International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation

The "No to NATO Expansion" Speakers Tour of the United States

Karina Wood

"The Clinton Administration's rush to enlarge NATO has undercut debate on the merits and risks of this most important foreign policy decision. Citizen groups are alarmed by the lack of debate on NATO expansion and by the `insider deal' mentality of the State Department and Congress, and have taken it on themselves to stimulate public discussion by organizing a nationwide speakers tour opposing NATO expansion."

Karina Wood, Coordinator of the No to NATO Expansion Speakers Tour

The "No to NATO Expansion Speakers Tour" was designed to raise public awareness of the serious risks and costs of NATO expansion, and stimulate the debate in the United States that was absent but so sorely needed. The tour took place January 26 - February 22, 1998, timed to occur in the weeks leading up to the Senate vote of ratification, anticipated in February 1998. (At the time of writing, the ratification vote has been delayed until after the Congressional Easter/Passover recess, and is likely to be taken up at the end of April-beginning of May.)

During the four weeks of the speakers tour, seventeen prominent international and U.S. foreign policy and arms control & disarmament experts spoke at public meetings and press conferences in eighteen cities in thirteen states.

The speakers were interviewed on over 40 radio shows, and several TV shows. The tour stops stimulated newspaper stories, meetings with Senators and their staffs, meetings with newspaper editorial boards, and also inspired many letters and calls to Senators, and the production of and requests for op-eds and articles.

In October 1997, when preparations for the speakers tour began, the Clinton Administration's plans for swift ratification of NATO expansion were running smoothly. Secretary of State Albright had just successfully wooed the support of the powerful chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, who scheduled Senate hearings on NATO expansion immediately. Despite strong criticism and opposition from many in the foreign policy establishment and academia, the witnesses called to testify on NATO expansion before the Senate were dominated by advocates of expansion. There was no organized public resistance to the Administration's foreign policy folly, and no organized opposition in the Senate. Many in the arms control and disarmament community, while opposed to NATO expansion, were resigned to its enactment in the face of overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate and very little interest in the national media. However, a handful of U.S. disarmament NGOs, determined that the potentially disastrous effects of NATO expansion upon prospects for nuclear and conventional disarmament be challenged, decided that a nationwide speakers tour featuring prominent North American and European critics of NATO expansion would be an effective way of sparking public debate on the issue, and encouraging opposition in the Senate.

The speakers tour project was initiated by Fourth Freedom Forum, Peace Action, Women's Action for New Directions and Physicians for Social Responsibility. The other NGOs which became sponsors were: Americans for Democratic Action, the British American Security Information Council, Center for Defense Information, Council for a Livable World, Demilitarization for Democracy, the International Peace Bureau, and Taxpayers for Common Sense. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom also helped to organize some events.

Collaboration with the Mainstream Media Project, a nonprofit public education organization which places leading progressive authorities on radio interview shows across the country, enabled our speakers to reach large numbers of Americans. The Mainstream Media Project booked a majority of our speakers' radio show appearances. Talk radio is the popular democratic medium in the United States today, allowing listeners to interact with guests from within and without the political ruling elite to conduct a largely uncensored, lively dialogue listened to by thousands. By working closely with the Mainstream Media Project, the "No to NATO Expansion" Speakers Tour brought the opinions of leading U.S. and foreign critics of NATO expansion into the living rooms, offices and cars of hundreds of thousands of Americans who had not previously been exposed to such points of view.

The press department at the Center for Defense Information was instrumental to publicizing the speakers tour by formulating and distributing media alerts and press releases to key reporters and editors in Washington, DC and nationwide.

The speakers tour succeeded in stimulating discussion of the merits of NATO expansion outside the policy circles of Washington, D.C. Members of the public who attended the meetings, heard the speakers on the radio, or read about them in their newspaper were educated about the dangers of NATO expansion, and exposed to new ideas and arguments. Grassroots activists became more focused and inspired to campaign on the issue as a result of the tour. NGOs who might not have otherwise made NATO expansion a priority issue, became involved in coalition work as a result of the tour activities. Senators who had not received a single telephone call or letter about NATO expansion began to hear from their constituents in the wake of the tour.

