NATO support for aggression against Iran makes it even more important for Avi Lewis to declare his position on the belligerent military alliance. Will the NDP frontrunner support members who are bringing a resolution to the upcoming convention calling for Canada to withdraw from NATO?
In multiple recent interviews NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has emphatically endorsed the US/Israeli bid to overthrow the Iranian government and possibly balkanize that country. On Monday Rutte said, “It’s really important what the U.S. is doing here, together with Israel, because it is taking out, degrading the capacity of Iran to get its hands on nuclear capability, the ballistic missile capability.”
The nuclear argument is a red herring. Donald Trump ripped up the JCPOA nuclear accord, then claimed to have “obliterated” the country’s nuclear enrichment capabilities in June and Oman’s foreign minister says Iran agreed to never stockpile enriched uranium during the indirect talks with the US before the aggression. Additionally, three NATO members (as well as Israel) have nuclear weapons. It’s also absurd for the head of NATO to complain about ballistic missiles when alliance members have tens of thousands of these weapons.
In four days, the US and Israel have killed upwards of a thousand Iranians, including more than 100 children. The aggressive war has destabilized the region and could spiral further out of control.
Alongside its latest wave of aggression to advance “Greater Israel”, Rutte and NATO effectively backed Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its violence across the region. In June 2024 Jacobin reported, “Long-standing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is set to be NATO’s next secretary general. To win the role, he had to prove his alignment with Washington — and he did so by repeatedly misleading the public about Israel’s crimes.”
Israel has a strategic partnership with NATO and was one of the five original major non-NATO ally countries. Over the years NATO’s annual Maple Flag war games at Cold Lake, Alberta, has included Israeli fighter pilots.
As per its alignment with Israeli aggression, NATO is a belligerent US-dominated military alliance. During the alliance’s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia Canadian fighter jets flew 10% of all “strike missions” while 40,000 Canadians fought in Afghanistan in the 2000s. A Canadian general led NATO’s 2011 bombing of Libya.
NATO has also pushed Canada to spend ever increasing sums on the war machine. In June Mark Carney acceded to the alliance’s target of spending 2% of GDP on the military, which is three times Mexico’s rate, and then agreed to US president Donald Trump bid to have NATO boost the proportion of GDP spent to 5%.
Two weeks ago, Mark Carney’s government released a Defence Industrial Strategy designed to reach the 5% of GDP on the military target. The plan is to spend $180 billion on procuring new weapons and $290 billion in military-related capital investment and infrastructure over a decade. It represents an unprecedented militarization of Canada’s economy.
In a shameful statement, NDP defence critic Lori Idlout all but agreed with Carney’s Defence Industrial Strategy. While Lewis has criticized the 2% and 5% of GDP targets, I’ve yet to see him question the Defence Industrial Strategy.
For their part, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom -Canada and Canadian Voice of Women for Peace released a public letter calling for the cancellation of the Defence Industrial Strategy. It calls on the government to “cut military spending and not increase to the NATO 5% GDP target.”
In recent days over 600 individuals have emailed him a letter headlined “Avi Lewis, Stand with NDP members opposing NATO”. It notes:
“I am writing to ask you to support NDP members calling for Canada to withdraw from NATO. “The alliance has instigated wars of aggression in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Libya. These military interventions have caused immense human harm and environmental destruction. At the same time, NATO membership increases pressure for higher military spending, diverting public resources away from urgent social and ecological priorities.
“During the Cold War, NDP members voted to withdraw from NATO. The 1969 resolution was never formally rescinded, and many party members have continued to oppose the belligerent alliance.
“At least one motion at next month’s NDP convention will call on the party to return to its peace position. As the frontrunner in the leadership race, your support for anti-war advocates would be significant. It would send a powerful signal that the NDP is prepared to champion diplomacy over militarism. I urge you to publicly support the call for Canada to withdraw from NATO.”
Lewis has so far refused to answer the email campaign. At upcoming events he should be asked on video, “do you support NDP members who’ve submitted a resolution to the convention calling to withdraw from NATO, yes or no?”
Please email Lewis to request his support of NDP members seeking to have the party push to withdraw from NATO.
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