NATO summit is the moment for change; stop genocide, stop racism and fascism, stop fossil destruction

On Friday 20 June from 12:00 to 13:00, a coalition of Dutch civil resistance groups will hold a press conference on the A12 blockade by Extinction Rebellion Netherlands during the NATO summit. The press conference will take place over the A12 in The Hague, at the intersection Theresiastraat/ Prins Clauslaan. As international press will also be present, the language of communication will be English. Because of the NATO summit, Extinction Rebellion is making demands to the Dutch government with the A12 blockade that relate to it: stop genocide, stop racism and fascism, stop fossil destruction.

The A12-blockade during the NATO summit is one in a long series of protests on the A12. Since the first A12-blockade in 2022 more than 13.000 arrests have been made, many protesters getting arrested repeatedly because of their commitment to the ending fossil fuel subsidies. In January 2023 eight people were arrested for ‘sedition’, in quite a few cases at home while their children watched helplessly. Seven of them were tried and convicted by the lowest court of the Netherlands and are waiting for their appeal. UN Special Rapporteur on environmentalists Michel Forst has asked the Netherlands to stop prosecuting these peaceful climate activists. The conviction in the sedition case should also be overturned. He wrote this in a letter to then Foreign Minister Bruins Slot.[1] So far the government has chosen to ignore this and persists in the repression of protest.

A12 blockade demands
This time around the demands of the A12-blockade have been broadened. Public outrage about the Dutch complicity in the genocide in Gaza is huge, resulting in escalating protests throughout the country and a march in the Hague on Sunday June 15 with 150.000 participants. A majority of the Dutch population wants the government of Dick Schoof to do more to hold Israel to account. In addition, study after study shows that institutional racism is deeply rooted in police and government and nothing is happening to combat it. A large majority of people also wants the government to do more against climate disruption. 75% of Dutch people for example, want fossil fuel subsidies to stop, the demand with which Extinction Rebellion has already blocked the A12 more than 40 times. Against the backdrop of this ever-growing discontent in Dutch society, at a key moment for the Schoof government, a coalition of civic resistance groups will take the stage with a number of demands to the government:

1. Stop the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinians. In line with the Genocide Convention[2,3], Extinction Rebellion demands an immediate end to all arms supplies to Israel and the imposition of harsh sanctions.
2. Stop fascism and racism. Stop these far-right policies. Stop the spread of disinformation by politicians.
3. Stop fossil destruction. End fossil fuel subsidies and fossil funding immediately and ban new fossil projects.

Blockade supported by a coalition of movements and people
Several allies and sister movements of Extinction Rebellion will join the A12 blockade or support it. These include XR Justice Now!, Kappen met Kolen, Scientist Rebellion, the Palestina Steunfonds, Aralez Foundation, Meld Islamofobie, Antifascist Antifastfashion, the Haagse Stadspartij and Ode aux Rats. A number of people have also joined in a personal capacity, including Haroon Raza (lawyer and human rights activist), Joke Kaviaar (poet) and Jenny Rozema (independent columnist and activist).

Lawyer and human rights activist Haroon Raza: “On 25 June we will unite on the A12 — against genocide, racism, fascism and the fossil wrecking of our planet. Together we will hold the Dutch government to account and show the world that grassroots resistance in the Netherlands is alive and unstoppable.”

Chihiro Geuzebroek from Aralez Foundation: “NATO commits warcrimes, NATO violates the environment, NATO violates human rights. NATO is rotten to the bone. NATO was founded by colonial powers, fascists and onboarded nazi’s. We advocate decolonization and a world where many world fits and none are bombed.”

Poet Joke Kaviaar: “Governments, industry, big capital: they have declared war on all life on earth. Climate change is not a natural disaster but a crime. Resistance is the necessity of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist solidarity with exploited and oppressed peoples worldwide.”

Rahma Bavelaar from Meld Islamofobie: “The future of Gaza is the future of the world. Ending genocide means the world ending the islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism that facilitates it.”

Olax from Antifascist Antifastfashion (Afafafa): “Fascism and capitalism are inextricably linked. Afafafa has irrefutable proof that the fast fashion industry is largely responsible for, and complicit in, ecocide and genocide, through climate destruction and countless human rights violations, around the world. The A12 will be blocked to draw attention to a bigger picture, for sure, but we believe it’s of the utmost importance to show the world the enormous size of fast fashion within that picture.”

Fatima Faid from the Haagse Stadspartij: “The occupation of the A12 by XR is not a disruption, but a necessary wake up call: when politics continues to fail on (just) climate policy, (peaceful) resistance becomes the moral compass that reminds us of our responsibility to current and future generations.”

Columnist and activist Jenny Rozema: “Modern fascism is gaining more and more power all around us, and we’re seeing how it destroys lives worldwide. If we want to put a halt to the fascist rise to power, mass action is necessary right now. Never again is now.”

Tjerk Oosterkamp, physics professor for Scientist Rebellion and musician for Extinction Rebellion: “My colleagues and I are worried. We know the mathematics that describes the change of complex systems. We demand from our government that the money used to favor fossil fuel subsidies is used to speed up the energy transition rather than to slow it down.”

Question and programme
We will answer all questions about the A12 blockade during the press conference on Friday 20 June.

Programme:
12.00-12.15 opening and statements participants
12.15 – 12.20 performance Joke Kaviaar
12.20-12.45 opportunity for questions (plenary)
12.45-13.00 opportunity to meet participants in person

Sources
[1] https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/ACSRC_2023_16_NL_to_HE_MFA_from_Aarhus_SR_EnvDefenders_complaint_14.02.2024.pdf
[2] https://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie-en-contact/Organisatie/Gerechtshoven/Gerechtshof-Den-Haag/Nieuws/Paginas/Nederland-moet-de-uitvoer-van-F-35-onderdelen-naar-Israel-stoppen.aspx
[3] https://paxvoorvrede.nl/nieuws/sluit-nederland-ondanks-genocide-een-militair-verdrag-met-israel/