Protesters,
diplomats converge as 20102 NATO Summit nears
by Ashahed M. Muhammad
CHICAGO—Thousands are converging in
Chicago for planned protests during the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty
Organization Summit to be held this weekend.
Protesters representing all
ideological realms have been planning for this summit like it was the Super
Bowl, hoping to use it as a worldwide forum to oppose NATO’s global military
aggressions and imperialist expansion.
It is the first time this
important gathering of diplomats has taken place in an American location other
than Washington, D.C. 24 previous NATO Summits have been held, the last one in
Lisbon, Portugal in November 2010.
Originally, the Group of Eight
(G8) Summit was also to be held in Chicago on May 18th and 19th, however, Pres.
Barack Obama in a surprise move changed the location to Camp David. While the
President maintains his decision to change locations was not based on security
concerns, the switch caused considerable embarrassment for Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emmanuel, and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Recently, Supt. McCarthy, still
in his first year as head of the nation's second largest police force,
addressed more than dozens of community leaders at Jewish United Fund's joint
Government Affairs/Jewish Community Relations Council luncheon, to discuss
security concerns related to the upcoming NATO Summit. Supt. McCarthy, says the
Chicago police are ready for the security challenges that lie ahead.
Due to the summit, heavy parking
and traffic flow restrictions have been in place and Chicago residents are
already bracing for traffic problems that are sure to come, as well as
disruptions in the public transportation system, which carries on an average
weekday 1.64 million riders to various destinations in the Chicago metropolitan
area.
Formed in 1949, NATO has acted as
a worldwide security force, however, critics of the organization claim that its
noble sounding ideals of “establishing peace” and constant “humanitarian
intervention” during conflicts are really euphemisms for a strategy of
western-backed imperialist expansion.
NATO has come under criticism for
its role in Afghanistan and its role in the military aggression aimed at
killing Col. Muammar Gadhafi and destabilizing Libya. According to organizers
with the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, the movement
towards war with Iran and military intervention in Syria should be vociferously
and vehemently opposed, and they plan to “hit the streets to protest the
warmongers at the NATO summit in Chicago.”
Monday morning, eight protesters were
arrested after an active mobilization at the ‘Obama for America’ campaign
headquarters downtown. Although disparate groups are planning protests all
week, the date those groups and law enforcement are focusing on appears to be
May 20.
I'll be keeping you up to date with the happenings via Twitter and posting images on Facebook.
