February 6, 2011

Continental Campaign Against Foreign Military Bases US Working Group

The Continental Campaign Against Foreign Military Bases US Working Group supports the efforts of people in Egypt to put an end to a militaristic regime marked by corruption which maintains the Egyptian people in a condition of inequality and poverty. As a group of organizations in the US that opposes foreign military intervention and works for the maintenance and promotion of peace in the Western Hemisphere, we are heartened by the peaceful and courageous stand taken by Egyptian citizens against a government closely allied with the giant U.S. military complex.

We, Latin American social movements, united through the campaign "Latin America A Region of Peace -- No Bases", call for a day of protest on December 10 to oppose the foreign military bases in our hemisphere.

The world watches the US military escalation with concern. In addition to approximately 650 military bases worldwide, there is the invasion of Afghanistan; the false withdrawal from Iraq; the transfer of weapons, ships and the announcement of $60 billion to prepare Saudi Arabia militarily to maintain its hegemony in the region; unconditional support for Israel; the intensification of the conflict in the Korean peninsula; and the exploitation of religious and ethnic feuds in Central Asia to acquire strategic gains that threaten China and Russia. The situation in Latin America is just as worrisome: The arrival of 13,000 marines and 48 war ships in Costa Rica; the building of new military bases to support US troops in Honduras, Panama, and probably Peru; the military occupation in Haiti; and the reactivation of the Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean. In the midst of a relative decrease in US global influence, the economic crisis enters a new phase in which the United States attempts to maintain its global hegemony and the neoliberal economic model by strengthening its war machine to ensure control of land and resources on a global scale.

El mundo observa con preocupación la escalada militar que el ejército de Estados Unidos viene desarrollando. A las aproximadamente 650 bases militares para sus tropas alrededor del mundo se les agregan, la invasión a Afganistán, el falso retiro de Irak, el traslado de armamento, buques y el anuncio de 60.000 millones de dólares para dotar militarmente a Arabia Saudita con el objetivo de mantener su hegemonía en la región, el apoyo militar irrestricto a Israel, el estímulo del conflicto en la península coreana, la utilización de enfrentamientos religiosos y étnicos del Asia central que le garanticen puntos estratégicos que amenazan a China y Rusia. En Latinoamérica la situación no es menos preocupante, la llegada de 13.000 marines y 48 buques de guerra a Costa Rica, la construcción de nuevas bases militares al servicio de sus tropas en Honduras, Panamá, y probablemente Perú, la ocupación militar de Haití, el tránsito de la IV flota en el Caribe. En medio de una pérdida relativa de su influencia mundial, la crisis económica que entra en una nueva fase en la cual el sostenimiento de su hegemonía mundial y mantenimiento del modelo económico neoliberal encuentra una respuesta en el fortalecimiento de su aparato de guerra, garantizando el control sobre territorios y recursos a escala global.

"No More Foreign Military Bases"

Social Forum of the Americas

August 14, Asuncion, Paraguay

With the presence of more than 200 people representing numerous organizations, movements, continental and national networks, the second continental meeting of the campaign "America Latina, A Region of Peace: No More Foreign Military Bases" was held on August 14, 2010, in Asuncion, during the fourth Social Forum of the Americas.

PUNTOS DE UNIDAD

Quién es: El grupo de trabajo en Estados Unidos de la Campaña Continental representa y coordina los esfuerzos de diversas organizaciones de los EEUU cuya misión incluye: el apoyo de los movimientos sociales en América Latina, el mantenimiento y promoción de la paz en todos los países del hemisferio, la defensa de las soberanías nacionales, la abolición de bases y enclaves militares extranjeros y la desmilitarización de la política de los Estados Unidos. Igualmente, nuestras organizaciones propenden por el fortalecimiento de la democracia, el mejoramiento de las condiciones de vida y de trabajo de la población y en particular, por mejores relaciones entre los Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica. Nuestras organizaciones tienen como principio buscar el cambio político a través de medios no violentos.

POINTS OF UNITY

Who: The Continental Campaign US Working Group represents and coordinates the efforts of diverse US-based organizations supportive of Latin American social movements; the maintenance and promotion of peace in all countries in the hemisphere; the defense of sovereignty; abolition of foreign military bases and enclaves and demilitarization of U.S. policy; the strengthening of democracy; the improvement of labor and living conditions; and better relations between the United States and Latin America. Our organizations embrace the pursuit of political change through nonviolent means.

Sábado, 17 de Julio de 2010

Escrito por Coalición no bases

[Text in English below]

Los abajo firmantes manifestamos nuestro contundente rechazo a la decisión del gobierno de Laura Chinchilla de permitir entre el 1 de julio y hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2010 el ingreso de 7000 marines y 46 buques de guerra a Costa Rica bajo el argumento de combatir el narcotráfico. Esta decisión es una violación de la soberanía territorial y política del pueblo costarricense y una afrenta a la democracia latinoamericana.

Raul Fernandez

[Texto en español a continuación]

The President of the United States has announced a push to sign “free trade” treaties, South Korea being first in line. Two things to note about the announcement: first, that Obama put it in the context of doubling American exports in the next five years; second, that he described it as the United States coming to the defense of South Korea from military threats from North Korea.

By Noam Chomsky

Source: Orinoco International, March 24, 2010

The United States was founded as an "infant empire," in George Washington's words. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture, much like the vast expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. From the earliest days, control over the Western Hemisphere was a critical goal. Ambitions expanded during World War II, as the US displaced Britain and lesser imperial powers. High-level planners concluded that the US should "hold unquestioned power" in a world system including not only the Western Hemisphere, but also the former British Empire and the Far East, and later, as much of Eurasia as possible. A primary goal of NATO was to block moves towards European independence, along Gaullist lines. That became still more clear when the USSR collapsed, and with it the Russian threat that was the formal justification of NATO. NATO was not disbanded, but rather expanded, in violation of promises to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not even fully extend to East Germany, let alone beyond, and that "NATO would be transforming itself into a more political organization." By now it is virtually an international intervention force under US command, its self-defined jurisdiction reaching to control energy sources, pipelines, and sea lanes. And Europe is a well-disciplined junior partner.