Normally he only leads in prayer, but this Sunday leads padre Teodoro González (50) the protest. ‘OTAN NO’, no to NATO, is written on the wide banner that he and a group of supporters push through the streets of Madrid, where his clerical collar just peeps above. Almost as striking is his serene look among those of the other protesters. ‘Nato is guilty! NATO is a criminal!’, they shout hoarsely.
“American imperialism is deliberately seeking military conflict in Europe,” said González, who leads a church community in the mountains outside Madrid and boasts of his reputation as a “red” priest. It is okay to talk to Russia, he believes, but then NATO must be willing to do so. Putin never wanted to occupy Ukraine at all. He’s afraid of all those military bases along his border.’
Not Putin, but NATO as the actual cause of the war in Ukraine: in the center of Madrid, that opinion made few blink of an eye on Sunday. Thousands of people – 2,200 according to Spanish authorities, many more according to organizers – marched against the North Atlantic Alliance and its military aid to the Ukrainians. An as yet exceptional protest in Europe, where the various populations – apart from grumbling about consequences such as rising energy prices – have so far mainly expressed their support for the Ukrainian cause.
Crucial moment for NATO
The reason for the demonstration is the NATO summit that will take place this week in Madrid. Biden, Johnson, Macron and all those other government leaders will meet in the Spanish capital on Wednesday and Thursday, at a crucial moment for the alliance. After weeks of growing cracks in the Western stance against Putin and weakening public attention to the violence of war, member states in Madrid will want to radiate renewed unity. There may also be a breakthrough in the discussion about the candidate membership of Sweden and Finland, countries that are present at the summit as guests.
That Spain of all places can organize such an important meeting makes the circle around Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez bounce with excitement, like children counting down the days until Christmas Eve. The NATO summit should nevertheless fill the country, which often feels shortchanged in international terms, with pride, said several ministers of Sánchez’s social-democratic PSOE last week. Their mouths watered at the thought of the ‘Madrid strategic concept’, which the heads of government will adopt next week and set NATO’s direction for the next ten years. A decade in which the name of the capital will continue to pop up in newspapers and policy documents.
But there is also resistance, even from within their own government. Unidas Podemos (“Together we can do it”), Sánchez’s far-left coalition partner, sees NATO as a war machine and its expansion eastward as a major cause of Russian aggression. The alliance has “dyed the history of many peoples with blood,” said a Unidas Podemos MP on Friday at an alternative “peace summit” organized in Madrid by the left-wing movement, where Western interference in Ukraine with the alleged sabotage of Venezuela was compared.
terrorists
A current party minister, Alberto Garzón, even called NATO a “legal terrorist organization” in a 2013 tweet (not yet deleted). The fact that his own government is now organizing a summit for these ‘terrorists’ is possible because in Spain it is not the coalition as a whole, but the prime minister who sets out foreign policy. If you don’t agree with that, the best thing you can do is drop the government.
Unidas Podemos does not want that, but a few prominent politicians did participate in the demonstration against NATO. Like the alternative summit, the protest march was organized by a furious left alliance, including the communists. This can be seen on Sunday in Madrid, where the red flag with hammer and sickle is everywhere. A hefty police force keeps a close eye on the leftist mob from armored vans and helicopters.
One of the red flags is waved back and forth by Elisa Pérez (23), a member of the youth wing of the Communists. “Sending weapons doesn’t bring peace, but perpetuates war,” says Pérez, a college student with a black pony. Shouldn’t the Ukrainians be helped then? At most, that prolongs the suffering, she thinks. ‘Putin will get his hands on Ukraine anyway.’
distrust
The resistance to NATO among left-wing Spaniards goes way back to the dictatorship. The fact that Franco could remain in the saddle for 36 years was in no small part due to the United States, which took the dictator into the Western camp during the Cold War in exchange for military bases on Spanish territory. It led to deep mistrust when, after the return to democracy, those same United States knocked again and kindly but urgently requested Madrid to join NATO.
Spain finally acceded in May 1982, a choice perpetuated by a referendum four years later. Over the years, the political controversy surrounding NATO has abated, although a leftist squadron has been staunchly opposed. The fact that that squadron is now part of the government has resulted in more fireworks since the outbreak of the war, with Unidas Podemos politicians (again in vain) opposing arms supplies to Ukraine.
Many of the demonstrators on Sunday are not satisfied with that rebuttal. ‘Unidas Podemos talks a lot, but does little’, says Marina Mata (27), with a megaphone over her shoulder. She finds it unacceptable, the military support by a so-called progressive government. ‘We would be better off spending that money on public facilities,’ says Mata. “The Ukrainians have already fled their country anyway.”