PBI co-founders Murray Thomson and Hans Sinn on NATO, nuclear weapons and disarmament

Published by Brent Patterson on July 4, 2024July 4, 2024

Photo: Murray Thomson, who co-founded Peace Brigades International in 1981, took part in the ‘Say No to NATO’ protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa on March 30, 2019. Thomson passed away on May 2, 2019.

The 32 member-countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will collectively spend “USD 430 billion in defence” this year.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has noted that, for example, the United States spent $916 billion on its military in 2023, followed by the United Kingdom at $74.9 billion, Germany at $66.8 billion, France at $61.3 billion, Italy at $35.5 billion, Canada at $27.2 billion, Spain at $23.7 billion, the Netherlands at $16.6 billion, Belgium at $7.6 billion, and Norway at $8.7 billion.

NATO encourages its member-countries to spend at least 2 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on “defence” as “an important indicator of [their] political resolve”. NATO has noted: “In 2024, 23 Allies are expected to meet or exceed the target of investing at least 2% of GDP in defence, compared to only three Allies in 2014.”

Peace Brigades International has expressed the concern that “billions more spent on weapons will not make the world safer.”

PBI co-founders on NATO, nuclear weapons and disarmament

In the late-1980s, German peace activist Petra Kelly wrote: “We spend billions on weapons research [instead] we need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict.”

Kelly was a friend of Hamburg-born PBI co-founder Hans Sinn.

In 1987, Sinn wrote in Peace Magazine: “How is it possible to make Canada’s withdrawal from NATO a realistic objective? What can we do to make disarmament proposals and anti-NATO convention resolutions more than wishful thinking and turn them into sound political programs?”

Photo: Just prior to his death on June 29, 2023, Sinn held up a copy of this book titled: “At the last hour: Call for peace”.

In 2008, Murray Thomson recommended: “Canada, after consulting with like-minded states, should call for the disbandment of NATO within the next three years, while at the same time increasing funding to help revitalize and strengthen the UN and its Agencies.”

In 2017, Thomson continued to speak against NATO’s adherence to nuclear weapons as “the supreme guarantee of our security”. The NATO member countries with nuclear weapons are the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Thomson commented: “If we could finally cast-off the nuclear nightmare in which we live today, we could then embrace and build the United Nations with the resources now wasted on deadly weapons of mass destruction.”

In March 2022, PBI affirmed “we are committed to a concept of security linked to protecting human rights and respecting life, ecosystems and common goods. [We] need to strengthen civil and development cooperation instruments aimed at conflict management and the promotion of an effective and lasting peace.”

Canada to attend NATO summit, July 8-11

Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will travel to Washington, D.C., United States of America, from July 8 to 11, 2024, to participate in this year’s NATO Summit.

That announcement adds that the Prime Minister will be joined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, and the Minister of National Defence, Bill Blair.

It further highlights that this year the Government of Canada announced $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years in new military spending.

CBC reporter Murray Brewster has commented: “The additional investments will not bring Canada all the way to meeting NATO’s military spending target for member nations — two per cent of national gross domestic product. The Liberal government estimates that the new policy will see military spending rise to 1.76 per cent of GDP by 2029-30.”

Canada’s spending commitments include $2.49 billion for a fleet of 11 MQ-9B Reaper drones, $2.7 billion for long-range missiles, and $19 billion to purchase F-35 fighter jets (that in the long-term will cost $73.9 billion).

Protests planned

Now, the No to NATO, Yes to Peace website notes: “We are planning a summit on Saturday July 6 and a rally on Sunday July 7, as well as various other actions in the days before and after that weekend — including working with Veterans For Peace planning a peace walk from Maine to join us in Washington, D.C. with events all along the way. We say yes to peace and no to NATO! We favor the abolition of NATO.”

We continue to follow this.