75 years have passed since the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). History and the current international situation attest to the falsehood of NATO's proclamations as a so-called defensive organisation, circumscribed to the North Atlantic area, promoting Peace and defending human rights and international law.
On the contrary, NATO is a political-military bloc of an offensive nature, which essentially serves as an armed wing of the interests of the US, as well as other imperialist powers. One of its missions is the militarisation and use of force in international relations whenever such interests are at stake. A policy that is currently intensifying in view of the relative decline of the US and Western European powers.
The truth is that throughout its 75 years, NATO has fuelled, supported and carried out wars of aggression in violation of international law and the most basic human rights, an example of which is the aggression against Yugoslavia – the first war in Europe since the end of World War II –, against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or Syria.
There is no historical revisionism that can conceal the fact that NATO was founded in 1949 – 6 years before the creation of the Warsaw Pact –, aiming to confront the Soviet Union and the camp of socialist countries, implementing the so-called “cold war” and launching an arms race.
In the year in which we celebrate the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution, it is important to remember that the Portuguese fascist dictatorship was one of the founding members of NATO; that the longevity of the fascist regime – almost half a century – was inseparable from the support that NATO and its main powers guaranteed it, including for the criminal colonial wars against the peoples of Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique; or that the liberating Revolution of the 25th. of April was the target of pressure and threats from NATO, aiming to condition the will of the Portuguese people.
NATO shows through its own actions that it does not seek or defend Peace. On the contrary, it blocks perspectives and negotiation efforts with a view to Peace, as once again is the case of the war in Ukraine, opting to fuel the conflict and intervene in it in an increasingly direct way, pretending to ignore the dangers that such an escalation entails, when what is required is the political resolution of the conflict.
The US, NATO and the European Union can no longer hide their status as Israel's accomplices in the genocide carried out in Palestine – whether through cynical omission or blatant support, including military support – showing atrocious hypocrisy in view of the massacre of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the violation of the most basic human rights and international law, when what is required is an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the implementation of the national rights of the Palestinian people, as determined for decades by United Nations resolutions.
At the same time, the US, NATO and the EU expand and intensify the confrontation with all countries that they consider to be an obstacle to their strategy of dominance, namely through a policy of sanctions; of interventionism and expansionism present in the successive changes to its strategic concept; of enlargements and tentacular “agreements” and “partnerships”, which extend pressure, provocations and the presence of NATO across the globe. Namely with the expansion and deployment of more military means along Russia's borders and in the Asia-Pacific, particularly aimed at China.
Confirming its umbilical connection to the military-industrial complex and the millionaire interests associated with it, NATO and its leaders are pushing, in articulation with the European Union, for an insane and dangerous arms escalation. The European Union's submission to the strategy of confrontation between the USA and NATO, in economic and commercial or strategic relations, is particularly serious. The bolstering of the militarist and interventionist pillar of the European Union, unleashed in this context, will lead to serious social consequences and increased dangers for the peoples.
The PCP opposes the foreign policy of successive PS and PSD governments, chiefly characterised by tagging along and submission to the interests and strategy of the great imperialist powers and by alignment with the strengthening and enlargement of NATO, the militarisation of the EU and its warmongering policy, which is in conflict with the principles of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, the UN Charter and international law.
Portugal's participation in NATO was and is a conditioning factor for Portugal's sovereignty and independence, for the subordination of the Portuguese Armed Forces and for the standardisation of their organisation. The dissolution of NATO is a crucial objective for the affirmation of national sovereignty and for world Peace, with which the process of disengaging the country from its structures must be articulated, within the framework of Portugal's inalienable right to decide to leave.
In the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution, the defence of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and respect for its principles, including those contained in its Article 7, gain particular relevance, namely: the peaceful solution of international conflicts; non-interference in the internal affairs of other States; general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament; the dissolution of political-military blocs and the establishment of a collective security system, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring peace and justice in relations between peoples.
In the current and dangerous situation, it is fundamental to converge the forces of Peace and social progress in the fight for Peace, against militarism and war and threat of fascism.
