Together with the Moviment Populari Studentska from Malta we, Die Rote Fahne (the Red Flag), call for the further development of resistance and struggle against NATO and the EU, for neutrality and sovereignty. We are particularly pleased that the following joint call and poster has come about from these two countries. Both countries where there is a tradition within the masses and a thoroughly positive attitude towards the defense of neutrality. Both countries which, despite their official neutrality, are increasingly being drawn into the EU's warmongering and NATO's plans. 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 spread the following call and poster, organize discussions and actions. If you are interested or need posters or stickers, please write to: info@rotefahne.at
Against NATO and EU: Defend neutrality and sovereignty! Down with imperialism!
In the countries of Europe the rulers are pushing ahead with rearmament and militarization on an enormous scale. Gone are the days of illusions in a "peaceful development" of the imperialist system. We are living in times of war, in which the rulers are preparing to invest billions in order to achieve their bloody redistribution goals. In contrast, the struggles of the peoples, the exploited and the oppressed are developing worldwide.
Military spending within the European Union is at an all-time high. NATO and EU military exercises take place annually on an even larger scale. US imperialism, which has lost power and hegemony worldwide over the last decade, is insanely expanding its "military architecture" and increasing the pressure on its "partners", the rulers of European countries, to submit to its plans.
EU militarization was raised to a new level with the European involvement in the war in Ukraine against the Russian competitor, but also with its new "engagement" against Chinese social imperialism and with the war in Palestine against the peoples of the "Middle East". In addition to NATO's northern enlargement, a series of new pacts such as the "Strategic Compass" and "Sky Shield" have been added to already existing ones such as PESCO. The costs of rearmament and the inflation exacerbated by the "economic war" are being passed on to the working class and the people with a massive wage theft and the destruction of historical social achievements. Democratic criticism of this course is being increasingly criminalized by means of exceptional legislation and legislation on conviction of the people.
The masses in European countries are increasingly uniting, fighting back and struggling against militarization and warmongering. From Great Britain to Bulgaria, there are ongoing protests against the plans of NATO and the EU. This movement, which is objectively directed against imperialism, has been significantly strengthened by the broad solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle in numerous European countries. In many countries the students took an important role within the struggle for democratic rights against the imperialist’s plans. The youth insist in refusing to live in a world controlled by consumerism, alienation and individualism - imperialist ambitions, which are expressed by “private”, monopolistic interests, not the popular democratic will. Therefore only the anti-imperialist and revolutionary struggle can ensure a better democratic society for the people.
With the new military alliances, which are under the command and dominance of the imperialist powers, the national sovereignty of the oppressed peoples and nations in the EU is being further undermined and violated. In case of the small and middle imperialist nations, like Austria, the national sovereignty which has a bourgeois character, is not given up completely, but increasingly can only be maintain limited within the plans of EU-Alliance and US-imperialism. The rulers themselves are cutting the bourgeois sovereignty for their own capital interests, in contradiction to the aspiration of the proletarian and people’s masses. In Malta, neutrality has since its inception been linked to the struggle 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 shows clearly: 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 justified and must be developed as an integral part of the anti-imperialist struggle!
Therefore it is necessary to unite the democratic and revolutionary forces internationally through joint actions in the struggle against the warmongering of the rulers, against the subordination to the plans of the imperialists! Let us support the firm international union of the workers and masses for the revolutionary struggle to overthrow imperialism!
Against NATO and the EU: Defend sovereignty and neutrality!
Down with imperialism!
Resist and struggle! Rebellion is justified!
Long live international solidarity!
