Peace activists have held NATO counter summits in response to NATO’s summits in several countries over the years.
However, when the NATO Summit took place in Vilnius/Lithuania in 2023, there were no plans for a counter summit, partly because there are no longer groups active in peace issues in the Baltic States.
For this reason–and due to an extreme shortage of time–fast-acting, cooperative people critical of NATO needed to come together. A group of engaged women–mainly from the US, Canada, UK, Italy, and Finland–agreed to form an international, non-hierarchical movement called Global Women for Peace United Against NATO (GWUAN). Within four months, they published a Declaration for Peace signed by approximately 200 women worldwide.
GWUAN held a conference in Brussels, the city of NATO’s headquarters, with speakers from around the world, both in person and via webinar.
Since then, GWUAN has organized many NATO-critical webinars attended by women from all over the world. Please visit GWUAN’s website to learn more.
Call for Photos for 2025 NATO Counter Summit
The NATO Summit in 2024 took place in Washington, and a group of organizations convened a counter summit. As part of the event, GWUAN included a “photo mosaic” of women saying “NO” to NATO from across the globe, since few GWUAN women from outside the US could travel to Washington.
GWUAN decided to let our “faces” travel. You can see the traveling “faces” in this video.
Similarly, we do not think many women from the US, Latin America, Asia Pacific, or African continent will travel to the counter event in June 2025 in The Hague/Netherlands. So, again, let the “faces” travel.
And we need “faces” from all over the world.
Despite many invitations and reminders, it has been difficult to get “faces,” especially from Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Africa.
We know this will be a highly publicized NATO summit, and GWUAN wants to be as visible as possible.
Women like Ulla Klötzer (Women for Peace Finland), Nancy Price (WILPF US), Pippa Bartolotti (US/UK author, United National Anti-War Coalition), and PR wizard Kate Hudson (CND UK), among others, are working very hard to make this a highly publicized and effective event before and during the NATO Summit in June.
Send your selfies with a sign saying “NO TO NATO” to Ulla Klötzer at ullaklotzer@yahoo.com by May 15. Please include your name and location (city, state, country).
