The announcement of a demonstration against the American invasion of Europe, next month at Maastricht, led to angry reactions on Indymedia Netherlands and Indymedia Belgium - and some on Indymedia UK. The demo - which will probably be banned anyway - is against the idea that US troops 'liberated' Europe in 1944-1945. It is against the continuing presence of US troops in Europe, and against the 'freedom' that they brought, meaning especially the free market economy.

It is worth looking at these reactions, they partly explain the failure of the anti-war movement. There are still very aggressive pro-American attitudes, even among people who say they oppose the war in Iraq. The specific reactions are:

1. the United States armed forces are indeed liberators, liberators of Europe, and US forces are not in Europe as occupiers

2. it is wrong and insulting to question this fact

3. those who oppose the United States are Nazis or Nazi sympathisers, and the demo is organised by neo-Nazis

4. the European countries invaded by US and allied forces in 1944-1945 were in fact liberated, meaning they are now free societies where the population lives in freedom

5. if the present (free-market) system did not exist, they would still be living under the Nazis, or alternatively under Communism (if Soviet troops had reached them first).


Reactions Indymedia Netherlands
 http://indymedia.nl/nl/2003/04/11408.shtml

Comments Indymedia Belgium
 http://belgium.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/58235.php


Note that all these points are similar, even identical, to the American justification for the invasion of Iraq. The neoconservatives who wanted a war primarily for 'regime change' used the example of Nazi Germany, and the post-war democratisation of Germany. For the neoconservatives, US forces are doing the same in Iraq as they did in Normandy in 1944, and they deserve the same gratitude from the population.

The United States claims to be the liberator of Iraq. General Garner denies that the troops are occupiers. The media and public opinion in the United States accept this as a fact, and think it is wrong to criticise the troops. Right-wing media and commentators say that those who oppose the war, support Saddam and his brutal regime. They claim that Iraq under US troops will now become a free society - meaning a market democracy allied to the US and NATO.

If you accept all these claims for Europe, it is hard to convincingly oppose them for Iraq. It is not logical to say "Oh, it was completely different in Europe in 1944". It was the same United States that invaded Iraq.

A reminder of the aims of the demonstration, from the formal request to the municipality of Margraten, near Maastricht....

"The demonstration on May 25 is against the US invasion of Europe in 1944-1945, against the presence of US troops in Europe, and to demand the withdrawal of those troops. It is also directed against the American soldiers buried at Margraten: they fought as conquerors, to subject Europe to American values and American interests. They deserve no honour, and certainly no gratitude. They should be reburied in the US.

The demonstration is against the Europe of the Nation States - supported by the US - and for the formation of a continental state. It is against nationalism and liberalism, and against Atlanticism - which combines both these ideologies with uncritical admiration for American society. It is also directed against the slavish attitude of the national elites in western Europe, who kneel before the American flag, and unjustly honour the American dead."