Spanish State – Servir al Pueblo: Speeches for “Peace” – Billions for War
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by Servir al Pueblo on the 14th of July.
Once again, the government led by Pedro Sánchez has shown its true colors: Although the government has made “No to War” its main slogan in international policy, at the recent NATO Summit in Ankara, the government made new commitments regarding spending and troop deployments as part of the genocidal alliance’s operations. The Spanish government has even been publicly praised by the leader of the criminal NATO, Mark Rutte, and by the genocidal president of the United States, Donald Trump. This not only clearly exposes the reactionary nature of the Spanish government but also shows that among the imperialists, while there is both collusion and rivalry, collusion prevails, and the confrontation between Spanish imperialism and US imperialism is, in many respects, pure theater.
These new commitments follow other efforts by the government, which in June accelerated military spending and financial injections into the so-called “Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defense,” part of its commitment to NATO to increase investment in “defense” to 2.1% of the annual budget. Following the summit in Ankara, it has been revealed that of this percentage of defense spending 32% is allocated to equipment for direct military use—12% more than the average required by NATO—a figure that exceeds the amounts spent by US, German, or French imperialism, according to NATO’s own figures. The Council of Ministers has authorized an additional 8,450 million in transfers to the Ministry of Defense, for arms purchases or funding for NATO missions. This is certainly a curious way to confront war and say “No” to it. Emergency loans are even being added to industrial and technological programs to improve the capabilities of the armed forces. These projects are not intended to fund logistics or healthcare initiatives or to improve conditions for the troops—excuses commonly used by government officials and their supporters—but rather include, for example, a project to modernize missile systems, justified by the Council of Ministers on the grounds of “fulfilling international commitments regarding security and defense.” 3,521 million are allocated for “various weapons systems, materiel, ammunition, and equipment.” Over the past 8 years under a government that is “for peace” and considers itself progressive, military spending has tripled.
In turn, it has been announced that the Spanish government will join the NATO mission in Finland “to protect the Arctic region,” as Pedro Sánchez himself announced on Wednesday, thereby increasing the military deployment along the borders with Russian imperialism as part of the campaign to encircle it. This mission comes on top of Spain’s participation in NATO missions in Slovakia, Romania, and Latvia.
Following these commitments made by Spanish imperialism to the criminal and genocidal NATO, the alliance’s leader himself, Mark Rutte, has praised countries such as “Spain (…) that is, important economies, reached or are reaching the 2% target” referring to the percentage of GDP that must be allocated to defense spending. Donald Trump praised Spain’s efforts on Thursday for having made a substantial financial commitment, stating that the current government “has completely redeemed itself.” For his part, Pedro Sánchez has downplayed the recent verbal disputes between Trump and the Spanish government, stating that their conversations were cordial and relaxed, and affirming that there is a good relationship between the two. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares also leaves no doubt about the Spanish government’s commitment to genocidal operations and criminal acts of aggression, as he has emphasized that “what matters is what Spain does as a NATO ally: We are a solid, reliable ally, absolutely indispensable to Euro-Atlantic security.” Beyond the rhetoric, the facts confirm the good relationship between the US and Spanish governments—the latter of which has cloaked itself in the mantle of “no to war” and “opposition” to the genocide against the Palestinian people, yet allows its arms monopolies, such as Indra, to share contracts with Santa Bárbara, part of the Yankee arms monopoly General Dynamics. This is yet another example of the government’s double-dealing: while it supposedly opposes genocide, behind the scenes it actually encourages it.
Once again, the true nature of this government is clear: a clique that serves the interests of Spanish imperialism, which, while issuing statements that attempt to cast a veil of progressivism over its actions, only promotes internal war against the people and war abroad to further oppress and plunder the oppressed peoples and nations of the world. Their level of deceit has reached such a point that even on the Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) [Translator’s note: public Spanish broadcaster] website, an article was published just before the NATO summit in Ankara—sent directly by the government—which claimed that Pedro Sánchez would advocate against increasing the defense budget before NATO. Now RTVE has been forced to remove the article from its website.
Every anti-imperialist, revolutionary, progressive, and democrat would do well not to be deceived by this government’s rhetoric or its supposed public confrontations with imperialists and their lackeys, for it is deeds—not words—that define the character of this government, which is anti-people, genocidal, and reactionary, and which, ultimately, defends the interests of Spanish imperialism. We must discard any illusions about supposed advances or positive developments that have occurred or may occur under this government, and prepare for the most fierce struggle against its policies—giving them no respite, conceding not a single inch of ground, and exposing their actions as the most criminal.
