Written by: Tamara Lorincz

Around the world, more people are taking the streets to demand peace and an end to the war that tragically continues to rage in Ukraine. The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that almost 7,000 civilians have been killed and 11,075 injured over this past year. Tens of thousands of soldiers are dead on both sides and millions of people displaced.

Outside the Munich Security Forum (MSF) last weekend, over 30,000 German demonstrators called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to stop the tanks to Kyiv and start talks with Moscow. At the same time, there were at least twenty “We want peace” rallies held across Germany.

For months, large-scale anti-war protests have taken place in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague and many other cities in Europe. In Rome, 100,000 people recently marched with signs “No to war and sanctions” and “Yes to peace and work.” These protests are organized by civil society organizations and trade unions under the banner Europe for Peace.

Europeans worry that extending the war will lead to more Ukrainians and Russians dying and a greater risk of nuclear escalation. They are also struggling with rising food and energy costs and lay-offs as a result of the conflict.

Europeans are now challenging the claim by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the political elite of their countries that continuing to arm Ukraine is the way to end the conflict.

Last month, NATO’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group met at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the 8th time and announced another massive $2.5 billion military aid package to Ukraine. The transatlantic members will be sending more tanks, guns, ammunition, rocket launchers and missiles to Ukraine.

At the MSF, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg irresponsibly urged allies to provide more weapons and boost their military budgets. The continuous flow of arms only serves to prolong this dangerous NATO proxy war against Russia and enrich European and American weapons manufacturers.

Last Sunday in Washington D.C., a huge rally billed as Rage Against the War Machine saw thousands of Americans from across the political divide converge on the National Mall. Politicians like Tulsi Gabbard, who used to be in the Democratic Party, and Republican Party member Ron Paul addressed the crowd. They spoke alongside high-profile activists, journalists and musicians.

In his speech, journalist Chris Hedges denounced the American political class that ensures permanent war and enables the war profiteering of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

People at the D.C. rally united on ten demands to President Biden that included “not one more penny for Ukraine”, “negotiate peace”, “disband NATO” and “slash the Pentagon budget” and marched to the White House.

Recent polls show that more Americans oppose the President Biden’s military and financial aid packages to Ukraine that now top $113 billion and his pledge to help Ukraine for “as long as it takes” when poverty is getting worse and infrastructure is crumbling in the United States.

The British people as well want Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reverse course and support a diplomatic resolution. Shamefully last spring, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson sabotaged a tentative peace deal between President Zelensky and President Putin, which has recklessly drawn out the devastation in Ukraine.

When Zelensky was in London earlier this month, Sunak explained that the UK would begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-standard fighter jets and expressed support for eventually sending British warplanes to Ukraine.

This weekend at Trafalgar Square, people will congregate for a national demonstration organized by Stop the War which condemns Russia's SMO in Ukraine and NATO's role in the war; it calls for a ceasefire and nuclear disarmament. A major conference No 2 War, No 2 NATO is also planned with discussions about how to pull the UK out of US-led military alliance that has waged wars in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Ukraine.

In solidarity, the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, which is comprised of 45 anti-war groups, is also having a weekend of action “Peace Now! Stop the War, Stop NATO” in a dozen cities. Members of the progressive Association of United Ukrainian Canadians will join the rallies.

This current groundswell for peace comes on the 20th anniversary this month of the biggest anti-war action in history. On February 15, 2003, up to 30 million people participated in demonstrations in 800 cities around the world to oppose the U.S. and U.K.’s planned invasion of Iraq.

Twenty years ago, across Canada, there were over 60 actions with the largest being a march of 100,000 people in Montreal. The rallies did pressure Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien not to formally join the “coalition of the willing," though Canada still assisted the US in the invasion of Iraq.

Today’s anti-war and anti-NATO movement is gaining ground nationally and internationally. Yet this important resurgence of activism has received little to no political support or mainstream media attention in Canada.

Not one Canadian Member of Parliament has questioned NATO’s reprehensible involvement in the conflict and called on the Trudeau government to stop sending weapons to Ukraine and to start using diplomacy.

Nevertheless, it is hopeful that Pope Francis and the leaders of Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and China have offered to help negotiate an end to the war. China has just presented a comprehensive 12-point peace to resolve the conflict and has offered its assistance. Their efforts deserve Canadian support.

It’s time for Canada and the other allied countries to listen to the people’s urgent appeal for peace and to end the war and end NATO.

For more information about the “Peace Now! Stop the War, Stop NATO” Weekend of Action go to: https://peaceandjusticenetwork.ca/

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Tamara Lorincz is a PhD Candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University and a member of the Canadian Voice of the Women for Peace.

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