Anti-Militarist Network

The next AMN Gathering will take place in Nottingham, the 11th – 12th of July. For more information see www.antimilitaristnetwork.org.uk/nextgathering. On the Monday after the gathering Notts Anti-Militarism will hold a demonstration against their local arms dealer, Heckler and Koch (details tbc). Click Read More to see about two other events coming up.

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Anti-militarists to Disrupt NATO Exercise

Peace activists from Germany, Finland and the UK are joining the Swedish anti-militarist network Ofog in disrupting NATO’s largest aerial exercise of 2009 this week in Swedish Lapland.

Altogether, over 50 fighter jets and 2000 soldiers will gather in northern Sweden, June 8-16, to train for war. The British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, with 1000 soldiers on board, will be stationed in the Gulf of Botnia outside the city of Luleå. Sweden is not a member of NATO.

The anti-militaristic direct action network Ofog will try to stop and disturb the exercise by any nonviolent means necessary. “Just like NATO we will be in the air, on the land and in the sea.” said an Ofog spokesperson. Ofog will build on its experience from blockading Faslane nuclear base in Scotland, NATO summits and other military institutions as well as in conducting radical direct actions against the Swedish weapons industry.

“We will do everything in our power to show NATO that their business is hideous and deadly. NATO is not a defensive alliance. It is the world’s largest nuclear weapons club and war machine Its main purpose is to maintain western dominance and it must be stopped, not just in Sweden but across the world.”

As part of the resistance Reality AB (Ofog’s new subsidiary) will provide collateral damage services for NATO’s exercise. A Reality AB spokesperson said “The state of Sweden is providing everything else for the exercise: airspace, areas to bomb, airports and other logistical support. However they have missed one critical component: the collateral damage. Reality AB is offering to upgrade the exercise by providing this crucial missing ingredient. In NATO’s wars, 90% of the victims are civilians. The exercise will only be realistic with our Collateral Damage Stand-insTM . With the expansion of NATO and the militarisation of EU we see this as a growing market and an exciting business opportunity in a hard financial climate.”

Place: Luleå, Arctic circle, Sweden.

Dates: June 6-16, 2009.

For more information contact +46 733 815361 or info@ofog.org We can reply to queries in either English or Swedish.