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European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates

Europeans are storming the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and their own declining living standards. The Grayzone has covered demonstrations and interviewed protest leaders in several countries since the war erupted.
 
by Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal
 
Part 2 - Popular resistance builds in Europe as leaders grovel to Washington
 
By the arrival of the February 24, 2023 anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a growing number of German citizens had begun to bristle at their government’s submissive attitude to Washington. Not only had Chancellor Olaf Scholz acceded to US demands to send Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian military, setting up what could be the first confrontation between German and Russian armor since World War Two, he seemed studiously disinterested in determining who was responsible for destroying the Nord Stream pipelines.

An antiwar manifesto authored by Sahra Wagenknecht of the Die Linke (Left) party and feminist writer Alice Schwarzer has provided a vehicle for German outrage at their government’s military support for Ukraine. Calling on Scholz to “stop the escalation in arms deliveries” and “lead a strong alliance for negotiations,” the open letter had garnered over 700,000 signatures at the time of publication.

On February 25, Wagenknecht and Schwarzer summoned supporters of the manifesto to rally in central Berlin. Over 15,000 protesters, and possibly many more, heeded their call, flooding Brandenburg Gate to hear speeches by the two authors and speakers including Jeffrey Sachs and former German Brigadier General Eric Vad.

Wagenknecht framed the delivery of German tanks to Ukraine against the ghosts of country’s past, proclaiming, “We don’t want German tanks firing on the great grandchildren of Russian women and men. This is complete historical amnesia! Have you forgotten German history?”

While participants in the Berlin rally belted out the East German anthem, “Ami Go Home!”, calling on US Army personnel to leave German soil, hundreds of protesters surrounded the US military’s Ramstein Airbase, which serves as headquarters for Air Forces activities in Europe and Africa. There, they demanded their government end its participation in the US-led coalition against Russia.

Also on February 25, the UK’s Stop The War Coalition held a march in London against shipping arms to Ukraine and escalating NATO’s proxy war. On the same day in London, a No 2 NATO, No 2 War conference organized by former MP’s George Galloway and Chris Williamson opened to a packed crowd despite intimidation campaigns that prompted two venues to cancel on the event’s planners.

The London rallies were supplemented by substantial protests against NATO’s proxy war in Paris and Brussels, where thousands marched outside European Parliament to demand immediate negotiations with Russia.

The February 25 rally in Paris was convened by a group called The Patriots, which has demanded French President Emmanuel Macron immediately resign.

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