example of false and misleading news headlines in some Western media, where, for example, some headlines have said that this is the first major war since the second world war. “Have we forgotten Yugoslavia?” She asked.
“Peace is not the absence of war: peace is social justice,” Garcia explained. “Security is collective”. Garcia’s work is focused right now on an anti-NATO Peace Summit to be held in June, in Madrid. The summit is based on the premise that “NATO is useless to us”—security, she argues, does not come from weapons. It comes from disarmament.
She was joined by Danièle Obono, Member of the French National Assembly, who called for a cease fire and an International Day of action and solidarity.
Ludo De Brabander, of Belgium Verde and No to NATO Coalition, told us that earlier in the day, 500 activists for peace had hit the streets in Brussels to protest the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. He noted, as many of the online speakers did, that peace and anti-war activists are also under attack right now, due to their criticism of NATO’s historic and current stance for expansion. “No peace and security is possible with an open door NATO policy”. He further called for the Minsk agreements to be respected.
Jeremy Corbyn, UK Member of Parliament, participated from his car (how many of us have done that these days!) and spoke about how impressed he was with the number of people, especially young people, protesting in Russia against the invasion by Putin. “They are coming out to say—not in my name”. And they are being arrested, or risking arrest on those streets. Corbyn warned that anti war activists will get vilified in the days ahead—remembering how anti-war activists were characterized as “stooges” in protests against the war on Iraq.
The misinformation, attacks on people who work for peace, and the need to look closely at the nuclear powers involved are all themes he touched on. “Today is a day for a fundamental message: war will not solve these issues”. He noted the need to link a cease fire to the need for ongoing nuclear non-proliferation. He expressed concern about sanctions that hurt the Russian people, just as sanctions against Iraq and Afghanistan made ordinary people worse off. Instead, he called for sanctions against massive Russian money in the U.K. that is used to fund Western political parties. “The real issues of global poverty and environmental degradation are issues we can unite around”, he concluded.
Corbyn also reminded us that Yemen is being bombed by Saudi Arabia with arms provided by US and the UK (and likely Canada). We need to work against the arms trade, he said, adding to the call that while we protest war, we must work to end the arms trade.
In the short hour this event took place, speakers from Ukraine and Russia were not able to get online. Nina Potarska of the Ukraine section of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, had been forced to flee to Poland, leaving behind her daughter who had COVID.
The emergency online rally ended with a call for a Global Day of action and protest for Sunday, March 6, against the Russian invasion and against further military involvement.
“The leaders of these wars, including in the West, need to hear, the people have said, enough”, concluded Medea Benjamin.
For further information and updates on plans for March 6, and other actions underway connect to www.codepink.org
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