On Saturday, November 25, a series of antiwar protests and meetings were held in Bucharest, Romania.
At 13:00 local time, the Committee Against War called for a symbolic protest at the 21 November Square, besides the cold and rainy weather.
At 15:00 local time, another protest was called by Palestinian organizations, in which the Committee Against War and GAS (the ISp affiliate in Romania) also took part. The police presence was very heavy, checking ID’s of the participants, making body checks, filming people, ect, in order to intimidate protestors. They even confiscated protest placards with the slogan “Stop NATO”. All these happening in the so-called “democracies” of the EU…
At 16:00, at the ArtHub space, GAS was calling for an open meeting about the wars in Ukraine and Palestine. For this meeting, GAS invited Nikos Anastasiadis from Internationalists Standpoint and Nikos Kanellis from Xekinima, Greece. In total, 40 people, mostly young, participated in the discussion, which was wide-ranging and lively. At the end of the meeting, a number of people expressed their interest in discussing more with GAS.
We publish the translation of the central demands and the text of the anti-war protest called by the Committee Against War
Demands:
1. Permanent ceasefire in Ukraine.
2. Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
3. Start a diplomatic dialogue for peace.
4. Stop the shipment of arms to Ukraine and Israel.
5. Stop the social war in European countries.
6. Stop the war.
7. We say NO to NATO (Western imperialism), NO to sanctions, NO to Russian imperialism.
8. End the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
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On 25 November, military and war budgets will be approved in several European countries. We, together with the youth and organised workers across Europe, are taking to the streets to say STOP!
Anti-war resistance is on the rise all over the world. People are fed up with billions being spent on missiles, tanks and weaponry while prices are rising, living standards are falling and we are sinking into poverty. People are tired of young people dying on the front lines while the warmongers draw lines on the map from the secure buildings they are hiding in.
Although on paper we are still in a state of peace, the EU is fighting an economic and social war that strikes first and foremost at its own people. Young people in all European countries are now one of the most precarious layers of society, and the future we look towards is increasingly uncertain. Sanctions and the economic dimension of the war have destroyed jobs on which whole families depended and made daily necessities a luxury that less and less people can afford.
Yet our leaders and economic elites want the war to continue. 500,000 dead soldiers is not enough to satisfy the bloodlust of imperialists on both sides of the conflict. The US wants to send even more attack missiles to Ukraine. Social programmes are being destroyed and austerity policies are being imposed on us to raise the money needed for war.
Who benefits? Western billionaires, Russian oligarchs and their subordinate states. BlackRock, the military industrial corporations and their champagne-drinking Wall Street shareholders.
Who loses? The Ukrainian and Russian worker, who have increasingly begun to defect from the front where they were sent to their deaths. The worker in Europe who has to pay his next set of bills. The worker in America, where the government is able to provide missiles to continue the war overseas, but unable to provide basic medical assistance to all citizens.
We have no business dying in imperialist wars. Our enemies are not behind any borders, they are much closer to us. They are the ones who own the places where we work, the TVs we watch and the political power in our countries. The time has come to challenge their power.
To the waves of nationalism of various kinds sparked by war, we respond with international solidarity. On 25 November, take to the streets across Europe. All to Bucharest! We demand PEACE.
in solidarity,
Committee Against War
The Committee Against War is an informal group of citizens who oppose imperialism and interstate conflict.
The Committee Against War does NOT support any of the imperialist camps in confrontation, but seeks to articulate an independent position for ourselves, the people who work and support society.
We act in coordination with other organizations from 17 different countries in Europe, including trade unions and political parties (La France Insoumise, CATP in Spain, etc.), with whom we have partially developed our demands.
