War economy and the military industry are always engines for war conflicts. As citizens of Croatia and the European Union, we strongly oppose the militarization of Europe promoted by the “ReArm Europe” plan. And we demand, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, an increase in the number of women in peace negotiations.
As citizens of Croatia and the European Union, we strongly oppose the militarization of Europe promoted by the “ReArm Europe” plan, adopted at the summit of the leaders of the European Union member states on March 6 in Brussels.
War projects are not and must not be the present and future of Europe. We remind you that the European Union was founded also as a peace project with the aim of ensuring that the horrors of war never happen again. Are the war horrors on European territory (destruction, killings, concentration camps, genocide, exile and displacement, war traumas) during the 20th century not a sufficient warning?
War economy and the military industry are always engines for war conflicts, the production of wars, and the production of death. The logic of modern warfare bases the technology of death today on new technologies whose devastating consequences we cannot foresee at this moment. But, we know that capitalist corporations, in pact with politics, always profit from wars.
The question is, what will remain of the European welfare state after the announced cuts social funds at the European and national level? The question is, what will remain of the European Green Deal with a change in politics that enters an arms race instead of diplomatic efforts?
We do not accept that militaristic concepts of security, arming and recruitment, weapons production, “defense strategies,” and war rhetoric contaminate all public spaces of our lives, our human and cultural connections, as well as those of future generations.
We cannot allow the European Union to shamelessly waive the core values (Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union) on which it is founded, such as freedom, democracy, respect for human dignity and human rights, equality and the rule of law.
Isn’t the human right to life for all what binds us?
The European Union, a community of states and its citizens, must not be held hostage by such a policy or legitimize the senseless right of the stronger in the guise of ruthless power-holders and their dangerous and volatile geopolitical scenarios of war, destruction and division. Contrary to the majority commitment of European citizens to peace, who has the right to send young generations to wars? The citizens of European countries must not be collateral victims of a hasty, militaristic vision of European unity, which for years has neither the will nor the imagination to build a Europe of cooperation and peace, the defense of human and social rights, and hospitality.
We demand that discussions begin on a new security architecture for Europe and beyond. Security does not rest on the power to destroy your neighbor, but on cooperating with him.We demand, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, an increase in the number of women in peace negotiations.
We demand from the Croatian leadership and all political parties, as well as from Croatia’s representatives in the European Parliament, to work to urgently stop the war, and instead of strengthening European military capacities, direct their engagement towards strengthening the ability for dialogue and the search for peaceful solutions. Instead of financing the war industry, let’s create programs for post-war community building and the reconstruction of today’s war zones, especially Ukraine, and beyond.
We also demand from the Croatian leadership and all political parties to conduct state politics primarily considering the public good and the interests of society, and to immediately abandon the inflamed militaristic impulses and the increase in the budget for the army and weapons. Have you asked the citizens of the Republic of Croatia whether they want to live with the threat of war and destruction?
Representatives of the Republic of Croatia in the bodies of the European Union -please reconsider your support for this new radical change in EU policy. Are you sure that you will be able to control vast armed forces and militarized societies, once they are established in the context of the rise of the European radical right and the strengthening of reactionary ideas and social relations of all kinds? You have the power at this crucial moment for the future of Europe and beyond to reverse the paradigm of escalating war violence into something that benefits European society. Instead of the “ReArm Europe” plan, let’s create a Europe of freedom, cooperation, and peace! Take responsibility! Otherwise, you too are accomplices in the war events on European territory.
Wars and the militarization of society always fall hardest on women and the most vulnerable.
That’s why NO to the war economy and NO to the Europe of war! Welfare,not Warfare!
Imagine the society we could build if politicians started working on building a world of peace?
Ad hoc feminist anti-war coalition Zagreb, March 8, 2025.
