Civil Movement for the Mecsek and Association for the Community of Istenkút at the „International Conference Against the Militarization of Europe“

Prague, Czech Republic, March 5, 2007

            On March 5, 2007 an „International Conference Against the Militarization of Europe“ was held in Prague, hosted by the Czech activist group „Ne Zakladnam,“ who are fighting against the building of a United States „National Missile Defense“ system in the Czech Republic.  14 organizations from across Europe, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, the U.K. and Hungary participated in the conference along with Czech academics and European Parliamentarians from Germany and Greece. 

            Presentations were made by the activist organizations and panel discussions were held including experts on international politics, military, and security issues, peace activists, disarmament and anti-nuclear activists, with the participation and input of the organizations present and the other conference attendees.

            As representatives of Association for the Community of Istenkút (IKE) and Civil Movement for the Mecsek (CMM) from Pécs, Hungary, we were invited to present our fight against the NATO radar station to be built above our city, and to participate in the conference.

            We offer our support to the organizations which took part and we were glad to gain more information on the efforts by other organizations and communities against military influence in their own countries.  We have come away with useful ideas, and inspiration to further expand our efforts to work against the militarization of our own region and Europe as a whole.  The importance and significance of our efforts and the accomplishments we have so far achieved were reinforced in our discussions at the conference, and we look foreward to working together towards our common goals.

            A common declaration (posted on our webpage also) was signed by the conference participants –to paraphrase it here - in opposition to the U.S. „National Missile Defense“ system to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic, to bring an end to all foreign military bases and the infrastructure supporting wars of aggression, and calling for nuclear and conventional disarmament in Europe, as well as to guarantee the rights of local communities. 

            As a major theme of the conference, all this should be done in the name of peace.  The declaration calls on all peoples to organize and take part in demonstrations to these ends, to write to their representatives in Europe, in their home countries and at a local level in order to further the cause of peace and justice in Europe and around the World.