​​The head of NATO is visiting the White House and Congress next week to be publicly praised by the U.S. President and both big political parties. For more on how they love NATO, keep reading.

The foreign ministers of the NATO nations are meeting at the State Department on April 4th.

We’re planning to unwelcome them, and to throw a party for peace and for the nonviolent activist, racial-justice, economic-justice, and peace vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: No to NATO – Yes to Peace Festival— April 3-4, 2019, Washington, D.C.

To participate in preparations on the 3rd for protests on the 4th, REGISTER.

Wednesday April 3: Bring No to NATO and Yes to Peace posters and meet from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Shepherd Statue at 13th & Pennsylvania Ave. in Freedom Plaza. Luci Murphy and Ben Grosscup will perform. We’ll have an open mic, with attendees invited to speak for 5 minutes. From there, we’ll walk 12 blocks to rally from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Peace Monument near the U.S. Capitol where the head of NATO will be addressing a joint session at 11 a.m. Speakers at the peace monument will include Kristine Karch of the No to NATO Network, Ludo De Brabander from Vrede, Belgium, Reiner Braun, Co-president of the International Peace Bureau, Joe Lombardo with the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and Ann Wright with Code Pink – Women for Peace. Music will be provided by Luci Murphy and Ben Grosscup.

Afterward, we’ll walk up 1st Street to Louisiana Ave to the Union Station Metro. (Take the Red Line toward Shady Grove. Transfer to the Green Line at Gallery Place – to the Columbia Heights Station.) From there, we’ll walk to St. Stephen’s Church, 1525 Newton St NW for the Peace Festival from Noon to 10:00 pm. We will plan events for the State Department the next day.

Wednesday, April 3 at St. Stephen’s Church, 1525 Newton St NW, Washington, D.C. 20010:
12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Screenprinting for Justice Workshop with The Sanctuaries DC, and Nonviolent Action Prep with Nadine Bloch of Beautiful Trouble (munch on vegan snacks, make art, and plan for the April 4 protest). If you’re a nonviolent activism trainer and want to help, please fill out this form.
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.: Keynote Speeches + Biting Comedic Entertainment with Lee Camp (Full list of speakers) (livestreaming at youtube and facebook)
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Spoken word by Eleanor Goldfield and live music by Eric Colville & Ryan Harvey & Megaciph. (livestreaming at youtube and facebook)
5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Screenprinting, Art Exhibits & Activity Booths+ Vegan Food & Drink

REGISTER TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT.

Thursday, April 4

To be in on the planning for the 4th, sign up for and attend the preparations on the 3rd.

We will gather at 8 a.m. at the Albert Einstein Memorial (2101 Constitution Ave NW) very near where the NATO foreign ministers will be meeting. At that point, we’ll decide on a potentially more suitable location to hear from our speakers and musicians, protest NATO, and greet meeting attendees. Speakers and musicians will include: Ben Grosscup, Luci Murphy, Megaciph, Art Laffin, Ludo De Brabander, Kristine Karch, Phil Wilayto, Medea Benjamin, Ann Wright, Eric Colville.

At 9:30, we’ll walk 15 minutes to the MLK Memorial for a rally there at 10 a.m. with speakers and musicians including: Graylan Hagler, Luci Murphy, Eric Colville, Art Laffin, Jaribu Hill, Omali Yeshitela, Karlene Griffiths Sekou, Kevin Zeese, Ben Grosscup. (Full list of speakers and musicians)

No to NATO events in Washington DC:
Saturday, March 30 @ 1:00 p.m. Rally at Lafayette Park
Saturday, March 30 @ 7:30 p.m. Songs of Struggle
Sunday, March 31 Concert for Peace and to End War
Sunday, March 31 Anti-NATO Conference
Monday, April 1 Meeting of the International Network “No to War – No to NATO” at the AFSC Office 1822 R St. NW 10:00 to 3:00
Tuesday, April 2 No to NATO – Yes to Peace and Disarmament Counter-Summit
Wednesday, April 3 No to NATO – Yes to Peace FESTIVAL and planning for April 4
Thursday, April 4 No to NATO – Yes to Peace Rally and Protest
Thursday, April 4 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Black Alliance for Peace program

Lodging for the nights of 2nd and 3rd is available.

While Donald Trump once blurted out the obvious: that NATO is obsolete, he subsequently professed his commitment to NATO and began pressuring NATO members to buy more weapons. In fact, Trump has evicted Russian diplomats, sanctioned Russian officials, put missiles practically on Russia’s border, sent weapons into Ukraine, lobbied European nations to drop Russian energy deals, left the Iran agreement, torn up the INF Treaty, rejected Russia’s offers on banning weapons in space and banning cyberwar, expanded NATO eastward, added a NATO partner in Colombia, proposed adding Brazil, demanded and successfully moved most NATO members to buy significantly more weapons, splurged on more nukes, bombed Russians in Syria, overseen the largest war rehearsals in Europe in half a century, tried to overthrow the government of Venezuela, condemned all proposals for a European military and insisted that Europe stick with NATO.

Read Pelosi and McConnell Cranking Up Bipartisan Madness for NATO.

Original post: http://davidswanson.org/trump-congress-love-nato-we-love-peace/