Malta and Austria: joint call against EU and NATO!
We publish an unofficial translation of the article of Rote Fahne from Austria.
Together with the Moviment Populari Student ska (Popular Student Movement) from Malta, we, the Rote Fahne, call on people to develop resistance and fight against NATO and the EU, for neutrality and sovereignty. We are particularly pleased that the following joint call and poster came about from these two countries. Both countries where there is a tradition and a positive attitude towards defending neutrality among the masses. Both countries are increasingly being included in the EU’s war-mongering and NATO’s plans despite their official neutrality. Resisting and fighting against this is an important task of the anti-imperialist forces in both countries in order to defend the interests of the population and thwart the plans of the imperialists!
In the coming weeks, activists and supporters of the Red Flag will distribute the following call and poster, organize discussions and actions. If you are interested or need posters, write to: info@rotefahne.at
Against NATO and the EU: Defend neutrality and sovereignty! Down with imperialism!
In the countries of Europe, those in power are pushing forward armament and militarization on an enormous scale. The time of illusions in a “peaceful development” of the imperialist system is over.
We live in times of war in which those in power are preparing to invest billions in order to achieve their bloody redistribution goals. On the other hand, the struggles of the peoples, the exploited and the oppressed are developing worldwide.
Military spending within the European Union is at its highest level ever. NATO and EU military exercises on an even larger scale take place every year.
US imperialism, which has lost power and hegemony worldwide in the last few decades, is madly expanding its “military architecture” and increasing the pressure on its “partners”, the rulers of the European countries, to submit to its plans.
EU militarization was taken to a new level with Europe’s participation in the war in Ukraine against its Russian competitor, but also with its new “commitment” against Chinese social-imperialism and with the war in Palestine against the peoples of the “Middle East”. In addition to NATO’s northern expansion, a number of new pacts such as the “Strategic Compass” and “Sky Shield” have been added to existing ones such as the PESCO. The costs of rearmament and the inflation exacerbated by the “economic war” are being passed on to the working class and the people through a massive wage theft and the destruction of historic social achievements. Democratic criticism of this course is increasingly criminalized through exception and conviction legislation.
The masses in European countries are increasingly uniting, defending themselves and fighting against militarization and warmongering. From Britain to Bulgaria there is ongoing protest against NATO and EU plans. This movement, which is objectively directed against imperialism, was significantly strengthened by the broad solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle in numerous European countries. In many countries, students have played an important role in the fight for democratic rights against the plans of the imperialists. Youth resolutely refuses to live in a world dominated by consumerism, heteronomy and individualism – imperialist ambitions expressed through “private”, monopolistic interests rather than the democratic will of the people. Therefore, only the anti-imperialist and revolutionary struggle can ensure a better democratic society for the masses of the people.
With the new military alliances under the command and dominance of the imperialist powers, the national sovereignty of the oppressed peoples and nations in the EU will be further undermined and violated. In the case of smaller and medium-sized imperialist nations, such as Austria, national sovereignty, which has a bourgeois character, is not completely abandoned, but can increasingly only be maintained in a limited way within the plans of the EU alliance and US imperialism. The rulers themselves are curtailing bourgeois sovereignty in the interest of their own capital interests in contradiction to the aspirations of the proletariat and the popular masses. Since its inception, neutrality in Malta has been associated with the fight against semi-colonial oppression and for the right to self-determination, such as the demand for the withdrawal of foreign troops. In Austria, the defense of neutrality is directed against the further curtailment of national sovereignty by the Austrian imperialist bourgeoisie itself.
The example of the neutral countries clearly shows that the principle of non-participation in military alliances is in open contradiction to participation in these projects, but the neutrality of these countries is being undermined in favor of imperialist militarism, against which resistance is developing among the masses. This is right and must be developed as an integral part of the anti-imperialist struggle!
It is therefore important to unite the democratic and revolutionary forces internationally through joint actions in the fight against the warmongering of the rulers and against subordination to the plans of the imperialists! Let us support the solid international unity of the workers and masses of the people for the revolutionary struggle to overthrow imperialism!
Against NATO and the EU: Defend sovereignty and neutrality!
Defend yourself and fight! Is right to Rebel!
All hail international solidarity!
