The SNP are considering reversing their opposition to Scottish membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). In response to this news a Scottish coalition has come together to make the case for peace and against Scotland’s membership of NATO. Here is the press release announcing the new coalition:

“A diverse group of Scottish organisations and individuals has set up a coalition to resist the notion that an independent Scotland should become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).

The move follows the news that the SNP will decide at their October conference whether to accept a leadership motion to change party policy from an anti-NATO to a pro-NATO stance.

At its launch meeting on Wednesday  the Coalition issued the following statement:

“The SNP leadership are proposing to reverse the party’s policy of staying out of NATO, a move completely at odds with the SNP’s long-standing principled opposition to nuclear weapons and aggressive wars.

This coalition wants Scotland to be free of nuclear weapons and stay out of foreign wars.

NATO is a nuclear armed alliance with over 5000 nuclear weapons. It was established for mutual defence during the Cold War and should have been disbanded when the Soviet Union collapsed. Instead, it has expanded and become an aggressive alliance force engaged in expeditionary wars. For nearly ten years it has been conducting the war in Afghanistan where tens of thousands of civilians have died and three million people have become refugees. It is also placing a “missile defence” system in Europe which is provoking a new arms race with Russia.

We want Scotland to stay out of NATO and truly stand for peace.”

The Coalition aims to share and raise public concern about the implications of NATO membership and to act in solidarity with all those who share that concern.

Initial list of Coalition members: