The first International Conference against US/NATO Military Bases was held on November 16-18, 2018 at Liberty Hall in Dublin, Ireland. The conference was attended by close to 300 participants from over thirty-five countries. Speakers represented countries from all continents, including Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, United States, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, Israel, Palestine, Kenya, D. R. Congo, Japan and Australia.
This conference was the first organized effort by the newly formed Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases, created by over 35 peace, justice and environmental organizations and endorsed by over 700 other organizations and activists. What brought us together was our agreement with the principles outlined in the Global Campaign’s Unity Statement, endorsed by the Conference participants.
Representatives of organizations and movements struggling to abolish foreign military bases shared their experiences of aggression, intervention, death, destruction, and the health and environmental damage that military bases cause for the whole of humanity, along with the threats to and violation of the sovereignty of the “host” countries.
The participants and organizers of the conference agreed as a matter of principle that while they oppose all foreign military bases, they consider the close to 1,000 US/NATO military bases established throughout the world as the main threat to peace and humanity. These constitute the main pillars of global imperialist domination by US, NATO and EU states and all of them must be closed. The NATO states’ military bases are the expression of imperialist intervention in the lives of sovereign countries on behalf of the world’s dominant financial, political, and military interests. These interests exercise control of energy resources, transport roads, markets and spheres of influence, in clear violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.
While we call for the closure of all US/NATO military bases, we consider the closure of bases and military installations in certain countries and areas as needing special attention by the international movement. These include the Guantanamo US base in Cuba, the US bases in Okinawa and South Korea, the US base in Rammstein/Germany, and in Serbia, the old and new US/NATO bases in Greece and Cyprus, the establishment of the new US African Command (AFRICOM) with its affiliated military bases in Africa, the numerous NATO bases in Italy and Scandinavia, Shannon Airport in Ireland (which is being used as a military base by US and NATO), and the bases newly established by the United States, France and their allies on and around Syrian soil.
We agreed to recommend and to support coordinated actions and initiatives in the coming year (2019) which shall strengthen the global movement to expand actions and cooperation while moving forward.
As a first step, the conference supports global mass mobilizations against NATO’s 70th anniversary Summit in Washington DC, on April 4, 2919 and protests in NATO member states and worldwide.
We declare our solidarity with the Cuban people’s decades-long efforts to take back their Guantanamo territory, illegally occupied by the United States, and declare our support for the Sixth International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, organized by MOVPAZ for May 4-6, 2019, in Guantanamo, Cuba.
The participants express their most sincere thanks and gratitude to the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) Ireland, for their generous hospitality and support in hosting this historic Conference.
Adopted by the participants at the First International Conference Against US/NA TO Military Bases. November 18, 2018, Dublin, Ireland
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