The imperialist North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held its annual summit meeting of heads of state and heads of government June 25-26 in The Hague, capital of the Netherlands and that country’s third largest city.

Earlier in the week there were anti-imperialist demonstrations in The Hague. During the week of June 21-28, there were demonstrations protesting military expansion of NATO countries in many European capitals and other major cities. The driving forces behind the anti-NATO demonstrations throughout Europe were the mass desire for peace and the determination to resist cuts to social services.

Many European NATO members increased their military spending to 5% of the countries’ Gross National Product, most from under 2%. This leap in military spending will match cuts in social services that lower the working class’s living standards. U.S. President Donald Trump, who had been accusing Europe of freeloading on the Pentagon, praised NATO for spending so much so fast.

NATO history

When NATO was founded under U.S. hegemony on April 4, 1949, it had 12 members: Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. It now has 32 member nations, including states in Eastern Europe that were in the Warsaw Pact and some that were part of the Soviet Union. Now they border Russia.

Now, as in 1949, the U.S. has a guaranteed leading role in the NATO chain of command. NATO from 1949-91 was aimed at stopping the working class in Western Europe from putting into power or even electing into office any parties whose program was anti-capitalist or who might be sympathetic to the Soviet Union.

Starting in the 1990s, U.S. imperialism planned to use its dominant position in the NATO military alliance to carry out regime change and recolonize the Global South. Examples were the 1999 destruction of the Yugoslav Federation, the occupations of Afghanistan (2002 to 2021) and the 2011 attack on Libya, and most recently in Ukraine. Germany and France refused to join the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but later aided the U.S.-British-led occupation.

Israel, Palestine and Iran

The Israeli state has acted for decades as a de facto NATO associate. For the past 21 months, Israel has received support from the major NATO countries while carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has gotten the firm and unswerving military, political and diplomatic support of the United States.

Palestine is not the only target. Israel has also attacked Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and then carried out a bombing campaign against Iran. When Iran’s missiles started hitting Israeli military and strategic targets, U.S. imperialism intervened directly and bombed Iran’s legal and lawful nuclear program in an attempt to institute regime change.

Among the worldwide organizations that have protested these bombing attacks is the World Federation of Trade Unions. The WFTU was founded shortly before NATO, and throughout the Cold War, it was considered to be on the “left.”

On June 19, the WTFU released a statement that read: “In these crucial moments when the flames of war caused by imperialist and Zionist aggression are widening and spreading, the WFTU calls on its members and friends to intensify their mobilization in solidarity with the Palestinian people, the people of Iran, Lebanon and the other peoples of the region who are suffering the consequences of imperialist aggression.” (workers.org/2025/06/86501)

An internet search of news photos shows that there were big demonstrations in cities worldwide during the week protesting the NATO summit and the bombing of Iran. Among many others, these cities include: The Hague, Rome, Lisbon, Belgrade, Madrid (and some smaller cities in Spain), Rome, in Montreal, Quebec and Guelph, Ontario in Canada, and in Washington D.C., Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. 

John Catalinotto contributed to this article.