Throughout March and April, the NGOs who worked together on the speakers tour have continued public education efforts and have been urging the Senate to delay its ratification vote until at least June, to allow time for a thorough and informed debate. In March, sixteen Senators requested that Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, delay the vote until June. Although Senator Lott rejected their appeal, the ratification vote was in fact postponed until late April - a victory we activists are taking some credit for. Opposition to expansion in the Senate has strengthened considerably in the past few months, and support is reportedly slipping. An April 3 public opinion poll by The Pew Research Center shows a dramatic drop in public support for NATO enlargement, from 63% approval in September 1997 to only 49% approval in March 1998. The survey suggests while opposition to NATO enlargement has not grown (it is constant at 18%), as the public has learned more about the issue, anxieties have risen and support has fallen significantly. The speakers tour and other educational and lobbying efforts of arms control and disarmament NGOs has surely contributed to these changes in the minds of elected representatives and the public.

In the weeks leading up to the Senate vote, the Mainstream Media Project has organized a series of "radio town hall meetings" to stimulate debate in the sixteen states which have Senators who are undecided on NATO expansion. Popular talk radio shows will host shows debating the merits of NATO expansion, featuring the undecided Senator plus a guest in favor of and a guest opposed to expansion. Members of the show's audience will call in and ask their questions. A nationwide advertisement campaign is being run by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, and the Fourth Freedom Forum will sponsor what we hope will be a nationally and internationally televised "town hall meeting" in which top Clinton Administration officials and leading critics of expansion will face off and answer questions from an audience of the public. Look out for us on your TV!

 

Between January 26 - February 22 1998 speakers tour activities included: Twenty-four public events (meetings, debates and press conferences) Nine editorial board meetings Forty-three radio shows One television show The speakers were: International: The Honorable Dr. Alla Yaroshinskaya, advisor to President Yeltsin, former member of the Russian Duma (parliament), Russia Colonel Jiri Matousek (ret.), former Director, Czechoslovak NBC Defense R&D Establishment, Czech Republic Dr. Miroslav Polreich, former Czechoslovak ambassador to the Vienna Conventional Forces in Europe negotiations 1990-92 General Sir Hugh Beach (ret.), four-star general, British signatory to the Statement on Nuclear Disarmament by International Admirals and Generals, Vice-Chair, Council on Arms Control (UK) Major-General Leonard V. Johnson, CD (ret.), Canada Mr. Douglas Roche, former Canadian ambassador for disarmament, President, Global Security Consultants (Canada), Chair, Canadian Network for Abolition 2000, Canada Mr. David Knight, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, U.K. United States: Senator Gary Hart (ret., D-CO) Senator Gordon Humphrey (ret., R-NH) Rear-Admiral Eugene Carroll, USN (ret.), Deputy Director, Center for Defense Information Dr. Ivan Eland, Director of Defense Policy Studies, CATO Institute, author, March 1996 Congressional Budget Office report "The Costs of Expanding the NATO Alliance" Dr. William Hartung, arms trade expert, Director, Arms Trade Resource Center, World Policy Institute Professor Carl Kaysen, David W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mr. Geoffrey Kean, former Director of International Affairs, IBM, Corporate Intelligence Group Professor George Rathjens, Secretary-General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Professor Emeritus, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr. Richard Ullman, Professor of International Affairs, Princeton University Ms. Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor, The Nation Cities visited: Cambridge/Boston, MA; New York, NY; Princeton, NJ; New Haven/Yale University, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Manchester, NH; Washington, DC; Tampa, FL; Gainsville, FL; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Eugene, OR; San Francisco/Bay area, CA; Santa Barbara, CA; Los Angeles, CA.

Karina Wood, Tour Coordinator "No to NATO Expansion Speakers Tour", Consultant to the Fourth Freedom Forum, 43 Nisbet St, 3rd Fl., Providence, RI 02906, tel +1-401 751-8172, fax -1476, email: kwood@igc.org.