Declaration of the Alba Kor About Hungary's Joining NATO

Declaration of the Alba Kor About Hungary's Joining NATO

Alba Kor (Alba Circle), as a non-violent peace movement is opposed to Hungary joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), because:

1. In our opinion, the lasting security of our region can only be achieved primarily by the integration of the non-military structures.
2. For us, security includes the sovereign statehood; political stability; human rights; respect of property, relative economic independence, and some kind of solution for the debt crisis; social security, demographical balance; improvement of health care; and environmental protection. Military security comes only after the above-mentioned components of security have been attained and ensured.
3. We also protest against proposed NATO membership because of the fact that according to Hungarian and some foreign security experts, Hungary is not threatened by military attack from any direction. Those are only false rumours that Hungary may be involved in total war by defending its borders from Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia or Romania. There are no satisfactory geopolitical, security or military reasons to ask NATO to take us under its wing.
4. The member-states of the Warsaw Pact have spent on weapons for four decades far beyond their capacity to do so. Now, the countries of our region are developing their armies in the hope of joining NATO as early as possible. In order to modernize or expand the military, money from other more essential sectors as health and education will be reduced.
5. The case of Turkey and Portugal proves clearly that joining NATO does not automatically result in increased economic prosperity for a country.
6. If nuclear weapons will be based in the countries of our region it will not only cause environmental problems, as well, Hungary and its population will also become targets for nuclear weapons.
7. The continued existence of NATO shows that there is an enemy against whom it is necessary to maintain the organization. We do not want Hungary to have an official enemy again.
8. The existence of NATO and the American-Russian arms race can be interpreted as an unspoken agreement between the two military blocks. It is in the mutual financial interest of both military lobbies to keep the enemy image.
9. 9. Establishing NATO military bases introduces a new range of pollutants. The abandoned Soviet military training fields would be used by the military again, destroying the chance to use them for civil purposes and eliminating any chance of restoring the ecological balance in those areas.
10. Hungary lost the wars of this century always on the side of its political-military allies. Joining military allies could not and will not solve the lasting security of Europe, of our region, or of Hungary. By joining the NATO, the geo-strategic position of Hungary will not be changed. We will continue to belong to the buffer zone.
11. Joining NATO does not mean only security for the country, but it may result in fighting and bleeding for foreign interests.
12. We have to remind the Hungarian public that joining NATO means voluntarily giving up the idea of independence from the 1848 Revolution and the idea of neutrality from the Revolution in 1956.
13. A military organization is not suitable to peacefully cure centurial conflicts. As for the countries in the Carpathian Basin with Hungarian minorities it is out of question to join NATO at the same time, it is not likely to solve the problems of the ethnic minorities of our region including the Hungarian minorities in the framework of NATO.
14. We can not support the selfish interest of the Hungarian military lobby, which hopes that joining NATO will result in transforming the military structure, modernization of weapon systems and improving their own standard of living.
15. It is really strange that political and military leaders of the country have already decided about Hungary joining NATO, while the costs of joining and costs of NATO-membership are still completely unknown.
16. We find it unjustified that right after coming out of the Warsaw Pact we have to join a military alliance, which have been considered a mortal enemy until now. We cannot accept that the political leaders have been preparing to join NATO, without a public debate and referendum.
17. By extending NATO to include Hungary we would justify the necessity of military structures and specifically the NATO, instead of denying it by our peaceful contacts.
18. NATO, by its mere existence keeps alive an attitude based on militarised economic development, and doing so, operates an extremely expensive global military structure.
19. By its existence and extension, NATO provides a constant market for weapons, and because of its allies and enemies, NATO connects new customers to the arms business.
20. By its existence, NATO plays an important role in spending a major part of products produced by humankind on military purposes instead of prosperity of humankind.
21. It is unacceptable for us to carry out the desirable modernization and to create a united Europe in the shadow of weapons, to benefit a region by threatening another one.
22. In our judgement, NATO defends the consumer-Europe among others from the poor, immigrants, and people of other religions or cultures. NATO is an effective vehicle to maintain the social injustice between regions and countries.
23. For us, NATO symbolizes Europe and the world torn in two, and the intention to conserve the North-South conflict. It also represents the (false) primacy of the Western civilization and the Western white male.
24. We support the European integration process, integration of the peoples of Europe on the base of equal rights, confidence and mutual advantages, but we do not support the exclusive military integration of Europe against others. Beyond the above-mentioned reasons, Alba Kor also disapproves joining NATO also because our objective is a Hungary without military. Based on the above reasons, we question the necessity of NATO and protest against Hungary joining NATO.

With our 24 point declaration against joining NATO at the open-air international press conference in front of the Parliament, we want to call to the attention of the Hungarian public, the Hungarian State, church, and civil organizations, the false arguments for joining this organisation. We call for the citizens of the country, for the Hungarian society, to protest against Hungary joining NATO.

We hope to receive a positive reaction in Hungary and abroad. We hope that apart from us individuals, groups and organisations will support the anti-NATO attitude. At the same time, we would like to ask for the support of all democratic powers (organizations of the extreme left and of the extreme right are not included) to support our anti-NATO efforts and movement. Finally, we would like to greet the participants of the North Atlantic Assembly having a session for the first time in a former Warsaw-Pact country. With the timing of our Declaration we would like to inform them that there are many people in Hungary for whom NATO is an undesirable organization, for whom Hungary's joining NATO would not cause any gladness, for whom it would not be a pleasure to see NATO-soldiers on the place of the Soviet Army. There are many who don't trust in the power of weapons, but still hope to create a world without NATO and without armies.

Alba Kor, May 1995