Updated: AW@L Commemorates NATO’s 60 Years of Militarism and Warfare

Direct Action at Colt Canada's gun factory targets NATO's expansion of the war in Afghanistan and 60 years of militarist imperialism

April 3rd, 2009

-AW@L's VIDEO-

-CTV NEWS VIDEO-

-Click to download Gala Program-

KITCHENER—Friday morning, a group of student and community anti-war activists targeted weapons manufacturer Colt Canada on Wilson drive in Kitchener, with a direct-action which commemorated the 60th anniversary of the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This non-violent demonstration stressed NATO’s involvement in the proliferation of militarism and warfare around the world. Members of AW@L dropped a banner from the gun factory’s roof as a crowd gathered to hear speeches. An address from the roof was delivered by an activist dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, highlighting NATO’s expansionist and imperialist policies. A second speech, delivered by another activist costumed as Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed NATO’s war in Afghanistan, and Canada’s role in NATO.

“Today, we gather at Colt Canada, the manufacturing site of automatic weapons that are being used by NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to highlight and oppose NATO’s aggressive military and expansionist policies” says Dan Kellar an AW@L spokesperson. He continued “and with the expansion of NATO’s war to Pakistan, these weapons will soon be killing civilians in yet another country as well”

Kellar also pointed to this weekend’s NATO conference, which is being co-hosted by France and Germany, and this week’s G-20 meeting in London as perfect examples of the spread of militarism which follows these globalist organizations: “The massive police and military presence at these events shows the true face of theses groups, they violently keep discussion out of the public sphere while they make decisions that affect the entire globe. Though there is tokenism in the group’s leadership, NATO is still essentially an old boys war club full of imperialists.”

At the ongoing NATO conference in Germany which opened yesterday, hundreds of arrests have been made, and police have used chemical weapons and rubber bullets in an effort to deter dissent. In addition to the heavy-handed crackdown by police at the conference, local residents have been asked to stay off the streets, and France has reintroduced border controls. AW@L’s event today was entirely peaceful, with no arrests. The two activists on the roof received trespassing tickets, totalling only $130. One of the activists said, “they accuse us of trespassing while NATO armies trespass on and occupy Afghanistan in yet another imperial war.”
Food was also served at this event; all menu items held symbolic meaning for NATO, such as the traditional Afghani dessert Asabia El Aroos or “Bride's Fingers” which represent paternalism, colonialism, and NATO's imperial "out of area" wars which are expanding the frontiers of the European. Another dish, Mushroom Cloud Crackers, represented NATO’s role in nuclear proliferation and its insistence that nuclear weapons are an 'indispensable instrument' in world safety and stability.

Coming on the eve of the 60th anniversary of NATO; and on the day that torture victim Abousfian Abdelrazik was blocked from returning to Canada by his government; and barely a week since British MP George Galloway was unjustly barred entry into Canada for “national security” reasons by the governing conservatives; this demonstration emphasized the role NATO has played in upholding and spreading the ideas of imperialism, militarism, and warfare.
AW@L (Anti-War @ Laurier) is a non-violent direct action community based in Kitchener and Waterloo Ontario. We organize through nonhierarchical, anti-oppression, and consensus based decision making principles. For more information about AW@L, please visit peaceculture.org

AW@L's Video:

CTV New Coverage (good work CTV, nice to see some actual reporting):

-BACKGROUND LINKS-
Here are those links:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE52S0LL20090329 Strasbourg turns into fortress for NATO.

http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=2497
Harper Speaking about NATO 60th conference.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8312/
NATO: After 60 Years, Out of Area or Out of Business?

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6624258.html
NATO summit to set keynote for future