First International Conference to Close US/NATO Military Bases Held in Dublin

International peace activists gather on Friday, November 16, outside the Dublin Post Office. Nancy Price of WILPF US, in a purple coat, is toward the left of the group and is holding one side of a WILPF sign. Photo: Ellen Davidson.

By Nancy Price

On November 16-18, 2018, some 300 peace activists representing over 35 countries gathered at the Liberty Hall in Dublin, Ireland, for the first International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases. WILPF US is a member of the No US Foreign Military Bases Coalition, a new campaign to close all US Military Bases and NATO bases on foreign soil. Read more about this campaign here. And here’s a map of global U.S. troop presence.

Around 60 people attended the conference from the US, and thanks to a generous donor I was also able to attend as a member of the US Coordinating Committee, as was Anne Atambo, founder of WILPF Kenya, who was a panelist on the Africa/AFRICOM panel. In addition, I had the great pleasure to also meet Khadija Ali, a founder of WILPF Chad now living in London, and WILPF women from Norway, Scotland, and Italy.

Conference speakers represented countries from all continents, including Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, United States, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, Israel, Palestine, Kenya, D. R. Congo, Japan and Australia.

Read the full Press Communiqué here and Press Reports published by different groups since the conference can be found at www.nousnatobases.org.

There were inspiring keynote and plenary speakers, for example, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Prize winner from Northern Ireland, Dr. Aleida Guevara, member of the Cuban National Assembly and daughter of Che Guevara, Clare Daly TD, a member of Dail Eireann, the National Parliament of Ireland, Alfred L. Marder, President, U.S. Peace Council, who spoke via Skype, and many more from campaigns and organizations around the globe.  A full list of confirmed speakers is here.

Videos of the conference are posted at www.nousnatobases.org and you may consult the Dublin Conference Schedule to select the day and event. Friday evening included an opening with Keynote and International speakers, and Saturday and Sunday had multiple plenaries. With the schedule, you can scroll through the video to find the panel you wish to watch. The Sunday Report Back on Next Steps from the Regional Breakouts begin at 5 minutes/34 on the Sunday video.

Here is also an excellent, 14-minute video made by Il Comitato “No Guerra No Nato alla Prima Conference Internationale Contro le Basi Militari USA/NATO” with many of those interviewed speaking in English, French, Spanish, and Italian.  As Jeannie Toschi Marazzani Visconti says at 3 minutes, with 114 air and naval bases, the entire country is one US/NATO base.

Professional photographer Ellen Davidson has posted a wonderful treasury of colorful photos of the rally at the Dublin Post Office at www.stopthesewars.org/ELLEN-DAVIDSON/ The Dublin Post Office is where Patrick Pearse, leader of the 1916 Irish Rebellion, read out the Proclamation of Independence from the United Kingdom.  

Ellen Davidson’s site also includes photos of the entire conference, and of the Monday protest at Shannon Airport, where US military flights, often for renditions, violate Irish Neutrality. Check out www.shannonwatch.org.

Is it time to mobilize – on World Water Day?

No matter the World Water Day theme for March 22, 2019, maybe it’s time to highlight the military’s pervasive contamination of water sources and the impact on the health of women, children, and our families around the world.  

Let’s learn from Pat Elder who spoke on the panel of on the Impact of bases on the Environment and Health highlighting how base activities impact base residents and those in surrounding communities. He speaks here and in the Italian film #No Guerro #No Nato at 8 minutes/40.

Here are two of Pat Elder’s recent articles: "An Empire of Bases Poisons Water, Threatening Its Own Collapse" and "How War Pollutes the Potomac River".

Inset photo: Anne Atambo, founder of WILPF Kenya, speaking at a panel on Africa/AFRICOM. Photo: Nancy Price.