Demonstrators rallied in The Hague, a city celebrated as the "City of Peace and Justice" in the Netherlands, to protest against rising military spending and NATO's expanding global influence as the alliance's annual summit opened Tuesday.
The two-day NATO summit has sparked widespread discontent over the alliance's military policies. Prior to the summit, NATO's 32 member states agreed on a proposed target to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, allocating 3.5 percent to direct military expenditures and 1.5 percent to related investments, such as infrastructure. The proposal will be submitted for approval by heads of state and government at the summit. On Sunday, more than 5,000 demonstrators from across Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, staged large-scale protests in The Hague's Koekamp Park and surrounding areas, voicing opposition to what they describe as NATO's transformation into a global "war machine." The protests were initiated by more than 20 organizations.
"They lose wars after wars, after wars. They have never fought a defensive war. They only pretended to a defensive war in Afghanistan, which was to go halfway around the world and attack one of the poorest countries in the world and call it defensive. The others, they haven't even pretended. It's just aggressive wars. They lose, lose, lose, and then they abandon," said David Swanson, executive director of World BEYOND War, an anti-war organization.
As the summit unfolded on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators from various countries gathered near the Dutch Parliament building to voice their discontent with NATO and its ever-rising military expenditures. This anti-NATO, anti-militarization march sharply contrasted the summit's agenda of advocating higher defense spending targets. "We all gathered here to say no to NATO, to reject NATO because they try to claim that they are here for defense and security, but we know that they only increase the danger and the death and destruction in this world. So we are very much against that. And we are here today, on the first day of the summit, to mobilize inside the Hague to show that there are many people who do not accept this," said Yasmin Ahmed, a member of the VeTO (Verzet Tegen Oorlog, or "Resistance against War" in English) coalition.
Ahmed expressed her concerns about the true intentions behind increased defense budgets amid rising inflation and mounting economic challenges.
"We see inflation going up and all we see our governments doing is putting more into defense spending. But we know this isn't really defense spending. We know that they are planning to increase wars," she said.
Azra Talat Sayeed, a protester from Pakistan, said she traveled from Karachi specifically to join the demonstrations and stand in solidarity with global movements against the U.S.-led NATO.
"I have come here specifically against the NATO Summit that is happening in The Hague, and there is a people's movement here to protest against NATO, against the wars of aggression which NATO carries out," said Sayeed, a member of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS).
Hundreds rally in The Hague against NATO's expanding military policies
Hundreds rally in The Hague against NATO's expanding military policies
Hundreds rally in The Hague against NATO's expanding military policies
